Search

The Impact of Celebrity Endorser Identification on Purchase Behavior Among Adult Female Consumers

Author(s)

Siqi Zhang

Affiliation(s)

The University of Newcastle, Australia *Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study focuses on the key role of "endorser identity" in celebrity endorsement advertisements, aiming to explore how it affects the brand attitude and purchasing behavior of adult female consumers. Through experimental design, high-recognition endorsers (Liu Yifei) and low-recognition endorsers (Ma Baiquan) were selected as research subjects, and 206 valid questionnaire data were collected. Combined with descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and mediating and moderating effect analyses, a systematic test was conducted on the mediating path of endorsement recognition and the moderating effect of brand matching degree. The research finds that the influence of celebrity recognition on purchase intention does not take effect directly, but is achieved indirectly through the psychological mechanism of "spokesperson recognition". When respondents developed a stronger emotional identification with the spokesperson, their purchase intention increased significantly. In addition, the subjective perception of "the fit between the spokesperson and the brand image" by the respondents has a moderating effect on the endorsement effect. A high matching degree further enhances the influence of the recognition of celebrities on the advertising effect. This study reveals the psychological path behind the communication effect of celebrity endorsements, emphasizing that brands should attach importance to the construction of "identity" and the "image matching" strategy in the process of selecting endorsers, thereby enhancing the emotional value and behavioral transformation efficiency of brand communication.

Keywords

Celebrity Endorsement; Female Consumers; Sense of Identity; Purchase Behavior; Mediating Effect; Moderating Effect

References

[1] Erdogan, B. Z. (1999). Celebrity endorsement: A literature review. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(4), 291–314. [2] Choi, S. M., & Rifon, N. J. (2012). It Is a Match: The Impact of Congruence between Celebrity Image and Consumer Ideal Self on Endorsement Effectiveness. Psychology & Marketing, 29(9), 639–650. [3] Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22. [4] Terence, A. S., & Andrews, J. C. (2013). Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. [5] Aureliano-Silva, L., Lopes, E. L., Freire, O., & da Silva, D. (2015). The brand's effect on the evaluation of advertising endorsed by celebrities: An experimental study. Brazilian Business Review, 12(4), 57–78. [6] Amos, C., Holmes, G., & Strutton, D. (2008). Exploring the relationship between celebrity endorser effects and advertising effectiveness: A quantitative synthesis of effect size. International Journal of Advertising, 27(2), 209–234. [7] Thomson, M. (2006). Human brands: Investigating antecedents to consumers' strong attachments to celebrities. Journal of Marketing, 70(3), 104–119. [8] Lazăr, L. (2020). Gender influence on the perception of celebrity endorsement. Proceedings of the International Conference on Marketing and Business Development, 5(1), 301–308. [9] Aureliano-Silva, L., Lopes, E. L., Freire, O., & Da Silva, D. (2015). The brand meaning transfer process in celebrity endorsement: A case study. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 55(3), 258–271. [10] iBrandi Pinchuang. (2022, March 4). On the day Xiao Zhan endorsed NARS, sales exceeded 80 million: How China’s top traffic star built his influence. Tencent News. [11] Spence, M. (1973). Job market signaling. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355–374. [12] Hovland, C. I., & Weiss, W. (1951). The influence of source credibility on communication effectiveness. Public Opinion Quarterly, 15(4), 635–650. [13] Pornpitakpan, C. (2004). The effect of celebrity endorsers’ perceived credibility on product purchase intention: The case of Singapore. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 16(2), 55–74. [14] Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. Academic Press. [15] Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole. [16] Berlyne, D. E. (1970). Novelty, complexity, and hedonic value. *Perception & Psychophysics, 8(5), 279–286.