Website providers find it increasingly difficult to convince users to accept advertisements (ads) on their websites. In this study, we investigate ad quantity customization (AQC) as a practice to counter these challenges. AQC refers to the technological means through which website providers enable users to determine the amount of ads displayed on their websites. Drawing on psychological empowerment theory, we demonstrate in an online experiment with 395 participants that AQC can pay off: A website with AQC elicits significantly higher website stickiness than a website without AQC, even if the website without AQC contains no ads at all. We furthermore find that perceived empowerment, informational fit-to-task and perceived enjoyment mediate the effect of AQC on website stickiness. Our study thus contributes to Information Systems research on web customization and offers website providers actionable recommendations to keep their users involved, interested and retained.

网站提供商发现说服用户接受其网站上的广告（广告）变得越来越困难。在这项研究中，我们调查了广告数量定制 (AQC) 作为应对这些挑战的一种做法。AQC 是指网站提供商使用户能够确定其网站上显示的广告数量的技术手段。借鉴心理授权理论，我们在一个有 395 名参与者的在线实验中证明 AQC 可以带来回报：即使没有 AQC 的网站根本不包含广告，具有 AQC 的网站也比没有 AQC 的网站产生更高的网站粘性。我们进一步发现，感知授权、信息适合任务和感知享受调节了 AQC 对网站粘性的影响。