Abstract

 
 
 The paper aims to examine the role of localness of a sports celebrity and a level of product involvement in the mediated impact of the perceived product quality on the relationship between a sports celebrity’s credibility and consumers’ purchase intention in a developing economy. A total of 253 respondents participated in an experiment including the localness of 2 sports celebrities (global vs national) and2 product involvement (high vs low) levels. The study determined that sports celebrity credibility had both direct and indirect effects on respondents’ intention to buy, but product involvement moderated the direct impact of sports celebrity credibility on the consumer’s intention to buy a product. The direct impact was noticed in the case of low involvement products, and no impact was observed in the situation of high involvement. Besides, the study showed that global sports celebrities enjoyed a higher level of attractiveness, but the trustworthiness was higher for national celebrities. Finally, moderation analysis showed that the mediation effect of the localness of a sports celebrity on the relationship between credibility and intention to purchase depended on the type of measured effect – direct or indirect. This study expands the research on the effects of celebrity credibility on the consumer’s intention to purchase in developing economies.
 
 
Highlights
The use of celebrity endorsement has been a popular trend for more than a century (Erdogan, 1999)
Analysis of the mediation effect of the perceived product quality showed that the credibility of a sports celebrity had a positive impact on the perceived quality (path a b=0.4610, 95% CI [0.326, 0.595], t=6.75, p
The indirect effect of the sports celebrity credibility on the perceived quality was statistically significant (a*b=0.215, 95% CI [0.141, 0.303], R2=0.23, F(2, 503)= 75.182, p
Summary
The use of celebrity endorsement has been a popular trend for more than a century (Erdogan, 1999). Companies invest large sums of money in having celebrity endorsers in their advertisements hoping to achieve returns on their investments (Roozen & Claeys, 2010). Knoll and Matthes (2017) pointed out a growing interest in celebrity endorsements in emerging countries such as India and China due to cultural differences. Other authors emphasize higher importance of celebrity endorsements on consumers’ behaviour in emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America than developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom (Paek, 2005; Kulkarni, 2012). Whereas the phenomenon of celebrity endorsement has been widely investigated in developed countries (Bergkvist & Zhou 2016), several aspects like sports celebrity’s localness and a level of product involvement are relatively understudied
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
