Abstract
Drawing on the Theory of Interactive Media Effects and Socially Situated Cognition Theory, this dissertation seeks to develop a conceptual framework of augmented reality advertising (ARA). Using affordance as the theoretical building blocks, the framework articulates the enabling and symbolic effects of ARA’s technological affordances on consumer perceptions and experiences. To differentiate AR’s value in advertising from that of other emerging media, this project first conceptualizes situatedness and embodied control as the unique affordances of AR. Then, other common interactive media affordances that are applicable to AR, including customization, modality interactivity, and sociability, are also identified as AR affordances. Based on these five affordances, nine testable propositions are further developed. In the action route, several psychological correlates associated with the affordances are outlined to examine the enabling effects. The action route also identifies two moderators (augmentation target and target-context congruence) and discusses their impacts. In the cue route, the affordance-induced symbolic effects are discussed. To validate situatedness, embodied control, and the moderator target-context congruence, this dissertation further conducts a proof- of-concept experiment. The empirical results show that situatedness and embodied control enhance consumer engagement by improving product tangibility. Target-context congruence moderates the effect of product tangibility on consumption vision. Finally, a research agenda that aligns with the AR affordances and the ARA framework is offered to inspire future theory development and empirical testing. As the first attempt to conceptualize ARA through the perspective of technological affordances, this project provides much-needed theoretical and managerial insights into how AR technology can be leveraged to improve communication efforts to better engage consumers and how consumers respond to these affordance-enabled ARA experiences.