To Avoid or Not to Avoid: Understanding Korean Instagram Users' Responses to Personalized Advertising Through Privacy Calculus and Need for Cognition

This study explores the dual effects of perceived personalization on advertising value and privacy risk perceptions among Korean Instagram users. The results reveal that perceived personalization reduces advertising avoidance by enhancing informativeness, entertainment, and credibility, while simultaneously lowering concerns about data collection and misuse. The strength of these indirect effects varies depending on users’ Need for Cognition (NFC). For low-NFC users, personalization reduces advertising avoidance primarily through increased informativeness and entertainment. In contrast, for high-NFC users, the effect is driven by enhanced informativeness, credibility, and reduced concerns about data collection. These results advance theoretical understanding by identifying distinct psychological mechanisms through which personalization influences user responses. The findings also offer strategic guidance for marketers by highlighting how cognitively tailored advertisements that emphasize clear utility and transparent data practices can foster user trust and reducing avoidance behavior.