The role of elaboration likelihood model in consumer behaviour research and its extension to new technologies: A review and future research agenda

During the last decade, research on new technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality in the context of marketing has gained notable attention from the marketing researchers. Researchers are trying to understand consumer behaviour with the aid of new technologies, but only a few consumer behaviour theories are being used in the context of marketing, for example, theory of planned behaviour, self‐determination theory, technology acceptance model, uses & gratification theory and innovation diffusion theory. These theories can successfully predict consumer's motivation, behavioural intentions and technology adoption. However, they are unable to explicate the effectiveness of promotional messages and content marketing on consumer's change in attitude and decision making. Surprisingly, theories that are actually capable to do so, for example, elaboration likelihood model (ELM), have been overlooked by the researchers. This could be because classical theories are unable to comprehend the new technologies, and hence, it is pertinent to enhance the spectrum of the classical theories. Therefore, the goal of this theory‐based systematic literature review is to assess the ELM literature to address the existing research gaps in the marketing literature. The research string used in this study was developed by using Boolean operators to search databases, and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses framework was adopted to increase the efficiency of the searching process. A total of 762 suitable articles were considered for the initial screening, however, only 68 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. These articles were analysed to propose future research agenda by including the under‐looked constructs and theories.