Abstract
PurposeAs the superiority of sports celebrities' endorsements has been questioned, the purpose of this study is to identify various types of endorsers' direct and indirect effects on consumers' purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected from 240 useful responses to an online experiment, and research hypotheses were tested using (moderated) serial mediation analyses.FindingsThe study's findings indicate that an endorser has a positive influence on consumers' purchase intentions through their perceptions of the advertisement and the endorsed brand. A moderated serial mediation analysis finds differences in the four types of endorsers analyzed. A sports celebrity is the most effective type of endorser in increasing consumers' purchase intentions, whereas endorsements by company managers and peer consumers, while also positive, are less effective in influencing advertising outcomes. An expert's endorsement is comparable to that of a manager but not significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of the study's findings is limited because of a restricted data sample, the use of fictitious endorsers and the limited number of product categories and brands analyzed.Originality/valueThe study systematically analyzes the behavioral influence of four types of endorsers on consumers' purchase intentions, mediated by their perceptions of the advertisements and the endorsed brand. The results of this analysis extend the current state of endorsement research, indicating that endorsements should be integrated into companies' marketing strategies and provide marketing professionals practical guidance on which type of endorser is most effective in influencing advertising outcomes.
Highlights
The popularity of sports celebrities’ endorsements continues to increase (Bergkvist and Zhou, 2016; Kim et al, 2017), and companies frequently use product endorsements as part of their marketing strategy
A bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence interval (CI) for the indirect effect based on 5,000 bootstrapped samples results in a
The moderating effect of the type of endorser on the influence of attitude toward the endorsed brand on consumers’ purchase intentions is significant for a sports celebrity, a sports-related peer consumer (b 5 À1.12, SE 5 0.47, p < 0.01, 95% CI 5 [-2.05, À0.20]) and a sports company manager (b 5 À1.01, SE 5 0.50, p < 0.01, 95% CI 5 [-2.00, À0.02]), but not significant for a sports-related external expert (Figure 4)
Summary
The popularity of sports celebrities’ endorsements continues to increase (Bergkvist and Zhou, 2016; Kim et al, 2017), and companies frequently use product endorsements as part of their marketing strategy. Studies have shown that sports celebrities’ endorsements are an effective way to increase brand equity (Spry et al, 2011), product sales (McCormick, 2018; Wang and Scheinbaum, 2018) and a company’s market value (Derdenger et al, 2018; Elberse and Verleun, 2012). Koernig and Boyd (2009) and Taylor (2016) questioned whether sports celebrity endorsers are the most effective type of endorser in influencing consumers’ behavior. The present study seeks to determine systematically the direct and indirect influences of different types of sports-related endorsers on consumers’ purchase intentions
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