Consumers’ persuasion knowledge of algorithms in social media advertising: identifying consumer groups based on awareness, appropriateness, and coping ability

Advertising and brand communication in social media are increasingly driven by algorithms. Theoretically rooted in the Persuasion Knowledge Model, we aim to identify and investigate the prevalence of specific consumer groups that differ in their awareness levels, critical evaluations, and abilities to cope with such algorithmic persuasion in social media, as well as to investigate the predictors of these groups. By performing an online survey among a Dutch sample (n = 450) and a two-step cluster analysis, we identified four groups: the Control Paradox (the largest group), Fatigued, Uninformed but Critical, and Skilled and Critical. The four groups differed in respect to gender, age, education level, internet skills, self-reported knowledge of algorithms, privacy concerns, and perceived personalization of branded social media messages. Theoretically, this paper contributes to our understanding of algorithmic persuasion by proposing a consumer typology and discussing implications for the Persuasion Knowledge Model. Practically, this study provides evidence-based recommendations for policymakers on how to empower different types of consumers.