Investigating the moderating role of sport service type and personality on audiences' emotional responses to hedonic vs. cognitive advertisements

Although advertising theorists have suggested that for maximum effectiveness the type of message appeal needs to match the type of service offered (i.e., a rational advertisement message appeal is more effective for a utilitarian service; an emotional advertisement message approach is suitable for a hedonic service), empirical inquiry in the area of advertising for services has produced contradictory evidence. After considering the limitations of previous research, this study utilized a series of mixed experimental designs to examine the moderating role of the type of sport service and personality trait (i.e., sensation seeking) on the relationship between the type of advertisement message and the consumers' emotional responses. The mixed measures ANCOVA results revealed that sensation seeking fails to show a moderating effect between the type of message appeal and participants' emotional responses. However, sport service type moderates the effect of the advertising message on the participants' emotional responses, indicating that the proper usage of advertising message strategies might improve the effectiveness of advertising for the service segment of the sport industry.