Deception in online advertising is not uncommon. An example of deceptive advertising, sometimes used by online retailers to drive traffic to their Web sites, is omission in discount advertising. It is a tactic in which an important condition for a discount on a product or service is (purposefully) excluded when advertised online-only to reveal the initially excluded condition to consumers once they have reached the retailer's Web site. The purpose of this study was to examine how such omission in discount advertising influences purchase intention, and to what extent this effect is mediated by perceived retailer ethics and attitude toward the online retailer. To test our hypotheses, we conducted an experiment (N = 117) with a single-factor (omission in discount advertising: omission vs. control) between-subjects design. Perceived retailer ethics and attitude toward the online retailer were included as serial mediators. The results showed that omission in discount advertising negatively affected purchase intention. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by perceived retailer ethics and attitude toward the retailer, whereby participants who were exposed to the omission advertisement judged the retailer's ethics more negatively and consequently had a more negative attitude toward the retailer. This, indirectly, decreased purchase intention. This study provides evidence for a novel and parsimonious framework explaining the effect of omission in discount advertising on purchase intention, through perceived retailer ethics and attitude toward the online retailer, which is relevant for both theory and practice.

中文翻译：

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在线零售中欺骗性折扣广告效应的系列调解。

在线广告中的欺骗并不少见。欺骗性广告的一个例子，有时被在线零售商用来增加他们网站的流量，是折扣广告中的遗漏。这是一种策略，当在线广告时（有意）排除产品或服务折扣的重要条件，只是为了在消费者访问零售商网站后向他们揭示最初排除的条件。本研究的目的是研究折扣广告中的这种遗漏如何影响购买意愿，以及这种影响在多大程度上是由感知到的零售商道德和对在线零售商的态度所调节的。为了检验我们的假设，我们进行了一项实验 (N = 117)，其中包含单因素（折扣广告中的遗漏：遗漏与控制）受试者间设计。感知到的零售商道德和对在线零售商的态度被列为系列调解人。结果表明，折扣广告中的遗漏会对购买意愿产生负面影响。此外，这种影响是由感知到的零售商道德和对零售商的态度所调节的，因此接触到遗漏广告的参与者对零售商的道德判断更消极，因此对零售商有更消极的态度。这间接地降低了购买意愿。本研究通过感知的零售商道德和对在线零售商的态度，为一个新颖而简约的框架提供了证据，该框架解释了折扣广告中的遗漏对购买意愿的影响，这与理论和实践都相关。