Relationship between advertising appeal and behavioral intention: the mediating effect of attitude and moderating effect of cultural norms in two distinct Muslim Nations

The notion that globalization impulses nations to converge through accepting shared consumer behavior and places consumer outside of a cultural context. Its manifest the consumption patterns and the persuasive advertising entails cultural congruence. Therefore, the global marketers need to understand the role of the culture in designing advertising campaigns to get a competitive advantage. It is important to delineate these effects that global marketers need to develop effective global advertising campaigns. For that reason, this research examines how norm congruent attitude mediates the relationship between advertising appeals of a global brand and behavioral intention in two culturally distinct Muslim nations Malaysia and Pakistan. To understand effects of the cultural attributes in advertising appeals across cultures, the study proposes a moderating model of cultural norms whereby congruence with the nine dimensions presented in Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) framework moderate the relation between advertising appeals and intention. The model is tested by using (2×2) experimental within and between subject design with data obtained from sample of 386. Findings show a significant difference in the relationship between advertising appeals and behavioral intention which is mediated by the attitude in both nations. Likewise, relationship between advertising appeal and intention to use a global brand is moderated by the cultural norms and nine dimensions of (GLOBE) framework in both nations. The study empirically confirms the central role of attitude and interactional effect of nine dimensions with advertising appeal. It’s also offers cultural explanation for theory of planned behavior by re-operationalizing subjective norms with (GLOBE) cultural dimensions. Further, this study offers variety of applicable implications for the advertising managers dealing with the global brands in Muslim nations