Search Results (2)

It is well known that the consistency of Internet celebrity affects consumers’ purchase intention, but there are few studies on the logic behind the influence. This study investigates the impact of Internet celebrity congruence factors (celebrity congruence with the recommended products and celebrity congruence with followers) on followers’ purchasing psychological states and purchase behaviors. The research model is rooted in congruence theory and social-network theory and we conducted an empirical study on Tiktok and IG followers of celebrities. Then, we used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) to analyze 297 valid questionnaires. The results show the congruence of Internet celebrity with both followers and products promotes follower product adoption; the congruence does so by enhancing followers’ perception that the recommendations are credible, in turn increasing the followers’ confidence in, desire for, and motivation to buy the product. This study explains that the congruence of Internet celebrities with followers and products must be strongly present in the recommendation, which leads to a high credibility recommendation. A high credibility recommendation greatly influences consumers’ pre-purchase psychological states and thus enhance their purchase intention. This study demonstrates to practitioners that when consumers’ purchase intention is lower than expected, it is necessary to consider the credibility of the recommendation. Full article

“Is consumer food behavior influenced by celebrity endorsement?”. This question remains unsolved despite celebrities constantly recommending different products in their social media networks. Much of the literature on celebrity endorsement focuses on the characteristics of celebrities influencing consumers’ behavior, but there is scarce research about how celebrity endorsements about food and food products influence consumers’ behavior. In this context and based on the source credibility and source attractiveness models, as well as on the match-up theory, this study aims to examine whether consumers’ food purchase intention and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price is influenced by celebrity endorsement. For this purpose, an empirical study is developed through Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) based on data gathered from 316 consumers who read celebrity recommendations. Findings report that consumers are most influenced in their food consumption behavior by the congruence between the celebrity endorsement and the product being recommended, and by the celebrity credibility. Interestingly, celebrity recommendations show a similar influencing pattern both for consumers’ food purchase intention and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for food. The major contribution of this research is to show that congruence is the main route by which celebrity endorsement influences food consumption behavior. Full article