ST.

MARY’S UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

FACTORS AFFECTING ATTITUDE OF

CUSTOMERS TOWARDS SMS ADVERTISEMENT:
A CASE OF ETHIOTELECOM

BY
MULUKEN KIROS [ID-NO: 0028]
SUBMITTED TO
TEMESGEN BELAYNEH [PhD.]

March 2014

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

1
FACTORS AFFECTING THE ATTITUDE OF CUSTOMERS TOWARDS
SMS ADVERTISEMENT

A CASE OF ETHIO-TELECOM

BY

MULUKEN KIROS [ID-NO: 0028]

SUBMITTED TO

TEMESGEN BELAYNEH [PhD]

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO ST.MARY’S UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

March 2014

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

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 ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
FACULITY OF BUSINESS

FACTORS AFFECTING THE ATTITUDE OF CUSTOMERS TOWARDS

SMS ADVERTISEMENT: A CASE OF ETHIO-TELECOM

BY
MULUKEN KIROS REDA
[ID-NO: 0028]

APPROVED BY BOARD OF EXAMINERS

________________________ __________________
Dean, Graduate Studies Signature & Date

____________________________ _____________________
Advisor Signature & Date

____________________________ _____________________
External Examiner Signature & Date

____________________________ _____________________
Internal Examiner Signature & Date

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 Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study…………………………………………………………………..1
1.2 Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………….…2
1.3 Objectives of the study…………………………………………………………………….3
1.3.1 General objective………………………………………………………………….3
1.3.2 Specific objectives………………………………………………………………...3
1.4 Research Questions…………………………………………………………………...…..4
1.5 Hypothesis of the study…………………………………………………………………...4
1.6 Significance of the study……………………………………………………………..……4
1.7 Scope of the study………………………………………………………………...............5
1.8 Organization of the study………………………………………………………………….5

CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction of wireless advertisement……………………...……………………………6
2.2 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities& threats of wireless advertisement…...…………..9
2.3 Text messaging applications …………………………………………………………….10
2.4 Types of mobile advertising campaigns ………………………………………………...12
2.5 SMS advertising business actors and their roles ………………………………………...13
2.6 Attitude towards advertising …………………………………………………………….14
2.7 Factors affecting attitude towards SMS advertisement……..…………………………...16
2.8 Empirical review of literatures……………………………………………………...……18
2.9 Conceptual Frameworks Attitude of Customers towards SMS Ads…………………….20

CHAPTER THREE

3. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY

3.1 Design of the study…………………………………………….…………….………….21
3.2 Population of the study……………………………………………….……...…...........21
3.3 Sample of the study………………..…………………………….…………..………….21
3.4 Technique of sampling…………..…………………………………………….……..…21
3.5 Method of data collection……………………………………………………..……...…22
3.6 Instrument of the study…….………………………………………………………...….22
3.7 Procedure for data collection……………………………………………………..…......22
3.8 Method of data analysis ……………………………………………………………...…22

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CHAPTER FOUR

4. DATA PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS

4.1 Characteristics of the respondents .…………..…………….……………….…………..23
4.2 Reliability of the data...……………………………………………….…….……...…...24
4.3 Customers’ perception of antecedent variables.……………………...……………...….25
4.4 Correlation analysis ...…………..………………………………………………………29
4.5 Impact of demographic characteristics on attitude towards SMS advertisement…….....30

CHAPTER FIVE

5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Summary of findings……….…………………………………………………………….38
5.2 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………..39
5.3 Limitation & future research……………………………………………………………..40

References

Appendices

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First I would like to thank the lord for his grace and kindness. Next I am indebted to my advisor
Temesgen Belayneh (PhD.) for his constructive suggestions throughout the project period.
Bethelhem Alemayehu, GetnetKiros, and Abdu Nursebo surely had tremendous contributions so
they deserve to be acknowledged. I would also like to render my gratitude to all individuals who
has been by my side during my study. Thank you and God bless you all.

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Acronyms
Ads= Advertisements
CRM= Customer Relationship Management
EVDO= Evolutionary Data Optimizer
MMS= Multimedia Messaging
SMS= Short Messaging Service
WAA= Wireless Advertizing Association
WAP= Wireless Application Protocol

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 LIST OF TABLES

Tables pages

Table 4.1.1 Educational level of respondents……………………………………………………23

Table 4.1.2 Ages of respondents…………………………………………………………………23
Table 4.1.3 Sex of the respondents……………………………………………………………....24
Table 4.3.1 Descriptive statistics for antecedent variables………………………………………25
Table 4.3.2 One-Sample t-Test for entertainment……………………………………………….26
Table 4.3.3 A one sample t-test for personalization……………………………………………..26
Table 4.3.4 A one sample t-test for irritation…………………………………………………….27
Table 4.3.5 A one sample t-test for in-formativeness……………………...................................27
Table 4.3.6 A one sample t-test for credibility…………………………………………………..28
Table 4.3.7A one sample t-test for attitude toward SMS advertisements…………………….....28
Table 4.4.1 Results of a correlation analysis………………………………………………........29
Table 4.5.1 ANOVA results for entertainment…………………………… ………………........30
Table 4.5.2ANOVA results for personalization……………………………………………........31
Table 4.5.3 ANOVA results for irritation across educational levels………………………........31
Table 4.5.4 ANOVA results for in-formativeness………………………… …………………... 32
Table 4.5.5ANOVA results for credibility across educational levels……………………….......33
Table 4.5.6 ANOVA results for attitude across educational levels……………………………...34
Table 4.5.7Mean score of entertainment for males and females………………………………...34
Table 4.5.8Mean score of personalization for males and females……………………………….35
Table 4.5.9 Mean score of irritation for males and females…..…………………………………35
Table 4.5.10Mean score of in-formativeness for males and females…………………………....35
Table 4.5.11Mean score of credibility for males and females…………………………………...36
Table 4.5.12Mean score of attitude for males and females……………………………………...36

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.9.1. A conceptual framework of factors that affect customers attitude……………..….20

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 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

In today’s highly competitive world of business where there is fast technological spread there is
little chance for product differentiation. Consequently it is a must that a company needs to put
itself apart from the competition by building a distinctive image of it. One of the ways to do so is
to advertise oneself to promote usage of the product, remind users of benefits of an offering and
to build image that will be difficult to be copied by competitors.

Companies use lots of media to reach their customers and potential customers. Each media has
its own weaknesses and strengths. Yet no media ever witnessed greatest reach and customization
as that of wireless or mobile communications. Since the advent of the mobile communications in
the late of the 20th century, it has attracted many firms to employ it in their possible media
choices. The fact that the technology has shown a tremendous growth in number of users coupled
with the ease which it allows for tailored messages makes it one of the most convenient tools for
communication. Since the very intent of advertising is to create a favorable attitude towards a
company and its offerings many companies have spent millions of dollars to do so. However the
effectiveness of advertising heavily depends on the content and relevance of the message to the
target audience (Anderson & Nilsson, 2000).

Although the introduction of mobile communications in Ethiopia is a recent phenomenon it has

shown a promising growth. Right now it is estimated that the number of mobile subscribers in
the country is over twenty million only after a decade since it was introduced. Despite this fact
the use of SMS advertising has lagged and is just a very recent phenomenon. SMS
Advertisements has only been made during public holidays till very recent times and they were
merely messages of wishes in holidays (ethio-telecom annual report, 2010).

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Ethio-telecom, being the company that is the sole provider of telecom services in Ethiopia, has
taken the lion share in using SMS advertisements to inform customers of new products, price
discounts and new product features to exploit the large untapped market potential of the telecom
market in Ethiopia. The company till recently has relied on electronic advertisements and
sponsorship events to promote itself. Since a couple of years and afterwards the company has
been engaged in using text messages in mobiles to reach its customers. The messages if not
perfect could have some enhancing impact on product usage as they elicit some effort on the part
of the customers to know more about the company and its offerings. The aim of this study will
be therefore to identify determinants that were believed to affect attitudes of customers towards
these short messaged advertisements via a wireless media and investigate their significance to
the specific case of the service subscribers in Ethiopia.

1.2. Statement of the problem

The problem of this study is to investigate whether the factors that affect attitude of customers
towards SMS advertisements in previous literatures do have an impact on attitude of Ethiopian
customers towards SMS advertisements and also to investigate whether customer attitudes
towards SMS advertisements vary across demographic variables. The variables under study are
attitude towards SMS advertisements as dependent variable and personalization, entertainment,
credibility, irritation and in formativeness as independent variables. The demographic variables
are gender and level of education.

Despite the continued growth and future potential of SMS as an advertising tool, there is lack of
research conducted on SMS advertising. SMS messages are flowing day and night to consumers
without asking their prior permission to transmitting these messages and this is one of the
problems associated with this activity. Other problems emerge from the lack of knowledge about
the cultural background of the recipients specially their social, religious, and beliefs standards.

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In addition there is a reason for the researcher to search in that field, such as lack of various
research papers in the subject matter plus to that research findings with respect to the attitude of
customers done in another nation can’t directly apply & serve in highly diversified country like
Ethiopia. The majority of research conducted with regard to consumer attitudes towards mobile
SMS advertising has been conducted in foreign countries where the findings, due to cultural
differences and differences in the adoption of technology, may not directly apply to Ethiopian’s
consumers. The general consensus among academics and practitioners is that SMS advertising is
an ideal medium for reaching consumers.

1.3. Objective of the study

1.3.1 General Objective
The major objective of the study is to investigate the importance of factors that are
believed to impact attitudes towards SMS advertisements in the specific case of
Ethiopians with company case of Ethio-telecom.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

Moreover the study has the following specific objectives:
To determine whether there exists a relationship between antecedent variables like
entertainment, irritation, in-formativeness, personalization, credibility and the
dependent variable attitude towards SMS advertisement.
To determine the extent to which Ethiopian customers do perceive Ethio-telecom’s
SMS advertisements as being credible, informative, irritating, entertaining and
personalized.
To investigate whether there is a difference in customers’ perception of
entertainment, irritation, personalization, in-formativeness and credibility in SMS
advertisements across demographic categories.
To investigate whether there is a difference in customers’ attitude towards SMS
advertisements across different demographic categories.

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1.4. Research Questions
Thus, the researcher attempts to answer this basic question:
 What are the factors that affect attitude of Ethiopian customers towards SMS
advertisements?
 Is there a relationship between antecedent variables like entertainment, irritation, in-
formativeness, personalization, credibility and the dependent variable of attitude towards
SMS advertisement?
 Is there a difference in customers’ perception of entertainment, irritation, personalization,
in-formativeness and credibility in SMS advertisements across demographic categories?

1.5. Hypothesis of the study

Having had a critical examination of the various literatures in the area of SMS advertising and
their applicability to the Ethiopian case based on the specific characteristics of Ethiopian
respondents the following hypothesis were formulated for analysis.
 H1; attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement is positively and significantly
correlated with entertainment, in formativeness, personalization, irritation & credibility
of the SMS advertisement.
 H2; attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement is negatively and significantly
correlated with irritation.
 H3; attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement doesn’t significantly vary
between males and females.
 H4; customers attitude towards SMS advertisement varies significantly across different
educational categories.

1.6. Significance of the study

The study is significant to advance knowledge since there is lack of research papers in this area
in Ethiopia. Although there are plenty of studies regarding SMS advertisements they were mostly
done in developed countries context. So this study makes cross comparison of findings possible
and triggers further studies in the area.

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1.7. Scope of the study
The study has the following major restrictions set by the researcher:
The study is limited to postpaid enterprise mobile subscribers so findings from the study
are only generalizable to these segments of customers only.
The antecedents affecting customers’ attitude towards the SMS advertisement are limited
to entertainment, in-formativeness, personalization, irritation and credibility.
Only the cognitive and affective components of attitude are incorporated in the study.

The study of this paper incorporates all SMS types that are sent to customers since it touches &
affect customer’s attitude by one or another stated important variables.

1.8 Organization of the paper

This paper is structured in five chapters. The first chapter contains the introduction, which
comprises the general background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives, basic
research questions, hypothesis, significance and scope of the study. The second chapter
summarizes the literature related to this study. The third chapter explains the methodology used,
while the fourth chapter presents the analysis & interpretation of the data collected. Finally, in
chapter five the conclusion and recommendations are offered.

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 CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1. Introduction to Wireless Advertisement

The Wireless Advertising Association (WAA) defines wireless marketing as sending advertising
messages to mobile devices such as mobile phones or PDAs through the wireless network
(Tsang, Ho, and Liang, 2004). There are several possible technologies or platforms available for
wireless advertising. The WAA divides these into five groups; SMS and pagers, WAP and I-
mode, PDA: s, voice/speech, and location-based technologies (Andersson & Nilsson, 2000).
Advertising via mobile devices or mobile advertising is defined as the usage of interactive
wireless media (such as cellular phones and pagers, cordless telephones, personal digital
assistants, two-way radios, baby crib monitors, wireless networking systems, GPS-based locators
and maps) to transmit advertising messages to consumers in form of time and location sensitive,
personalized information with the overall goal to promote goods and services (Haghirian,
Parissa, Madlberger, & Maria, 2005).

Mobile marketing is defined as using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time
and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby
generating value for all stakeholders (Waldt, Rebellonad & Brown, 2009). Mobile advertising is
targeting well-identified potential customers with text messages, thereby increasing the response-
to-advertisement ratio (DeReyck and Degraeve, 2003).

According to the definition proposed by Mobile Marketing Association (2003), mobile

advertising is any form of marketing, advertising or sales promotion activity aimed at consumers
and conducted over a mobile channel.

Mobile Marketing is the ideal instrument to improve customer relationship with the brand as
consumers do have a continuous interaction with their mobile phones. Marketers thus can
measure the distinct image that their brand has in the mind of customers by continuously
following their reactions to their mobile advertisements. This represents an opportunity to build
more meaningful brand relationships than at any time in advertising hi

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Mobile marketing provides new revenue streams and opportunities for subsidized access, along
with the potential for customers to experience more convenient and relevant content value,
sponsored by advertising. It also allows, through effective targeting and tailoring of messages to
customers, enhancement of the customer- business relationship (Barnes & Scornavacca, 2004).

Mobile communication is a communication vehicle that possesses distinct characteristics when

compared against other forms of communication. It allows the advertiser and the consumer to
interact quickly and frequently. Consumers can be provided with information they are interested
in, what gives marketers the chance to build customer relationships of a new dimension. As a
result, modern advertisers are increasingly relying on various modes of interactive technology to
advertise and promote their products and services (Pavlou and Stewart, 2000).

Different advertizing mediums have different capacity in accomplishing the strategies of a

company. The major dimensions on which these qualities are measured are reach, bandwidth,
customization and interactivity. Reach is the function of how many customers can be reached
through a given media (Hoang, 2007).

Bandwidth refers to the amount of information that can be delivered from the sender to the
receiver in a given time. Mobile media is weak in this regard because the content of the mobile
advertisement is limited in amount. For instance SMS advertisements mostly don’t exceed
160characters. Face to face interaction on the contrary accounts for a broad bandwidth as it
allows for both verbal and non verbal cues (Hoang, 2007).

Customization refers to the ability to provide personalized service based on the needs and
preferences of end users. Interactivity refers to the possibility for a bi-directional communication.
Mobile advertizing tends to be the most interactive media compared to other conventional media
like TV, radio etc. Band width, customization and interaction constitute the richness of the
media. Mobile advertizing possesses a better richness and reach compared to other media
(Hoang, 2007).

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Jelassi and Enders (2004) identified four distinct characteristics of mobile advertizing. These are
Ubiquitous Access, Detailed User Information, Integrated Response Channel and Personal
Channel. Companies can stay in touch with their customers through SMS. They especially
emphasized the importance of timing to communicate via SMS. The ideal time to communicate
is while people are in transport according to Jelassi and Enders (2004) with the presumption that
they are free at such moments. Unlike the conventional medium which allows for limited access
to customers information mobile advertizing helps to get in-depth information. This represents
the detailed user information aspect of mobile advertizing. Information such as demography, sex,
age and user profile can be accessed via SMS.

By saying integrated response channel it means that mobile advertizing enables to receive
customers’ response via the same medium. With regard to this aspect two advantages are worth
considering. These are the opportunity for interaction and the ability to precisely measure impact
and effectiveness of advertizing campaign. Finally the personal channel aspect of mobile
advertizing indicates that mobile cell phones represent the very personal belonging of individuals
(Jelassi and Enders, 2004).

According to Kamran and Sharmin (2008) Mobile advertisement is characterized by

personalization and interactivity. The earlier emphasizes that mobile advertisement allows for
customization of messages based on the preferences of customers. The later refers to the
possibility of having an instant and direct feedback from the customer and likelihood of higher
interaction.

Another characteristic stated by scholars is immediacy which underlines that mobile medium
prompts the users to react immediately shortening the time needed to change the message into
actual transactions (Vyas, 2011). Further more mobile medium possesses multiple touch points
that can reduce the time taken to transform from awareness to action. These include voice/video,
web browsing, messaging; voice (Vyas, 2011). This scholar also emphasized the feature of
mobile media as the most convenient for targeting due to the ease of developing customer
profiles.

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2.2. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Wireless Advertisement

Strengths
A clear strength of wireless advertisement over other advertisement types is the ease for
personalization. Andersson and Nilsson (2000) stated that wireless media are mostly tied to one
specific individual, which is not always the case with regular phones or computers that are often
tied to an entire family. This makes it possible to adapt messages for the particular individual.
Strength of wireless advertisement media also includes its flexibility in production and cost
effectiveness (Vantharith, 2006; Andersson and Nilsson, 2000). It is very easy to produce and
deliver a message quickly and also to change it. Even “mass-customization” is possible to a low
price. In general, production costs are very low in comparison with other media (Andersson and
Nilsson, 2000).

Weakness
Limitation in graphics and exposure as the SMS advertisements are limited to 160 characters is
one weakness stated by Andersson and Nilsson (2000). This has also been stated by Vantharith
(2006). Another constraint as far as wireless media is concerned is the lack of standards and
accepted metrics for measuring advertisement delivery and consumer responses (Andersson and
Nilsson, 2000).

Opportunities
The high penetration rate of mobile media combined with trends in the convergence of mobile
with internet is promising trends for future prospects of mobile advertisement (Andersson and
Nilsson, 2000). The authors justified the importance of the later trend stating that it opens for
more content and services.

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Threats
The major threats for the mobile advertisement media are three according to Andersson and
Nilsson (2000). These are the reluctance among end-users due to privacy fears or fear of being
spammed with advertising, initial misuse of the channel in the form of spam; unauthorized use of
personal information and finally the “WAP effect’’ which is the tendency for higher expectation
at initial stages which may hinder development in the area. Forced exposure is another
characteristic of SMS advertising. Users cannot avoid receiving short messages; at least they
need to have the first sight of them. Although, forced exposure often interrupts a viewer’s normal
viewing process. Researchers found that the exposure to a stimulus can generate measurable
effects such as attitude change, which may also affect the acceptance of SMS advertizing (Chun
& Wan, 2000).

2.3. Text Messaging Applications

SMS can be applied for many applications due to its inherent characteristics. Seven of them have
been identified by Dickinger, Haghirian, Murphy and Scharl (2004). These are applications as
mobile couponing, information services, mobile Customer Relationship Management (CRM),
entertainment, branding, location based services and new product launches.

Mobile couponing: rather than giving paper coupons companies have now started to send
coupons to cell phones via SMS. According to Dickinger et.al (2004) sending coupons provide
three benefits. First it allows targeting based on customer numbers. Second it is time sensitive
and lastly efficient handling by scanning the coupon’s bar code at the cash desk.

Information services: refers to relevant and personalized information for which the customers
pay little or nothing (Dickinger et.al (2004).it may include news, market rates, horoscopes,
weather and soon.

Mobile CRM: refers to sending items which are not directly related to the core product for sale
but related to supporting customer relationship. These include sending newsletters, pictures,
ringtones, bonus points and coupons. (Dickinger et.al, 2004)

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Branding: refers to the ability to link various emotions and feelings with the brand with the aim
of obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage (Dickinger et.al, 2004).these emotions will
enable customers to recall and recognize the brand easily.

Entertainment: SMS advertisements do also provide entertainment values. According to

Dickinger et.al (2004) entertainment services can increase customer loyalty and add value for the
customer. Providing games and prizes via text messages yields high participation and is the ideal
way to attract and keep customers.

Product launches: mobile market also supports new product introductions especially services
(Dickinger et.al, 2004). Ethio-telecom for instance has been announcing new product
introductions via SMS.

Location based services: refers to localized advertizing based on identification of distinct

location of the target audience. Companies can send advertisements to a registered client when
this client passes the point of purchase, illustrating the time sensitiveness of this approach
(Dickinger et.al, 2004). For instance, if Ethio telecom advertizes EVDO (Evolutionary Data
Optimized) right at the point when the customer is near the sales offices where the service is
available it elicits an intention to purchase the service.

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2.4. Types of Mobile Advertizing Campaigns
According to Jelassi et.al as cited in Luong (2006) mobile advertizing can be broken down into
three categories. These are push, pull and dialogue.

 Mobile push advertisements are those messages that are sent proactively to customers
without the consent of the customers relaying on data base containing information about
existing customers (Caret, 2002). This is also cited in Luong (2006).

 Mobile pull advertisements are those that are provided when the customers require some
information from the provider. Messages that are sent in a pull message are highly
welcomed (caret, 2002).

 Mobile dialogue advertisements differ from push and pull advertisement campaigns in
terms of duration and intensity of interaction between the customer and supervisor. In the
word of Luong (2006) on pp: 45 it is stated like this: “simple push and pull campaigns are
focused around themes such as games and raffles and may last only to two or four weeks.
Dialogue campaigns on the other hand span for several months and include various
themes that build on one another. The major aim for pursuing dialogue campaign is to
establish long term relationship with consumers in order to have better insight about
customers’ preferences”.

According to Barnes (2002) mobile advertizing is of two types push and pull. There is no
problem with pull advertisement as it is based on customers’ request. But care should be taken as
far as push advertizing is concerned to be sensitive in order not to disturb the activities of
customer.

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2.5. SMS Advertizing Business Actors and their Roles
Major actors have been identified by researchers. These are advertiser, application provider,
infrastructure provider, mobile network operator, mobile advertising agency, provider of context
information, and end user (Bulander, Decker, Schiefer, & Kölmel, 2005).

Advertiser is the seller of the goods and services who determines the content of the message. The
advertiser uses SMS to reach its target audience at the right place at the right time. The source of
revenue to this advertiser is the end users’ acceptance to the SMS advertisement leading to
intention to purchase (Mirbagheri, 2010).

Mobile network operator provides access to wireless network and facilitates SMS advertising by
renting the network from infrastructure provider (Komulainen, Mainela, Sinisalo, Tähtinen, &
Ulkuniemi, 2006) as cited in Mirbagheri (2010).

Network operators earn money by charging mobile advertising agencies in exchange for sending
SMS ads.

Mobile advertising agency is the central actor aggregating all business actors and offers
appropriate to mobile advertising services.

Provider of context information supplies contextual information like weather, traffic conditions,
and results of particular events such as sport events (Bulander, Decker, Schiefer, & Kölmel,
2005) as cited in Mirbagheri (2010).

End user is a mobile subscriber receiving SMS advertisement.

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2.6. Attitude towards advertizing
Attitude as simply defined is our predisposition toward things that is whether we like things or
not (Severin and Tankard, 2001). Attitude toward an ad is defined as “a learned predisposition to
respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner toward advertising in general”
(MacKenzie & Lutz, 1989; pp. 54).

Being a complex construct attitude has three components (Severin and Tankard, 2001). These
are:
The cognitive: refers to beliefs held by consumers associated with the object.
The affective: this component refers to emotions and feelings that are associated with the
object and
The conative: this component deals with actions or intentions towards the object.

Coming to the more specific case of SMS attitude it is defined as a long-term cognitive
evaluation, affect, and behavioral tendency in a consumer towards SMS; a consumer with a more
favorable SMS attitude means that he or she is more used to and likes sending/receiving SMS.
Many studies in the past concerning subject matter of attitude towards SMS advertisement are
based on different theories like theory of reasoned action, innovation diffusion theory, and
technology acceptance theory (Muk, 2007; Tsang, Ho and Liang, 2004; Wu and Wang, 2005) as
cited in SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK(2008).

Innovation diffusion theory adoption behavior is related attributes of innovation like relative
advantage, compatibility, complexity, trial ability, and observability (SÜHER, İSPİR &
ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

Relative advantage; refers to the degree to which an innovation exceeds what it precedes. In this
case the mobile technology is much better than existing conventional media for the clear reason
that it offers complete freedom at whatever location. It helps to avoid missing appointments and
delayed schedules (SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

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Compatibility: a technology that can work in coherence with existing technology is more likely
to be perceived positively. The cell phone ensures greater compatibility with the fixed telephony
making it a well adopted innovation (SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

Complexity: refers to the requirements of skills that are essential to work with the innovation.
Mobile phones are not far from the regular phone in complexity. This has also contributed to
their rapid proliferation (SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

Triability: refers to the extent to which an innovation can be tried on a limited basis. Mobile
phones can be borrowed from some another person for trial together with other incentives
(SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

Observability: the extent to which the benefits of the innovation can be recognized, seen or felt.
Mobile cell phone entails boundless benefits that have a significant impact as they are wherever
you go. The theory of reasoned action which is an attitude theory based on the cumulative works
of constructs of attention, attitude, behavior is the other theory considered by other scholars
(Tsang, Ho, and Liang, 2004).

Finally the technology acceptance model is a model that evolves from the theory of reasoned
action which especially dictates that intention to use a technology is determined by attitude
towards using it plus the perceived usefulness and ease of use (Muk, 2007). This is also cited in
SÜHER, İSPİR & ÖZTÜRK, 2008).

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2.7. Factors Affecting Attitude towards SMS Advertisement
Personalization, in formativeness, credibility, irritation, monetary benefit and entertainment are
the most important factors that have been proved to affect attitude towards SMS advertisement
(Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini, 2010; Waldt, Rebello and Brown, 2009). However these don’t tell
the whole story time of transmission, consumer control, privacy and permission are the other
factors that have been suggested by Kamran and Sharmin(2008).

Personalization: the fact that a specified target customer can be targeted at the right place, in the
right time accounts for ease of tailoring the message to an individual’s needs, activities and
interest Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010). Consequently the operational definition that is adopted
for personalization in this study is the extent to which SMS advertisements can be tailored to the
interests, activities and needs of individual audiences. Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010) found a
significant and positive relationship exist between personalization of SMS advertisement and
attitude towards the advertisement. This implies that the greater the relevance of the SMS
advertisement the more favorable will be customers’ reaction towards that advertisement.

In-formativeness is the ability of the advertisements to generate awareness about the product and
how it is different from competitors’ products (Sobberman, 2004). Kotler and Keller (2006)
implied that SMS advertisements should inform audiences of new products, changes in new
products and new features of existing products. This is the context in which the variable is used
throughout this paper. With regard to findings about the relationship between in formativeness
and attitude towards SMS advertisement (Ducoffe, 1995, Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010),
Saadeghvazirin & Seyedjavadain (2011) found out that in formativeness positively and
significantly influences attitude towards SMS advertisements.

Credibility has been defined by Mackenzie and Lutz (1989) as cited in Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini
(2010) as consumers’ perception of the truthfulness and believability of advertizing in general.
Goldsmith et al., 2000 as cited in Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010) defined credibility as the
extent to which consumers believe that a firm can design and deliver products and services that
satisfy customer needs and wants.

25
Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010), Pavlov and Stewart (2002) as cited in Kamran and Sharmin
(2008) found out that credibility is positively and significantly correlated with attitude towards
SMS advertisement.

Entertainment is perhaps another most important factor affecting attitude towards SMS
advertisement. According to Mcquail (1983) entertainment is the ability to fulfill customers’
needs for escapism, diversion, aesthetic enjoyment or emotional release. Waldt, Rebello and
Brown (2009), Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010), Kamran and Sharmin (2008) found that there
exists a significant relationship between entertainment and attitude towards SMS advertisement.

Irritation: when advertising employs techniques that annoy, offend, or are overly manipulative,
consumers are likely to perceive it as unwanted and irritating influence (Ducoffe, 1996) as cited
in Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010). Kamran and Sharmin (2008) found out that irritation is
significantly and negatively correlated with attitude towards SMS advertisement.

26
2.8 Empirical Review of Literatures

According to Jamieson, Phau & Dix (2010, control and trust in advertisers and laws is not an
important determinant of acceptance for consumers. These findings do not support the majority
of literature; however Merisavo et al (2007) also found that control did not impact on acceptance.
According to Merisavo et al (2007), one possible explanation for these results is that consumers
may take it for granted that advertisers do not send consumers unsolicited messages. Consumers
may believe the issue of permission and privacy is irrelevant to them, and therefore not important
enough to influence acceptance. This notion is supported by the strict anti-spam laws in
Australia, which dictate that advertisers cannot send messages without prior permission (Bueti,
2005).

There is an empirical study done on consumer attitude toward mobile advertising in an emerging
market in Bangladesh by Chowdhury, Parvin, Weitenberner & Becker (2006). As of this study
the high penetration rate of mobile phones has resulted in the increasing use of handheld devices
to deliver advertisements for products and services. Short Message Service (SMS), in particular,
has been very successful.

Based on the existing literature about attitudes toward advertising and consumer behavior
models, a research framework is constructed to illustrate the factors affecting consumer attitudes
toward SMS-based advertisements in Bangladesh. The findings of this study show that if mobile
advertisers can present mobile ads pleasingly, with appropriate information, consumers will not
be annoyed and there is a fair possibility that they will gradually like the ads. Furthermore,
credibility, a construct of this study, has found to be the most significant of the factors affecting
respondents’ attitude toward mobile ads.

Another author Koo (2010) confirmed that the determinants of attitudes, entertainment, in
formativeness, irritation, and credibility, toward apparel mobile advertising significantly affect
attitudes toward apparel mobile advertising, and attitudes toward apparel mobile advertising
positively impact behavioral intention. While entertainment, in formativeness, and credibility are
positively related to attitudes toward apparel mobile advertising, irritation is negatively related to
apparel mobile advertising.

27
Khasawneh & Shuhaiber (2013), empirically investigate the significant factors that influence
consumer’s attitude towards and acceptance of SMS advertising in Jordan. The findings indicate
that SMS in formativeness, entertainment, credibility, clarity, incentive, personalization,
relevancy, as well as subjective norms have positive significant influence on consumer attitude
and acceptance of SMS advertising, whereas message irritation, brand familiarity and consumer
control have negative significant influences.

As of Zabadi, Shura & Elsayd (2012), in-formativeness and credibility of SMS advertisements
are positively correlated to consumers’ overall attitudes towards SMS advertisements. The study
further found consumers’ perceptions of the irritation aspect of SMS advertisements is negatively
correlated with consumers’ attitudes towards SMS advertisements. They got results that indicate
attitude toward advertising via mobile devices strongly depends on message characteristics. The
message characteristics need to be developed carefully. Marketers can not only rely on the fact
that an advertising message sent via mobile devices will be read and remembered automatically.
Also the results indicate that advertising value and advertising message content have the largest
impact on attitude toward advertising via mobile devices.

28
2.9 Conceptual Frameworks Attitude of Customers towards SMS Ads

Attitude of customers towards SMS ads is highly affected by the following three important
elements. These are:

Independent variables including Personalization, credibility, in formativeness,

entertainment & irritation;
Demographic variables that incorporates age, gender &educational level; and
The actual products & service elements of the company.

The above aforementioned theoretical points are considered as a backbone of this study &
depicted as follows here below:

Independent variables:
(Personalization, credibility, in
formativeness,entertainment
& irritation)

Demographic
variables (age, The company
gender, products & service
educational level & elements
others)

Attitude of
customers
towards SMS
ads (Dependent
variables)

Figure 2.9.1: A conceptual framework of factors that affect customer’s attitude towards SMS ads

29
 CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY

3.1. Design of the Study

The research design is a quantitative particularly co-relational design utilizing survey research
method and includes a survey instrument. The purpose of the design is to correlate attitude of
customers towards SMS advertisement with antecedents of attitude towards advertisements
namely entertainment, in-formativeness, credibility, irritation and personalization.

3.2. Population of the Study

Ethio-telecom has 31459 enterprise customers as of September 2013. And these represent the
target population for this particular study. These are active customers that subscribed for the
service mainly for business purpose. Since the profiles of residential customers is not well
developed by the company the researcher has exclusively opt to make enterprise customers his
target population.

3.3. Sample of the study

Those who are selected to respond to the instrument are 381 in number. This sample size is
selected based on the table for sample size determination by http:// research-advisors.com which
is based on a 5% error margin and 95% confidence level. Out of 381 individuals 268 were
willing and responded to the survey ensuring 70.34% response rate.

3.4. Technique of sampling

A simple random sampling technique is employed to identify members of the sample. The lists
of all postpaid enterprise mobile subscribers from ethio-telecom data base are used for the
selection. Accordingly 381persons are selected for the study. This ensures less bias and the
chance for the selection of one member is independent of the other.

30
3.5. Method of data collection
A structured telephone survey is used to gather data from respondents. The researcher used this
method because of the following major reasons. Firstly the respondents are scattered over a large
geographical area and as such cannot be contacted face to face. Secondly, members of the
sample don’t always avail themselves at sales offices as they inherently opt to send their
employees to sales offices to settle their bills.

3.6. Instrument of the study

A survey instrument is used to gather data from respondents. The instrument for this study
consists of two parts. The first part consists of demographic questions like age, gender and level
of education. The second part consists of statements in a five point likert scale that are rated from
strongly disagree to strongly agree. Items 2, 3, 7 and 8 are taken from the instrument used by
Saadeghvaziri and Hosseini (2010). Other items are self-developed and modified by the
researcher. The face validity of the instrument has been approved by three experts after removing
ambiguous items and wording corrections. The instrument was also pretested on twenty
individuals and witnessed greater reliability for further analysis.

3.7. Procedure for data collection

First a letter requiring the cooperation of the company to allow for the telephone survey was
submitted. Upon getting their reply respondents were informed of the purpose of the survey.
Based on their permission the respondents were asked to respond and to state their level of
agreement to the statements in the survey. Simultaneously their answer was marked in the hard
copy of the instrument. Much precaution was taken to help respondents by briefing them on any
possible ambiguities regarding the survey instrument.

3.8. Method of data analysis

A correlation analysis is employed to test hypotheses 1 and 2 to determine whether significant
relationships exist between attitude of customers toward SMS advertisement and the antecedent
variables like entertainment, in-formativeness, personalization, credibility and irritation. H3 and
H4 are analyzed using independent sample t-test and ANOVA respectively.

31
 CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS

4.1. Characteristics of the Respondents

Since the general characteristics of the respondents are vital to get insights to the overall study
we shall start by seeing the demographic nature of the respondents. It is believed in many extant
literatures that demographic variables like age, sex and educational level do have an impact on
customers’ perception and attitude towards advertisements in general and mobile advertisements
in particular.
Education level Frequency percent Cumulative
percent
Primary school 11 4.1 4.1
High school 44 16.4 20.5
Diploma 93 34.7 55.2
Degree and Above 120 44.8 100.0
Total 268 100.0
Table 4.1.1 Educational level of respondents

From the table above one can see that the greatest portion of the respondents (44.8%) have
degree and above where as 34.7% of them have diploma. 20.5% Of the respondents have an
educational level of high school and primary school. From the table 1.1 we can understand that
most of the respondents are highly educated i.e. 79.5 % of them have diploma and above.

Age Frequency Valid Cumulative

percent percent
18-30 124 46.3 46.3
31-45 107 39.9 86.2
46-60 30 11.2 97.4
Above 60 7 26 100.0
Total 268 100.0
Table.4.1.2 Age of the respondents

32
The respondents in the study are in different age categories. Those in the youth age category
accounts for 46.3% of the respondents followed by those customers with an age ranging between
31-45(39.9%).Those respondents with an age of above 45 comprise the remaining 13.8% .We
can understand that most of the respondents are in a youth and middle ages.

Sex Frequency Valid percent

Male 196 73.1
Female 72 26.9
Total 268 100.0
Table 4.1.3 Sex composition of respondents

As it can be seen from the table above the majority of the respondents is males (73.1%).Since the
sampling technique employed is a simple random sampling it has led to very disproportionate
figures. So it is essential to understand that the figures above are not meant to say that there is
much disparity between the number of male and female mobile subscribers.

4.2. Reliability of the Data

Reliability refers to the extent to which the items measure accurately and consistently what they
intend to measure. The instrument for this study contains 12 items that are in a likert scale type.
The overall reliability of the instruments is measured. A cronbach’s alpha of 0.829 is obtained
which is well above what is considered acceptable by scholars which is 70 % (Waldt, Rebello
and Brown, 2009). The cronbach’s alpha for all the items are also above 70 % (see appendix).

33
4.3. Customers’ Perception of Antecedent Variables
It is stated in literatures that customers attitude towards SMS advertisement depends on their
overall assessment of the content of the message. The content of the message is perceived by
customers based on the extent to which it is informative, personalized, irritating, credible and
entertaining. If a marketer can capture how customers perceive the message content with regard
to these variables then it is possible to gauge their attitude towards SMS advertisement.

N Mean Std. Variance

deviation
Entertainment 268 2.2985 .86032 .740
Personalizing 268 2.6045 .97645 .953
Irritation 268 4.0429 1.03272 1.067
In-formativeness 268 2.8004 .96001 .922
Credibility 268 2.4590 .88696 .787
Valid n (list wise) 268
Table.4.3.1 Descriptive statistics for antecedent variables

From the table above we can see that irritation has the highest mean score that is above the
neutral score 3. All the other variables have a mean score below the neutral score 3. It is possible
to understand that most of the customers either agreed or strongly agreed to the irritation
statements while most of them have either disagreed or strongly disagreed to all other statements.
But in order to fully determine customers’ perception with regard to entertainment,
personalization, irritation, in-formativeness, credibility and their attitude it is essential to
undertake a one sample t-test for the variables.

A one sample t-test is used to test whether a sample mean significantly varies from a
hypothesized value. In this case the hypothesized value is the neutral score of the five point
Likert scale.

34
 Test value =3
T df Sig. Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the
(2-tailed) Difference difference
Lower Upper
entertainment -13.348 267 .000 -.70149 -.8050 -.5980
Table.4.3.2.One-Sample t-Test for entertainment

From the table above we can see that the mean score for entertainment (2.2985) is significantly
lower that the neutral score of 3. This implies that the difference between the mean score for
entertainment and the neutral score (.70149) is significant. So it is possible to conclude that SMS
advertisements of ethio-telecom are poor in terms of entertainment values. This could be
attributed to the lack of emotional appeals like attractive visual features, humorous content and
improved graphics.

Test value =3
T df Sig. Mean difference 95% confidence interval
(2-tailed) of the difference
lower Upper

Personalization -6.631 267 .000 -.39552 -.5130 -.2781

Table.4.3.3 A one sample t-test for personalization

Customers of ethio-telecom do also perceive SMS ads of the company as less personalized. The
mean score for personalization (2.6045) is well below the middle score which stands for the
neutral response i.e. 3. The customers’ perception is low because of the poor ability of the ads to
fit the personal interest of the customers as well as their activities.

35
 Test value =3
T df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference 95% confidence interval of
the difference
lower upper
Irritation 16.532 267 .000 1.04291 .9187 1.1671

Table.4.3.4. A one sample t-test for irritation

As far as irritation is concerned customers perceive SMS ads of ethio-telecom as highly irritating
as it can be seen from the table above the mean score for irritation (4.0429) is significantly
higher than the neutral score of 3. There are numerous factors that could have contributed to this
figure. For instance ethio-telecoms’ SMS ads are redundant and with little innovations. These
facts results in feeling of manipulation from customers perspective thereby leading to a higher
feeling of irritation.

Test value =3
T df Sig. Mean difference 95% confidence interval of
(2-tailed) the difference
lower upper
In-formativeness -3.404 267 .001 -.19963 -.3151 -.0842

Table.4.3.5. A one sample t-test for in-formativeness

As we can see from the table above customers do perceive ethio-telecom’s advertisement as less
informative with significance level of 0.001. The mean score for in-formativeness (2.8084)is
significantly lower than the neutral score implying that SMS advertisements of the company are
less informative. This shows that the message is not enriched with information that is most
wanted by customers.

36
 Test value =3
T df Sig. Mean difference 95% confidence interval of
(2-tailed) the difference
lower upper
Credibility -9.986 267 .000 -.54104 -.6477 -.4344

Table 4.3.6 a one sample t-test for credibility

Concerning credibility, which is the extent to which customers believe and trust the
advertisement, it is possible to understand from the table that customers’ perception is
significantly negative. The mean score for credibility (2.4590) is significantly (sig=0.000) lower
than the neutral score 3.This implies that Customers don’t trust the SMS advertisements of the
company.

Test value =3
T Df Sig. Mean difference 95% confidence interval
(2- of the difference
tailed) lower upper
Attitude of customer -15.250 267 .000 -.86803 -.9801 -.7560
towards SMS adv.
Table 4.3.7 a one sample t-test for attitude towards SMS advertisement.

The attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement is generally negative. The mean score for
attitude (2.1320) is well below the neutral score of 3. Overall customers’ attitude towards ethio-
telecom’s advertisements is negative implying that the advertisements are not liked by
customers. As it is eminent from previous one sample t-test tables customers’ perception of
variables are less than the neutral score with the exception of irritation where customers perceive
the advertisements as highly irritating.

37
4.4. Correlation analysis
As the primary objective of this study is to investigate whether there exists significant
relationships between antecedent variables and the dependent variable (attitude towards SMS
advertisements) we will see the results from a correlation analysis. A correlation analysis is used
to determine the direction and strength of linear relationships existing between variables.

Attitude towards SMS advertisements

Antecedent variable Correlation coefficient significance
Entertainment 0.544 .000
Personalization 0.521 .000
Irritation -0.579 .000
In-formativeness 0.599 .000
Credibility 0.665 .000
Table4.4.1 Results of a correlation analysis

A correlation analysis above clearly depicts that attitude towards SMS advertisement is
positively and significantly correlated to entertainment. An increase in entertainment content of
the short messaging leads to an increase in attitude towards SMS advertisement. The correlation
coefficient (0.544) is even significant at the 0.01 level. So it is possible to deduce that the
relationship between entertainment and attitude is very significant. As a result the first
hypothesis (H1) is accepted.

A correlation analysis from the table above indicates that there exists a significant and positive
relationship between in-formativeness of the SMS and attitude towards SMS advertisement. The
relationship is significant even at 0.01 level. Accordingly hypothesis 1 is also supported.

When we see the relationship between attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement and
personalization there exist a strong and significant positive relationship between them. The
correlation coefficient in this case is 0.521 which is statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The
greater the room for tailoring the content of the advertisement the more positive will be
customers’ reaction towards that advertisement. Once again Hypothesis 1 is accepted.

38
Irritation although like other variables strongly correlated with attitude, the direction of the
relationship is negative implying that an annoying and manipulative advertisement leads to a
negative attitude towards that advertisement. Since the correlation coefficient (-.579) is
significant at the 0.01 level. Hypothesis 2 is also accepted.

The correlation coefficient for the relationship between credibility and attitude (.665) is higher
compared to the other variables. The relationship is also significant at the 0.01 level. As a result
hypothesis 1 is also supported. All the above results are consistent with the findings of Parissa
and Maria (2005), Saadghvaiziri & Hosseini (2010).

4.5. Impact of demographic characteristics on attitude towards SMS advertisement

Till now we have tested whether there is a significant relationship between attitude towards SMS
advertisements and antecedent variables with the help of a correlation analysis. Now we will see
if there exists a difference in customers’ perception of the antecedent variables and attitude
towards SMS advertisement across demographic categories. First we will be analyzing the
difference in perception of antecedent variables and attitude across different educational
categories. Since the categories are more than two, ANOVA is used for analysis.

Entertainment Sum of squares df Mean Square f sig

Between groups 3.092 3 1.031 1.399 .244
Within groups 194.526 264 .737
Total 197.619 267
Table.4.5.1. ANOVA results for entertainment across educational levels

The difference in perception of entertainment across different educational levels is insignificant

(sig=.224). Therefore we can say that customers do perceive entertainment features of SMS ads
similarly. This implies that the mean score for entertainment for one educational group is almost
same with other group.

39
 Personalization Sum of squares df Mean Square f sig
Between groups 17.936 3 5.979 6.670 .000
Within groups 236.638 264 .896
Total 254.575 267
Table4.5.2.ANOVA results for personalization across educational levels

While coming to personalization results from the ANOVA analysis shows that there exists a
significant difference across the age categories in perception of personalization. This indicates
that content of a message that fits the personal interest and activities of some individuals are
completely not fit for others. The mean score for personalization is the highest for customers
with educational level of primary school with mean of 3.1818 followed by high school attendants
with a mean score of 3.0795(see appendix). The lowest mean score is the one for degree and
above. So we see a decline as it goes up on the educational level. Individuals with lower
educational background tend to believe that they received personalized service than highly
educated ones.

Personalization refers to individualized messages and is highly linked to expectation of

customers. As expectation increases, the perception of personalization decreases. It is realistic to
believe that as knowledge boosts following educational advancement expectation will rise and
perception diminishes. This could be a justification for aforementioned result.

Irritation Sum of squares df Mean Square f sig

Between groups 15.695 3 5.232 5.133 .002
Within groups 269.061 264 1.019
Total 284.757 267
Table 4.5.3 ANOVA results for irritation across educational levels

40
Results from descriptive statistics (see appendix) shows that customers with a higher level of
education (degree and above) perceives a higher level of irritation (mean score of 4.1792). This
figure reduces as the level of education decreases (mean score of 3.1818 for primary education).
The difference in the mean scores is significant at the 0.01 level. Accordingly it is possible to
conclude that customer’s perception of irritation varies significantly from one educational
category to another.

In formativeness is perhaps another most important variable that needs to be studied in relation
to educational level. Literary one can guess that a message that consists of valuable information
for one individual could be a mere repetition and even an insult to his/her intelligence as he/she
has been exposed to that information prior to that. Highly educated individuals tend to have
greater access to various sources of information unlike the less educated. Yet the ANOVA for
the informative constructs has something to say about whether in-formativeness actually differs
across the educational level of individuals.

In-formativeness Sum of df Mean f sig

squares Square
Between groups 15.655 3 5.222 5.983 .001
Within groups 230.405 264 .873
Total 246.070 267
Table.4.5.4. ANOVA results for in-formativeness across educational levels

The ability of the SMS advertisements in providing information to customers significantly varies
across educational categories. It tends to reduce from those with primary school (mean score of
3.3636) to those with degree and above (mean score of 2.6583). This difference in mean scores is
significant. Therefore there is a difference in perception of in-formativeness across educational
categories.

41
Advertising credibility is “consumers’ perception of the truthfulness and believability of
advertising in general” (Mackenzie and Lutz, 1989) as cited in Saadeghvaziri and Hosseini
(2010). According to literatures credibility is not only associated with the message itself but also
with company credibility (Saadeghvaziri and Hosseini, 2010). Instrument item 14 in this study is
consistent with this. Next we will see whether credibility varies across educational levels.

Credibility Sum of df Mean f sig

squares Square
Between 10.586 3 3.529 4.671 .003
groups
Within 199.462 264 .756
groups
Total 210.049 267
Table4.5.5.ANOVA results for credibility across educational levels

The level of credibility varies significantly across different educational categories at the
0.001significance level implying that consumers’ perception of the extent to which SMS
advertisements are believable varies from individual to individual with different educational
grounds.

The highest mean score for credibility is obtained for customers who have attained high school
(2.8068) followed by those who have attended primary school (2.7727). The lowest mean score
is obtained for degree and above holders (2.2750)(see appendix).The mean scores are not in an
orderly manner with respect to educational level like those for irritation and in-formativeness. So
we can’t dare to say that credibility rises or declines as one ascend up the educational levels.
But we can say that there is a significant difference in credibility across the different educational
levels. Overall customers’ perception of the antecedent variables to attitude significantly varies
across the educational levels with the exception of entertainment.

42
 Sum of squares df Mean F Sig.
square
Between groups 8.382 3 2.794 3.327 .020
Within groups 221.680 264 .840
Total 230.062 267
Table.4.5.6. ANOVA results for attitude across educational levels

With regard to the overall attitude towards SMS advertisement, there is a significant difference
in attitude across the given educational categories. The difference in the mean scores for attitude
from the highest (2.4773 for high school) to the lowest (2.0292 for customers with qualification
of degree and above) is significant (see appendix). Accordingly hypothesis eight (H4) is
supported. It has been the interest of many scholars to investigate whether gender as a
demographic variable has an impact on attitude towards advertisements. Saadeghvaziri &
Seyedjavadain (2011) has found out that the impact of gender in influencing both the antecedent
variables and attitude towards advertisement is insignificant. Coming to the Ethiopian case it is
the researchers’ interest to investigate whether there is a significant difference in perception of
the antecedent variables and attitude towards SMS advertisement between males and females.

Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Entertainment Male 196 2.3087 .89750 .06411
Female 72 2.2708 .75497 .08897
Table 4.5.7. Mean scores of entertainment for males and females.

Male and female perception of entertainment has a mean score of 2.3087 and 2.2708. The figures
show that males perceive higher entertainment than females. The statistical significance of this
difference was analyzed using an independent sample t-test and found to be insignificant
(sig=0.750) (see appendix).So what is entertaining for a male customer is also entertaining for a
female customer almost in a similar intensity.

43
 Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean
Personalization Male 196 2.6352 1.00682 .07192
Female 72 2.5208 .88984 .10487
Table.4.5.8. Mean scores of personalization for males and females

Males believe the SMS advertisements are tailored to their personal interests and activities more
than that of females. The mean score for the groups are 2.6352 for males and 2.5208 for females.
However the significance of this difference between the groups is low as observed from the
independent sample t-test (sig=.396) (see appendix).

Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean

Irritation Male 196 3.9821 1.08884 .07777
Female 72 4.2083 .84649 .09976
Table.4.5.9. Mean score of irritation between males and female

Comparison of irritation between males and females shows that females perceive more irritation
factors than males as far as SMS from ethio-telecom is concerned. The mean score for females
is4.2083 where as for the males it is 3.9821.the difference between these figures is however
insignificant (sig. =.112)(see appendix). So we can understand that SMS advertisements are
almost equally irritating to male and female customers.

Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean

In-formativeness Male 196 2.8316 .96328 .06881
Female 72 2.7153 .95249 .11225
Table.4.5.10. Mean score of in-formativeness between males and female

44
As far as in-formativeness of the advertisement is concerned the mean score for males (2.83160)
is greater than females (2.7153). However statistically the extent to which the SMS provide
relevant information is perceived similarly both by males and females. This is eminent from the
independent sample t-test score (see appendix) which witnessed that the difference in the mean
score for in-formativeness between males and females is insignificant (sig. =0.380).

What so ever information is provided to customers via text messaging there is little probability,
that it is highly informative to males and very poor for females or vice versa. Being female or
male Perception of in-formativeness is independent of gender. This is equivalent to saying that a
company need not vary the content and richness of information to its target audiences merely by
considering gender.

Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean

Credibility Male 196 2.4745 .86787 .06199
Female 72 2.4167 .94198 .11101
Table.4.5.11 Mean score of credibility between males and female

Like all the previous variables the difference in credibility perceived by male and female
respondents is insignificant (sig. =.637) (see appendix).The findings from all the independent
sample t-test illustrated that there doesn’t exist a significant difference in customers’ perception
of entertainment, personalization, irritation, credibility and in-formativeness. This is consistent
with the findings of Saadeghvaziri & Seyedjavadain (2011).

Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean

Attitude of customers Male 196 2.1327 .95421 .06816
towards SMS advs. Female 72 2.1042 .85965 .10131
Table4.5.12. Mean score of attitude between males and females.

45
The overall attitude toward SMS advertisements has a mean score of 2.1327 and 2.1042 for male
and females respectively. Since it was proved by statistic that there doesn’t exist difference in all
the antecedent variables between males and females we don’t normally expect that there will be
a difference in attitude too. The results from an independent sample t-test proved that there is no
significant difference in attitude toward SMS advertisements between males and females (sig. =
0.824) (See appendix). As a result hypothesis 3 is supported.

46
 CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Summary of Findings

Understanding the concept of customers’ attitude towards advertisement is a critical task for
marketers. This fact is more relevant for SMS advertisement as they are the most sensitive means
of communication. Thus this study on attitude toward SMS advertisements has been done. The
major concluding remarks from the study are the following.

 The antecedent variables significantly affect attitude towards SMS advertisement.

Entertainment, personalization, in-formativeness and credibility significantly and
positively affect attitude towards SMS advertisement. Irritation on the other hand
significantly and negatively affect attitude toward SMS advertisements.

 In terms of the degree of correlation, credibility, in-formativeness and irritation are the
most related to attitude. A minor change in these variables is likely to have the greatest
impact on attitude towards SMS advertisement.

 Demographic variables were also the focus of this study. Since attitude is a cognitive
process and is subject to individuals’ ability to process information educational level
represents the point of difference among them. The study revealed that customers’
attitude towards SMS advertisements significantly varies across educational categories
but not in all dimensions. Customers’ attitude towards SMS advertisement on the other
hand doesn’t vary between males and females.

47
5.2. Recommendations
The fact that SMS advertisements of ethio-telecom have been perceived negatively by audience’s
calls for the company to take corrective actions and review its orientation as far as SMS
advertisement is concerned. Results from this study illustrates the overall attitude of customers
towards SMS advertisements is negative attributed to the fact that the message content of the
advertisements are of poor in-formativeness, personalization, credibility and entertainment while
cause much irritation to audiences. Consequently the researcher would like to recommend the
following major actions:

The most important result from this study states that attitude is most correlated with
credibility of the SMS. To ethio-telecom’s dismay customers do suspect the credibility of
SMS from the company. To ensure this it shall promise only what can be delivered and
not beyond that. In addition the overall service reliability of the company shall be
enhanced. An advertizing message of the company should be cognizant of the message
contents before being delivered to the audience.

The other major cause for negative attitude of customers towards SMS advertisement is
the irritation that SMS causes. This is a result of messages that are redundant, lacks
creativity. So due emphasis should be paid not to manipulate the customers with
excessive and boring messages. The company needs to put efforts to incorporate all
relevant information in a manner that provokes little feeling of manipulation.

Regarding the in-formativeness although the company has been continually sending
information, they are not adequate from the perspective of customers’. The Company
shall therefore increase both the amount and content of information sent to customers.

Another serious ground on which the SMS from ethio-telecom are criticized is the lack of
entertainment features. Almost all messages from the company are “buy now!” oriented
none of them makes customers feel relaxed. The company shall incorporate contents that
are attention getting and funny.

48
 The information or promises made in the messages shall also be met if can’t be excelled.
Entertainment and personalization are also important for ensuring success in achieving
communication objectives.

The extent to which the messages are tailored to the personal interest of customers is also
proved to be essential determinant. Thus the company should send messages that are
consistent with the customers’ demographic characteristics like income, occupation, and
user preference like preferred product, location and so on.

Beside antecedent variables attitude towards SMS advertisements are also impacted by
demographic variables. Results from this study witnessed that attitude towards SMS
advertisements vary significantly across educational levels while are indifferent to
gender. The company shall therefore strive to develop a complete profile of its customers
and send different messages to different customers based on their educational levels.

5.3. Limitations and future research

This study has been done taking a small segment of mobile subscribers in the country. This has
narrowed its ability to generalize the findings to all mobile subscribers in the country. Moreover
the study has limited the number of possible constructs and variables. For instance, among the
components of attitude the conative component is not included. The antecedent variables are not
supposed to be comprehensive. Taking into consideration all these future research can further
enhance the findings from the study by taking a larger population, more comprehensive
constructs and other relevant variables.

49
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towards SMS Advertisement: a qualitative analysis.

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Hoang NgaLoung (2007). Mobile Advertising; case study of Mindmatics and 12snap
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Stewart, D.W. and Pavlov, P.A (2002). From Customer Response to Active Consumer:
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42,719-729.
Ethio-telecom annual report, 2010, 8-12.

52
APPENDICES
Item-Total Statistics
scale mean if scale variance Corrected item Cronbach’s alpha
item deleted if item deleted Total correlation if item deleted
It is enjoyable & fun to 46.5840 70.029 .618 .810
receive SMS ads from
ethio-telecom
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 46.7668 70.411 .617 .811
have emotional appeal
Entertainement 46.6735 70.049 .680 .808
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 46.2519 68.465 .612 .809
are relevant to my jobs and
activities
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 46.4795 69.411 .577 .811
are tailored to my personal
interests
Personalization 46.3675 68.815 .667 .807
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 44.9646 91.314 -.573 .873
are boring & irritating
44.8974 90.193 -.529 .870
SMS ads of ethiotelecom
are redundant & lacks
creativity
Irritation 44.9291 90.656 -.567 .870
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 46.0280 68.641 .620 .809
are informative of new
products & services
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 46.3265 69.632 .570 .812
are informative of changes
in products & discounts
Informativeness 46.1716 69.118 .660 .808
SMS ads of ethiotelecom 464160 69.217 .653 .808
are believable
Ethiotelecom keeps its 46.6138 68.492 .707 .805
promises
Credibility 46.5131 68.748 .751 .804
I do like to receive SMS 46.8340 67.486 .754 .802
I do always look at SMS 46.8601 68.258 .724 .804
favorably

Attitude of customers 46.8470 67.800 .779 .802

towards SMS ads

53
Reliability Statistics

Cronbach’s alpha N of items

.829 18

Correlations

Entertainment Attitude of customers

towards SMS ads.
Entertainment Pearson correlation 1 .544**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
Attitude of customers Pearson correlation .544** 1
towards SMS ads. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Correlations

Attitude of customers Personalization

towards SMS ads.
Attitude of customers Pearson correlation 1 .521**
towards SMS ads. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 269 268
Personalization Pearson correlation .521** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

54
Correlations

Attitude of customers Irritation

towards SMS ads.
Attitude of customers Pearson correlation 1 .579**
towards SMS ads. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 269 268
Irritation Pearson correlation .579** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Correlations

Attitude of customers In-formativeness

towards SMS ads.
Attitude of customers Pearson correlation 1 .566**
towards SMS ads. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 269 268
In-formativeness Pearson correlation .566** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

55
Correlations

Attitude of customers Credibility

towards SMS ads.
Attitude of customers Pearson correlation 1 .665**
towards SMS ads. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 269 268
Credibility Pearson correlation .665** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 268 268
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Descriptive entertainment

N Mean Std. Std. error 95% confidence interval for mean

deviation Lower bound Upper bound
Primary school 11 2.6818 1.00680 .30356 2.0054 3.3582
High school 44 2.3750 .92211 .13901 2.0947 2.6553
Diploma 93 2.3387 .84107 .08721 2.1655 2.5119
Degree & above 120 2.2042 .83388 .07612 2.0534 2.3549
Total 268 2.2985 .86032 .05255 2.1950 2.4020

56
Descriptive personalization

N Mean Std. Std. error 95% confidence interval for mean

deviation Lower bound Upper bound
Primary school 11 3.1818 1.18896 .35849 2.3831 3.9806
High school 44 3.0795 .98207 .14805 2.7810 3.3781
Diploma 93 2.5484 .81782 .08480 2.3800 2.7168
Degree & above 120 2.4208 1.00209 .09148 2.2397 2.6020
Total 268 2.6045 .97645 .05965 2.4870 2.7219

Descriptive irritation

N Mean Std. Std. error 95% confidence interval for mean

deviation Lower bound Upper bound
Primary school 11 3.1818 1.16775 .35209 2.3973 3.9663
High school 44 3.7159 1.04769 .15794 3.3974 4.0344
Diploma 93 4.1237 1.04947 .10883 3.9075 4.3398
Degree & above 120 4.1792 .94779 .08652 4.0078 4.3505
Total 268 4.0429 1.03272 .06308 3.9187 4.1671

Descriptive in-formativeness

N Mean Std. Std. error 95% confidence interval for mean

deviation Lower bound Upper bound
Primary school 11 3.3636 1.07450 .32397 2.6418 4.0855
High school 44 3.2500 1.01443 .15293 2.9416 3.5584
Diploma 93 2.7043 .80500 .08347 2.5385 2.8701
Degree & above 120 2.6583 .98301 .08974 2.4806 2.8360
Total 268 2.8004 .96001 .05864 2.6849 2.9158

57
Descriptive credibility

N Mean Std. Std. error 95% confidence interval for mean

deviation Lower bound Upper bound
Primary school 11 2.7727 1.12614 .33954 2.0162 3.5293
High school 44 2.8068 1.07409 .16193 2.4803 3.1334
Diploma 93 2.4946 .84215 .08733 2.3212 2.6681
Degree & above 120 2.2750 .77744 .07097 2.1345 2.4155
Total 268 2.4590 .88696 .05418 2.3523 2.5656

58
  ለ ስ ል ክ መ ጠ የ ቅ የ ተ ዘ ጋ ጁ ፡-
 እ ድ ሜ ፡- ሀ . 18-30 ለ .31-45
ሐ . 46-60 መ . ከ 60 በ ላ ይ
 ፆ ታ ፡- ሀ .ወ ንድ ለ. ሴ ት
 የ ት ም ህ ር ት ደ ረ ጃ ፡- ሀ .መ ደ በ ኛ ት ም ህ ር ት ያ ል ወ ሰ ደ ለ . አ ን ደ ኛ ደ ረ ጃ
ሐ .ሁ ለ ተ ኛ ደ ረ ጃ መ . ዲ ፕ ሎ ማ
ሠ . ዲ ግ ሪ ና ከዛ በላይ

የ ስም ም ነት መ ጠ ን

ዐ ረፍ ተ ነገሮ ች በጣ ም አ ል ስ ማ ማ ም (2) ሃ ሳብ እስማ ማ ለሁ በጣ ም

አ ል ስ ማ ማ ም (1) የ ለ ኝ ም (3) (4) እ ስ ማ ማ ለ ሁ (5)

የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም ን አ ጭ ር
መ ል እ ክ ቶ ች መ ቀ በል አ ስ ደ ሳ ች ና
አዝ ና ኝ ስሜ ት ይ ፈ ጥ ራ ል ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች ለስሜ ት ቅ ር ብ ናቸ ው ?

የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች ለስራ ዬ ና ለተ ግ ባሮ ቼ
ተ ገቢ ናቸ ው ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች የ ግ ል ፍ ላጎቶ ቼ ን
የሚ መ ጥ ኑ ናቸው ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕ ክ ቶ ች አ ስ ል ቺ ና የ ሚ ያ በሳ ጩ
ናቸው ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች ተ ደጋ ጋ ሚ ና ፈ ጠ ራ
ያ ል ታ ከለ ባቸ ው ና ቸ ው ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች ስለአዲ ስየ ም ር ት
ው ጤ ቶ ች ና አገል ግ ሎ ቶ ች
ያሳው ቃሉ?
አ ጭ ር መ ል ዕ ክ ቶ ች በም ር ት ው
ጤ ቶ ች ዋ ጋ ና ቅ ና ሽላይ ያ ሉ
ለው ጦ ች ን ያሳው ቃ ሉ ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕክቶ ች ተ ዐማ ኒ ና ቸ ው ?
ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም በገ ባው ቃ ል መ ሰ ረ ት
አ ገ ል ግ ሎ ቱ ን የ ሚ ያ በረ ክ ት ና
ቃ ሉ ን የሚ ጠ ብቅ ድ ር ጅት ነው ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም ን አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕ ክ ቶ ች መ ቀ በል እ ወ ዳ ለ ሁ ?
የ ኢ ት ዮ ቴ ሌ ኮም ን አ ጭ ር
መ ል ዕ ክ ቶ ች ሁ ል ጊዜ በጥ ሩ ጎ ኑ
እ መ ለከታ ች ዋ ለሁ ?

59
Survey Instrument:
Age: a. 18-30 b.31-45
c. 46-60 d. above 60

Gender: a. male b. female

Level of education:
a. no formal education b. primary education
c. secondary education d. diploma
e. degree and above

Level of Agreement
List of statements
Strongly Strongly
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
It is enjoyable and fun to receive SMS ads
from ethio-telecom

SMS ads of ethio-telecom have emotional

appeal.

SMS ads of ethio-telecom are relevant to my

job and activities
SMS ads of ethio-telecom are tailored to my
personal interests

SMS ads of ethio-telecom are boring and

irritating
SMS ads of ethio-telecom are redundant and
lack creativity
SMS ads of ethio-telecom are informative of
new products and services
SMS ads of ethio-telecom are informative of
changes in product prices and discounts
SMS ads of ethio-telecom are believable
Ethio-telecom is a company that is always
providing and confirming to its Promises
I do like to receive SMS ads from ethio-
telecom
I do always look at SMS ads from ethio -
telecom favorably

60
 DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis is my original work, prepared under the
guidance of Dr. TEMESGEN BELAY. All sources of materials used for the thesis
have been duly acknowledged. I further confirm that the thesis has not been
submitted either in part or in full to any other higher learning institution for the
purpose of earning any degree.

MULUKEN KIROS [ID-NO: 0028]

61
 ENDORSEMENT

This thesis has been submitted to St. Mary’s University, School of Graduate
Studies for examination with my approval as a university advisor.

Dr. TEMESGEN BELAYNEH

Advisor Signature& Date

62