Assessing the kid's behaviour with factors of social media advertising: DEMATEL application

Purpose - Kids get exposed to advertising on social media platforms when they visit them to perform various goals. The purpose of this study is to find out the factors which affect kids' behaviour when the kids encounter advertising on social media and also to establish causal relationships amongst the factors of social media advertising (SMA). Design/methodology/approach - A total of 11 factors of SMA have been identified with the help of experts and the causal relationships amongst the SMA factors have been constructed by the implementation of decision-making trail and laboratory evaluation (DEMATEL). Based on the established relationships, a causal diagram has been also developed to understand the structural nature of interdependence amongst the factors. Findings - DEMATEL technique is based on logical steps, which have assisted in categorising the identified factors into two groups: cause group and effect group. Cause group factors are the reasons for the effect group factors to occur. Customisation, entertainment, information and interactivity have been observed as cause factors whereas, relevance, engagement with SMA, purchase intention, product involvement, advertising value, attitude towards SMA and irritation have been observed as effect factors. Product involvement is found to have the highest level of interaction with all other factors. Information and interactivity are observed to influence all other factors. Research limitations/implications - Kids possess a limited understanding of the selling intent of advertisers which makes kids vulnerable to advertising. This study supports that the content of the advertisement should be kept in accordance with the need of kids and also suggests that marketers should emphasise cause group factors which derive subsequent consequences on effect group factors. The foremost limitation of this study lies in the process of identifying the factors through expert opinions. The sets of contextual relationships may vary when different experts are considered. Originality/value - This study strives to identify the factors which affect kids' understanding of SMA and also establishes causal relationships amongst them. This kind of study is unique in state of the art and to the authors' knowledge no significant research has been conducted in India which involves establishment of inter-relationships amongst SMA factors that affect kids' behaviour.