The relationship between a celebrity's perceived credibility dimensions and purchasing intentions on social media: the moderating role of the customer's gender

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the relationship between a celebrity's perceived credibility and the customer's purchase intentions. It will also look into the moderating role of the customer's gender in the relationship. The influence of a celebrity's perceived credibility on the customer's purchase intentions is investigated via three dimensions, namely, attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. A set of research questionnaires was distributed among 500 respondents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data were then analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). This paper asserts that celebrity's perceived credibility, through attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, plays a vital role in enhancing customer's purchasing intention. Perceived expertise has been found to be the most dominant factor in influencing customer's purchasing intentions, followed by attractiveness and trustworthiness, respectively. This study finds that perceived expertise is the most important factor for males in forming their purchase intentions whereas, perceived trustworthiness is the most important factor for females in forming their purchase intentions.