The Effect of Celebrity Trustworthiness on Endorsement Effectiveness: A Comparison of Congruence and Hybrid Model

Abstract

The research evaluates the effect of celebrity trustworthiness in creating effective endorsements. The previous research in the field has suggested two competing theories in explaining the influence of celebrity trustworthiness on endorsement effectiveness. This study tries to incorporate this theory for developing a comprehensive model for explaining the effectiveness of celebrity trustworthiness. The article opted cross-validation methodology for evaluating the models. The study selected two advertisements based on a pretest conducted in MG University. The highly recalled female celebrity advertisement formed calibration stage and highly recalled male celebrity advertisement formed validation stage. The calibration stage of the study had 386 respondents and validation stage had 378 respondents. Path analysis, chi-square analysis for model difference and critical ratio analysis for the model difference were employed in the study. The findings of the study suggest that the hybrid model brought statistically significant improvements to the congruence model. The study also found that the trustworthiness was the second highest influencer in case of male celebrity whereas in case of female celebrity, attitude towards brand was second highest influencer. Further the chi-square analysis of group difference showed no significant difference in model among male and female celebrity confirming the robustness of the model.