Celebrity Entrepreneurs Vs Social Media Influencers: an Analysis of the Interplay of Endorser Type and E-WOM Valence on Consumers’ Purchase Intention
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Celebrity Entrepreneurs vs Social Media Influencers: An Analysis of the Interplay of Endorser Type and e-WOM Valence on Consumers’ Purchase Intention Rizqia Faradiba Slamet S2012790 04/09/2019 Master Thesis Communication Studies Digital Marketing Communication Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social Sciences Supervisors R.S. Jacobs PhD dr. A.D. Beldad PhD 1 Abstract Introduction: In this present era, the use of endorsement of celebrities and social media influencers (SMIs) has become a trend to be one of the most effective marketing tools. Progressively, there has been a phenomenon, especially in Indonesia, where celebrities who engage themselves in business do not only act as the owner, but also as endorser for their own business. They are known to be Celebrity Entrepreneur Endorsers (CEEs). Objective: The present study aimed to accomplish several goals, that are: comparing two endorser type (CEEs vs SMIs) and eWOM valence on source credibility and purchase intention. This study also examined the influence of source credibility on purchase intention. Method: An online experimental design was chosen; consisted of a 2 (endorser type: celebrity entrepreneurs versus SMIs) x 3 (eWOM valence: positive eWOM vs negative eWOM vs no eWOM) between subject factorial design. This study used 309 data from Indonesian who are actively using social media. Results: It was found that SMIs are perceived to be more trustworthy than CEEs. However, without comparing the CEE and SMI, only the endorser’s attractiveness has positive impact toward the purchase intention. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the use of CEEs and SMIs when it comes to purchase intention. The current research also could not find any evidence saying that positive eWOM could lead to high credibility and high intention to purchase. Discussion/Conclusion: This study can fill the literature gap which can be useful for future studies about CEEs, SMIs, and/or eWOM valence. Besides that, this study provides the information to marketers that they should put SMIs into consideration, for instance, by arranging partnerships since people trust SMIs more than CEEs. Furthermore, this study also suggests the future studies to consider only focusing on eWOM valence. Keywords: Celebrity Entrepreneur Endorsements, Social Media Influencer, Electronic Word of Mouth, Source Credibility, Purchase Intention 2 Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................1 1. Introduction........................................................................................................................................4 2. Theoretical Framework .....................................................................................................................7 2.1. Endorser Type ............................................................................................................................7 2.1.2. Social Media Influencer ........................................................................................................9 2.2. Source Credibility.....................................................................................................................10 2.2.1. Trustworthiness ...................................................................................................................10 2.2.2. Expertise..............................................................................................................................11 2.2.3. Attractiveness ......................................................................................................................11 2.3. Endorser Type and Source Credibility ..................................................................................12 2.4. Purchase Intention ...................................................................................................................12 2.4.1. Endorser Type and Purchase Intention ...............................................................................13 2.4.2. Source Credibility and Purchase Intention..........................................................................14 2.5. Electronic Word of Mouth.......................................................................................................15 2.5.1. Electronic Word of Mouth and Source Credibility .............................................................16 2.5.2. Electronic Word of Mouth and Purchase Intention ............................................................17 2.6. Conceptual Research Model ....................................................................................................17 3. Methodology .....................................................................................................................................18 3.1. Research Design ........................................................................................................................18 3.2. Development of the Stimulus Material ...................................................................................18 3.2.1. Selection of Endorsers ........................................................................................................18 3.3.2. Selection of Video Stimuli ..................................................................................................21 3.3.3. Selection of Electronic Word of Mouth’s Section ..............................................................22 3.3.4. Selection of Background Templates ...................................................................................23 3.4. Procedure ..................................................................................................................................26 3.5. Measures....................................................................................................................................26 3.5.1. Validity and Reliability Analysis ........................................................................................28 3.6. Manipulation Checks ...............................................................................................................30 3.7. Participants ...............................................................................................................................31 4. Results ...............................................................................................................................................33 4.1. Hypotheses Testing ...................................................................................................................33 4.1.1. The main and interaction effect on source credibility.........................................................34 4.1.2. The main and interaction effect on purchase intention .......................................................35 4.1.3. Regression analysis .............................................................................................................36 4.1.4. Hypotheses Overview .........................................................................................................37 4.2. Additional Analysis ..................................................................................................................37 5. Discussion .........................................................................................................................................38 5.1. General Discussion of the Results ...........................................................................................38 5.2. Theoretical Implications ..........................................................................................................41 5.3. Practical Implications ..............................................................................................................42 5.4. Limitation and Future Research Suggestions ........................................................................42 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................44 References .............................................................................................................................................45 Appendices............................................................................................................................................53 Appendix 1: Part 1: A list of Celebrities and SMIs ......................................................................53 Appendix 1: Part 2: English Version of Pre-test Questionnaire .................................................54 Appendix 1: Part 3: Analysis Pre-test ...........................................................................................57 Appendix 2: The Online Questionnaire.........................................................................................58 3 1. Introduction The use of celebrity and social media influencer (SMI) endorsements has become one of the most effective marketing tools for promoting brands. According to Friedman and Friedman (1979), celebrity endorser refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor, sports figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the product class endorsed (p.63). Celebrity endorser used to endorse the product through traditional advertisement. However, since the rise of social media, celebrity endorsers nowadays have the freedom to do endorsement