Online targeted ads: Effects of persuasion knowledge, coping self-efficacy, and product involvement on privacy concerns and ad intrusiveness

•The persuasion knowledge (PK) of OTA increased coping self-efficacy.•Coping self-efficacy (CSE) mediates the effect of PK on OTA evaluations.•Product involvement moderates the effect of PK on OTA evaluations through CSE. This study conducted an online experiment to examine how persuasion knowledge of online targeted advertising (OTA), coping self-efficacy, and product involvement influenced the perceptions of privacy concerns and ad intrusiveness. These findings indicated that persuasion knowledge increased coping self-efficacy, which, in turn, influenced privacy concerns and perceived ad intrusiveness. Furthermore, the relations between coping self-efficacy and the evaluations of the OTA varied, depending on levels of product involvement. Specifically, when participants had high product involvement, their perceptions of privacy concerns and ad intrusiveness increased as their coping self-efficacy enhanced. However, those relationships did not appear among participants with low levels of product involvement. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed later.