Cross‐national differences in consumer response to the framing of advertising messages : An exploratory comparison from Central Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this research was to examine how consumers in four Central European countries respond to positively and negatively framed message appeals in advertising. Design/methodology/approach – Emotional, cognitive and attitudinal reactions to four advertisements for food products were collected from matched homogeneous student samples in Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. In addition to analysis of variance, a comprehensive structural equation model was tested separately for each country. Findings – The findings not only indicate different emotional, cognitive and attitudinal responses across countries, but additionally reveal differences in how positively versus negatively framed advertisements are being processed by consumers. Research limitations/implications – Across countries, the intertwined roles of emotions and cognitions in affecting consumer attitudinal response were generally confirmed, suggesting cross‐cultural robustness of the underlying advertising‐processing framework. Future studies should employ larger consumer samples to verify the descriptive findings. Practical implications – Advertisers and their clientele need to recognize that an advertisement that has been designed for an international audience featuring a specific frame may elicit a variety of emotional and attitudinal responses due to national differences between consumers. Neglecting even subtle national differences can lead to consumer misperceptions and may result in serious damage to the brand image Originality/value – New insights and evidence have been generated showing that using one advertising campaign is questionable, if not potentially damaging to advertisers' efforts. The identification of differences in how consumers in selected countries respond to a perceived appeal also helps clarifying the general direction of future research, which should focus on the underlying mechanism responsible for differences in how appeals affect consumer emotional response in different countries.