LGBTQ-inclusive hospital advertising and purchase intention

Purpose Using social identity theory, this study aims to examine the impact of education and attitudes toward the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community on consumers’ attitudes and behaviours in response to LGBTQ-inclusive hospital ads. Design/methodology/approach An online experiment compares responses to hospital ads featuring or not featuring an indicator of LGBTQ-inclusiveness to assess purchase intentions while accounting for the moderation of education level and attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. While previous LGBTQ-inclusive advertising research included visuals of LGBTQ people, this study uses an ad that includes a succinct textual message of inclusiveness along with a pride flag. A total of 250 participants recruited via Amazon MTurk completed a set of questions after viewing the ad online. Hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macros. Findings Level of education moderates the relationship between LGBTQ-inclusive (neutral) ads and purchase intention such that purchase intention increases (decreases) for more- (less-) educated consumers. Less-educated people with more (less) positive attitudes toward the LGBTQ community have higher purchase intentions when exposed to an LGBTQ-inclusive ad than when exposed to a neutral ad. Originality/value This study is the first to explore the effects of LGBTQ-inclusive hospital advertising that uses an LGBTQ-inclusive message without the use of LGBTQ people in the ad and to study the moderation of education and attitude toward the LGBTQ community on the effectiveness of LGBTQ-inclusive hospital ads. According to our findings, to enhance purchase intentions, hospitals’ LGBTQ-inclusive advertisements should target either more educated consumers or less educated consumers who have positive attitudes toward the LGBTQ community.