| Abstract [eng] |
The main purpose of this master thesis is to identify the psychosocial and marketing factors influencing consumers' intention to subscribe to paid media content online. The work consists of three main parts: the analysis of literature, the research and its results, conclusion and recommendations. The literature analysis focuses on paid online media content, where the subscription model and categorisation are examined, and the theories explaining consumers' intention to purchase are discussed: reasoned action and planned behaviour. It also describes the factors influencing the intention to subscribe to paid online media content and analyses in more detail the influence of psychosocial and marketing factors. Chapter 2 sets out the methodology of the study. It develops a research model based on the theory of planned behaviour. It was decided to focus on key marketing and psychosocial factors: interest in news, consumption of other digital products, perceived quality of content, perceived exclusivity of content, willingness to contribute to the financial stability of a media outlet, and subscription price. Perceived value, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intention to subscribe were also used. 12 hypotheses were put forward. In order to test the hypotheses, an online survey with two questionnaires was conducted. A total of 593 respondents participated. The hypotheses were tested by regression or correlation analysis. It turned out that 9 hypotheses were accepted and 3 were rejected. Two factors - consumption of other digital products and consumers' willingness to contribute to the financial stability of a media outlet - were found not to affect the intention to subscribe to paid media content online. The remaining factors had an impact on this intention, as has also been reported in the analysis of the academic literature in this area. It was found that the most influential factors were the perceived value of paid media content online, subjective norms and the cost of subscription. Based on the literature analysis and research, the paper concludes with conclusions, recommendations and limitations. Recommendations are made both for further research on the topic and for organisations that could benefit from taking into account the results obtained in this study. |
