The purpose of this study is to find out how effective native content can be and how much 1) the web site type (news vs. entertainment vs. social networking site) and 2) the native content appeal (emotional vs. informational) will influence reader’s evaluations about a) the ad/website where the ad is placed and b) reader’s persuasion knowledge. The study also included an individual’s ad skepticism as one of the independent variables, arguing that the level of ad skepticism will influence the evaluations about the ad/website and individual’s persuasion knowledge. The result of the study can be helpful for advertisers to decide where and how to present native content. An online experiment, 3 (website type: news site/entertainment site/Facebook) X 2 (native content appeal: emotional/informational) X 2 (individual’s ad skepticism: high/low) was conducted to estimate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, such as attitude towards the ad, website’s evaluation and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Introduction One of the newest ways of online advertising is ‘native ad’ or ‘native content.’ This new form of advertising provides companies the opportunity to introduce their products or services in a more natural way via online. Native ads normally match the design of other contents presented in the website and it should be perceived naturally as the rest of the content there (for example, in an online news site, the ad should be presented as news). Since native ads fit into the design of the site and people are there looking for stories to read, they provide higher rates of engagement as well as brand perception. However, there is a possibility of people feeling ‘deceived’ after realizing the story they click to read is no other but advertising. Furthermore, in the case of news websites, there have been instances of disapproval regarding native content. One of the arguments against native content presented in news sites points out that it is not ethical to present ads in the format of news. On the other hand, paid content can be seen as a useful alternative for non-intrusive online advertising which can generate more views among the users. Despite the increase of native content as a new form of advertising, academic study about native content (ads) is still difficult to find. The purpose of this study is to find out how effective native content can be and how much 1) the web site type (news vs. entertainment vs. social networking site) and 2) the native content appeal (emotional vs. informational) will influence reader’s evaluations about a) the ad/website where the ad is placed and b) reader’s persuasion knowledge. The study also included an individual’s ad skepticism as one of the independent variables, arguing that the level of ad skepticism will influence the evaluations about the ad/website and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Native content appears naturally, functioning like the rest of the content in the website. This characteristic makes it difficult for some people to tell the difference between the editorial content and paid content. By including ad skepticism as an independent variable, this study will show how people with high/low levels of ad skepticism will deal with this type of advertising. The result of the study can be helpful for advertisers to decide where and how to present native content. An online experiment, 3 (website type: news site/entertainment site/Facebook) X 2 (native content appeal: emotional/informational) X 2 (individual’s ad skepticism: high/low), was conducted to estimate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, such as attitude towards the ad, website’s evaluation and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Literature Review Native Advertising and Evolution of Advertorials Native advertising is a method marketers use to present content in an interesting and subtle way on different websites or social media in a way that is almost camouflaging with the other content presented there. According to a IPG Media Lab survey, native advertising presented 53% more exposure than banners and it showed better performance regarding purchase intention, brand closeness and share intention. Native advertising’s origins can be found in what is defined as ‘advertorial’ (a combination of the words advertising and editorial). As we can find different arguments in native ads, we may also find discussions regarding similar topics related to advertorials. Cameron and Ju-Pak (2000)’s research supported that when stories are presented as editorial copy, they showed better credibility than those with a label of advertising. The ideas and main characteristics of advertorials appear today in native advertisements, bringing the advantages of advertorials to native ads. Marketers keep trying to make online advertising reliable and create effective sponsored content. However, as it was discussed with advertorials, when it appears difficult to tell the difference between news content and sponsored content, there is a possibility that the advertising is seen as deceptive (Pike, 2014). Since native content has become a popular online advertising format in reality, it is necessary to study it and the responses generated among the audience members of online news and different websites. Persuasion Knowledge Model & Ad Skepticism An individual’s ability to recognize and evaluate marketers’ persuasion goals and tactics is known as persuasion knowledge. Ad skepticism refers to a critical approach for consumers to evaluate and cope with advertising. Relating to the persuasion knowledge model and native content, one of the most important aspects for marketers is to determine the degree of persuasion knowledge that the target has in the different types of native content or the different website types where it is presented. This study will evaluate how an individual’s persuasion knowledge is affected after being exposed to native content. According to the persuasion knowledge model, we can assume that the more consumers know about the persuasion attempt of an agent, the lesser they are being persuaded. This study examined how the exposure to a new way of online advertising (native content) affects users’ persuasion knowledge. In the meantime, consumers with a higher level of skepticism make it harder for advertisers to find the effective format of online advertising. Consumers with a high level of skepticism may also be more aware of advertising strategies which leads to less positive responses to ads that use subtle persuasive techniques (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998, 2000). Previous research has shown that ad skepticism varies depending on advertising formats: banner advertisements present higher levels of skepticism than sponsored content. The present study differentiated persuasion knowledge from ad skepticism. Ad skepticism is regarded as a personal attribute. It is measured in order to find out how participants' level of ad skepticism (high/low) will influence the effects of native content. On the other hand, persuasion knowledge is seen as a way users will cope with advertising strategies. This research examined the effects different native advertising have on a reader’s persuasion knowledge. Research Questions & Hypotheses [RQ1]: Will the effect of native content on site evaluation be different depending on the website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [RQ2]: Will content appeal and website type influence the effects of native content on site evaluation (before/after)? [RQ3]: Will the effect of native content on persuasion knowledge be different depending on the website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [RQ4]: Will the effect of native content on attitude towards the ad (affective/cognitive/behavioral attitude and advertising credibility) differ depending on website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [H1]: Informational native content will show more positive cognitive attitude towards the ad than emotional content. [H2]: Emotional native content will show more positive affective attitude towards the ad than informational content. Research Method An online experiment was conducted in May 2016 in Seoul, Korea. Using a convenient and snowball sample, a total of 359 adult participants aged 18 or older took part in the online experiment. Experiment stimuli were created based on existing brands with high-involvement products (LG G5 mobile phone and CITI credit card). Experimental stimuli were created by the researchers to resemble native content and native ads in news sites, entertainment sites, and Facebook. The format of the contents was adapted from native content published in different sites (news site: /entertainment site: Huffington Post Korea, ). Participants were randomly assigned to one of the 6 cells (3 website types X 2 appeals). First, ad skepticism was measured followed by website evaluation. After each stimulus was shown, attitude towards the native ad, site evaluation and persuasion knowledge were measured. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Despite the growing popularity of native advertising in various online sites, little research has been performed regarding its effects and possible variables influencing the effects of native advertising. This study intended to contribute to find an effective way to create native content and a suitable place to place the native content. The study found significant interaction effects between content appeal and site evaluation (before/after). Also, significant interaction effects on persuasion knowledge were found between website type and content appeal. On the other hand, main effects of independent variables (native content appeal and ad skepticism) showed interesting results. Results of RQ1 showed that a lower ad skepticism and informational content appeal presented more significant effects on site evaluation. In other words, participants with lower levels of ad skepticism were more likely to positively evaluate the site. Also, when comparing the types of appeal, informational native content turned out to be more effective on site evaluation than emotional appeal. However, the online experiment failed to detect a meaningful connection between website type and site evaluation. Significant differences were found in terms of participants’ website evaluation before and after presenting experimental stimuli, native content (RQ2). Contrary to what was expected, emotional appeal presented a bigger mean difference between site evaluation before and site evaluation after. This may be due to participants’ feeling of deception from native content with emotional appeal that leads a lower website evaluation among research participants (Howe & Teufel, 2014). According to Moore and Rodgers (2005), due to high levels of skepticism, online ads are perceived as the least reliable source of credibility. This can explain why content with informational appeal showed more favorable website evaluation over content with emotional appeal. The interaction effect between content appeal and website type on persuasion knowledge was significant. That is, informational appeal showed higher persuasion knowledge for both Facebook and news sites, whereas emotional appeal showed higher persuasion knowledge for entertainment sites. This result is consistent with the literature review presented above regarding website context and online advertising. Meanwhile, the fact that informational appeal increases persuasion knowledge on Facebook can be a subject for further research. Main effects of content appeal and ad skepticism were also found in increasing persuasion knowledge (RQ3). Ad skepticism showed significant main effects on attitude towards the ad over all four categories (affective, cognitive, behavioral attitudes and ad credibility). In other words, participants with lower ad skepticism showed more positive affective/cognitive/behavioral attitudes towards the native content and believed the ad was better. This finding supported previous research on ad skepticism where consumers with low levels of skepticism had more positive responses to advertising (Obermiller & Spangenberg; 1998, 2000). In conclusion, this study showed that participants with a lower level of ad skepticism show more positive reactions to native content than those who tend to be more skeptical about advertising in general. Also, informational appeal appeared to be more effective when compared to emotional content: informational appeal native ads resulted in more positive cognitive/behavioral attitudes towards the native ad and more ad credibility (RQ4).

Introduction An individual’s Persuasion Knowledge is his or her knowledge of the persuasive nature of messages (Freisted and Wright 1994). Most adults are assumed to have this knowledge that enables them to be sceptical of persuasive messages, and to incorporate this information in their decision-making about promoted products. Children are viewed as vulnerable to persuasive messages (Nelson 2016) because they have not developed the appropriate knowledge base to be sceptical of messages (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) and thus unable to discount the claims made by marketers. This lack of ability to be sceptical is argued to lead to “…the vulnerability of young audiences to the negative effects of advertising” (Nelson 2016, p. 169) like obesity, materialism, poor quality of life and higher rates of mortality. Because of the wide acceptance that young children are particularly vulnerable to persuasive messages, advertising targeting children has been banned in several countries and proposed for others (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Many studies about Persuasion Knowledge or Advertising Knowledge (communication research) have been published over the 40 plus years since Ward (1972) first discussed the concept. However, few studies have tested whether Persuasion Knowledge is an antecedent to children’s sceptical responses to persuasive messages. The 11 studies that have tested the link (see Mizerski et al. (2016) for a review) used a wide variety of single item or reflective measures (measures that reflect the construct). They provide inconsistent findings except that the child’s age is positively associated with acquiring knowledge about persuasive messages like advertising or playing advergames. For example, while most researchers assumed or argued a positive link between young children’s persuasion knowledge and their scepticism, Buijzen (2007) and Christenson (1982) failed to find this link. Robertson and Rossiter (1974) reported children’s understanding of persuasive intent (commercials persuade one to buy things) was positively related with young children’s scepticism, but assistive intent (commercials tell one about things) was negatively related. The inconsistent findings of children’s responses to commercial messages may be due to more than the lack of consistent measures. The use of reflective rather than formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge may be another reason for inconsistent findings. “Young” children are those under eight years old (Mizerski 1) shashaatperth@gmail.com et al. 2016), but a lack of sufficient persuasion knowledge has been found with children over 16 years old (Carter et al. 2011). Most recent studies have adopted the Freisted and Wright (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model that is based on the information processing of an adult buyer. Adults tend to have obtained Persuasion Knowledge so their knowledge may be captured with measures that reflect the construct. Young children are in the process of obtaining Persuasion Knowledge. The ability to understand the source of the message and the persuasive intent of the source are often cited as antecedents to having Persuasion Knowledge. These constructs form over time and cause persuasion knowledge (Nelson 2016). Therefore, it should be a formative measure. Measuring social class is a classical formative measure because causal elements like where you live and your profession can’t be accurately calculated for children. Social class forms over time. The use of a reflective measure when a formative measure should be used leads to several problems (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 2006; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001), particularly an increase in Type II errors-“false negatives” (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Jarvis 2005). For example, this means ruling out a causal element of persuasion knowledge when it is causal. This paper will compare existing single item or multi-item reflective measures used with young children, with a formative measure of the Persuasive Knowledge construct. The best way to validate a construct is to test it with external variables empirically and theoretically linked to the construct, including both antecedents and consequences (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001). Three variables, theoretically and/or empirically linked with young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, are tested in a baseline model to assess the external validity of the construct. These variables are age (Ward 1972), responses toward persuasive marketing messages (such as scepticism) and affect toward the persuasive messages (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Therefore, it is expected that the goodness-of-fit measures for the model using the formative measure of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge will provide a better fit to the data than the reflective measures. To further test the formative nature of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, two additional models are tested. Researchers are responsible to set the weights of indicators of a formative construct, so a formative model with expert knowledge weights is developed (Figure 1). The indicators or elements of a formative construct should be able to reveal different facets so another model with different facets is developed. Consistent findings of the two models and the proposed baseline model will further support the formative nature of this construct. Apart from content validity and external validity, we also test the measures of the construct with another data set (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) to test the models’ generalisability. The Mallinckrodt and Mizerski study used children from a different cultural background (Australian vs. Chinese young children), but have similar ages and measures of Persuasion Knowledge and external variables. Further confirmation of the structure of the measurement model is provided if the same relationships are found with the second data set. Methodology Sample The population to be sampled are young Chinese children. China was selected because it has the largest population of young children, is the largest market for toys and a children’s toy is the stimulus product in the experimental study. The sample frame is day care schools in a Northern Chinese city of approximately eight million people. Procedure This is an experiment-based study with a control group. After individual exposure to a toy TV advertisement for a “magic ruler” that can be made into many different shapes with a Dinosaur shape shown in the ad, participants were each asked to answer questions. Cartoon pictures of the question options accompanied by verbal statements were used to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding young children’s responses on Persuasion Knowledge related questions. To reduce any effects of young children choosing the first option they see, pictures or options were shown in a random order. Children were told that there is no right or wrong answer, and they could withdraw at any point. Measures Persuasion knowledge was measured three ways; including a single-item measure, a summated-items measure, and a formative measure. Through an analysis and coding of 20 studies that tested the effect of young children’s persuasion knowledge (Mizerski et al. 2016), six items were found to measure the Persuasion Knowledge construct. The single-item measure used is the children’s understanding of the advertisers’ intention to make them ask their parents to buy (parent-buying intent). This was treated as the most important aspect of persuasion knowledge by several researchers (Carter et al. 2011; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A summated-items measure included six items, frequently used in prior scholarly work. The formative measurement model was built using the same six items but by changing the direction of influence, with the causal flow from measures to the construct. Other variables include the children’s scepticism, their belief of false claims made in the ad and affect toward the toy TV advertisement (see Figure). After a CFA analysis with five questions, the scepticism factor score was derived as a standardised measure that followed a normal distribution. Scepticism ranged from -0.59 to 1.35, with an average of 0.07 and SD of 0.68. Belief of false claims (named as “false beliefs”) shown in the TV advertisement indicated that most children did not believe the two false claims included in the ad (84% and 69% respectively). Affect towards the toy TV ad was measured using one question: “Do you like this video?” to which most children (88%) indicated yes. Results, Discussion And Implication Fifty-four different patterns or combinations of the six persuasion knowledge items were found. This pattern show substantial heterogeneity in children’s Persuasion Knowledge, and further illustrates that young children are accumulating or forming their Persuasion Knowledge (Friestad and Wright 1994). In addition, these items have low correlations to one another that are typical of a formative measure. These findings of variability of knowledge levels and weak association between them indicate the potential multiple-dimension, formative nature of the construct of persuasion knowledge for young children. This may apply specifically to young children who are at the stage of increasing their learning abilities and developing or forming their knowledge. No relationship was found in the structural models using the reflective single-item measure and summated-items measure of persuasion knowledge, and the models showed a poor fit. However, relationships were found in the structural model that applied the formative measure of persuasion knowledge, with good model fit (see Table 1). Because a formative measure is supported, we tested the formative nature of Persuasion Knowledge on a previous study’s data (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A formative model using that study’s data showed the same relationships between Persuasion Knowledge and its external variables. This consistency supports a formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge. Any review of future or past research should note the possible impact of using reflective measures of young children’s Persuasive Knowledge. To generalise the findings more research needs to be done for different product categories and age groups. More product categories, such as food and movies, and age groups could be taken into consideration. While few studies have tested the association of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge to scepticism toward the message, even fewer have tested the link of scepticism to young children’s responses to the advertised product (e.g. like, prefer, choose). Most of these studies do not find a link. If having Persuasion Knowledge doesn’t influence a young child’s desire for the brand, why teach it (e.g. Nelson 2016) or ban advertising because the children don’t have Persuasion Knowledge? Perhaps using a formative measure the link will be found.