The relationship between advertising and consumer perceived risks in automobi̇le purchasing: A content analysis and a survey

There are various risks that the consumer can perceive when buying a car (physical risk, functional risk, financial risk, social risk and psychological risk). The effect of advertising on these risk perceptions is the subject of this research. This thesis includes two different studies: The first study is a content analysis of 68 print advertisements of various automotive brands. The study explored the types of risk that were emphasized in these different print advertisements. In addition, the perceived type of risk is more involved in this research. The second study is a survey of 500 consumers for the types of risks they would perceive in purchasing an automobile for their personal use within the next 12 months. Survey data was first subjected to an exploratroy factor analysis (principal components analysis). The perceived risk dimensions obtained from this analyzed to determine whether the impontance given to advertising created any significant differences concerning the different dimensions of perceived risk. Survey results were further analyzed for demographic differences among consumers using Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Findings point to a significant difference between those who attribute an above-average importance towards advertising in their decision to purchase a car and those who attribute a below-average importance to advertising, where those who put greater weight on advertising also perceive a lower general risk when purchasing a car.