The Influence of Social Media Endorsement on Customer Purchase Decision

Abstract

Celebrity social media endorsement has become a popular marketing strategy over the last decade. However, it is not always effective in the consumer purchase decision process. Sometimes, it brings adverse effects to the brand and product due to the wrong selection of celebrity figures. and for MSME who have limited capital, it is very important to effectively choose celebrities on social media for endorsement so that marketing strategies carried out result in consumer purchase decisions. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate three variables that related to celebrity social media endorsement but had the most significant influence on purchase decisions. Among others: expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness so it can be used by marketers or MSME as an insight. This research used a quantitative method to collect the data; there were 205 respondents as a sample. The data will be analyzed with inner and outer models and calculated with PLS statistics. The findings revealed that all variables, including expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness, have a positive influence on purchase decisions. However, it is only trustworthiness and attractiveness that have significant influence, with the p-values of trustworthiness (0.042 0.050) and a coefficient obtained of 0.175, which means they have a positive and significant influence also p-values of attractiveness (0.000 0.050) with a coefficient obtained of 0,647, which means a positive and significant influence and expertise had an insignificant influence on purchase decisions with p-values (0.843 > 0.050) and a coefficient of 0.014, which means it had a positive and insignificant influence on purchase decisions. This research has come to the conclusion that MSME may consider applying celebrity social media endorsements to their campaigns, but they must take into account the variables that have a significant influence on the purchase decision. Particularly attractiveness, which had the most significant influence.