TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of multiple combinations of celebrity endorsers on consumers’ intentions to purchase a sports-related product
AU - Von Felbert, Aaron
AU - Breuer, Christoph
N1 - Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Purpose: Endorsement research has focused primarily on determining the effectiveness of single endorsers, whereas marketing practice shows that companies usually engage multiple endorsers to promote their brands and products. As academic evidence for multiple endorsers is limited and extant findings are ambiguous, the purpose of this study is to determine the influence of different multiple endorser combinations on consumers' purchase intentions for a sports-related product endorsement and to identify whether endorser-product congruence and consumers' involvement with the endorsed product moderate endorsers' influences. Design/methodology/approach: Two-hundred thirty-three useful responses were collected to an online experiment, and endorsers' direct and indirect influences on consumers' purchase intentions were analyzed in serial mediation analyses. Potential moderating effects of endorser-product congruence and consumers' involvement with the endorsed product were tested in moderated regression analyses. Findings: The study's findings show that using multiple endorsers has an overall positive influence on consumers' purchase intentions, which is mediated by their attitudes toward the advertisements and the endorsed brand. Endorser-product congruence moderates an endorsement's effectiveness, whereas a moderating effect of consumers' product involvement was not supported. Originality/value: This study adds to the extant body of endorsement research by confirming the overall effectiveness of using multiple endorsers to influence consumers' intentions to purchase the endorsed product. In addition, by showing that endorser-product congruence determines endorsers' effectiveness in a multiple endorser context, the study extends the current research perspective and provides practical implications for marketing professionals on how to combine multiple endorsers.
AB - Purpose: Endorsement research has focused primarily on determining the effectiveness of single endorsers, whereas marketing practice shows that companies usually engage multiple endorsers to promote their brands and products. As academic evidence for multiple endorsers is limited and extant findings are ambiguous, the purpose of this study is to determine the influence of different multiple endorser combinations on consumers' purchase intentions for a sports-related product endorsement and to identify whether endorser-product congruence and consumers' involvement with the endorsed product moderate endorsers' influences. Design/methodology/approach: Two-hundred thirty-three useful responses were collected to an online experiment, and endorsers' direct and indirect influences on consumers' purchase intentions were analyzed in serial mediation analyses. Potential moderating effects of endorser-product congruence and consumers' involvement with the endorsed product were tested in moderated regression analyses. Findings: The study's findings show that using multiple endorsers has an overall positive influence on consumers' purchase intentions, which is mediated by their attitudes toward the advertisements and the endorsed brand. Endorser-product congruence moderates an endorsement's effectiveness, whereas a moderating effect of consumers' product involvement was not supported. Originality/value: This study adds to the extant body of endorsement research by confirming the overall effectiveness of using multiple endorsers to influence consumers' intentions to purchase the endorsed product. In addition, by showing that endorser-product congruence determines endorsers' effectiveness in a multiple endorser context, the study extends the current research perspective and provides practical implications for marketing professionals on how to combine multiple endorsers.
KW - Sports marketing
KW - Celebrity endorsement
KW - Multiple endorsers
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/6e5372a6-f333-3269-a2b8-22dd1068f444/
U2 - 10.1108/SBM-03-2021-0030
DO - 10.1108/SBM-03-2021-0030
M3 - Journal articles
SN - 2042-678x
VL - Vol. 12
JO - Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal
JF - Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal
IS - 4
ER -