The Impact of Electronic Advertising on the Cereal Importers' Decision to Buy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of electronic advertising on the cereal importers' decision to buy. The present research is a causal descriptive-survey study and an applied study regarding the purpose. The statistical population of the present study is comprised of cereals importers in the first six months of the year 2016, which consist of 202 companies. Sample size was obtained through Cochran formula as 132, and then the questionnaire is distributed through random and classical sampling. The data was collected using two questionnaires: the pre-designed questionnaires was for evaluating electronic advertisement including 4 components and 20 questions, and a researcher-made questionnaire based on Philip Cutler's purchase decision theory to assess purchasing decision and consisted of 4 components, with 47 items. Both of the questionnaires were based on the five-degree Likert spectrum and their reliability was measured using the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. The data collected through the questionnaire was entered into the spss19 software system. For the inferential statistics of variables to statistically analyze the data, different statistical tests including Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Pearson correlation test and linear regression were used. The results of the research indicated that electronic advertising has a positive and significant effect on the decision making of cereal importers' purchase. Also, the dimensions of electronic advertising including banner, e-mail, web site, and search engines have a positive and significant effect on shoppers' e-shopping decision.

Keywords: electronic advertising, banner, e-mail, web site, search engines