Context on Display: Digital Signage Attributes, Contextual Advertising, and Consumer Persuasion

Digital signage is increasingly used in retail spaces, enabling contextually relevant forms of commercial communication. Despite its widespread adoption, relatively little research has examined how contextual variables influence the persuasive effectiveness of digital signage, particularly in developing markets. To address this gap, this study examines how digital signage attributes, advertising value and contextual advertising are associated with consumer persuasion. A conceptual model was developed integrating Advertising Value Theory and Congruity Theory to explain how context-aware communication functions within interactive retail environments. Data were collected from 200 shoppers at a South African shopping mall under three advertising conditions: no contextual content, a contextual advertisement referencing local news, or a promotional advertisement referencing local products. Consumer persuasion was analysed using linear regression and comparative statistics. The results indicate that digital signage attributes positively influence consumer persuasion. However, perceived advertising value of the content was not significantly associated with persuasion. In contrast, persuasion was higher when advertising content was contextually aligned with the surrounding environment. No significant differences in persuasion were found between local news and promotional conditions. These findings highlight the importance of contextual alignment between message and environment in shaping persuasive outcomes and demonstrate how context-aware digital signage functions as an adaptive interactive marketing touchpoint in which message, medium, and context contribute to persuasive communication.