Author

Anan Wan

Date of Award

Spring 2019

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Journalism and Mass Communications

First Advisor

Carol J. Pardun

Abstract

This dissertation explored how a brand’s paid, owned, and earned media (POEM) influence and engage its audience in the social media environment where consumer engagement is stressed. This dissertation used an online experiment (N = 250) to explore the effectiveness of applying earned media within an advertising context, The findings indicated that positive earned media was more effective on people’s consumer engagement intention and download intention than paid media, but it did not work on perceived credibility of the post or product attitude. Positive earned media was found to be less credible than owned media. Among all the five types of media content, owned plus positive earned media was proven to be the most effective one on perceived credibility of the post, consumer engagement intention, brand attitude, and purchase/download intention. Positive earned media was found to be less credible than owned media. Among all the five types, owned plus positive earned media was proven to be the most effective one on perceived credibility of the post, consumer engagement intention, brand attitude, and purchase/download intention. This relationship was not affected by their dispositional persuasion knowledge but was influenced by conceptual persuasion knowledge and perceived deceptiveness of the post. Both theoretical and practical implications to the fields of social media and advertising were discussed.

Rights

© 2019, Anan Wan

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