The Differential Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on the ...
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The Differential Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on the
Intention to Purchase a Product Online.
A cross-cultural study between the Netherlands and India.
Daud Maroof | ANR 516510 | U1278390
Master Thesis | MSc Communication & Information Sciences
Track: Business Communication & Digital Media
Tilburg School of Humanities
Tilburg University, Tilburg
Supervisor: Dr. Sarah F. van der Land
Second reader: Dr. J. Bartels
July 2017
Preface
This thesis is a culmination of my study of MSc Communication and Information
Sciences, it specializes in Business Communication and Digital Media carried out at the
University of Tilburg. The research described herein was conducted in the department of
Communication and Information Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Sarah van der Land,
whom I would like to thank for her insightful feedback, guidance and encouragement.
Additionally, I would like to thank my second reader, Jos Bartels, alongside Dimitra.
To my mother and father, I wish to express my sincerest gratitude, they have been my
rock, an epitome of stability and confidence, a source of mental, emotional and physical
strength. I cannot thank you both enough for all your unconditional love, support, and faith in
me.
To conclude, to the reader, this thesis may be the end of my journey in the scientific
world. Nevertheless, it is a product of the time and effort I have placed into putting forward
an original, un-published thesis, completed to the best of my ability.
Abstract
The rise of the Internet has virtually condensed the world into a ‘Global
Village’. Consequently, consumers are no longer restricted to purchasing
items from physical shops, instead they can compare online products,
services and prices all over the world. From a marketing perspective, the
challenges companies face, are having to determine their strategy on the
basis of “thinking global and acting local” to ensure their product or service
is a success. One of the tactics that has become common practice for
companies is the use of celebrities to endorse their products and services.
The use of celebrities in advertisements to persuade the consumers is proven
to be effective. In this study differences between Dutch and Indian online
consumers were investigated regarding the persuasiveness of celebrity
endorsement. The study consisted of a 2 (endorser type: Indian versus Dutch)
x2 (culture: Indian versus Dutch) subject factorial design. The results show
that individuals from different cultures attitudes towards the advertisements,
product and perceived credibility differs. The results of this study provide
some valuable insights regarding the persuasiveness of celebrity endorsement
and the differences in online consumer behavior between Dutch and Indian
consumers.
Keywords: Celebrity Endorsement, Culture, Cultural Differences, Attitude,
Perceived Credibility, Source Models, Online Purchase Intention.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5
2. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 9
2.1 The Theory of planned behavior .............................................................................. 9
2.2 Endorser effects and source model theories........................................................... 10
2.3 Celebrity Endorsements and Attitudes................................................................... 11
2.4 Celebrity Endorsement and Perceived Credibility ................................................. 12
2.4.1 Perceived expertise ................................................................................ 12
2.4.2 Social attractiveness ................................................................................ 13
2.5 The moderating effect of culture on attitude.......................................................... 14
2.6 The moderating effect of Culture on Perceived Credibility................................... 16
2.7 Attitude and intention to purchase the product online ........................................... 17
2.8 Perceived credibility and intention to purchase the product online ....................... 18
2.9 Conceptual Model .................................................................................................. 19
3. Method ................................................................................................................................ 20
3.1 Sample.................................................................................................................... 20
3.2 Design .................................................................................................................... 20
3.3 Development of the manipulation material............................................................ 21
3.3.1 Webshop Background ............................................................................. 21
3.3.2 The context information .......................................................................... 22
3.3.3 Selection of the celebrities ...................................................................... 22
3.3.4 Pre-test of celebrities............................................................................... 23
3.3.5 Selection of the product .......................................................................... 24
3.4 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 24
3.5 Measures ................................................................................................................ 25
4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 28
4.1 Control variables .................................................................................................... 28
4.2 Mediation ............................................................................................................... 28
4.3 Hypothesis testing .................................................................................................. 29
4.3.1 Endorser type, attitude and perceived credibility ................................... 29
4.3.2 Culture, attitude and perceived credibility .............................................. 30
5. General discussion ............................................................................................................. 35
5.1 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 35
5.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 39
6. References ........................................................................................................................... 40
7. Appendices .......................................................................................................................... 45
Appendix A .................................................................................................................. 45
Appendix B .................................................................................................................. 53
Appendix C .................................................................................................................. 53
Appendix D .................................................................................................................. 62
1. Introduction
The rise of the Internet has virtually condensed the world into a ‘Global Village’ (Krewani,
2015). Consequently, consumers are no longer restricted to purchasing items from physical
shops, instead they can compare online products, services and prices all over the world
(Shangquan, 2000). From a marketing perspective, the challenges companies face, are having
to determine their strategy on the basis of “thinking global and acting local” (Morley, 2002,
p.37). This refers to the idea that a good product, service or communications strategy can
achieve global success as long as it is customized to meet the local tastes (Morley, 2002,
p.35). A common approach companies may adopt to effectively market their products, is to
employ a celebrity endorser, whose role is to promote various kinds of products or services
(Bergkvist & Zhou, 2016).
Celebrities are “individuals who have achieved a significant level of fame that makes
them well known in society” (Young and Pinsky, 2006, p. 464). As such, a celebrity can
magnetize public attention, invoke public interest, and trigger individual values from the
public (Kotler, Keller and Jha, 2007). Given the impact celebrities can make on the public, it
is reasonable and in the interest of companies to spend millions of dollars, using celebrities to
endorse their products (Erikson, 2007). Celebrity endorsement was first discussed in
literature by McCracken (1989), and is viewed within the marketing spectrum as “one of the
many communication channels that companies use to promote their brand through celebrities
based on their fame and personalities” (Kotler, 2007, p. 536). There are many examples of
this outlook in marketing at present, in 2016, Nike spent almost 10 billion dollars on celebrity
endorsements and is forecasted to cross 10 billion by the end of 2017, as they recently signed
the entire Chelsea football club to endorse their brand for the purpose of greater brand
exposure (BBC News, 2017). Other examples include, famous Canadian singer Justin Bieber,
who endorses Calvin Klein’s clothing line, Dutch footballer Van Persie, who endorses the
supermarket brand C1000, British actor George Clooney, who endorses the coffee brand
Nespresso and Indian actor Shahrukh Khan who endorses Tag Heuer. Subsequently,
organizations spend this sum of money, on the assumption that celebrities are able to draw
audiences, transfer their image and values onto brands, and influence consumers’ purchase
intentions (Biswas, Hussain, & O’Donnell, 2009).
Nevertheless, the potential effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in advertising is
not as straightforward as it might appear. Research advocates that there are many aspects that
can either contribute to the persuasive effect of endorsers or further weaken it (Bergkvist &
Zhou, 2016). A contributing factor to the effectiveness of an advertisement depends upon
culture, which is defined as “a fuzzy set of basic assumptions, values, orientations to life,
beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions that are shared by a group of
people, and that influence (but do not determine) each member’s behaviour and their
interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of other people’s behaviour” (Spenser, 2000, p.53). Hence,
dependent on the culture, different celebrity endorsers may be more effective (Biswas,
Hussain, & O’Donnell, 2009; White, 2004). Moreover, what may be deemed as “appropriate”
amongst different cultures can vary” (Hofstede, 2016). To illustrate, a lingerie company using
a female model to promote their products is more likely to appeal to consumers from the
Netherlands than consumers from Saudi Arabia.
Despite research having advocated that there are reasons to suggest that the
effectiveness of celebrity endorsed advertisements, can differ subject to culture (Biswas et al.,
2006; Erdogan, 2008), these assumptions are primarily based on results of stereotyped
generalizations and dichotomies. These generalizations and dichotomies result from
comparisons of eastern and western representatives such as American vs. Chinese, American
vs. Japanese comparisons and single culture studies (Choi, Lee, & Kim,2005; Biswas,
Hussain, & O’Donnell, 2009). Moreover, less is known about the effects of individual
member’s social identity (Turner, 1980). A social identity is the portion of an individual’s
self-concept resulting from perceived association in a pertinent social group (Turner &
Oakes, 1986). An effect of the social identity theory, is the establishment of in- and out-group
whereby sometimes in-group favouritism can occur, which is when individuals give
preferential treatment to others when they are perceived to be in the same in-group. For
example, if an Indian individual was shown two similar products created by different brands,
one being endorsed by an Indian celebrity and the other by a Dutch, there is a possibility that
the individual would prefer the product being endorsed by the Indian celebrity, due to in-
group favouritism. Thus, the differences in the norms and values of both contrasting cultures
play a key element in understanding consumer behaviour.
Furthermore, research has emphasized that cultural background could potentially be
an influential factor in the process of forming a purchase intention (Saayei and Bamani,
2012). More specifically, De Mooij (2010) states people have various cultural values, which
differ in information processing, product and brand attitude. In many cases, marketers try to
choose celebrities to endorse their products or services, if there is an evident match between
the celebrity and target group. Thus, the evident challenge is the need for an extensive
amount of research, time and money. Additionally, globalization has led to companies
aspiring to expand their brand across borders. However, companies must keep in mind that
various cultures respond differently to advertisements. In this study, culture is explored by
the Indian and Dutch consumer’s attitude toward the advert, product and perceived
credibility. These are measured through two sub-mediators, expertise and likeability.
Notwithstanding the vast academic and practical interest in the impact of celebrity
endorsers on advertising effectiveness (Knoll & Matthes, 2017; Sridevi, 2014; Karasiewicz,
2015), little attention has been devoted to cultural differences in celebrity endorsers (Choi,
Lee & Kim, 2005). The available studies have conducted simple cross-cultural studies on the
effectiveness of celebrity endorsement to influence purchase intentions. Furthermore, many
diverse studies incorporate lucidity, advocating individuals of Eastern cultures responding
more auspiciously to celebrity-endorsed advertisements, than those of Western cultures. This
current study attempts to shed light upon the differences in the impact of celebrity-endorsed
advertisements between Dutch and Indian consumers, and their influence upon purchase
intentions. Therefore, the central research questions are formulated as follows:
1) To what extent does the type of celebrity endorser influence online purchase
intention?
2) To what extent is this contingent upon the type of culture?
The scientific relevance of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the
purchase intention of individuals from different cultures towards celebrity-endorsed products.
More specifically, this study contributes to the underlying mechanisms of the type of
celebrity endorsers who influence purchase intention, and to what extent this is contingent
upon the type of culture. There are countless studies in cultural differences and purchase
intention that are examined with celebrity endorsers being the independent variable of the
study, however, there are no previous study that examines the Dutch and Indian culture in
this context. Thus, the present study tries to examine these variables in an experiment context
and offer findings.
In addition, this research has societal and practical relevance. The practical relevance
of this study is to investigate the extent to which the type of celebrity endorser influences the
online purchase intention of individuals from varying cultures. Thus, the findings of this
study can help marketers in understanding the selection process for a specific celebrity to
endorse their products and services. In conjunction, this research offers insight to marketers
regarding the extent to which employment of different celebrities is contingent upon the type
of culture or market they are seeking to penetrate. The results of this study will focus
specifically on the particular benefit for marketers in India and the Netherlands, as the
findings of this study will offer insight on how purchase decision making and buying
behaviour can be increased.
This master thesis is organized in five chapters. The theoretical framework will
discuss and analyze the key theories and concepts derived from previous studies (chapter 2).
The third chapter will explain the research method of this study. More explicitly, it will
elaborate on the chosen sample, the experimental design, the manipulation material, the
procedure and operalization of the different variables. The results of the research will be
presented in chapter four. In chapter five, the research will be concluded and discussed.
Moreover, the research questions will also be answered and an insight into the theoretical and
practical implication of this research will be offered, as well as suggestions for future
research.
2. Theoretical Framework
This chapter will focus on relevant theories, elaborating on the models and key concepts
derived from prior research, with the aim to formulate the hypotheses of this study. A focal
point of the study will be to examine the influence of potential mediating and moderating
variables, as it is anticipated that the employment of celebrity endorsers alone will not lead to
direct behavioral intentions. The mediating variables are the attitudes towards the
advertisement, product and the celebrity endorsers perceived credibility. A conceptual model
(see figure 2) will be presented at the end of this chapter, which integrates and visualizes the
relationships between the variables. To some extent, the conceptual model will offer a
theoretical answer to the research questions.
2.1 The Theory of planned behavior
In this study, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as a theoretical point of
departure. The TPB (Ajzen, 1991) is an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). The theory predicts deliberate behavior, since behavior can be
deliberative and premeditated. The theory suggests that individual behavioral intentions and
behaviors are driven by three independent determinants: attitude, subjective norm and
perceived control. Figure 2 depicts the theory in the form of a structural diagram.
Figure 2 The Theory of Planned Behavior model (Ajzen, 1991)
The theory states that the behavioral beliefs of an individual are governed by the central
determinant attitude, which ultimately results in the intention that forms an individual’s final
behavioral response. In the context of celebrity-endorsed products, consumers online
purchase intention can be influenced by this determinant. The subjective norm refers to the
perceived social pressure one experiences to perform a certain behavior. These determinants
were originally presented by Ajzen (2011) in TRA. The perceived behavioral control
determinant was grounded on the self-efficacy theory of Bandura (2012). It states that one's
sense of self-efficacy can play a major role in in the way one approaches their goals, tasks,
and challenges. Bandura (2012) stresses that the confidence of an individual has a major role
in their ability to engage in behavior. Consequently, it is possible for individuals with similar
traits and skills to behave differently during the selection process of purchasing a product
endorsed by a celebrity due to their self-efficacy. According to the TPB, ‘attitude’ is
hypothesised as one of the central mediators of behavioral intentions. Integrated into the
present study, is the assumption that a person’s attitude toward the advertisement and attitude
towards the celebrity endorsing the product, operates as a mediating variable and has an
influence on the intention to purchase online.
2.2 Endorser effects and source model theories
Previous research on endorser effects relies on two generic source models: the source
attractiveness model and source credibility model (Ohanian, 1990 & Biswas et al, 2006). The
source attractiveness model suggests that the effectiveness of a message depends on four
dimensions, ‘familiarity’, ‘likeability’, ‘similarity’ and ‘attractiveness’ (McGuire, 1985;
Ohanian, 1990. Biswas et al, 2006). Attractiveness is anticipated as an imperative cue in an
individual’s preliminary judgment of another individual (Debevec and Kernan, 1984).
Furthermore, attractiveness is not solely referred to as physical attraction, but comprises of
numerous other attributes of the celebrity endorser, such as intellectual skills, personality
properties, lifestyles or athletic process (Erdogan, 1999).
The source credibility model states that the effectiveness of a message is contingent
upon the perceived level of ‘expertise’ and ‘trustworthiness’ of an endorser (Ohanian, 1991).
According to Erdogan (1999), information from celebrities can influence individual’s
attitudes and/or their behavior through a process identified as internalization. Internalization
occurs when the receivers, i.e. the consumers, accepts the source with regards to their
personal attitude and value structure (Erdogan, 1999). Additionally, if the individuals do
identify the celebrity endorser as an expert and trustworthy, then there is greater prospect that
these individuals might be “real” or “potential” consumers (Goldsmith et al., 2000). A
celebrity that is considered to have expertise in a particular field has been found to be more
persuasive and to generate more intentions to buy the brand (Ohanian, 1990).
Together the source credibility and attractiveness model are combined and referred to
as the source model theory (SMT) (Biswas et al., 2006). Subsequently, in this study
Ohanian’s model (1990) will be used to explain the hypothetical effectiveness of the extent in
which a celebrity endorser influences purchase intention and to what extent this is contingent
upon the type of culture.
2.3 Celebrity Endorsements and Attitudes
Celebrity endorsement is a time-honoured strategy for drawing attention to a brand
(Makumbura, 2015). Companies might decide to sign a deal with a celebrity to help
differentiate their product or service from their rival companies to give them the competitive
edge (Temperly & Tangen, 2006). Previous research has repeatedly associated celebrity
endorsers with the ability to enhance the persuasiveness of messages (Ohanian, 1990). Thus,
the focus of celebrity persuasion research has predominantly been on detecting factors that
either moderate or contribute to the persuasive effect through a main effect.
Following the source model theories, many studies on the effectiveness of celebrity
endorsement have advocated that using a celebrity endorser has more potential to positively
affect consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intention (Erdogan, 1999; Choi & Rifon,
2012; Schlecht, 2003). According to Bergkvist & Zhou (2016), if a celebrity is assumed to
have a certain ‘source factor’ such as ‘attractiveness’ or ‘expertise’, then audience likeability
is increased and they are more affective in generating positive brand evaluations.
Nonetheless, previous research had instigated that if the source factors were examined
individually, then conflicting results will occur in relation to consumer’s attitude and
behavioral intentions.
Similarly, the product match-up hypothesis is another important concept within
celebrity persuasion research (Erdogan, 1999). The product match-up hypothesis insinuates
that endorsers are more effective when there is a ‘fit’ between the endorsers and the endorsed
product (Bergkvist & Zhou, 2016). The higher the apparent fit between the endorser and the
product, the more persuasive the advertisement will be (Wheeler, 2003; Keel & Natarajan,
2012). Evaluating consumer’s cultural background within celebrity persuasion research is
also an important factor to consider. According to Sanayei & Bahmani (2012), cultural
background could be a highly influential element in the process of forming an online
purchase intention. Individuals from different cultures can have numerous methods of
processing information and have varying attitudes towards products/brands (Sanayei &
Bahmani (2012).
Despite the existence of no direct cross cultural study between the Indian and Dutch
culture examined in this study, research has advocated that eastern cultures tend to respond
with a more positive attitude towards the celebrity advertisement, as opposed to western
cultures (Paek, 2005; Choi, Lee & Kim, 2005). Additionally, a study in the Indian context by
Gupta and Dang (2009) concluded that celebrity endorsement in India is a useful marketing
tool to develop attitude. Moreover, according to a study by AdEx India (2013) 80 percent of
celebrity endorsers in India are actors and actresses from Bollywood, who lead to an increase
in both positive attitudes and affiliation with these celebrities in comparison to western
cultures. As a result, the present study undertakes the view that an Indian celebrity endorser
will lead to more positive attitude towards the advertisement and product endorsed in
comparison to the Dutch celebrity endorser, due to high influence Bollywood stars have on
the Indians, both in a national and international spectrum.
H1 An Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive attitudes a) towards the
advertisement, and b) towards the product than a Dutch celebrity endorser.
2.4 Celebrity Endorsement and Perceived Credibility
Perceived expertise
There are reasons to suggest that effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is significantly
dependent on the degree of the perceived ‘fit’ between the brand and celebrity image.
(Erdogan et al., 2001). If this fit exists, the celebrity endorser’s credibility is magnified.
Henceforth, in this study it is hypothesized that an Indian endorser is perceived as more
credible than a Dutch celebrity endorser.
In reference to the source credibility model, the success of a message is contingent
upon the apparent level of expertise and trustworthiness of the endorser (Hovland & Weiss,
1953). The source credibility also refers to the extent in which the receiver sees the source as
incorporating relevant knowledge, experience, set of skills and trust to give unbiased and
impartial information (Erdogan, 1999). Furthermore, consumers adopt the mind-set whereby
they think that the information a celebrity shares about a brand or product is completely pin
point accurate and enough for them to label the celebrity as credible (Goldsmith, Lafferty &
Newell, 2000). It is also worth noting that according to Seno & Lukass (2005), a celebrity
endorser has an affirmative influence on the overall attitude of the consumer and purchase
intention. A celebrity that endorses a product or brand and scores high on expertise and
trustworthiness has the ability to alter the attitude and purchase intention of the consumers
(Liu & Teo, 2007).
A credible source, on the most part can be convincing before the consumer has learnt
much about a product or formed an opinion towards it. The source credibility model is very
advantageous when consumers have a high engrossment. When consumers have a high
engrossment, they tend to be prejudiced by arguments that are relevant for the message.
Credible sources and strong arguments will be persuasive when mind-sets are changing with
the high involvement of consumers, as they will be held with an increase in self-assurance,
influence, and more resistant to change, as opposed to when they are formed with low
involvement.
Despite the lack of previous studies to explore credibility between the examined
cultures, numerous studies exist which support that eastern cultures perceive celebrities as
more credible as opposed to western cultures (Paek, 2005; Choi, Lee & Kim, 2005). To
illustrate, a cross-cultural comparison between Koreans and Americans looking at the effects
of source credibility on attitudes and behavioral intentions found that Korean endorsers were
perceived more credible than the American endorsers, with the expertise dimension having
most influence towards triggering purchase intentions (Yoon, Kim & SunKim,1998). Thus, in
this study it is believed that the Indian celebrity endorser will be perceived as more of an
expert than the Dutch endorser.
Social attractiveness
The concept of attractiveness does not only necessitate the physical attractiveness, but also
entails concepts such as cerebral skills, personality properties, way of living, athletic
enactments and skills of endorsers (Erdogan, 1999). Physical attractiveness advocates that a
celebrity governs the effectiveness of power to the extent that the consumers want to be like
the endorser and want to identify themselves with that endorser (Cohen & Golden, 1972).
Research has proven that those deemed as physically attractive communicators, tend to be
more prosperous in altering beliefs and triggering peoples purchase intention (Cacioppo &
Petty, 1980). There are numerous celebrity endorsers that have been globally labelled as
attractive by both consumers and critics (Broeder, 2012). To illustrate, examples of
successful endorsers who have been dominating the endorsement market and are also seen as
‘attractive’ include David Beckham, Michael Jordan and George Clooney. David Beckham
endorses several brands, one of which is the brand Police. He is marketable, as many men
desire to be associated with the footballer, whilst women are physically attracted to his
appearance, as he ensures he comes across as well dressed, fashionable and in good physique.
David Beckham is considered to be tremendously credible and attractive and has a high
degree of similarity; people want to be like him, he is an example of a globally recognized
celebrity. Similarly, there are many other celebrities who are recognized for their
attractiveness globally and nationally within their cultural groups such as Indian actor Hritik
Roshan, who is labelled as the “Greek Goddess” by members of the Indian society.
Moreover, abundant research has instigated that eastern cultures perceive celebrity
endorsers as more attractive as opposed to westerns cultures (Paek, 2005; Choi, Lee & Kim,
2005). To illustrate, a cross-cultural comparison between Koreans and Americans found that
Koreans reacted towards the celebrities in a more positive manner due to their attractiveness,
as opposed to Americans (Yoon, Kim & SunKim,1998). Similarly, in this study it has been
hypothesised that an Indian celebrity endorser will be perceived as more socially attractive
then a Dutch celebrity endorser as no direct reference exists to formulate this hypothesis.
H2 An Indian celebrity endorser is perceived more as a) an expert and b) more
socially attractive than a Dutch endorser.
2.5 The moderating effect of culture on attitude
There are reasons to suggest that effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is to a great extent
dependent on a fit with the type of culture of the receiver (Erdegon et al., 2001). This section
will review theories and elaborate on why an Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive
attitudes than a Dutch celebrity endorser, but only when the consumers are Indian.
Saayei and Bamani (2012) suggested that the cultural background could potentially be
a highly influential factor in the process of forming a positive attitude and ultimately,
purchase intention. To illustrate, Tran’s (2011) cross cultural study between Chinese and
Dutch consumers looked at the influence of celebrities on attitude, which validates Saayei
and Bamani’s claims. The study found that Chinese and the Dutch participants mutually
considered Angelina Jolie as beautiful and intelligent; however, the Dutch participants had
not considered her as an expert. This suggests that Dutch participants were less influenced by
the appearance of a celebrity as opposed to the Chinese. The occurrence of differences
amongst the way individuals perform a certain behavior is primarily a result of their attitude
towards it (Ajzen, 1991). Hence, in the above given example, the participant’s attitudes
varied.
Furthermore, the following study hypothesizes that an Indian celebrity endorser leads
to more positive attitudes than a Dutch celebrity endorser, but only when the consumers are
Indian. One argument which may indicate why an Indian celebrity endorser leads to more
positive attitudes than a Dutch celebrity endorser, but solely with Indian consumers, has to do
with the concept of social identity. The social identity theory (SIT) proposes that an
individual's sense of who they are is contingent upon the groups to which they belong (Tajfel
& Turner, 1979). The theory further stipulates that belonging to certain groups transpires
through categorization and sentimental components that are associated with group
memberships (Tajfel, 1978). In order to upsurge our self-image, we boost the eminence of the
group to which we belong. For example, the suggestion that an in-group individual from
India prompting that India is the best country in the world. Correspondingly, we can also
boost our self-image by discriminating and holding prejudice attitudes against the out-group.
Another example, the English, Polish, Arab etc. are a bunch of failures. Henceforth, we have
ended up dividing the world in to “them” and “us” based on a process of social
categorization. This is known as in-group (us) and out-group (them). In the context of
celebrity endorsed products, attitudes will vary due to the influence of the social identity
theory. One might respond in a more positive manner to an in-group developed ad as opposed
to the out group or vice-versa. However, the question remains on why Indians as opposed to
The Dutch with regards to the formulation of the hypothesis. Due to the non-existing
previous literature examining the in-group influence of celebrities endorsing products in a
cross-cultural approach, Hofstede’s cultural dimension has been used to further support the
third hypothesis.
Hofstede’s (2016) cultural dimensions’ theory is a cross-cultural communication
framework that represents the effects of a society’s culture on the values of its members, the
values, which in turn influences the behavior of its society. Hofstede created 5 dimensions in
order to decide and identify a national culture of a specific country. These cultural
dimensions represent liberated partialities for one state of matter over another that extricates
countries rather than its members from one another. These dimensions can be used to help
explain the differences in culture and the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer
online behavior. In this particular study, the individualism dimension has been incorporated
to help understand the underlying reasons to the occurrence of in-groups and out-groups,
despite no direct effects. In sum, the individualism dimension of Hofstede can be used to
explain the influence of individualism and collectivism on the formation on in-group
favoritism.
Individualism is the ethical attitude, political philosophy, belief, or social outlook that
accentuates the moral value of the individual (Wood, 1972). The Netherlands, have a very
high score of 80, meaning that they are generally an individualistic country. As a more
‘individualistic’ culture, they value self-interest, autonomy, and self-reliance as their main
driver for their socialization process ("Netherlands - Geert Hofstede", 2016). In contrast to
the Netherlands, India, with a rather intermediate score of 48, is a society with a blend of
individualistic and collectivistic traits. In such circumstances, the actions of one are
prejudiced by numerous perceptions. Some examples are such as the judgment of one’s
family, extended family, neighbors, work group and other such wider social networks that
one has some affiliation toward ("India - Geert Hofstede", 2016). In the context of celebrity
endorsement, it would be assumed that this dimension would have a more positive influence
towards the Indians, due to their staggering population and affiliation towards other
members, who might be influenced by in-group celebrities as opposed to out-group
celebrities if their judgment is prejudiced.
The social identity theory and Hofstede’s individualism dimension has been used as
the foundation theory to form the premises of the in-group out-group hypothesis of this study.
The social identity theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimension can be used to understand the
underlying process of in-group favoritism of Indians as opposed to the Dutch people. With
regards to the above definitions and analysis, it has been hypothesized that the Indians will
prefer the in-group celebrity as opposed to the Dutch respondents in this study, although no
concrete evidence exists to support this claim. To test this assumption, the following
hypothesis is formulated:
H3 An Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive attitudes than a Dutch
celebrity endorser, but only when the consumers are Indian.
2.6 The moderating effect of Culture on Perceived Credibility
It has already been hypothesized that an Indian celebrity endorser is perceived as more
credible than a Dutch celebrity endorser (see H2). An identifiable celebrity endorser, who is
considered as more credible is almost naturally associated with the components of ‘expertise’
and ‘likeability’, two components of the perceived credibility component (Ohanian, 1990).
Perceived credibility is greatly influenced by culture (Ohanian, 1990). Numerous
research has instigated that eastern cultures perceive celebrity endorsers as more credible as
opposed to westerns cultures (Yoon, Kim & SunKim,1998; Chanthika, 2004 Liu & Teo,
2007).
Given all that has been discussed under celebrity endorsement and perceived
credibility and the moderating effects of culture on attitude, it has also been hypothesized that
the Indian celebrity will be perceived as more credible under the two dimensions being
examined in this study as opposed to the Dutch celebrity endorser. Thus, the following has
been hypothesized:
H4 An Indian celebrity endorser is perceived more credible than a Dutch endorser,
but only when the consumers are Indian.
2.7 Attitude and intention to purchase the product online
In line with the theory of planned behavior, a theory which rationalizes how an individual
forms behavioral intention, attitude has excessive predictive power for intentions and is
considered as the central determinant that governs the influence of behavioral intentions
(Ajzen, 1991). Attitude refers to an individual’s general assessment in regard to himself,
other people, objects and issues” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986, p. 4). According to Cooke &
French (2008), Ryu & Han (2010) and Richardson, Wang & Hall (2012), to be able to predict
a behavior intention such as purchase intention, the attitude an individual has regarding a
product or brand is regularly shown to be of great importance.
In the context of the current study, the end goal of a celebrity-endorsed product is that
it will aid towards positively influencing the intention of the consumer to purchase. When
applied in the context of celebrity-endorsed products, consumers online purchase intention
can be influenced by this determinant. Correspondingly, the present study assumes that
attitude positively influences the intention to purchase the product online and formulates the
following hypothesis:
H5 Attitude positively influences the intention to purchase the product online.
2.8 Perceived credibility and intention to purchase the product online
To relate perceived level of credibility to supposed influence on behavior is of common
practice (Van der Veen & Song, 2014). Previous studies have explored perceived credibility
and its influence on intention to purchase and through their results, it is evident that perceived
credibility has positive influence on purchasing products online (Ohanian, 1990;
Pornpitakpan, 2014; Willemsen & Unkel, 2015; Liu & Teo, 2007). For example, Raj &
Mandhuri (2012) found that a celebrity endorser with higher level of expertise as opposed to
a celebrity endorser with lower level of expertise has in turn higher influence in triggering
consumers purchase intention. Likewise, in line with the theory of planned behavior,
perceived expertise and social attractiveness have both been positively linked to behavioral
intentions.
Another factor which influences perceived credibility and intention to purchase the
product online is the concept of similarity. Similarity is well defined by McGuire (1985) as
“a supposed resemblance between the source and the receiver of the message”. In plain
English, an endorser who resembles shared personal traits effortlessly influences individuals.
According to Erdogan (1999), if the celebrity and the consumer have common interests or
lifestyles, a better viscosity is formulated, this in turn influences intention to purchase.
Additionally, familiarity is another factor that influences perceived credibility and
intention to purchase a product online. According to Erdogan (1999) and Belch & Belch
(2001), familiarity is the hypothetical alikeness, as knowledge that a celebrity endorser
possesses through exposure. Prior to companies choosing a celebrity to endorse their product,
it is essential for them to comprehend to what extent their consumers and potential consumers
are familiar with the celebrity endorsing their product. High familiarity levels as opposed to
low familiarity levels with the celebrity leads to a more positive effect. Zanjoc (1968)
additionally articulates that consumers who are more prominently exposed to a celebrity and
are therefore more familiar with them, will automatically like that particular celebrity more
than a celebrity they have been exposed to for the first time; this is known as the mere
exposure effect. Thus, this influence perceived attitudes.
As previous research has repeatedly demonstrated, perceived credibility is positively
linked to attitude and behavioral intention, it has been hypothesized that:
H6 Perceived credibility (Expertise & Likeability) positively influences the
intention to purchase the product online.
2.9 Conceptual Model
Figure 2.1 Conceptual Model
This study will verify the above-mentioned relations by means of an experimental study,
whereby numerous conditions and variables have been manipulated and tested in an online
survey. This will ultimately result in an attempt to answer the following research questions:
“To what extent does the type of celebrity endorser influence purchase intention?” and “To
what extent is this contingent upon the type of culture?”
The conceptual model illustrates how the celebrity endorser, whether Indian or
Caucasian, affects attitude and perceived credibility, which ultimately triggers online
purchase intention (Figure 2.1). Attitude is measured by consumer attitude towards the
advert and product, whilst the level of expertise and likeability of the endorser measure
perceived credibility. The extent to which an endorser type leads to favourable attitude
towards the ad, product and high-perceived credibility level is moderated by culture. In this
study, culture is defined by Indian and Dutch consumer’s attitude toward the ad and product,
product involvement and perceived credibility.
Independent Variable: Celebrity Endorser (Indian vs Dutch)
Dependent Variable: Online Purchase Intention
Moderators: Culture (Indian vs Dutch)
Mediators: Attitude and Perceived Credibility
3. Method
An online experiment was set up, in order to empirically test the formulated hypotheses. The
experiment involved participants evaluating a GoPro advertisement, which had been
endorsed by either an Indian or a Dutch celebrity. This section will offer theoretical
justification and an insight into the design decisions made.
3.1 Sample
A total of 218 people participated in this study, 16 of which did not classify their ethnicity as
either Dutch or Indian, as this was a requirement for this study these individuals were
eliminated. Furthermore, six people had incomplete questionnaires and were also removed
from the dataset. Henceforth, a final sample of 196 respondents completed the experiment,
and their responses were retained for analysis. The minimum age for participation was set at
16, in order to exclude participants who did not represent the potential financial
independence. The age ranges of participants were between 16 to 52 years old (Mage = 26,
SD = 7.34, 52% female). The vast majority of the participants, reported to have taken on
further education (N=149), with the majority of both Dutch (75.6%) and Indian (59.2%)
respondents having completed university as their highest level of education.
Participants of this study were employed via an online survey, through social media
(i.e., Facebook and WhatsApp) and E-mail by acquaintances. Subsequently, the sampling
method of this study comprises of two nonprobability-sampling techniques, namely:
convenience sampling and snowball sampling. The bulk of the sample was gathered through
convenience sampling, which designates that participants are recruited due to their
accessibility, geographical proximity and willingness to participate (Itikan et al., 2015).
Whilst a small number of participants were recruited through snowball sampling, where
existing study subjects helped recruit their acquaintances to partake in the survey
(Heckathorn & Cameron, 2017).
3.2 Design
The study consisted of a 2 (endorser type: Indian versus Dutch) x2 (culture: Indian versus
Dutch) subject factorial design. Two distinct GoPro camera advertisements were developed
to incorporate these factors. Combined with these two manipulations yields, were the four
experimental conditions of this research, whereby participants were randomly assigned to one
of the four experimental conditions.
The decision to undertake an experiment as a research method, was based on the
theory that experimental research is one of the most appropriate ways to explore the cause-
and-effect relationship between variables (Bryman, 2015). Moreover, this study was part of a
big group of cross-cultural studies, whereby the designs had to be identical for the cross
examination of the results.
3.3 Development of the manipulation material
This section will discuss the rationale for the design decisions of the manipulation material.
Furthermore, an insight will be given into how the pre-test results led to alterations in the
manipulation material.
3.3.1 Webshop Background
For the purpose of this study, an online setting was simulated selling the GoPro camera. The
setting was put together on the basis of the scheme stimuli and context of Broeder (2016).
This was comprised of three elements: the first being the webshop background, the second
the context information and thirdly the product. This design has been used extensively within
research on persuasion online advertisements, as it proved to be reliable in various studies,
exploring cross-cultural differences in online behaviour (Broeder, 2016). Figure 3.1. exhibits
the structural base of this design.
Figure 3.1 The base design of the Stimuli “Scaling Cultural Persuasivity in Advertisements”
(Broeder, 2016, p.2).
The webshop background was created to evoke an online presence. In order to create the
background, a webshop page had to be created by replicating the original menu banner of
GoPro’s website and altered so that it could be more suitable for use in both India and the
Netherlands. The dropdown menu of country selection was removed, and the plus icon and
Webshop background
Context Information
Product
“free shipping and free returns” text was added. In order to keep the language of the study
consistent and neutral between the cultures being examined, English was used and not Dutch
or Hindi. The alteration of the background can be seen in figure 3.2.
Original Webshop Background
Webshop background used for the study
Figure 3.2 The original background and the webshop background used in the study.
3.3.2 The context information
The background color chosen was originally white, however, this was altered to a light silver-
grey color, based on ecological reasoning. Although, when the meaning of the color was
investigated for confirmation of its use, it was found that in India, the color white had
negative connotations, as it was associated with death (Akcay, Dalgin & Bhanagar, 2011),
whilst in the Netherlands, it represented peace, freedom, marriage, calmness, passiveness and
fertility (Scherp, 2013). Consequently, after taking into account the importance of the
associations with the color white, it was decided to use a neutral color, thus the light silver-
grey color was employed.
3.3.3 Selection of the celebrities
The celebrities that were used in the stimuli, were selected based on a set of criteria. First and
foremost, the celebrities had to be popular in both India and The Netherlands, as well as
recognizable. After extensive research into the celebrities who met the requirements, it was
clear that most of India’s top celebrities were from Bollywood (Indian film industry) and the
Dutch celebrities were figures representing sports and music. Thus, after consultation with
supervisors and academics, it was unambiguous that the celebrities used must be actors from
the movies showcased in both India and The Netherlands. The expectation was that the
participants would better recognize such celebrities. Actors were identified using the Forbes
Celebrity List (2015), which is a list that exists in both India and the United States of
America. Since the Netherlands does not have their own Forbes list, and both American and
Dutch individuals fall under Caucasian ancestry, American actors were used to represent
‘Western’ celebrities. In addition, the presumption was made that the Indian participants
would also have a better recognition of the American celebrity in comparison to Dutch
celebrities. The next requirement desired was for both the celebrities used to be recognizable
as action stars, due to the nature of the GoPro product. This in turn would ensure that the
celebrities match with the product. Lastly, the actors had to be of similar age for a fair
comparison and to prevent a one-sided end result. These requirements led to the selection of
Shah Rukh Khan as the Indian celebrity and Chris Hemsworth as the representative of the
Dutch and the Western celebrity.
3.3.4 Pre-test of celebrities
A manual pre-test (N=30) was conducted to test whether the manipulation material evoked
the intended effects. The pre-test was carried out offline, as these participants were recruited
via a network of individuals from all over the globe. Participants answered questions about
the celebrities used to create the advertisement (3 Indians and 3 Dutch, N=6), and the scores
were manually compared amongst academics. After analysing the responses of the surveys,
the results revealed that Shah Rukh Khan and Chris Hemsworth had scored the highest. See
Appendix A part 2 for full process of the pre-test. The advertisements used for this study can
be found in Figure 3.3 and 3.4.
Figure 3.3 Condition A: Indian Celebrity.
Figure 3.4 Condition B: Dutch Celebrity.
3.3.5 Selection of the product
The GoPro Hero 5, an eponymous action camera, was the selected product for the
advertisement used in this study. The GoPro allows its users to capture both photos and
record videos. The original purpose of its design was to help individuals interested in extreme
sports to capture their Kodak moments, due to its resistance against extreme conditions. One
of the reasons for having chosen this particular product for the study, was due to the fact that
it was a globally trending product, that was sold online. Therefore, it was assumed that
participants of this study would be familiar with the product. Moreover, former students that
researched into culture and advertising had also used the GoPro as the product of choice; Van
Hour (2016), Van Aken (2016) and Cornelis (2016), where the GoPro was found to be
reliable and gender-neutral. It was agreed amongst the group of students conducting the
current cultural studies, that the same product should be employed this year, due to the
interest it generated, alongside having the opportunity to later cross examine and compare
results to prior research.
3.4 Procedure
The focal questionnaire used for obtaining data was created and published online via
Qualtrics. Participants were led to the survey after having clicked on the online link sent to
them via E-mail, Facebook or WhatsApp. All participants were welcomed, followed by a
brief explanation of the purpose of the study and provided with general information. If the
participants agreed to the terms, they were able to proceed with the questionnaire. Thereafter,
participants were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. The survey
began with presenting a scenario to the participants, whereby they were told that they were
planning a vacation and would like to capture every moment. Lastly, prior to answering the
questionnaire, they were presented with the advertisement assigned to them. See appendix B
for the full questionnaire.
3.5 Measures
In this research, validated scales were used for measurement. The questionnaire used in this
study, was predominantly based on the survey scaling cultural persuasion in online
advertisements (Broeder, 2016). All questions were measured on a five-point Likert scales
ranging from ‘completely disagree to ‘completely agree’ or with semantic differentials. See
appendix E for the factor loadings per variable.
The present study included several manipulations checks. For example, participants
were asked about their gender, age, country of birth, country of residency, language mostly
spoken at home and level of education. It is important to highlight that the country of birth
(i.e., Dutch, Indian or Other) does not indicate participants’ ethnicity, since the country of
birth does not govern the culture an individual belongs to (Broeder et al, 2012). In fact, the
ethnic group (“To what ethnic group do you belong?”) determines the individual’s ascription
to the category of culture they belong to (i.e., Dutch, Indian or Other).
The variable online purchase intention was measured with five items adopted by
Broeder (2016). Items included, for example “I would like to use this product” and “I would
like to buy this product”. These five items were subjected to principal components analysis
(PCA). Prior to performing PCA, the suitability of data for factor analysis was assessed.
Inspection of the correlation matrix revealed the presence of all the coefficients of .3 and
above and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached statistical significance, supporting the
factorability of the correlation matrix. Principal components analysis revealed the presence of
one component with an eigenvalue of 2.99, explaining 59.71% of the variance respectively.
All items loaded with a minimum of .47 on component 1. The item “The buying chance for
this product is low” had the lowest factor loading, but it was not eliminated since a rotated
factor loading of at least .40 can be considered as both important and reliable if the sample
size is greater than N=150 (Field, 2013). The reliability analysis indicated that it was a
reliable scale with a Cronbach’s Alpha of .81 (Privitera, 2012). The reliability of the scale
could be slightly improved if the item “I would like to give this product as a present” was
removed. However, the item was not deleted since the reliability of the scale was already
high and it would not affect the outcome.
The variable attitude is an individual’s belief of salient attributes that an object has
and his or her evaluation of each attribute (Fishbein & Azjen, 1975). Both attitude towards
the advertisement and attitude towards the product were measured using Broeder’s (2016)
scales. Attitude towards the advertisement was measured with the question “How do you feel
about the advertisement” with twelve semantic differentials, such as enjoyable/ irritating,
nice/ unappealing and relaxing/ frustrating. A second question (“To what extent does your
reaction to the overall message in the advertisement apply?”) with two items (bad/ good,
negative/ positive) was asked. These twelve items were subjected to principal components
analysis (PCA). Prior to performing PCA, the suitability of data for factor analysis was
assessed. Inspection of the correlation matrix revealed the presence of all the coefficients of
.3 and above and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached statistical significance, supporting the
factorability of the correlation matrix. However, one of the items loaded below .6 on the scale
(pointless/ useful). The item was not deleted, because a rotated factor loading of at least .40 is
considered as important and reliable (Field, 2013). The reliability of the scale was high and
could not significantly improved further if the item removed. The analysis revealed one
component (enjoyable/ irritating) with an eigenvalue of 6.44, explaining 53.63% of the
variance and one component (nice/ unappealing) with an eigenvalue of 1.06 explaining
8.85% of the variance. For attitude towards the advertisement the scale was very reliable,
Cronbach’s Alpha .91 (Privitera, 2012).
Attitude towards the product was measured with five items: I have more knowledge
about this type of product than my friends, I am familiar with all the features of this type of
product, I have a lot of experience using this type of product, I used this type of product in all
kinds of situation, I would like to know more about this type of product. These five items
were subjected to principal components analysis (PCA). Prior to performing PCA, the
suitability of data for factor analysis was assessed. Inspection of the correlation matrix
revealed the presence of all the coefficients of .3 and above and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity
reached statistical significance, supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix. The
analysis revealed the first item with an eigenvalue of 3.63, explaining 72.59% of the
variance. For attitude towards the product the scale was very reliable, Cronbach’s Alpha .90
(Privitera, 2012). None of the items were deleted, since the reliability of the scale would not
improve through removal.
The perceived credibility refers to the consumer believing that the product endorser
has subject-specific knowledge and viewed as an expert and likeable. Perceived credibility
was a unidimensional construct. The question “How do you feel the advertising model in the
advertisement” was used based on Broeder (2016). Participants’ opinion was measured with
twelve semantic differentials, such as not an expert/ expert, experienced/ inexperienced,
attractive/ unattractive and unlikeable/ likeable. These items were subjected to principal
components analysis (PCA). Prior to performing PCA, the suitability of data for factor
analysis was assessed. Inspection of the correlation matrix revealed the presence of all the
coefficients of .3 and above and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached statistical significance,
supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix. The analysis revealed the first item with
an eigenvalue of 5.98, explaining 49.83% of the variance, the second item with an eigenvalue
of 1.45 explaining 12.05% of the variance and the third item with an eigenvalue of 1.12
explaining 9.33% of the variance. The items familiar/ unfamiliar and open/ closed had a
rotated factor loading lower than .6. They were not excluded since both rotated factor
loadings were above or close to .40 and they considered as reliable and important (Field,
2013). For perceived credibility, the scale was very reliable, Cronbach’s Alpha .89 (Privitera,
2012). None of the items were obliterated, since the reliability of the scale was exceedingly
high, this study used validated scales, and for the purpose of replication it was necessary to
keep the previously used scales.
4. Results
4.1 Control variables
Before testing the hypotheses, the effect of several control variables was investigated on the
online purchase intention. The control variables were gender, country of birth, country of
residency, language spoken mostly at home and education level. As explained in paragraph
3.4, the country of birth does not indicate participant’s ethnicity. The ethnic group determines
the individual’s ascription of the type of culture they belong to.
To investigate the effect of gender on online purchase intention an independent
sample t-test was conducted. The analysis showed that there was no significant difference,
between men (M= 3.37, SD= .83) and women (M = 3.30, SD = .82), Mdifference= .07,
t(185)= .66, p= .51, BCa 95% CI [-.15, .29] on their online purchase intention. Moreover, the
country of birth (Indian: M= 3.35, SD= .82; Dutch: M= 3.34, SD= .81) does not influence
online purchase intention, Mdifference= -.01, t(185)= -.10, p= .92, BCa 95% CI [-.25, .22].
The effect of county of residency on online purchase intention was tested. Country of
residency (Indian: M= 3.23, SD= .88; Dutch: M= 3.38, SD= .77) does not influence online
purchase intention, Mdifference= .15, t(185)= 1.22, p= .22, BCa 95% CI [-.09, .39]. The
effect of language spoken mostly at home on online purchase intention was tested. Language
spoken mostly at home (Indian: M= 3.29, SD= .82; Dutch: M= 3.35, SD= .78) does not
influence online purchase intention: Mdifference= .06, t(185)= .49, p= .62, BCa 95% CI [-
.17, .29]. The effect of educational level in on online purchase intention was examined with a
one-way ANOVA. Education has no effect on online purchase intention, F(4, 213)= 2.16, p=
.07.
4.2 Mediation
This study aims to test whether attitude and the product, and perceived credibility mediate the
relationship between endorser type and online purchase intention. According to Baron and
Kenny (1986) mediation is present when the following four conditions are met:
(1) endorser type must significantly predict the online purchase intention.
(2) endorser type must significantly predict the mediating variables attitude toward the
advertisement and the product, and perceived credibility.
(3) The mediating variables attitude toward the advertisement and the product, and perceived
credibility must significantly predict the online purchase intention.
(4) endorser type must predict the online purchase intention less strongly when the mediating
variables are involved (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
The first condition assumes that the type of endorser (Indian vs. Dutch) predicts the
online purchase intention. To investigate this, an independent samples t-test was performed
with endorser type as the independent variable and the intention to buy a product online as
the dependent variable. The results showed that there was no significant difference between
the variables, Mdifference= -.15, t (216) = -1.39, p= .16, 95% CI [-.37, .06]. The type of
endorser does not significantly influence the online purchase intention. The Indian celebrity
(M= 3.41, SD= .78) generates higher online purchase intentions compared to the Dutch (M=
3.26, SD= .86), but this difference is small. The first criterion from Baron and Kenny (1986)
is not met and, therefore, no full mediation can be assumed.
4.3 Hypothesis testing
In this study, the type of endorser is the independent variable and the online purchase
intention is the dependent variable. The attitude toward the advertisement and the product,
and perceived credibility are the mediating variables, while culture is the moderator. The
effect of celebrity type on attitude and perceived credibility was tested with two independent
sample t-tests (H1, H2). The moderating effect of culture on the relationship between
celebrity type and attitude and perceived credibility (H3, H4) was tested with two two-way
ANOVA and an additional regression analysis with the PROCESS command written by
Hayes (2013). The influence of attitude and perceived credibility on online purchase intention
was examined with two linear regressions (H5, H6).
4.3.1 Endorser type, attitude and perceived credibility
To test H1 (“An Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive attitudes than a
Dutch celebrity endorser”), an independent sample t-test was performed. Attitude towards the
advertisement and attitude towards the product were computed into one variable named
“attitude”. The test aimed to measure whether the scores of the two groups (exposed either to
the Indian or to the Dutch celebrity endorser) differ, when compared to attitude. The results
(Table 1) revealed no differences between the two groups: Dutch (M= 3.24, SD=.67) and
Indians (M= 3.34, SD=.69), Mdifference = -.10, t(196) = -1.07, p = .28, 95% CI [-.28, .08].
Therefore, H1 is not supported. An Indian celebrity endorser creates slightly more positive
attitude compared to a Dutch, but this difference is not significant.
H2 stated that “An Indian celebrity endorser has higher perceived credibility than a
Dutch endorser”. Perceived credibility was measured with expertise and likeability. The two
constructs were computed into one variable named “perceived credibility”. H2 was tested
with an independent sample t-test to measure whether the means of the two groups differ on
perceived credibility (Table 1). There were no significant differences between the two
groups: Dutch (M= 3.14, SD=.82) and Indians (M= 3.28, SD=.78), Mdifference= -.14, t(196)
= -1.34, p= .18, 95% CI [-.36, .07]. H2 is not supported. An Indian celebrity endorser is
perceived as more credible than a Dutch, but this difference is not significant. Since H1 and
H2 has been rejected, it can be concluded that the second criterion as proposed by Baron and
Kenny (1986) is not met.
Table 1. Means and standard deviations of variables per condition.
Endorser type Dutch Indian
Culture Dutch
(n= 48)
Indian
(n= 51)
Dutch
(n = 50)
Indian
(n = 47)
M SD M SD M SD M SD
Attitude 3.45a .55 3.01a .74 3.03b .66 3.64b .60
Perceived
credibility
3.47a .76 2.79a .79 2.93b .69 3.66b .70
Online
purchase
intention
3.50a .76 3.05a .93 3.19b .78 3.64b .64
Note. Standard deviations between parentheses. Different superscripts within rows relate to
significant differences conditions, p <. 05, two-tailed.
4.3.2 Culture, attitude and perceived credibility
In order to investigate H3 (“An Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive attitudes
than a Dutch celebrity endorser, but only when the consumers are Indian”) a two-way
ANOVA was performed to investigate the interaction between culture and endorser type on
the attitude. The results showed that there were no significant main effects for endorser type
F(1, 192)= 1.25, p= .26, η2= .006 and culture F(1, 192)= .80, p= .37, η2 = .004. However, an
interaction effect (Figure 1) between endorser type and culture was detected, F(1, 192)=
32.43, p< .001, η2= .14. Culture moderated the relationship between endorser type and
attitude. H3 is supported, since the Indian celebrity scores higher on positive attitudes, when
the consumers are Indian. In the same vein, the Dutch celebrity scores higher on positive
attitudes, when the consumers are Dutch.
Figure 1. The interaction effect of celebrity type and culture on attitude.
To investigate H4 (“An Indian celebrity endorser is perceived more credible than a Dutch
endorser, but only when the consumers are Indian”) a two-way ANOVA was performed to
explore the interaction effect of endorser type and culture on perceived credibility. The
analysis showed that there were no significant main effects for endorser type F(1, 191) =
2.33, p= .13, η2= .012 and culture F(1, 191) = .04, p= .85, η2= .000. An interaction effect
(Figure 2) between endorser type and culture was detected, F(1, 183) = 44.97, p < .001,
η2= .19. Culture moderated the relationship between endorser type and perceived credibility.
H4 is confirmed, because the Indian celebrity endorser scores higher on perceived credibility,
when consumers are Indian. In a similar way, the Dutch celebrity scores higher on perceived
credibility, when consumers are Dutch. Since H3 and H4 are supported, the third criterion as
proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) is met.
Figure 2. The interaction effect of celebrity type and culture on perceived credibility
The moderation with the method of Hayes (PROCESS)
H3 (“An Indian celebrity endorser leads to more positive attitudes than a Dutch, but only
when the consumers are Indian”) was also investigated with a regression analyses with the
method of Hayes with celebrity endorsement type as predictor, attitude as the outcome
variable and culture as moderator. The moderation analyses revealed a significant model
(R2=.12, F(3,183)= 7.99, p<.001). The model for the outcome attitude explained 12% of the
variance. For attitude, there was no effect of culture and celebrity endorsement (Table 2), but
the interaction between type of celebrity endorser and culture was significant, F(1,183)=
22.94, p<.001. The analysis showed that H3 is supported. Culture moderates the relationship
between the type of celebrity endorsement and attitude towards the advertisement and the
product.
Table 2. The effect of endorser type and culture on attitude.
Predictor b SE t p 95%CI lower 95%CI upper
Constant 3.30 0.5 70.58 <.001 3.21 3.39
Culture .06 .09 .70 .48 -.12 .25
Celebrity endorsement .08 .09 .85 .39 -.11 .26
H4 (“An Indian celebrity endorser is perceived more credible than a Dutch, but only
when the consumers are Indian”) was examined with a regression analyses with the method
of Hayes with type of celebrity endorsement as predictor, perceived credibility as the
outcome variable and culture as the moderator. The moderation analysis showed a significant
model (R2=.09, F(3,182)= 7.99, p<.001). The model for the outcome attitude explained 9%
of the variance. For perceived credibility, there was no effect of culture and type of celebrity
endorsement (Table 3), but the interaction between type of celebrity endorser and culture was
significant, F(1,182)= 17.24, p<.001. The results proved that H4 is supported. Culture
moderated the relationship between the type of celebrity endorsement and perceived
credibility.
Table 3. The effect of endorser type and culture on perceived credibility.
Predictor b SE t p 95%CI lower 95%CI upper
Constant 3.39 0.5 63.28 <.001 3.28 3.49
Culture -.05 .11 -.48 .63 -.26 .16
Celebrity endorsement .09 .11 .83 .40 -.12 .30
Attitude, perceived credibility and online purchase intention
The fifth (“Attitude positively influences the intention to purchase the product online”) and
six (“Perceived credibility positively influences the intention to purchase the product online”)
hypotheses were investigated with two linear regressions.
The first linear regression analysis investigated the relationship between a person’s
attitude and the online purchase intention. The regression analysis with attitude as the
predictor and online purchase intention as the outcome variable revealed that a person’s
attitude significantly predicts the online purchase intention, b= .70, β= .58, t(216) = 10.43, p<
.001. The model explains 33% of the variance in online purchase intention, R2= .33, F(1,
216)= 108.69, p< .001. The assumptions of normality, linearity, independent errors and
homoscedasticity were met. The results showed that more positive attitude leads to higher
purchase intention. Participants are more willing to purchase a product (M= 3.33, SD= .82),
when they have a positive attitude towards the advertisement and the advertised product (M=
3.29, SD= .68). Therefore, H5 is confirmed.
The second linear regression tested the relationship between perceived credibility and
the online purchase intention. The regression analysis with perceived credibility as the
predictor and online purchase intention as the outcome variable revealed that a person’s
perceived credibility significantly predicts the online purchase intention, b= .48, β= .46,
t(216)= 7.66, p< .001. The model explains 21% of the variance in online purchase intention,
R2= .21, F(1, 215)= 58.70, p< .001. The assumptions of normality, linearity, independent
errors and homoscedasticity were met. The analysis proved that higher perceived credibility
(M= 3.21, SD= .80) leads to higher purchase intention (M= 3.34, SD= .82). Consumers are
more willing to buy a product online, when they like the celebrity endorser and when they
perceive the celebrity as an expert. Thus, H6 is supported.
To sum up, Baron and Kenny (1986) discussed four steps in establishing mediation. If
all fours steps are met, there is full mediation. If the three first steps are met but not the forth
step, there is partial mediation. The current analysis showed that the first (endorser type must
significantly predict the online purchase intention) and the second (endorser type must
significantly predict the mediating variables attitude toward the advertisement and the
product, and perceived credibility) conditions are not met. The third condition (The
mediating variables attitude toward the advertisement and the product, and perceived
credibility must significantly predict the online purchase intention) is met. Thus, there is no
indication in the model either full or partial mediation (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
Figure 3. Conceptual model with significant relations
5. General discussion
The objective of the present study was to answer the following research questions: “To what
extent does the type of celebrity endorser influence online purchase?” and “To what extent is
this contingent upon the type of culture?” Responses to these research questions were
obtained by conducting a 2 (endorser type: Indian versus Dutch) x 2 (culture: Indian versus
Dutch) between subject factorial design. This chapter will explore and analyse the answers to
these research questions based on the results obtained in this study. Furthermore, the
theoretical and practical implications of the present study will be discussed, followed by its
limitations and suggestions for future research. The chapter will conclude with a summary of
the present study.
5.1 Discussion
The first hypothesis (H1) posed that the Indian celebrity endorser would lead to more positive
attitudes than a Dutch celebrity. However, the data revealed that the minor discrepancies on
attitudes between endorser types were of little significance. Therefore, there was no evidence
supporting this hypothesis. The Indian celebrity used in this study created a marginal increase
in positive attitude towards online purchase intention than of the Dutch celebrity endorser,
but this difference was not substantial.
The expectation in the second hypothesis (H2) was that an Indian celebrity endorser
would have a higher perceived credibility than a Dutch celebrity endorser. Although, the data
suggested that the differences between the groups were not significant. Thus, there was no
supporting evidence for the assumption that an Indian celebrity would have a higher
perceived credibility than a Dutch endorser.
The third and fourth hypothesis posed that culture would moderate the relationship
between the type of celebrity and attitude (H3) and the relationship between the type of
celebrity and perceived credibility (H4). The third hypothesis posed that specifically an
Indian celebrity endorser would lead to more positive attitudes than a Dutch celebrity
endorser, but only when the consumers are exclusively Indian. Additionally, the fourth
hypothesis suggests that an Indian celebrity endorser would be perceived as more credible
than a Dutch celebrity endorser, specifically when the consumers are Indian. The analysis
indicated that both hypotheses three and four have supporting evidence.
The final two hypotheses (H5) and (H6) specified that both attitude and perceived
credibility would have positive influence on the intention to purchase online. Both
hypotheses were confirmed, indicating that a positive attitude and higher perceived
credibility would affect online purchase intention in a positive way.
Despite the first two hypotheses not being supported, the confirmation of the other
four hypotheses does ultimately help in answering the research questions. From the findings
of this study, one can argue that the type of celebrity endorsing a brand or product does
influence online purchase intentions and is contingent upon the type of culture as a whole.
Hence, companies should not just cherry pick celebrities to endorse their product or brand,
but should carefully consider and select the right celebrity after extensive research.
The current study also led to the revelation of a few unexpected and surprising
findings. First, in line with the literature, it was expected that the Indian celebrity endorser
would lead to more positive attitudes and higher perceived credibility than a Dutch celebrity
(H1, H2). However, the analysis showed that the nationality of celebrity endorser did not
significantly influence the attitude and perceived credibility of consumers. A possible
explanation for this could be that the Indian sample taken was predominantly from
individuals living in western countries. Theoretically, it is possible that perhaps their
upbringing, lifestyle and views towards the world are conceived as more “Western”, which
might explain why the Indian celebrity failed to have had a considerable influence as opposed
to the Dutch celebrity endorser. An alternative perspective could be that although the
participant’s country of birth does not govern the culture they are affiliate to (Broeder, 2016),
the domain host of this study was the Netherlands and if the study was conducted vice-versa
the results would perhaps differ. Similarly, if in the case where the host country of this study
consisted of Indian and Dutch participants, who were brought up in India, they might have
had a greater Eastern influence as opposed to a western Dutch culture influence, which in
turn would lead to opposing results. Secondly, it was anticipated that the control variables
being examined would report to have some influence upon purchase, if not completely.
However, all five control variables (e.g. gender, country of birth, country of residency,
language spoken mostly at home and education level) reported to show no significant
differences and to have had no influence upon purchase intention.
This study contributes to existing research and offers several valuable theoretical
insights regarding the persuasiveness of celebrity endorsement, as well as the differences in
online purchase intention between Dutch and Indian consumers. First, to date, there are a
limited number of cross-cultural studies that can be found which make a direct comparison
between type of celebrity, attitude and perceived credibility that is moderated by culture
within a single study. This lack of research and gap in the literature is quite astonishing as
celebrity endorsement is not a recent phenomenon (Erdogan,1999) and dates back to the
second half of the nineteenth century (Keel & Nataraajan, 2012). Hence, this study attempts
to fill this gap within research by conducting a cross-cultural, celebrity endorsement study
and analysing all the potential differences in one experimental study.
The second contribution of the present study is that the findings advocate that in-
group favouritism does have an influence upon consumers, when measuring their attitude and
celebrity perceived credibility. In the case of this study, it presented that the Indian celebrity
endorser lead to more positive attitudes and was perceived as more credible than a Dutch
celebrity endorser, solely when the consumers were Indian. Thus, the present study implies
and supports the notion that celebrities from the in-group lead to more favorable attitudes and
credibility amongst consumers.
Moreover, this research also contains several practical implications. The findings of
this study offer several valuable insights regarding the persuasiveness of celebrity
endorsement and the differences in online purchase intention between Dutch and Indian
consumers. Companies from all over the world could potentially take advantage of the
insights offered by this study, in particular companies in The Netherlands and India. The
results show that different cultures respond varyingly towards advertisements, celebrities
employed in the advertisements and the study also revealed differences in purchase behavior
between cultures. Thus, it would be prudent for the marketing teams within companies to
invest large sums of money in research to try and match their advertisements as well as
possible to co-ordinate with the culture they seek to penetrate. Studies exploring the effects of
celebrity endorsement as a marketing strategy from an Indian context, all indicate that up to
80 percent of the celebrity endorsers used in Indian advertisements are from Bollywood (Jain
et al, 2010). Similarly, the Indian celebrity from this study was from Bollywood and the
results implied that the nationality of the celebrity endorser does not significantly influence
the attitude and perceived credibility of consumers. Thus, companies that operate on a global
scale should ensure their marketing teams adapt their strategies to the culture of the country
in which they are selling their products and services, specifically Indian companies as
research indicates they are very reliant of using celebrities from Bollywood.
As with every study, there are several limitations that should be taken in to account.
One of the limitations of the study was that the product used in the stimuli, the GoPro, is an
existing and well-known product. The implication is that consumers may already have a pre-
existing opinion or attitude towards it. Future research could therefore replicate this study
with another non-existing product, in order to create a blank template in which respondents
have no pre-existing opinion towards.
The second limitation refers to the sample, where the distribution of the survey took
place online. On the one hand, this is a pragmatic and convenient way to gather a large
number of participants within a short time. On the contrary, a drawback with online surveys
is the environment in which the participant takes the survey in cannot be controlled. Further
research, could perhaps better prepare the employment of participants. Additionally, the
validity of the results, as participants may have rushed to fill in the survey or just inputted
information randomly, this could also have had an impact on the validity of the results.
Future research can perhaps allow the conduction of further approaches to test the validity of
the results (Fowler, 2013). For example, after the participants have filled in the
questionnaires, conducting second screens might possibly be a second process to increase the
validity of the results (Fowler, 2013). It would also be interesting to investigate the same
study with a different approach to obtaining data and see how the results differ. Another
possibility would have been
The third limitation refers to the research method of this study. Likewise, to the
present study, the majority of celebrity persuasion studies are carried out in the form of
advertising experiments (Bergkvist & Zhou, 2016). Conversely, the disadvantage of
conducting an experiment relates to external validity (Treadwell, 2014). Whilst the ads were
ought to have a realistic appearance, the experimental conditions in which the participants
were placed do not reflect reality. Consequently, it is unlikely that the intention to purchase
the GoPro online will be triggered after exposure to only one advertisement. It is therefore,
advisable to improve external validity, future studies should also explore other research
methods (e.g., qualitative approaches)
The final limitation lies within the manipulation material. The effects of this study are
restricted to only two types of male celebrity endorsers and two cultures being examined. The
present study therefore encourages future research to include multiple celebrity endorsers and
more cultures as moderators within a single study in order to increase the generalizability of
the results.
Putting aside the limitations of this study and ways in which one could perhaps better
conduct future research regarding ways of which further increases the validity of the results
obtained and enhancement of the outcomes. A potential proposal for a future research agenda
ought to continue with the current experimental research design examining the effects of
celebrity endorsements on the intention to purchase a product online between Indians and
Dutch participants. However, first and foremost more variables of perceived credibility
should be examined as opposed to the current study which only looks at expertise and
likeability. Additionally, all the aforementioned limitations should be taken in to
considerations regarding the stimuli, sample, research method and manipulation material
should be taken into consideration and altered accordingly.
5.2 Conclusion
This research focused on the differential effects between the type of celebrity on the intention
to purchase a product online and the extent to which this was contingent upon the type of
cultures being examined. The results of the 2 (endorser type: Indian versus Dutch) x 2
(culture: Indian versus Dutch) between subject factorial design showed that both attitude
towards the ad and product and the celebrities’ endorser’s perceived credibility significantly
influences the intention to purchase a product online. However, in contrast to our
expectations, the present study found no evidence to suggest that an Indian celebrity endorser
will lead to more positive attitudes and be perceived as more credible than a Dutch celebrity
endorser when being exposed respondents of both cultures at the same time. Celebrity
endorser type did significantly affect online purchase intention, when consumers were solely
from the in-group of the celebrity or vice-versa. Thus, practioners are advised to take caution
and be culturally sensitive to markets they haven’t penetrated and markets which vary to their
common market practices.
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7. Appendices
Appendix A: Part 1: An overview of the images used in the pretest.
Stage 1
Design 1 - Shah Rukh Khan (Indian model) and Design 2 - Michiel Huisman (Dutch model)
Stage 2
This appendix is dedicated to the pretesting of different celebrities of the two cultures being
studied. As soon as I started working on the experiment part of the study, I went on to Google and
searched the following terms: “Top Indian celebrities” and “Top Dutch celebrities”. Amongst the
various names that were shown as the search result, I saw the names “Shah Rukh Khan” and
“Michiel Huisman”. I decided to select these celebrities are the representing models of the two
cultures for the experiment. The decision was purely based on the fact that one of the celebrities
represented the Indian culture and the other respectively represented the Dutch culture. I tried to
ensure both photos were of similar style of clothing and the features. After searching, I selected
two photos of which both the advertising model was wearing similar clothing and of similar age.
Post designing the first initial set of designs, I posted them in a closed online Facebook group
whereby experts were asked to comment their views of the designs. After receiving feedback from
the experts, I came to understand that the advertising models used for the designs have different
postures. I then tried to find two similar photos whereby the advertising models are wearing
similar type of clothing and their poses were similar. After collecting the images and creating the
web shop design, I ended up with the following designs.
Stage 3
Source Indian Celebrity Source Western Celebrity
India Today Hritik Roshan Ranker.com Bradley Cooper
India Today Salman Khan Ranker.com Michiel Huisman
India Today Shahrukh Khan Ranker.com Chris Hemsworth
Through the responses attained by the panel of experts, I was also advised to conduct a pilot for
the selection of the celebrities representing the two cultures used for the cross-cultural studies. I
was told that for the initial two designs, the celebrities’ level of masculinity varied as one had a
heavy beard and the other has a clean shave. Thus, I decided to create six designs, 3x2 designs of
the selected celebrities. To avoid choosing the celebrities that were of my preferences for the
experiment, I conducted the following pilot study. I selected 3 Indian and 3 western celebrities that
are also recognized and popular in The Netherlands. I selected the Indian celebrities through a site,
which listed the top ten Indian celebrities (India Today, 2016). After selecting the Indian results, I
also did the same with the western celebrities and selected 3 out of the top 10 celebrities.
Design 5 + 6 – Hritik Roshan (Bollywood Actor)
Design 7 + 8 – Salman Khan (Bollywood Actor)
Design 9 +10 – Shah Rukh Khan (Bollywood Actor)
Design 11 + 12 Bradley Cooper (Hollywood Actor)
Design 13 + 14 Michiel Huisman (Dutch Actor)
Design 15 + 16 Chris Hemsworth (Hollywood Actor)
Appendix A: Part 2: Pilot questionnaire.
Questionnaire used for pilot study
Person _______
Do you know this person? Yes / no
How do you feel about the person in the advertisement?
bad O O O O O good
negative O O O O O positive
not an expert O O O O O expert
experienced O O O O O inexperienced
competent O O O O O incompetent
unreliable O O O O O reliable
subjective O O O O O objective
familiar O O O O O unfamiliar
attractive O O O O O unattractive
ugly O O O O O good-looking
exciting O O O O O dull
unfavourable O O O O O favourable
unlikable O O O O O likeable
open O O O O O closed
What you think of him, and why?
What is your age?
What is your e-mail?
Appendix A: Part 3: Analysis and choice of final celebs for ad design.
The choice for the pictures of Shah Rukh Khan as the Indian celebrity and Chris Hemsworth as the
Western celebrity representing the in-group celebrity for the Dutch people. Initially two pictures of
two random searched celebrities were intended to be used. After consulting with a group of
experts, I was advised to conduct a pilot for the selection of the celebrities for the in and out group.
First two pictures of three Indian and Western celebrities were selected in line with Forbes list of
popular celebrities. They were then edited on Adobe Photoshop CC and three manipulations from
each group was selected in line with familiarity and likeability scales of Broeder (2016). The final
six images of which three was Indian celebrities and three Western celebrities was presented to a
jury of 30 people who evaluated all 6 images through a short questionnaire that they were asked to
fill.
The first question asked of the participants was if they knew who the person was which was
measured with just a yes or no. A 5-point scale was used to measure how the participants felt about
the person in the advertisement (refer to appendix A for full breakdown of scales) and eventually
they were asked an open question to give a response in regards to what they thought of the
celebrity and why. Lastly, their age was asked and their email id.
The scores of all six images given by the participants was recorded and compared manually with
my supervisor and based on the results the picture of Shahrukh Khan and Chris Hemsworth were
selected for this study.
Appendix C: Expert feedback on questionnaire
Expert 1
Expert 2
Expert 3
Expert 4
“Maybe you can balance negative and positive adjectives in the question "How do you feel about
the advertisement" better. So, put both negative and positive in both sides that you don’t bias.
Open-closed also I would recommend better extrovert-introvert. Also, instead of advertising
model--> model in the advertisement. Finally, you have two times the page "don’t forget to
push >> to record your answers”. It appeared twice for me. Good Luck”
“Hey Maroof, looks good. Just like I told Elke, you could maybe put an age restriction on age
question. Also, I’m able to put random symbols in your age box. Qualtrics provides you to make
participants only able to insert numbers in that specific box. It's somewhere in the tool menu on the
right side of the screen after clicking on the question”
“Hi Maroof, the questionnaire looks good, I notice there is no forced response in one or two of the
questionnaires in the second condition. I filled in your questionnaire two times to be able to test
both conditions for you. Best of luck with the data collection ☺ ”.
“Hi Maroof, I think it would be better to take of the term celebrity from the phrases created for the
scenarios as I believe it gives away a little the purpose of the study in my opinion. Other than that
all looks good, wish you all the best. Success!”
Appendix D: Questionnaire items.
Convergent validity and reliability statistics (N = 196)
Construct Items Factor loadings
(Varimax
rotation)
Online purchase
intention
I would like to use this product .79
I would like to buy this product .88
I would like to talk with friends about this
product
.88
I would like to give this product as a present .75
The buying chance for this product is low .47
Cronbach’s alpha: .81
Attitude towards
the advertisement
How do you feel about this advertisement
Enjoyable- irritating .80
Nice- unappealing .82
Relaxing- frustrating .75
Fun- no fun .72
Amusing- not amusing .62
Informative- not informative .63
Necessary- unnecessary .68
Worthwhile- useless .81
Pointless- useful .49
Sensible- stupid .81
To what extent does your reaction to the overall
message in the advertisement apply?
Bad- good .80
Negative- positive .78
Cronbach’s alpha: .91
Attitude towards
the product
I have more knowledge about this type of
product than my friends
.93
I am familiar with all the features of this type of
product
.92
I have a lot of experience using this type of
product
.89
I used this type of product in all kinds of
situation
.87
I would like to know more about this type of
product
.61
Cronbach’s alpha: .90
Perceived
credibility
How do you feel the advertising model in the
advertisement?
Not an expert- expert .76
Experienced- inexperienced .81
Competent- incompetent .71
Unreliable- reliable .60
Subjective- objective .87
Familiar- unfamiliar .35
Attractive- unattractive .73
Ugly- good-looking .77
Exciting- dull .78
Unfavorable- favorable .83
Unlikeable- likeable .84
Open - closed .49
Cronbach’s alpha: .89