Title: Effects of celebrity, social media influencer, and peer endorsements on consumer responses toward a celebrity-owned brand: the role of source credibility and congruency

Authors: Shiyun Tian; Jo-Yun Li

Addresses: Department of Marketing, Welch College of Business and Technology, Sacred Heart University, 3135 Easton Turnpike, West Campus, Fairfield, CT 06825, USA ' Department of Strategic Communication, School of Communication, University of Miami, 5100 Brunson Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA

Abstract: Considering the growing popularity of celebrity-owned brands through social media advertising, this study investigates how different types of product endorsers [i.e., celebrities, social media influencers (SMI) and peer internet users] influence consumers' judgements toward celebrity-owned brands on Instagram. Results indicated that perceived expertise was important in consumers' evaluation of product endorsement messages, whereas perceptions of endorsers' trustworthiness did not differ across the three conditions. In terms of endorsement effectiveness, celebrities and SMIs had more significant impacts on consumer responses than fellow consumers when endorsing a brand owned by the celebrity, in which perceived expertise mediated the relationship between endorser type and advertising effectiveness. In addition, the endorser-consumer congruency is more prominent to SMI endorsements than to peer endorsements, whereas the endorser-product congruency is more crucial to peer endorsements than to celebrity endorsements. Theoretical and practical implications for researchers and marketers are discussed.

Keywords: product endorsements; celebrity endorsements; social media influencer; peer; advertising; Instagram; celebrity-owned brand; source credibility; trustworthiness; expertise; endorser-consumer congruency; endorser-product congruency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2022.125146

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2022 Vol.17 No.1/2, pp.133 - 161

Received: 06 May 2020
Accepted: 13 Mar 2021

Published online: 31 Aug 2022 *

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