Advertising skepticism, need for cognition and consumers’ attitudes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of advertising skepticism and need for cognition with consumers’ attitudes toward brand. There is currently limited understanding on how advertising skepticism and need for cognition relate to the consumers’ attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Using a “within-brand-comparison” strategy, a mock print advertisement of a telecom brand is shown to 204 cellular services users in Pakistan. This is followed by a survey. Data are analyzed using a variance-based structural equation modeling. Findings The relationship of advertising skepticism with attitude toward brand is negative and partially mediated by the sequence of brand image, advertisement believability and attitudes toward advertisement. In contrast, the relationship between need for cognition and attitude toward brand is positive and fully mediated by the sequence of brand image, advertisement believability and attitudes toward advertisement. Originality/value The paper fills some theoretical as well as empirical gaps by showing how (in a within-brand comparative advertisement context) advertising skepticism and need for cognition relate to the consumers’ attitudes toward brand.