Distinctive Characteristics of Mobile Advertising in Measuring Consumers’ Attitude: An Empirical Study Mirza A. Haq * Arsalan Mujahid Ghouri † Abstract: Mobile advertising has gained substantial momentum in the past decade as it is expected to surpass more than 100 billion dollars in the near future. However, this domain seems to be insufficient in empirical testing. Hence, the aim of the current research was to empirically examine the determinants of mobile marketing having impact on consumers’ attitude. These factors were also mediated by emotional value in order to accomplish consumers’ related behavioral outcomes. A quantitative approach based upon a cross-sectional administered survey was employed to collect the data from 343 university going student as respondents. The Partial Least Square (PLS) two step path modeling was used to test the direct and indirect hypotheses. The results indicate that mobile advertising unique features (i.e., timeliness and personalization) directly and indirectly impact consumers’ attitude through emotional value. On the contrary, localization element of mobile advertising has been found insignificant in influencing consumers’ attitude. Based on the findings of the study, theoretical and practical contributions along with certain limitations and future research recommendations are discussed consequently. Keywords: Mobile advertising, timeliness, localization, personalization, emotional value, atti- tude, social cognitive theory. Introduction Mobile advertising is one of the most flourishing businesses these days. One such testi- mony is its novel growth rate in the US only. According to the statistics of 2014, it grew to 19 billion dollars and it is speculated to reach more than 65 billion dollars by the end of 2019, which will account for approximately 75% of the total digital advertising budget (eMarketer, 2015). Not only the US, but in the global scenario, it is expected to surpass more than 100 billion dollars, which is more than 50% of what was spent on digital ad- vertising in 2016 (eMarketer, 2015). Penetration of Smart phones and other related mobile devices, particularly in youth, have become the reason of this exceptional growth of mo- bile advertising. Few seminal works in mobile marketing domain are important contributions towards the foundation of mobile marketing literature (Grewal, Bart, Spann, & Zubcsek, 2016; Hofacker, De Ruyter, Lurie, Manchanda, & Donaldson, 2016). However, it is important to note that these models and frameworks are purely conceptual or exploratory in na- ture (Varnali & Toker, 2010) and require empirical testing (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016) * Iqra University, Karachi. This paper is a part of PhD work. † Montpellier Business School, France & Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia. 199 Journal of Management Sciences Vol. 4(2): 199-216, 2017 DOI: 10.20547/jms.2014.1704204