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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
A Pilot Study of Some Aspects of the Perceived Usability 
of Mobile Advertising Among Students
Maja Rožman
a
, Dijana Oreški
b
, Polona T ominc
c
a
University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Maribor, Slovenia
b
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics, Varaždin, Croatia
c
University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Maribor, Slovenia
maja.rozman1@um.si, dijana.oreski@foi.unizg.hr, polona.tominc@um.si
                        
ARTICLE INFO
         
Original Scientific Article
Article History:
Received June 2022
Revised August 2022
Accepted August 2022
         
JEL Classification:
A20
J10
         
Keywords:
Mobile advertising
Pilot study
Students
Younger generation
         
UDK: 659.1:621.395.721.5-057.87
DOI: 10.2478/ngoe-2022-0017
         
Cite this article as: Rožman, M., Oreški, 
D., & Tominc, P. (2022). A Pilot Study of 
Some Aspects of the Perceived Usability 
of Mobile Advertising Among Students. 
Naše Gospodarstvo/Our Economy, 68 (3),  50-60. DOI: 10.2478/ngoe-2022-0017.
         
©2022 The Authors. Published by 
Sciendo on behalf of University of 
Maribor, Faculty of Economics and 
Business, Slovenia. This is an open access 
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/). 
         
Abstract
The pilot research is often intended to gather preliminary information and is 
usually based on a small set of observations to help decide how to conduct a 
more extensive study. The present pilot study is intended to provide preliminary 
results regarding various aspects of mobile advertising perceptions for young 
people. The objective of this pilot study is also to conduct the initial analysis 
of the relationships and impact of predecessors (influencing factors) on the 
attitudes towards mobile advertising and further on the perceived usefulness 
of mobile advertising among young people. Results show that the objectives 
of the pilot study have been fulfilled. They are crucial for continuing the main 
research on the importance of factors affecting the positive perception of 
the usefulness of mobile advertising among students and for designers of 
communication channels for the younger generation.
Introduction
Mobile phones are an indispensable "physical part" of most of the population 
between the ages of 18 and 25 years – data shows that the number of 
smartphone users exceeds 6 billion in 2022, with an expected growth to over 
7.5 billion users in 2027 (Statista, 2022). Additionally, over 93% of those aged 
18-24 in 2017 possessed a smartphone, compared to 67% of those of age 55 
plus (Deloitte, 2017). Therefore, it is understandable that various aspects of the 
perception of mobile advertising are important information when planning to 
communicate with the student generation, that includes mobile advertising. 
The Mobile Marketing Association (2022) defines mobile marketing as a 
wider concept as follows: “A set of practices that enable organizations to 
communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant 
manner through any mobile device or network.” In this context, the perceived 
usability of mobile advertising is among the main research focus of several 
research studies (Ducoffe, 1995; Qin & Yan, 2017; Liu et al., 2012; Murillo-
Zegarra, 2020). To attract new subscribers as well as retain current customers, 
mobile service carriers need to understand the driving force behind consumers’ 
perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty to the use of mobile services.

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
Age has been of significant interest to social psychologists 
and marketers in the past (Kushwaha & Agrawal, 2016). In 
their study, Kumar and Lim (2008) compare Generation Y and 
baby boomers in terms of their mobile service perceptions 
and loyalty intentions. Generation Y (generation Y consumers 
were born between 1980 and 1994) presents the younger 
consumers, while baby boomers (those born between 1946 
and 1964) give the older group of mobile service consumers. 
The differences in these two consumer groups’ lifestyles 
and technology diffusion can cause significant differences 
in their satisfaction and loyalty decisions. Thus, Kumar and 
Lim (2008) found out that perceived emotional value had 
a more significant effect on satisfaction for Generation Y 
than for baby boomers and perceived economic value had 
a greater effect on satisfaction for baby boomers than for 
Generation Y. In connection with the findings, Ito and Okabe 
(2006) found that young consumers use mobile services 
more for emotional benefit and social communication 
than for an instrumental purpose. Moreover, research has 
shown that the younger generation tends to be emotionally 
attached to their mobile phones. Thus, it is logical to assume 
that Generation Y will hold a more significant emotional 
value toward their mobile phones and services than baby 
boomers. On the other hand, baby boomers perceive a 
helpful benefit from mobile services. Baby boomers are 
also inherently price-conscious compared to any other 
generation (Zhang et al., 2017).
In addition, Generation Y is essential for marketers because 
of their impact on their families’ purchase decisions 
(Florenthal, 2019). Generations Y are often early adopters 
of new technologies and are extensive internet users. As 
with the internet, Generations Y are substantial users of 
mobile services (Wong & Malone, 2016). Regarding mobile 
service usage, the age group of 15-24 owns a mobile phone. 
These users outnumber all other users in terms of minutes 
used, the number of calls placed, messages sent/received, 
and wireless data transmitted/received (Wut et al., 2021). 
Short message services (SMS) are also on the rise among 
Generation Y. A recent study indicates that most Generations 
Y communicate via SMS, with an average of 126 messages 
sent per month (Bolton et al., 2013). Though baby boomers 
are technologically advanced and may be comfortable using 
mobile phones, their intentions to use mobile services are 
vastly different from Generations Y. Baby boomers typically 
use mobile phones for making voice calls, but sparsely 
use data services such as SMS, mobile e-mails, and data 
downloads (Kumar & Lim, 2008). Considering technical 
service quality (i.e., data services and network quality), 
baby boomers use mobile phones and services mainly for 
communicating with family members, making emergency 
calls, and for business. The utilization of mobile data 
services appears to be limited among baby boomers. On the 
other hand, Generations Y are heavy users of value-added 
mobile data services such as text messaging, online gaming, 
and downloading music. Many college-aged Generation Y 
consumers preferred using short-code text messages to 
maintain contact with families and peers. SMS advertising is 
a form of communication exchanges between the seller and 
the mobile phone user via short-code text messages (Keith, 
2011). A recent marketing trend among clothing providers 
is sending SMS apparel advertisements to capture college-
aged Generation Y consumers’ attention (Koo et al., 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary 
results of a pilot study conducted among the undergraduate 
students in economics and business study program and to 
test the basic relationships between students' perceptions 
of ease of use of mobile devices and applications, perceived 
playfulness, and annoyance of mobile phone advertising on 
one hand, and attitudes as well as perceived usability of 
mobile advertising on the other hand.
Pilot research usually precedes a more extensive study 
and is intended to gather information on the possibilities 
of its implementation. It is usually based on a small set 
of observations to help decide how to carry out a larger 
study or project (Eldridge et al., 2016). In the case of our 
research, the pilot study is intended for (i) preliminary 
testing of relationships among constructs in the model 
and (ii) preliminary testing the measurement instruments 
for individual multidimensional variables. Although the 
measurement instruments of the constructs included in the 
research are known in the professional literature (Ducoffe, 
1995; Haghirian & Inoue, 2007; Varnali et al., 2012, Murillo-
Zegarra, 2020), we must not ignore the fact that perceptions, 
especially of young people, are changing rapidly. For 
example, what used to be a vital issue in online shopping 
- the security of your purchase - has a significantly different 
meaning today. Also, technological literacy, reflected in 
the perceptions of ease of use of mobile devices and apps, 
may be a less critical factor for the younger generation, 
in contrast to the older generation, as indicated by the 
statistical data below.
In marketing approaches, research has recently often 
focused on younger Generation Z. Research results show 
that both generations (Generations Y and Z) are very 
similar in using social media and risk aversion, which also 
indicates that directing similar promotional messages for 
both generations may be relevant. Still, the satisfaction 
with the online shopping experience among Generation Z 
is on average lower and grows with experience (Reisenwitz, 
2021). Younger Generation Z is on average less brand loyal - 
a significant difference that mobile advertising may be able 
to address with appropriate mobile advertising approaches.

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
The present research is designed as pilot research that 
addresses some of the aspects in the perception of the 
usefulness of mobile advertising among members of 
generation Z (among students). Although the purpose of the 
paper is not to define a model of all (or as many as possible) 
influencing factors explaining the variance of the dependent 
variable – perceived usability of mobile advertising - we 
believe that this article provides an additional perspective 
on the possible importance of conducting pilot research, 
since pilot studies are less often the subject of scientific 
publications. However, they have an important place in 
the research process (Eldridge et al., 2016). The paper  
discusses and also provides new preliminary information on 
the relationship between perceived playfulness, annoyance, 
usability, and other multidimensional constructs, with the 
objective to ensure important information for the main 
research study about the antecedents of the attitudes and 
perceived usability of mobile advertising among young 
generations.
The paper is organized as follows: in chapter 2 the research 
model is presented, and the hypotheses are set based on 
the literature review. In chapter 3 methodological tools and 
sample are described. Chapter 4 brings the results, while 
chapter 5 concludes this pilot research.
Literature Review
Although the pilot research is an important part of the research 
process, pilot research reports are not very often included in 
the research literature, but individual pilot research reports 
can be found in various fields of study, such as medicine (In, 
2017), educational processes (Fraser et al., 2018) and others.
Regarding pilot research, there is no completely uniform 
definition, but for the purposes of this paper, we will use the 
following definition (Eldridge et al., 2016): while piloting is 
also concerned with whether something can be done and 
whether and how we should proceed with it, it has a further 
dimension - namely, piloting is implementing something, or 
part of something, in a way you intend to do it in the future to 
see if it can be done in practice.
Pilot studies are often conducted for this purpose, namely, 
to test the methods and techniques or individual measuring 
instruments of the survey and the questionnaire as a whole 
(Doody and Doody, 2015). In this way, deficiencies can be 
remedied, research design and the quality of data obtained 
improved (Beebe, 2007), also by adapting and improving the 
measurement instruments themselves (Conn et al., 2010). 
In this way, a pilot study helps to reduce difficulties in data 
collection, management, and analysis (Moore et al., 2011).
The present pilot study is intended to study various aspects 
of mobile advertising perceptions for young people with the 
objective to preliminary check the measurement instruments 
of multidimensional variables included in the model, as 
already mentioned in the introduction. The objective of this 
pilot study is also to conduct the preliminary analysis of the 
relationships and impact of predecessors (influencing factors) 
on the attitudes towards mobile advertising and further on 
the perceived usefulness of mobile advertising among young 
people – all these with the purpose to provide additional 
information for conducting the future research.
The fundamental focus of the research is the perceived 
usefulness of mobile advertising among students. In the 
Ducoffe's research model (Ducoffe, 1995), usability for the 
user is determined by the attitude that the user develops 
towards mobile advertising (advertising on a mobile device). 
For example, Lerner and Keltner (2000) argue that affective 
response is an automatic emotional reaction to stimulation. 
Advertisement-induced feelings, especially arousal, trigger 
cognitive processing, guide sequent perception, and 
lead to subjective judgment of advertisements. Positive 
advertisements provoke affirmative emotions, such as 
excitement and arousal (Faseur & Geuens, 2006). Thus, the 
consumer is likely to have a favorable perception of advertising. 
By contrast, anxiety, fear, and anger are negative emotions, 
which might contribute to the consumer’s unfavorable 
perception (Faseur and Geuens, 2006; Law et al., 2012; Lerner 
and Keltner, 2000). The consumer’s perception of advertising 
is an antecedent of behavior intention in consumption-
related situations. Product awareness, brand attitude, and 
purchase intention are downstream behaviors associated with 
consumer affective response to advertisements (Hwang et al., 
2011; Law et al., 2012).Thus, the hypothesis was formed:
H1: Attitudes towards mobile advertising positively affect the 
perceived usefulness of mobile advertising by students.
The attitude is negatively influenced by the perceived 
annoyances of mobile advertising and is positively influenced 
by the perceived playfulness of mobile advertisements. 
Playfulness refers to the ability to meet the needs of 
consumers for aesthetic pleasure or emotional relaxation 
(McQuail, 2010). According to some research, the sense of 
relaxation and enjoyment associated with advertisements 
plays the most significant role in shaping an individual's 
general attitude toward advertising (Kim & Han, 2014), due 
to the natural playfulness present in humans (Haghirian 
and Dickinger, 2004). The playfulness of mobile advertising 
influences the recipient to develop a more positive attitude 
toward advertising messages. The research results (Ducoffe, 

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
1995) also suggest that the perceived ease of use of mobile 
devices reflects the perceived control over the emergence 
of mobile advertisements, thus positively influencing 
the attitudes towards mobile advertising. Consequently, 
entertaining commercial messages provoke a positive 
emotional response and arouse the consumer’s interest in 
investigating the advertised content (Ducoffe & Curlo, 2000). 
Many college-aged Generation Y consumers expect to use 
mobile phones for personal communication and can become 
irritated by perceived irrelevant commercial messages (Amin 
et al., 2011; Muzaffar & Kamran, 2011). From the perspective 
of advertising values theory, perceived product value 
determines whether the consumer will respond favorably 
or not to advertisements (Wong & Malone, 2016). According 
to Jun and Lee (2007), when consumers are provided with 
benefits such as entertainment and information, they will 
perceive advertising in a more favorable light. In addition, 
SMS advertising is found to be attention-grabbing, a source 
of information, engaging, and interactive (Lee et al., 2006). 
On the other hand, in general, consumers have been found 
to have a negative attitude toward mobile advertising as they 
associate it with unsolicited messages and an invasion of 
privacy (Drossos et al., 2007). The following hypotheses were 
developed:
H2: Students' perceived playfulness of mobile advertising 
positively affects the developed attitudes toward mobile 
advertising.
H3: Students' perceived annoyance with mobile advertising 
negatively affects the developed attitudes toward mobile 
advertising.
H4: Students' perceived ease of use of mobile devices and 
apps positively affects the developed attitudes toward mobile 
advertising.
The research model with the hypotheses formed is presented 
in Figure 1.
Methodology
Sample
The survey was conducted in the winter term of the study 
year 2019/2020 with students from the field of economics 
and business enrolling in the course of quantitative methods. 
The data were collected with an online questionnaire, with 
the link sent to students by e-mail. The study included a total 
of n = 37 undergraduate students. All online questionnaires 
were duly completed. Of the total sample, 36.8% were 
females, and 43.2% were males; 59.5% of students reside in 
rural areas and 40.5% in urban areas.
Methodological tools
Factor analysis was used to form the multidimensional 
constructs of the model: the perceived ease of use of 
mobile devices and apps, the perceived playfulness, the 
perceived annoyance, attitudes towards mobile advertising 
and perceived usefulness of mobile advertising by students. 
The feasibility of using factor analysis is tested with the 
Figure 1
The research model
Perceived playfulness of
mobile advertising
Perceived annoyance of
mobile advertising
Attitudes towards
mobile advertising
H2
H3 H1
H4
Perceived usefulness of
mobile advertising
Perceived ease of use of
mobile devices and apps
Source: Own model

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
Bartlett's test of sphericity, testing the null hypothesis that 
the correlation matrix of measured variables of individual 
constructs equals the unit matrix, meaning that there is 
no correlation between the observed (measured) variables. 
Rejecting the null hypothesis leads to the conclusion that 
factor analysis can be used. In addition to the Bartlett's test 
the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistics (KMO) are also used; the 
use of factor analysis is justified at a KMO value greater 
than 0.5 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013).
The quantitative methodological tools used to test the 
hypotheses of the research model, presented by Figure 1, 
consists of the regression analysis, conducted in two steps, 
focused on two regression models – Model 1 includes simple 
regression for testing hypothesis H1. In contrast, Model 2 
includes multiple regression testing hypotheses H2, H3, and 
H4. The 0.05 significance level was used, to determine the 
statistically significant impact of independent variables on 
the dependent variable of each regression model. The SPSS 
24.0 was used for implementing the regression analysis.
Results
The last two columns in Table 1 and Table 2 bring the 
descriptive statistics of the measured variables: the average 
degree of agreement (mean value) with each statement on 
the Likert scale from 1 - strongly disagree, up to 5 - strongly 
agree, and the standard deviation of the measured variable. 
In Table 1, the middle three columns show the factor 
analysis results., performed separately for the perceived 
usefulness of mobile advertising and perceived attitudes 
toward mobile advertising. Factor loadings show the 
correlation coefficients between the measured variables 
and the newly formed factor (in both cases, a one-factor 
solution was obtained within the factor analysis). The 
percentage of explained variance of measured variables 
and the reliability of both measurement scales measured 
by Cronbach's alpha are shown in the third column, while 
the communalities show the square of factor loadings and 
define the variance of the measured variable (statement), 
explained by the newly formed factor. KMO statistics and 
Chi-square value are also presented, and in both constructs 
they confirm that the use of factor analysis is justified (both 
KMOs>0.5, for Chi. square tests both p<0.01).
In the first set of statements related to the construct of the 
perceived usefulness of mobile advertising, students, on 
average, agree the most with the statement that mobile 
advertising protects the natural environment (PU2: M = 
3.89; SD = 0.843) and the statement about the information 
power of mobile advertising (PU4: M = 3.81; SD = 0.776). 
Factor analysis shows that the formed factor explains 
over 60% of the variance of measured variables; reliability 
is at a satisfactory level (Cronbach's alpha > 0.8), while 
communalities show that over 40% of each measured 
variable is explained by the factor obtained.
For the measured variables - statements in the second 
set, which refers to the multidimensional variable of 
attitudes towards mobile advertising, the agreement with 
the statements is, on average, slightly lower. Students 
expressed the highest average agreement by saying that 
mobile advertising is interesting (AT2: M = 3.41; SD = 
0.896), and the lowest level of agreement by saying that 
they are willing to respond to a mobile advertisement when 
they receive it (AT4: M = 2.59; SD = 0.985). Similarly, over 
60% of the variance of measured variables is explained by 
the factor obtained, with a bit weaker reliability than the 
perceived usefulness construct (Cronbach's alpha = 0.793). 
At the same time, communalities show that over 40% of 
each measured variable is explained by the factor obtained.
The three external constructs were obtained by factor 
analysis, which revealed the three factors solution, where 
constructs of perceived playfulness of mobile advertising, 
perceived annoyance of mobile advertising, and perceived 
ease of use of mobile devices and apps were formed, as 
presented by Table 2.
In the four-dimensional factor of perceived playfulness of 
mobile advertising, the average agreement is the highest 
with the statement reflecting the desired dynamism, 
liveliness, and interactivity of mobile ads for students (PP1: 
M = 3.59; SD = 1.166), while the lowest level of agreement 
can be observed at the statement that associates mobile 
ads with the students' free time (PP4: M = 2.92; SD = 1.187). 
It is true, however, that in this set of statements the standard 
deviations are, on average, the highest, which means that 
students differ more in their levels of agreement than in the 
other sets of statements. In the context of factor analysis, we 
find good reliability of the measurement scale (Cronbach's 
alpha = 0.855) and all communalities higher than 0.4.
The four-dimensional factor for the perceived annoyance of 
mobile ads shows the highest average level of agreement 
with the statement that many mobile phone ads are 
annoying (PA1: M = 4.51, SD = 0.804). The lowest moderate 
agreement is obtained for the statement that mobile ads are 
annoying because they are too long and incomprehensible 
(PA4: M = 3.68, SD = 1.156). In the factor analysis, the 
results show that the reliability of the measurement scale is 
slightly lower (Cronbach's alpha = 0.669). The percentage of 
explained variance of individual measured variables ranges 

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
from 0.462 for PA2 to 0.702 for PA4.
As we have already indicated, the perceived ease of use of 
mobile devices and apps in today's times, especially among 
the younger generation, is something that we take for 
granted in the environment of developed countries. Average 
levels of agreement are above 4.5, for all three statements 
included, with standard deviations less than 1. The fact that 
there is minimal variability among students is also shown by 
the extremely high percentage of explained variance (more 
than 93%) and the high level of reliability (Cronbach's alpha 
= 0.94), as well as with communalities, all greater than or 
equal to 0.915.
The results of testing the model's hypotheses using both 
defined regression models are shown in Table 3 and Figure 2.
In the multiple regression model, we tested the defined 
impact of three influencing factors on the attitude toward 
mobile advertising among students (Hypotheses H2, H3 
and H4). The independent variables included in the model 
explained 42.7% of the variance of the dependent variable 
(attitudes) (p<0.01). Of the three independent variables, 
our pilot study can only confirm the statistically significant 
positive impact of perceived mobile advertisements 
playfulness on students' attitudes towards mobile 
advertising, while the impact of the perceived ease of use 
of mobile devices and apps and of the perceived mobile 
advertisements annoyance (where students highly agreed 
with individual statements/dimensions) do not show a 
statistically significant effect on the perceived usefulness 
of mobile advertisements by students.
In the simple regression model, where the attitude towards 
mobile advertising is an independent variable, and the 
perceived usefulness of mobile advertising is the dependent 
one, we tested hypothesis H1 that the attitude toward 
mobile advertising shows a statistically significant positive 
effect on the perceived usefulness of mobile advertising. 
The results confirm this influence, and we can conclude 
that 52% of the variance of the dependent variable (p<0.01), 
the perceived usability of mobile ads, is explained by the 
independent variable - students' attitudes towards mobile 
advertising.
Conclusions
We can conclude that the objectives of the pilot study have 
been fulfilled. The pilot study addresses the questions 
regarding the research's feasibility and how to proceed with 
Table 1
The descriptive statistics of measured variables and factor analysis results for constructs PA - perceived attitudes towards mobile 
advertising and PU - perceived usefulness of mobile advertising
Construct
Factor 
loadings
Variance 
explained / 
Cronbach's alpha
Communalities Mean
Std. 
Deviation
PU - Percieved usefulness of mobile advertising
PU1: Using a mobile ads helps me decide to buy 
additional services / products.
0.720
60.698 / 0.833
0.518 3.05 0.911
PU2: Mobile advertising protects the natural 
environment
0.673
0.452 3.89 0.843
PU3: I find the use of mobile ads useful 0.869
0.755 3.54 0.931
PU4: Mobile ads keep me informed 0.857
0.734 3.81 0.776
PU5: It's easier to get useful information through 
mobile ads
0.759
0.576 3.49 0.870
KMO = 0.762; Chi-square = 75.102, p<0.01
AT - Attitudes towards mobile advertising
AT1: I have a positive attitude towards receiving 
mobile ads
0.913
61.859 / 0.793
0.834 3.19 1.076
AT2: Mobile advertising is interesting 0.684
0.468 3.41 0.896
AT3: When I get a mobile ad I read it 0.788
0.621 2.89 1.075
AT4: I'm ready to respond to a mobile ad 0.742
0.551 2.59 0.985
KMO = 0.671; Chi-square = 44.632, p<0.01

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
Table 2
The descriptive statistics of measured variables and factor analysis results for constructs PP - perceived playfulness of mobile 
advertising, PA - perceived annoyance of mobile advertising and PE - perceived ease of use of mobile devices and apps
Factor 1 
Loadings 
PE
Factor 2 
Loadings 
PP
Factor 3 
Loadings 
PA
Cron.'s 
alpha
Commu-
nalities
Mean
Std. 
Dev.
PP1: If mobile ads, in addition to clicking 
and touching, also allow for new ways of 
interacting, such as: using a camera and 
microphone, etc., they amuse me
0.282 0.664 0.467
0.855
0.738 3.59 1.166
PP2: If mobile ads contain sound and 
music, they entertain me
0.007 0.900 -0.164
0.837 3.24 1.188
PP3: If mobile ads contain animations and / 
or videos, they entertain me
0.080 0.944 -0.052
0.901 3.32 1.226
PP4: Mobile ads are fun, especially in your 
free time
-0.038 0.795 -0.205
0.675 2.92 1.187
PA1: Too many advertising messages via 
mobile phone is annoying to me
0.365 -0.199 0.663
0.669
0.612 4.51 0.804
PA2: The constant appearance of mobile 
ads, despite their closure of them, is 
annoying to me
0.326 0.187 0.566
0.462 4.49 0.901
PA3: Improper timing of receiving advertis-
ing messages bothers me
0.464 -0.282 0.472
0.518 4.35 0.824
PA4: Mobile ads are annoying because they 
are too long and incomprehensible
-0.054 -0.206 0.810
0.702 3.68 1.156
PE1: My level of knowledge about using 
mobile telephony meets my current needs
0.936 0.083 0.141
0.940
0.903 4.62 0.924
PE2: I can easily install or update my 
mobile operating system (Android, iOS)
0.961 0.084 0.130
0.948 4.70 0.958
PE3: Downloading/updating apps is no 
problem for me
0.921 0.077 0.224
0.904 4.81 0.915
KMO = 0.746; Chi-square = 276.928, p<0.01
Variance explained: 70.39 %
Table 3
The regression analysis results – results of hypotheses testing
Hypothesis R square Regression coefficient p-value Result
H1: Attitudes towards mobile advertising positively affect 
the perceived usefulness of mobile advertising by students.
0.520 0.721 p<0.01
confirmed
H2: Students' perceived playfulness of mobile advertising 
positively affects the developed attitudes towards mobile 
advertising.
0.427
0.632 p<0.01
confirmed
H3: Perceived annoyance with mobile advertising by 
students negatively affects the developed attitudes 
towards mobile advertising.
-0.274 p>0.05
Not 
confirmed
H4: Perceived ease of use of mobile devices and apps by 
students positively affects the developed attitudes towards 
mobile advertising.
-0.028 p>0.05
Not 
confirmed

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NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
the research (Eldrigde et al., 2016) - the results of the pilot 
study conducted provide the directions regarding future 
research, as follows.
From a methodological point of view, we can conclude 
that the implementation of the main research, with a large 
random sample, would allow the use of structural equations 
modeling (SEM) - in a given limit regarding the number 
of respondents in the pilot study, we had to replace SEM 
with the two separate regression models. Finally, more 
data would allow additional constructs to be included in 
the model and the demographic variables that proved to 
be important in the past research (Kim and Han., 2014). 
Future research should consider the common method bias, 
which refers to the fact, that data for both independent and 
dependent variables are obtained from the same student in 
the same measurement context, leading to possible errors 
in the measurement items. Several approaches are known 
in the literature (a time lag between the measurements 
of dependent and independent variables or other ways 
to separate them, different scales etc.) to overcome these 
problems (Podskoff et al., 2003). Future research also plans 
to include comprehensive validation of measurement 
instruments. Content validity and discriminant validity 
analysis will supplement the results of the reliability and 
convergent validity.
While the pilot study confirmed the impact of attitudes 
towards mobile advertising on its perceived usefulness in 
students (H1), which was expected, we came across different 
results in modeling the impact of factors on attitudes towards 
mobile advertising. There is no doubt that, as expected, the 
perceived playfulness of mobile advertising has a positive 
effect on developing a positive attitude towards mobile 
advertising by students (H2), while the perceived annoyance 
and its impact on the attitude towards mobile advertising 
(H3) didn’t confirm a statistically significant effect. Although 
the results show a non-significant effect of perceived 
annoyance of mobile advertising on attitudes towards 
mobile advertising, it can be concluded from the negative 
sign of the regression coefficient that young people can 
still perceive mobile advertising as a distraction or as a 
disruptive factor that negatively affects their attitude to 
mobile advertising and consequently perceived usefulness 
of mobile advertisements. Therefore, future research should 
develop the measurement instrument of this construct in 
such a way that it would be possible to conclude which 
aspects of mobile advertising have a disruptive effect on 
young users. The larger sample we plan to form in the main 
research will allow for greater multidimensionality from a 
methodological point of view.
Also, the perceived ease of use of mobile devices and apps 
does not have a statistically significant effect on developing 
a positive attitude towards mobile advertising by students 
(H4). As we pointed out at the beginning of the pilot study, 
it can be assumed that the younger generation's ease of use 
of mobile devices and apps is less relevant. Probably, in the 
case of research that would like to address the perceived 
usefulness of mobile advertising in different age groups 
of users, this type of technological literacy would play a 
more important role. Pilot research results also suggest 
that the perceived ease of use of mobile devices and apps 
construct should be developed further; the measurement 
scale needs to be further developed, especially as this is 
a very dynamic and rapidly changing phenomenon, as 
both the quantity and the forms and manner of presenting 
information change rapidly. It would make sense to design 
this multidimensional variable with several dimensions that 
would allow capturing the flexibility of the phenomenon 
analyzed. In the present pilot study, only three-dimensional 
construct was formed.
Figure 2
Hypotheses testing results
Perceived playfulness of
mobile advertising
Perceived annoyance of
mobile advertising
Attitudes towards
mobile advertising
R square = 0.427
(p<0.01)
0.632
(p<0.01)
Perceived usefulness of
mobile advertising
R square = 0.520
(p<0.01)
Perceived ease of use of
mobile devices and apps
-0.028
(p>0.05)
-0.274
(p>0.05)
-0.721
(p<0.01)

58
NAŠE GOSPODARSTVO / OUR ECONOMY 68 (3) 2022 Rožman, M., Oreški, D., Tominc, P.
Technology developments have created new marketing 
communication channels or media such as email, SMS and 
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). These digital media 
are considered to potentially improve the possibilities 
to reach consumers by allowing personalization of the 
content and context of the message (Worku et al., 2020). 
Mobile technologies that enable communication from any 
point without any space limit led to both technological 
and sociological significant changes (Kushwaha and 
Agrawal, 2016). Mobile advertisement psychologically 
impacts customers toward products being advertised to 
them through mobile messages. A customer will have an 
emotional response and start thinking about the product 
(Wut et al., 2021). Sethi et al. (2017), in their research on 
50 students of Manipur University, found out that attitudes 
toward mobile advertising affect student intentions to 
receive mobile ads, and the perceived entertainment and 
informativeness of mobile ads affect the attitude towards 
mobile advertising. Also, entertainment is essential to 
student attitudes toward mobile advertising. 
The results of our research are crucial for continuing 
the main research on the importance of factors having 
a positive impact on the perception of the usefulness of 
mobile advertising among students and are also important 
for designers of communication channels with the younger 
generation. This also applies to a higher education 
institution that plans effective ways of communicating 
with students. While the field of study of students can play 
an essential role in shaping the factors and the form or 
strength of their influence on the attitude towards mobile 
advertising, the pilot study clearly showed that it makes 
sense to incorporate the concept of playfulness, humor, and 
lightness in communication with students.
Acknowledgment: This work has been fully supported by Croatian Science Foundation under the project UIP-2020-02-6312.
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Pilotna študija nekaterih vidikov zaznane uporabnosti mobilnega 
oglaševanja med študenti
Izvleček
Pilotna raziskava je pogosto namenjena zbiranju predhodnih informacij in običajno temelji na majhnem nizu opazovanj, ki 
pomagajo pri odločitvi, kako izvesti obsežnejšo študijo. Namen pričujoče pilotne študije je zagotoviti predhodne rezultate 
glede različnih vidikov zaznavanja mobilnega oglaševanja pri mladih. Cilj te pilotne študije je tudi izvesti začetno analizo 
odnosov in vpliva predhodnikov (vplivnih dejavnikov) na odnos do mobilnega oglaševanja in na zaznano uporabnost 
mobilnega oglaševanja med mladimi. Rezultati kažejo, da so bili cilji pilotne študije izpolnjeni. So ključni za nadaljevanje 
glavne raziskave o pomenu dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na pozitivno zaznavanje uporabnosti mobilnega oglaševanja med študenti, 
in za oblikovalce komunikacijskih kanalov za mlajšo generacijo.
Ključne besede: mobilno oglaševanje, pilotna študija, študenti, mlajša generacija