IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i5p1761-d1342935.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the Effectiveness of Virtual Endorsers: A Study Based on the Match-Up Hypothesis and Source Credibility Model

Author

Listed:
  • Haiyan Kong

    (School of Business, Xinyang Normal University, No. 237 Nanhu Road, Xinyang 464000, China)

  • Hualong Fang

    (College of Liberal Arts, Cheongju University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

In the digital era, businesses are actively integrating advanced technology and innovative marketing strategies to achieve sustained growth. Notably, virtual endorsers play a key role in driving enterprises towards digital transformation in the field of digital marketing. Understanding consumer attitudes towards the use of virtual endorsers in digital marketing is especially important for enterprises employing digital tools to realize a sustainable business model. To this end, this research adopts the match-up hypothesis and source credibility model as its theoretical framework, delving into the impact of virtual endorser–product fit and credibility features (attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness) on product attitudes, as well as the interactive effects of these features with product types. We collected feedback data from 376 participants through an online questionnaire and validated our hypotheses using the PLS-SEM model. The results demonstrate that virtual endorser–product fit positively affects credibility, with higher credibility further enhancing consumers’ attitudes toward products. Additionally, the source credibility model partially mediates the relationship between the match-up hypothesis and product attitudes, with attractiveness exerting the most significant impact. Finally, we observed variations in consumer attitudes toward products endorsed by virtual endorsers based on product types. The findings of this study provide a solid theoretical basis for a deeper understanding of consumer attitudes towards the application of virtual endorsers in marketing and offer practical suggestions for businesses to leverage digital tools for sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Haiyan Kong & Hualong Fang, 2024. "Research on the Effectiveness of Virtual Endorsers: A Study Based on the Match-Up Hypothesis and Source Credibility Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:1761-:d:1342935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1761/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1761/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adaval, Rashmi, 2001. "Sometimes It Just Feels Right: The Differential Weighting of Affect-Consistent and Affect-Inconsistent Product Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Albérico Travassos Rosário & Joana Carmo Dias, 2023. "The New Digital Economy and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-23, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Garaus, Marion & Hudáková, Melánia, 2022. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourists’ air travel intentions: The role of perceived health risk and trust in the airline," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Inés López López & Salvador Ruiz de Maya, 2012. "When hedonic products help regulate my mood," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 701-717, September.
    3. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Goodstein, Ronald C. & Grewal, Dhruv & Price, Robert & Raghubir, Priya & Stewart, David, 2009. "Customer Experience Management in Retailing: Understanding the Buying Process," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 15-30.
    4. Dewani, Prem Prakash & Sinha, Piyush Kumar & Mathur, Sameer, 2016. "Role of gratitude and obligation in long term customer relationships," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 143-156.
    5. Yang Zhao & Yixuan Li & Ning Wang & Ruoxin Zhou & Xin (Robert) Luo, 2022. "A Meta-Analysis of Online Impulsive Buying and the Moderating Effect of Economic Development Level," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 1667-1688, October.
    6. Smith, Ronn J. & Knuff, David C. & Sprott, David E. & Spangenberg, Eric R., 2013. "The influence of negative marketplace information on consumer attitudes toward a service establishment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 358-364.
    7. Angela Aerry Choi & Daegon Cho & Dobin Yim & Jae Yun Moon & Wonseok Oh, 2019. "When Seeing Helps Believing: The Interactive Effects of Previews and Reviews on E-Book Purchases," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 1164-1183, December.
    8. Dimitrios Vlachopoulos & Rannveig Björk Thorkelsdóttir & Despoina Schina & Jóna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, 2023. "Teachers’ Experience and Perceptions of Sustainable Digitalization in School Education: An Existential Phenomenological Study of Teachers in Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Iceland, and The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Geuens, Maggie & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Faseur, Tine, 2011. "Emotional advertising: Revisiting the role of product category," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 418-426, April.
    10. Kim, Junyong & Gupta, Pranjal, 2012. "Emotional expressions in online user reviews: How they influence consumers' product evaluations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 985-992.
    11. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    12. Wasana Jayawickramarathna & Rajendra Mulye & Kaleel Rahman & Tim Fry, 2021. "Consumer resource integration in the subsistence marketplace: A comparative study of urban and rural consumers," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 715-733, June.
    13. Han, Sang-Lin & Kim, Kihyung, 2020. "Role of consumption values in the luxury brand experience: Moderating effects of category and the generation gap," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Lechner, Andreas T. & Paul, Michael, 2019. "Is this smile for real? The role of affect and thinking style in customer perceptions of frontline employee emotion authenticity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 195-208.
    15. Liu, Feng & Zhao, Shaoqiong & Li, Yang, 2017. "How many, how often, and how new? A multivariate profiling of mobile app users," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 71-80.
    16. Albérico Travassos Rosário & Ricardo Raimundo, 2024. "Internet of Things and Distributed Computing Systems in Business Models," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-27, October.
    17. Albérico Travassos Rosário & Paula Lopes & Filipe Sales Rosário, 2024. "Sustainability and the Circular Economy Business Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-24, July.
    18. Tobias Roeth & Patrick Spieth & Verena Joachim, 2019. "The Interaction Of Intuition And Rationality During Escalated Npd Decisions: An Investigation Of Decision-Makers’ Affective States," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(04), pages 1-31, June.
    19. Azam Ghezelbash & Jay Liu & Seyed Hamed Fahimifard & Vahid Khaligh, 2024. "Exploring the Influence of the Digital Economy on Energy, Economic, and Environmental Resilience: A Multinational Study across Varied Carbon Emission Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-22, April.
    20. Chiu, Hung-Chang & Hsieh, Yi-Ching & Li, Yu-Chuan & Lee, Monle, 2005. "Relationship marketing and consumer switching behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1681-1689, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:1761-:d:1342935. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.