Surf's Up--Differences between Web Surfers and Non-surfers:Theoretical and Practical ImplicationsWilliam D. WellsMithun Land Grant Professor of AdvertisingandQimei ChenPh.D. CandidateSchool of Journalism and Mass CommunicationUniversity of Minnesota111 Murphy Hall, 206 Church St. S.E. Minneapolis, MNPhone:(612) -624-2879Fax:(612)-624-8833Email:[email protected]:New Technologies and OpportunitiesSubmitted to 1999 AAA Annual Conference as a competitive paper.Surf's Up--Differences Between Web Surfers and Non-surfers:Theoretical and Practical ImplicationsKeyword:New Technologies and OpportunitiesSubmitted to 1999 AAA Annual Conference as a competitive paper.Page 1ABSTRACTThis paper investigates Internet users and Internet non-users'attitudes toward advertising,business and business-relatedinstitutions. It shows changes over time and important genderdifferences. Differences between Internet users and Internet non-users are interesting because Internet advertisers must be aware ofthe unique characteristics of their audiences,and because differencesbetween users and non-users affect the validity and generalizabilityof all Internet investigations.Page 2INTRODUCTIONInternet usage has been growing exponentially.Cyber Atlas(1996) reported that,10 million Internet hosts connected 105,000networks.Forrester Research (1997) reported that the Internetsupports 32 million to 50 million users worldwide (source from Cho1998),and predicted that this number will pass 100 million by theyear 2000.DDB Needham's Lifestyle data'show that Internet usageamong American consumers increased from 7% in 1995 to 26% in 1997 andmay reach 50% by 2000.Other sources support these expectations.Among the many aspects of the Internet, advertising shows thegreatest growth (Cho 1998).On-line advertising billed more than$129.5 million in the first quarter of 1997, an increase of 18% overthe proceeding quarter (Internet Advertising Bureau 1997), and JupiterCommunications (1997) projected that Internet advertising would growto $5 billion by the year 2000. The Internet has been called "the mostpowerful persuasion tool in the history of advertising" (Tracy, 1997).For all these reasons,understanding how Internet users react hasbecome critical to Web advertisers,and a salient challenge toresearchers.With reference to this challenge, this paper addressesthe following questions:+ How do Internet users differ from non-users demographically?+ How do they differ from non-users in their attitudes towardadvertising,business and business-related institutions?+ How do male users differ from female users?1 We wish to thank DDB Needham Worldwide for making the Lifestyle data available for this research. Wealso want to thank Marty Horn (DDB Needham Chicago) and the reviewersof this paper for their support andhelpful comments.Page 3+ Has the user segment changed over the past few years, parallelingthe growth of that segment?+ If so,what has caused these changes and what are the likelyconsequences?LITERATURE REVIEWThe rapid increase of Internet advertising has inspired muchinvestigation.Some of this work has focused on comparisons betweentraditional advertising media and new,computer-mediated channels(McMillan 1998;Lancaster 1998).Some has focused on comparisonsbetween the Internet and other interactive media (Gugel 1997).Somehas attempted to measure attributes of Internet advertising.Forexample,Li (1998),Blessie and Ju-Pak (1988) discussed the size, typeand incentives of banner ads;Dreze and Zufryden (1997) advanced aconjoint analysis-based method to evaluate promotional content; Coyle(1998) examined metaphors used in on-line advertising; and Lee (1998)investigated website ranking methods.Recently,attention has shifted to the dynamics of Net usage.Studies of consumer processing of Web advertising include Coffey's(1998) efforts to clarify consumer dynamics on the Web, and Li andColye's (1997) path model of determinants of on-line purchases.However,beyond demographics,little of this research hascompared Net users and non-users.One of the few discussionsavailable so far is Sheehan and Hoy's 1998 study, which compared Netusers'attitudes and opinions regarding on-line policies and practiceswith non-users' attitudes and opinions toward traditional directmarketing. Another is Maddox and Mehta's (1997) report, whichexamined Internet users' and non-users'recognition of URLs (UniformPage 4Resource Locators) in traditional mass media.In the present study,we add to this knowledge by comparing Internet users' and non-users'demographics and attitudes toward advertising, business, and business-related institutions.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYWith the advent of the Internet,customers can access informationdirectly on the Web (T. Stafford and M. Stafford, 1998). Thisdevelopment offers Internet planners a chance to tailor messages toconsumers' needs.However,much website design and administration ispresently based on subjective knowledge and intuition, with little orno formal research and planning (Raman and White 1998).This practicehas contributed to failur (Raman 1997).Business Week reported thatin 1995,twice as many companieslost out on the Web than profited(September 23, 1996).The audience for Web advertising has seldom been definedexplicitly. Following Rogers (1986),Robinson and Kaye (1997) merelydescribe Web users as a "critical mass" (p.217).Other studiesposition Web users as "primarily men, averaging 38 years, with acollege degree"(Coyle 1998, p.302) and of higher socioeconomic status(Yankelovich Partners 1995).They do not reveal Web users' attitudestowards advertising or toward business in general.Attitudes toward advertising are important because they influencebehavior(Shimp 1981;Mitchell and Olson 1981, Muehling and McCann1993).If Web users are indeed different from non-users in thisrespect,then marketing strategies, principles, and wisdom developedand validated when all consumers were non-users are liable to be lessappropriate for Internet audiences.It is therefore important toPage 5understand how Internet users differ from non-users, not only in theirdemographics, but also in their evaluations of advertising and otherbusiness-related institutions.METHODThis analysis employed 1995 and 1997 Lifestyle surveys conductedby the advertising agency DDB Needham.These surveys ask a wide rangeof questions about interests, opinions, activities, product use,service use, and mass media exposure among demographically balancedquota samples of the