Direct Marketing: An International Journal

The impact of television dependency on teleshopping adoption

Carla Ruiz Maf Silvia Sanz Blas

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Carla Ruiz Maf Silvia Sanz Blas, (2008),"The impact of television dependency on teleshopping adoption",
Direct Marketing: An International Journal, Vol. 2 Iss 1 pp. 5 - 19
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The impact of television

dependency on teleshopping
adoption
Carla Ruiz Mafe and Silvia Sanz Blas

Impact of
television
dependency
5

Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

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Abstract
Purpose To analyse key drivers of television dependency and its impact on teleshopping adoption.
Design/methodology/approach The applicability of the media dependency scale is tested in the
Spanish market. The impact of demographics, television exposure and television affinity on television
dependency is analysed together with behavioural changes deriving from television dependency
(willingness to teleshopping).
Findings Data analysis shows that the media dependency scale needs to be adapted to the Spanish
market and Spanish televiewers show intermediate levels of television dependency. Dependent
televiewers are mainly mature, feel high-television affinity and have high levels of exposure as
televiewers. Television dependency determines teleshopping adoption, with the most relevant factor
being that of searching guides for decision taking and fun.
Practical implications This research enables companies to know the different objectives which
television can help consumers to attain and, therefore, what aspects to highlight in their direct
marketing strategies. Television agents should exploit the dimensions television offers to increase
individual dependency and message effectiveness. The significant influence that decision taking and
fun exerts on willingness to teleshopping shows managers that program contents become a key tool
to increase future television purchases.
Originality/value Despite dramatic online differences were discovered between television
dependent and non-dependent consumers, very limited research has been conducted to examine
them. There are still no enough studies that analyse the background and effects of television
dependency on the non-purchasing televiewers behaviour. This paper analyses the background of
television dependency and its influence on future purchase intentions of non-buyer Spanish
televiewers.
Keywords Television, Direct marketing, Teleshopping, Spain, Dependent demand
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Although the rate of change is not the same in all countries due to the different
influences of cultural, legal, political, technological and economic development, Spain
has seen significant changes in the world of television in recent years, with television
currently invaded by satellite, cable and digitalisation, technologies which are
replacing airwaves (Bigne et al., 2006). In Spain, the new technologies and deregulation
of the television industry have brought dramatic changes including: new means of
signal transmission, audience fragmentation as the result of the huge increase in
supply, specialised programming, new contents, new marketing formulas which
influence access to teleshopping and new forms of financing (advertising or
pay-per-view).
Non-store retailing is a form of retailing in which consumer contact occurs outside
the confines of the retail store, such as vending machines, electronic shopping, at home

Direct Marketing: An International

Journal
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2008
pp. 5-19
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-5933
DOI 10.1108/17505930810863608

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personal selling, or catalogue buying (American Marketing Association, 2007).

The domain of activities where direct channels use and consumer purchase behaviour
overlap can be called non-store consumer purchase behaviour. Teleshopping appears
to be one of the most promising new direct sales channel due to technological progress
and the interaction opportunities provided by digitalisation (Ruiz and Sanz, 2007;
Burgess, 2003). In Spain, there has been a particularly notable increase in broadcasting
time for infomercials and at present public and private networks, regional, local, cable
and satellite channels have specific channels for 24 hour shopping (Canal Club,
La Tienda en Casa and EHS TV) (Bigne et al., 2006). Increasing numbers of prestigious
European companies (European Home Shopping) and Spanish companies (El Corte
Ingles, Planeta Directo, etc.) offer their products through television.
Television has become a very powerful direct marketing channel, because it
exercises control over information resources on which individuals and society in
general depend to achieve their objectives and cover their needs (Loges and
Ball-Rokeach, 1993; Mcquail, 1998). Consequently, an important area of study is to
explore the functions of this media from the consumer perspective, including
individual media relations and any derived effects such as teleshopping. One approach
which has permitted in-depth study of individual media relations is the Mass Media
Dependency Theory (Ball-Rokeach, 1985, 1989; Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984; Defleur and
Ball-Rokeach, 1989; Loges, 1994), which has been used as the conceptual framework for
our study.
Televiewers are not a homogeneous group (Burgess, 2003; Donthu and Gilliland,
1996; Ruiz and Sanz, 2007). Although dramatic differences were discovered between
teleshoppers and televiewers, very limited empirical research has been conducted to
examine the demographic, behavioural and attitudinal differences among dependent
and non-dependent televiewers (Grant et al., 1991; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998).
Moreover, it is crucial for companies to understand non-purchasing televiewers
attitudes and their media exposure patterns, in order to develop effective strategies to
convert them to teleshopping.
This paper aims to:
.
analyse dependency dimensions to discover the functions of television as a
marketing channel and what personal or collective objectives individuals achieve
in their relations with television;
.
determine Spanish individuals television media dependency levels; and
.
analyse what variables (demographic, behavioural and attitudinal) contribute to
intensifying or reducing individual media dependency (IMD) and their impact on
willingness to teleshopping.
The study is divided in two parts. The first part, includes the literature review and
development of the working hypotheses. The second part, includes the methodology
used in the empirical study of a sample of 524 Spanish televiewers and the data
analysis.
Individual media dependency
The uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al., 1974; Krotz and Eastman, 1999; Mcquail,
1995; Perse, 1986) has been one of the most influential theories in the study of mass
media, as unlike other approaches or theories, it has allowed better understanding of

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what needs the communication content covers and the gratifications brought to mass
media audiences (Anderson and Meyer, 1975). This theory has been improved and
extended by the media dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach, 1989), which makes it
possible to identify not only the needs and gratifications derived from using the
medium but also the relationships between the objectives pursued and the available
resources. In contrast to the uses and gratifications theory, the dependency theory also
takes into account the context surrounding the communication, considering any
factors or variables which might influence access to the medium.
The media dependency theory is based on the study of the relationships between
systems and their components (Ball-Rokeach, 1989). According to this theory, mass
media are both a system and an important part of the social fabric of modern society
and can therefore have relationships with individuals, groups and organisations and
with other social systems (Ball-Rokeach, 1989). The medium is therefore an integrating
component in the tripartite entity audience-medium-society (Ball-Rokeach, 1985;
Ball-Rokeach and Defleur, 1976; Defleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989).
The media dependency theory posits that individuals develop dependency
relationships with the media because they are goal directed and some of their goals
require access to resources controlled by the mass media (Ball-Rokeach, 1985, 1989).
The micro-level of this theory known as IMD provides a concrete basis for measuring
an individuals dependency relations with regard to a specific medium (Grant et al.,
1991; Loges, 1994). In this sense, individual-media dependency is defined as a relation
in which the capacity of the individual to reach his/her objectives depends on, in a
certain way, the access to the resources of information controlled by the media
(Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984, p. 3).
IMD is composed of three dimensions: understanding, orientation and play
(Ball-Rokeach, 1985, 1989; Grant, 1989, 1996; Grant et al., 1991; Loges, 1994; Skumanich
and Kintsfather, 1998), which are divided into social and personal dimension,
providing six dependency relation levels of the individual with the medium: self
understanding, social understanding, orientation to action, orientation to interaction,
solitary play and social play.
These dimensions have been identified in several media such as radio, newspapers,
television or internet. The studies focused on the analysis of the individual television
dependency (Ball-Rokeach et al., 1995; Grant et al., 1991; Loges, 1994; Skumanich and
Kintsfather, 1998), have permitted identification of the six levels of dependency
previously described and, thus, to show that television provides enough informative
resources to achieve understanding as well as orientation and entertainment goals.
Background of television dependency
Together, with the dimensions or categories which concern dependency development,
other factors can intensify or reduce media dependency (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; Grant
et al., 1991; Loges, 1994; Defleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989): demographics, media
exposure and television affinity.
Demographics
Studies focused on the analysis of the Spanish televiewer profile, describe the
heavy-television viewer as woman, middle aged and middle class (Sofres, 2007).
Previous studies (Loges, 1994; Loges and Ball-Rokeach, 1993) have shown that

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demographic variables can intensify IMD but very little research has focused on this
and there are contradictory results.
Loges (1994) found that gender (in magazines), age (in the radio, newspapers and
magazines) and educational level (in radio and television) are the main predictors of
dependency, while income was rarely a relevant variable in the analysis. Loges and
Ball-Rokeach (1993) focused on printed media (newspapers) and found significant
relations between gender, age, income and media dependency. If we focus on the
internet medium, Ruiz and Sanz (2006) found significant relations between age,
education and internet dependency.
To complement findings of the literature review, we addressed the following
hypotheses:
H1a. Gender has a significant influence on television dependency.
H1b. Age has a significant influence on television dependency.
H1c. Education has a significant influence on television dependency.
H1d. Income has a significant influence on television dependency.
Televiewing behaviour
Greater exposure to the medium may activate dependency, as certain needs or
objectives emerge which can be covered through medium content (Ball-Rokeach, 1985;
Defleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Thus, an important antecedent to media dependency
is exposure, since an individual can become aware of the fulfilment of his or her needs
or objectives through exposure (Grant et al., 1991; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998).
Moreover, it should be noted that prior studies focused on the television medium have
found a positive, significant correlation between levels of exposure and medium
dependency (Loges and Ball-Rokeach, 1993; Loges, 1994).
It seems logical to expect that exposure to the television medium will lead to a
greater dependency relation, as shown below:
H2. Increased television exposure leads to increased television dependency.
Affinity with the medium
Affinity has been conceptualized as the importance of a medium in the lives of
individuals (Perse, 1986; Rubin, 1981). Affinity has been utilized to assess the attitudes
of individuals towards a medium and its content (Rubin, 1981; Rubin and Perse, 1988;
Perse, 1986). Previous studies have found a positive, significant association between
affinity and levels of televiewing (Greenberg, 1974; Rubin, 1981, 1983; Rubin and Perse,
1988; Perse, 1986). It has also been found that this variable is one of the most
significant predictors for certain medium relations such as parasocial interaction
(Rubin et al., 1985).
There is a positive correlation between televiewing levels and medium dependency
and parasocial interaction can be the result of particularly intense dependency
relations (Grant et al., 1991; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998). This leads us to suggest
that affinity can also help to intensify television dependency. Research by Ruiz and
Sanz (2006) focused on the internet medium has found a positive and direct relationship
between internet affinity and internet dependency. To complement findings of the

literature review, we addressed the following hypothesis on the affinity/dependency

relation:

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H3. Increased television affinity leads to increased television dependency.

Effects of television dependency
The interest of the IMD theory lies not only in describing IMD but also in
demonstrating how dependency can cause cognitive, affective and behavioural
changes in people subject to regular media exposure (Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984; Grant,
1996; Mcquail, 1998). It, therefore, analyses when and why individuals expose
themselves to the medium and what effect that exposure has (Ball-Rokeach, 1989;
Ball-Rokeach and Defleur, 1976; Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984; Mcquail, 1998).
It has been found that certain behavioural effects such as the purchase of products
and/or services can be intensified when dependency level with a medium is
particularly high (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; Defleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Studies by
Grant et al. (1991) and Skumanich and Kintsfather (1998) show that televiewer
dependency on the television medium and/or teleshopping genre are highly predictive
of purchase behaviour. Taking into account the literature review, we posit a similar
effect for non-purchasing televiewers in the following hypothesis:
H4. Television dependency positively influences future teleshopping intention.
Methodology
We examined data from personal interviews given to 524 Spanish individuals, over 18
years old, with quota sampling on the basis of gender and age range determined by the
EGM study (2006)[1] which is the most important directory of media audience in Spain
(see sample distribution in Table I). The field work was done from June to September
2006.
Demographics were measured as follows: age, the level of income and education
were measured as ordinal variables with different response intervals. As Table I
shows, televiewers are men (47.3 per cent) and women (52.7 per cent), aged between 25
and 44 years old (38.2 per cent) and with a medium level of education (42.1 per cent
have secondary studies) and medium-high incomes (41.7 per cent) (Table I).
Televiewing behaviour was measured considering the daily number of televiewing
hours on average (Grant et al., 1991; Perse, 1986; Rubin et al., 1985). Future
teleshopping intention was measured by the response to the question Would you buy
through the television over the next few years? on a five-point Likert scale where 1:
No definitely not 2: Probably not 3: Indifferent 4: Probably yes and 5: Yes
definitely.
A five item scale from previous studies was used to measure affinity (Rubin, 1981,
1983, 1984; Rubin and Perse, 1988; Perse, 1986) (Table II). Evaluation for each item
ranged from 1 totally disagree to 5 totally agree.
Television dependency was measured using the standard dependency scale
developed by several researchers (Grant, 1996; Loges, 1994) (Table III), measured on a
five-point Likert scale (1 totally disagree; 5 totally agree). This scale can
measure the objectives of understanding, orientation and play, and their respective
social and individual dimensions. The scale has a total of 18 items, with three
representative items in each of the six dimensions being studied, measured on a

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10

Table I.
Respondent profile

Demographics
Percentage
Gender
Male
Female
Age
Up to 24 years old
Between 25 and 34
Between 35 and 44
Between 45 and 54
Between 55 and 64
Over 65
Education
No formal education
Primary
Secondary
University graduate
Level of income
Below average
Around average
Above average
Well above average

Affinity

Table II.
Affinity scale

47.3
52.7
16.4
27.6
10.6
16.1
10.9
18.4
6.4
20
42.1
31.5
24.4
33.9
32.9
8.8

Watching television is one of the most important things I do each day

If the TV was not working, I would miss it
I would rather watch TV than do anything else
I could not easily do without television for several days
I would feel lost without television to watch

Source: Perse (1986)

five-point Likert scale where a score of 1 means totally disagree and 5 totally agree.
This scale was reviewed by Spanish experts and back-translated to ensure that no
nuances were lost.
Findings
Applicability of the television dependency scale
Given that cultural differences may affect measurement scale suitability, we first test
the applicability of the media dependency scale to the Spanish market and we study
Spanish televiewers dependency levels.
The media dependency scale was refining, taking into account content validity and
two variables were eliminated as a result: V1 (Stay on top of what is happening in the
community) and V2 (Find out how the country is doing). These items were eliminated
because the item-corrected total correlation was below 0.3 and when they were
eliminated, Cronbachs a improved. Thus, we consider that V3 was the representative
item for the information category and was able to contain, to a certain extent, the
information contained in the other two eliminated items (V1 and V2).

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V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
V6
V7
V8
V9
V10
V11
V12
V13
V14
V15
V16
V17
V18

Stay on top of what is happening in the community

Find out how the country is doing
Keep up with world events
Gain insight into why you do some of things that you do
Imagine what you will be like as you grow older
Observe how others cope with problems or situations like yours
Discover better ways to communicate with others
Think about how to act with friends, relatives, or people you work with
Get ideas about how to approach others in important or difficult situations
Decide where to go for services such as health, financial, or household
Figure out what to buy
Plan where to go for evening and weekend activities
Give you something to do with your friends
Have fun with family or friends
Be a part of events you enjoy without having to be there
Unwind after a hard day or week
Relax when you are by yourself
Have something to do when nobody else is around

Source: Grant (1996)

An exploratory principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was

performed on the remaining 16 scale items, which generated a four factor solution
(factor eigenvalues . 1; variance explained 64.1 per cent): understanding and
reflection (F1: V4-V9), decision taking and fun (F2: V10-V15), relaxation and
entertainment (F3: V16-V18) and finally, searching for information about world events
(F4: V3). Thus, all the dimensions initially proposed by the authors were represented.
Then the measurement scale was checked to ensure they complied with the
psychometric properties established in the literature.
We checked content validity by ensuring in the literature review (Grant, 1996) that a
rigorous methodology was used to create the scale and to evaluate its reliability. We
therefore consider that the television dependency measurement scale content is valid.
Convergent validity was verified by the fact that in the confirmatory model loads
for the different indicators were statistically significant (at a level of 0.001) and above
0.5 points. In addition, the goodness of confirmatory model fit was acceptable
(x 2(101) 819.922; p 0.09; GFI 0.90; AGFI 0.87; RMSR 0.07), thus
confirming the multidimensional nature of the television dependency scale. The
model obtained was compared with a second alternative model in which the 16
variables or indicators loaded a single factor. The results were as expected, since the
alternative model showed a worse fit (x 2(104) 1355.21; p , 0.001; GFI 0.75;
AGFI 0.65; RMSR 0.155). The difference x 2 test (Bentler and Bonnet, 1980)
shows there are statistically significant differences between the two models
(Dx 2(3) 535.28; p , 0.001), thus confirming the multiple dimension of the
television dependency scale.
Discriminant validity was confirmed by verifying that variable correlations in the
confirmatory model did not exceed 0.8 points, thus showing low discrimination
(Bagozzi, 1994). The results show relatively low, statistically significant values, with
the highest correlation value at 0.481.

Impact of
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11

Table III.
Dependency scale

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12

Finally, internal scale consistency was found to be correct. Cronbachs a had a value
of 0.89 and a compound reliability of 0.92, both values above the minimum
recommended value of 0.7 (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The extracted variance
value was 0.46 which, although slightly lower than the minimum recommended value
of 0.5 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), is considered acceptable.
The television dependency scale was applied to Spanish televiewers. Total mean
television dependency was 2.5 (Table IV).
Descriptive analysis also shows that televiewers value above all the information
(V3) (4.05), entertainment (V18) (3.55) relaxation (V16) (3.28) and guides to buy (V11)
(3.19) television provides (Table V). However, those interviewed did not agree with the
statement that television allows them to imagine how they will be when they are older
(V5) or gives them something to do with friends (V13). Nor did they consider it an ideal
way to plan where to go for weekend activities (V12) or for understanding the reasons
why certain things are done (V4).
Demographic variables and television dependency
We carried out a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyse if the mean values
of the dependent variable (television dependency) are significantly different in relation

Table IV.
Means of the television
dependency scale

Table V.
Anova for television
dependency towards
demographics

V3
4.05

V4 V5
1.83 1.66

1.02

0.96 0.97

Gender
Inter-groups
Intra-groups
Total
Age
Inter-groups
Intra-groups
Total
Level of income
Inter-groups
Intra-groups
Total
Level of education
Inter-groups
Intra-groups
Total

V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13

2.30 2.29 1.89 1.93 2.54 3.19 1.76 1.69
Means of the television dependency scale
SD
1.13 1.08 0.99 0.96 1.19 1.17 0.98 0.98

V14
2.15
2.5

V15
2.58

V16 V17
3.28 3.22

V18
3.55

1.09

1.24

1.11 1.10

1.15

Sum of squares

df

Mean

F-value

Sig.

0.153
209.582
209.735

1
522
523

0.153
0.401

0.381

0.538

7.016
202.720
209.735

5
518
523

1.403
0.391

3.585

0.003

62.035
475.904
537.939

3
520
523

1.320
0.996

1.326

0.079

2.447
207.288
209.735

3
520
523

0.816
0.399

2.047

0.106

Notes: Levenes test (gender-dependency) statistic (4.048), sig. (0.055); Levenes test (age-dependency)
statistic (2.365), sig. (0.059); Levenes test (income-dependency) statistic (0.104), sig. (0.985); Levenes
test (education-dependency) statistic (2.676), sig. (0.057)

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to gender, age, income and education (Table V). Results showed that there are only
significant differences in relation to age (F 3.585; p , 0.01).
A post hoc analysis (Scheffes test) shows where the significant intra-group
differences occur (Table VI). Television dependency increases with age, with higher
dependency on average for people over 45 than for other televiewers. These results lead
us to accept H1b and to reject H1a, H1c and H1d.
Behavioural variables and television dependency
The ANOVA results show that mean dependency value is significantly different in
relation to television exposure (Table VII). This suggests that individuals who watch
more television are more dependent than those who are less familiar with the medium
(F 13.302; p 0.000).
Scheffes test (Table VIII) shows that individuals who watch television less than two
hour per day have, on average, lower dependency than those who watch television
more frequently. Greater access frequency may allow individuals to achieve their
objectives, thus intensifying their relations with the medium (Ball-Rokeach, 1985;
Defleur y Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Thus, hypothesis H2 is supported.

Impact of
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13

Affinity and television dependency

The scale used to measure affinity was also checked for compliance with the
psychometric properties established in the literature. Cronbachs a had a value of 0.84.
Scale content validity was verified from the literature review (Greenberg, 1974; Rubin,
1981, 1983; Rubin and Perse, 1988; Rubin et al., 1985; Perse, 1986). Convergent validity
was verified by the fact that in the confirmatory model all the standardised factorial
loads were above 0.5 and were all significant (T . 3.291). Finally, discriminant
validity was confirmed by the fact that variable correlation in the confirmatory model
did not exceed 0.8.
Subset for a 0.05

Variable
Age
Up to 24 years old
Between 25 and 34
Between 35 and 44
Between 45 and 54
Between 55 and 64
Over 65
Sig.

Media exposure
Inter-groups
Intra-groups
Total

70
166
65
117
42
64

2.2772
2.3260
2.3623

2
2.3260
2.3623
2.4315
2.4880
2.6295
0.136

0.540

Sum of squares

df

Mean

F-value

Sig.

19.503
190.232
209.735

4
519
523

4.876
0.367

13.302

0.000

Note: Levenes test (exposure-dependency) statistic (3.250), sig. (0.052)

Table VI.
Homogenous subsets
from Scheffes test for age

Table VII.
Anova for television
dependency towards
media exposure

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14

The relationship between affinity and television dependency was determined firstly by
calculating the correlation coefficient between variables which showed a positive and
significant relation between affinity and television dependency (Table IX).
Then we evaluated the impact of affinity on television dependency through a single
bivariate regression (Table X). Results shown in Table X show that affinity with the
medium significantly influences television dependency. These results are consistent
with those from previous studies (Rubin et al., 1985). Therefore, H3 is also supported.
Relations between television dependency and teleshopping intention
Here, our objective is to check whether television dependency influences future
purchase behaviour. The correlation coefficient is significant and positive (Table XI).
We done a bivariate regression where television dependency was entered as an
independent variable and willingness to teleshopping was entered as the dependent
variable (Table XII). Thus, we can conclude that the greater the television dependency,

Variable
Exposure

Table VIII.
Homogenous subsets
from Scheffes test for
media exposure

Less than 2 hours

Between 2-3 hours
Between 3-4 hours
Between 4-5 hours
More than 5 hours
Sig.

Subset for a 0.05

N

214
166
43
78
23

2.2109

2
2.4676
2.6105
2.6843
2.7663
0.592

0.291

Pearsons coefficient
Table IX.
Affinity-television
dependency correlations

Table X.
Regression results of
effect of affinity on
television dependency

0.590 *

Affinity/television dependency
Note: *Significant correlation at 0.01

Standard coefficients

Sig.

0.492

18.928
12.899

0.000
0.000

Constant
Dependency
R 2: 0.242; R 2 adjusted: 0.240

Pearsons coefficient
Table XI.
Dependency-teleshopping
intention correlations

Television dependency/teleshopping intention

Note: *Significant correlation at 0.01

0.716 *

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the greater the future teleshopping intention, and thus H4 of this study is also
supported.
After verifying the influence of television dependency on purchase intention, we
then determined the potential effects on teleshopping intention of each of the
dependency factors obtained in the principal components factor analysis
(F1: Television use for understanding and reflection; F2: Decision taking and fun;
F3: Relaxation and entertainment and F4: Searching for information about world
events). This was done using stepwise multiple regression analysis, with teleshopping
intention as the dependent variable and the components or factors as the explanatory
variables.
The results obtained (Table XIII) show that two of the four factors analysed exercise a
positive and statistically significant effect ( p , 0.01) on televiewers purchase intention.
In particular, decision taking and fun (F2) is the factor with the most influence
on teleshopping intention and the second factor which significative influence is
television use for entertainment and relaxation (F3). Searching for information about
world events (F4) and searching for guides to understanding and reflection (F1) do not
influence teleshopping intention. These variables can largely explain Spanish
televiewers purchase intention as the adjusted R 2 represents 56.5 per cent.

Impact of
television
dependency
15

Managerial implications
The study of television dependency involved first of all, verification of the media
dependency scale applicability to the Spanish market. Given that the initial 18 item
scale did not reflect the situation of Spanish television users, it was adapted and refined
to obtain a battery of 16 statements. Thus, while in other countries such as the USA or
the UK, media dependency studies distinguish between information about the
immediate environment, information about the country and information about what is
happening in the world, in Spain this information was collected in a single item:
Television is useful for keeping up to date with what is happening in the world.
This scale was subjected to statistical analysis, verifying its multidimensionality and
compliance with the psychometric properties established by the literature.

Constant
Dependency
R 2: 0.693; R 2 adjusted: 0.613

Constant
FACT2: Decision taking and fun
FACT3: Relaxation and entertainment
FACT4: Searching for world information
FACT1: Understanding and reflection
R 2: 0.567; R 2 adjusted: 0.565

Standard coefficients

Sig.

0.694

16.315
22.851

0.000
0.000

Standard coefficients (b)

Sig.

0.657
0.336
0.104
0.125

14.666
11.879
10.938
1.842
1.473

0.000
0.000
0.000
0.067
0.163

Table XII.
Regression results of
effect of television
dependency on
willingness to
teleshopping

Table XIII.
Regression results of
dependency factors on
teleshopping intention

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16

In terms of the contribution made by this research, it has enabled us to identify four
underlying factors to television dependency, which refer to the use of the medium for
understanding and reflection (F1), decision taking and fun (F2), relaxation and
entertainment (F3) and searching for information about world events (F4). Although
not all the factors correspond to the dimensions initially proposed by different authors
(Ball-Rokeach et al., 1995; Grant, 1996; Loges, 1994), they do reflect an important
number of items for a given category. F1 identifies with the dimension of self
understanding and orientation to interaction; F2 with orientation to action and social
play; F3 with solitary play and F4 with social understanding. This confirms that
television permits all levels of individual dependency (Ball-Rokeach et al., 1995; Grant,
1989, 1996; Loges, 1994; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998). It has also enabled us to
define the profile of television dependent televiewers as mature televiewers, with
greater television exposure and who feel high affinity to the medium. A possible
explanation is that older consumers are more familiar with the television medium as
they value its benefits more and often seek to use the medium as a substitute for their
social relationships (Davis, 1971; Levy, 1979; Mcmellon and Schiffman, 2000).
Greater television exposure may allow individuals to achieve their objectives, thus
intensifying their relations with the medium (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; Defleur and
Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Therefore, greater exposure leads to improved relations with the
medium as the individual is more familiar with it and values its benefits more.
This research enables companies to know the different objectives which television
can help an individual to attain and therefore what aspects to highlight in their direct
marketing strategies. Spanish televiewers have intermediate television dependency
levels, and the most important objectives pursued in using the system are: to be
informed, be entertained when alone, relax and figure out what to buy. On the basis of
the six media dependency dimensions identified in the literature, Spanish televiewers
show a basic orientation towards social understanding and own entertainment in their
exposure to the television media. These results agree with the contributions by
Ball-Rokeach et al. (1984) which underline social understanding as one of the main
television media dependency dimensions. Nevertheless, there is significant divergence
in relation to own entertainment, considered very important by Ball-Rokeach et al.
(1984) but awarded little value by Spanish televiewers. It should also be noted that
television is not used very much when accompanied to cover social entertainment
needs.
Television may also cover their other objectives such as providing orientation to
action or interaction or entertainment when with other people. Agents involved in the
television system, from service providers to advertisers, should exploit the dimensions
television offers to increase individual dependency and message effectiveness. By
doing so, they could attract users with low dependency and low affinity, thus
improving exposure levels and increasing teleshopping adoption rates.
Finally, our research has made it possible to show the impact of television
dependency on the willingness to teleshopping, with the most relevant factor in this
aspect being that of searching for guides to decision taking and fun. Therefore, to
increase televiewers willingness to purchase, companies should reconsider both
content and format so that the individual becomes aware that television is useful in his
or her purchase decisions or as a form of entertainment when with other people.

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A limitation of this work is that it is based on the adaptation of an existing scale

applied in other countries. It might have been desirable to construct our own scale
based on qualitative techniques to determine the items on it.
The results of this study encourage further in-depth study of individual direct
marketing channel relations. Along these lines, it would be interesting to study scale
applicability to other direct media (like the mobile phone), even specific genres within
each type of media to verify whether the scale can be generalised. Likewise, it would
also be relevant to analyse other factors which may influence television dependency
and other derived effects as teleshopping dependency.
Note
1. This study is the most important directory of media audience in Spain. Their results show
that 48.9 per cent of consumers who watch television are male and 51.1 per cent are female.
The study also shows that 15.3 per cent of them are between 14 and 24 years old; 37.2 per cent
are 25-44 years old; 15 per cent are 45-54 years old and; 12.5 per cent are 55-64 years old and
20 per cent are over 64 years old.
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Impact of
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pp. 332-3.
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soap opera, Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 65 No. 2, pp. 368-75.
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About the authors
Carla Ruiz Mafe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing at the University of
Valencia (Spain). She has been Coordinator of Postgraduate training programs in the Chamber
of Commerce of Valencia (1998-2007). She received her PhD at University of Valencia. Her
primary research interests include e-commerce, interactive marketing and consumer behaviour.
Carla Ruiz Mafe is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: Carla.ruiz@uv.es
Silvia Sanz Blas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing at the University of
Valencia (Spain). She received her PhD at University of Valencia. Her primary research interests
include communication, sales, e-commerce, interactive marketing and consumer behaviour.

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