FRUSTRATION AND CONSUMER EVALUATION OF SEARCH ADVERTISING AND SEARCH ENGINE EFFECTIVENESS: THE CASE OF HEDONIC VERSUS UTILITARIAN PRODUCT

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of frustration in online search endeavors. The research applies precepts from frustration theory to investigate the nature of search goals for hedonic vs. utilitarian product and the moderating influence of encountered frustration during online searches on attitude toward keyword search advertising (A(Ad)), attitude toward searched brand (A(brand)), purchase intention (PI), and attitude toward search engine effectiveness. An experiment with a pretest was conducted. The results of the pretest suggest that hedonic product searches associate with the goal of finding relevant search results, while utilitarian product searches relate to time saving. The findings of the experiment indicate that the influence of hedonic vs. utilitarian search on A(Ad) and search engine effectiveness is moderated by the level of frustration. The present research contributes to the substantive and conceptual domains of frustration theory, Internet search advertisements, search engine effectiveness, and electronic commerce.