IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v84y2025ics0969698924005137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Delight my brain and my eyes: Credibility and aesthetic judgments of endorsers

Author

Listed:
  • Volkmer, Sara Alida
  • Meißner, Martin

Abstract

Attractive individuals are often seen as persuasive sources of information. However, comprehensive comparative studies investigating the pathways underlying persuasion are currently lacking. Given the significance of persuasion success in influencer marketing, we examine two prominent mechanisms through which influencer attractiveness may affect persuasion outcomes: electronic word-of-mouth and product attractiveness. The first pathway includes perceived expertise and credibility, whereas the second pathway involves aesthetic appeal. In two studies, we examine the effects of influencer attractiveness in three distinct product categories: health, beauty, and technology. The results reveal three main findings: (a) the impact of an influencer's attractiveness on perceived credibility depends on the product category; (b) higher perceived attractiveness consistently enhances perceptions of influencer expertise across all product categories; and (c) in addition to source credibility, aesthetic appeal plays a critical role in linking attractiveness to persuasion success. The results suggest that influencer attractiveness drives persuasion through both a source credibility (expertise and credibility) mechanism and an aesthetic appeal mechanism. Our findings offer researchers a nuanced understanding of attractiveness effects in endorser marketing and provide practitioners with actionable guidance for selecting endorsers tailored to specific product categories.

Suggested Citation

  • Volkmer, Sara Alida & Meißner, Martin, 2025. "Delight my brain and my eyes: Credibility and aesthetic judgments of endorsers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:84:y:2025:i:c:s0969698924005137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104217
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698924005137
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104217?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ballester, Estefania & Ruiz, Carla & Rubio, Natalia & Veloutsou, Cleopatra, 2025. "We match! Building online brand engagement behaviours through emotional and rational processes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Venciute, Dominyka & Mackeviciene, Ieva & Kuslys, Marius & Correia, Ricardo Fontes, 2023. "The role of influencer–follower congruence in the relationship between influencer marketing and purchase behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Yong-Soon Kang & Paul M. Herr, 2006. "Beauty and the Beholder: Toward an Integrative Model of Communication Source Effects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 123-130, June.
    4. Fernandes, Teresa & Nettleship, Heather & Pinto, Luísa Helena, 2022. "Judging a book by its cover? The role of unconventional appearance on social media influencers effectiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    5. Sokolova, Karina & Kefi, Hajer, 2020. "Instagram and YouTube bloggers promote it, why should I buy? How credibility and parasocial interaction influence purchase intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    6. Gong, Heming & Bian, Xuemei & Zheng, Chundong, 2024. "Leveraging celebrities with inconsistent attractiveness and credibility for charitable endorsement: A cue diagnosticity perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Li, Yaoqi & Zhang, Chun & Laroche, Michel, 2019. "Is beauty a premium? A study of the physical attractiveness effect in service encounters," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 215-225.
    8. Akhtar, Naeem & Siddiqi, Umar Iqbal & Gugnani, Ritika & Islam, Tahir & Attri, Rekha, 2024. "The potency of audiovisual attractiveness and influencer marketing: The road to customer behavioral engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Kumar, Sushant & Jain, Aarushi & Hsieh, Jung-Kuei, 2021. "Impact of apps aesthetics on revisit intentions of food delivery apps: The mediating role of pleasure and arousal," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Dabiran, Ehsan & Farivar, Samira & Wang, Fang & Grant, Gerald, 2024. "Virtually human: anthropomorphism in virtual influencer marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Alnoor, Alhamzah & Abbas, Sammar & Khaw, Khai Wah & Muhsen, Yousif Raad & Chew, XinYing, 2024. "Unveiling the optimal configuration of impulsive buying behavior using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis and multi-criteria decision approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Sardar, Sainaz & Tata, Sai Vijay & Sarkar, Subhro, 2024. "Examining the influence of source factors and content characteristics of influencers' post on consumer engagement and purchase intention: A moderated analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Wang, Zerong & Wang, Zeen & Rinprasertmeechai, Denisa & Worawan, Saechoen, 2024. "Understanding the effects of live streamers’ appearance and abilities in shaping consumer purchase: A cross-cultural empirical research," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Belanche, Daniel & Casaló, Luis V. & Flavián, Marta & Ibáñez-Sánchez, Sergio, 2021. "Building influencers' credibility on Instagram: Effects on followers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward the influencer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    15. Masuda, Hisashi & Han, Spring H. & Lee, Jungwoo, 2022. "Impacts of influencer attributes on purchase intentions in social media influencer marketing: Mediating roles of characterizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    16. Palan, Stefan & Schitter, Christian, 2018. "Prolific.ac—A subject pool for online experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 22-27.
    17. Barta, Sergio & Belanche, Daniel & Fernández, Ana & Flavián, Marta, 2023. "Influencer marketing on TikTok: The effectiveness of humor and followers’ hedonic experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    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. Lu, Hsiao-Han & Chen, Ching-Fu & Tai, Yi-Wen, 2024. "Exploring the roles of vlogger characteristics and video attributes on followers’ value perceptions and behavioral intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Ballester, Estefania & Ruiz, Carla & Rubio, Natalia & Veloutsou, Cleopatra, 2025. "We match! Building online brand engagement behaviours through emotional and rational processes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Le, Hoang Tran Phuoc Mai & Van Nguyen, Phuong & Stokes, Peter, 2025. "Green influencers and consumers’ decoupling behaviors for parasocial relationships and sustainability. A comparative study between Korea and Vietnam," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Park, Jinhee & Ahn, Hyeongjin & Kim, Dongjae & Park, Eunil, 2024. "GNN-IR: Examining graph neural networks for influencer recommendations in social media marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Sardar, Sainaz & Tata, Sai Vijay & Sarkar, Subhro, 2024. "Examining the influence of source factors and content characteristics of influencers' post on consumer engagement and purchase intention: A moderated analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Li, Bin & Chen, Shuang & Zhou, Qi, 2023. "Empathy with influencers? The impact of the sensory advertising experience on user behavioral responses," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Sara Javed & Md Salamun Rashidin & Wang Jian, 2024. "Effects of heuristic and systematic cues on perceived content credibility of Sina Weibo influencers: the moderating role of involvement," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Nadroo, Zeeshan Majeed & Lim, Weng Marc & Naqshbandi, Mohd Asif, 2024. "Domino effect of parasocial interaction: Of vicarious expression, electronic word-of-mouth, and bandwagon effect in online shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Wong, Amy & Wei, Joicey, 2023. "Persuasive cues and reciprocal behaviors in influencer-follower relationships: The mediating role of influencer defense," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Alcántara-Pilar, Juan Miguel & Rodriguez-López, María Eugenia & Kalinić, Zoran & Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco, 2024. "From likes to loyalty: Exploring the impact of influencer credibility on purchase intentions in TikTok," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Wang, Bin & Han, Yao & Kandampully, Jay & Lu, Xiaoli, 2025. "How language arousal affects purchase intentions in online retailing? The role of virtual versus human influencers, language typicality, and trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Raza, Ali & Ishaq, Muhammad Ishtiaq & Khan, Ayesha & Ahmad, Rehan & Haj Salem, Narjes, 2023. "How fashion cewebrity influences customer engagement behavior in emerging economy? Social network influence as moderator," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Alnoor, Alhamzah & Abbas, Sammar & Khaw, Khai Wah & Muhsen, Yousif Raad & Chew, XinYing, 2024. "Unveiling the optimal configuration of impulsive buying behavior using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis and multi-criteria decision approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. R. Filieri & S. Shuqair & G. Viglia & A. Mattila & D. C. Pinto, 2023. "Leveraging online selling through social media influencers," Post-Print hal-04318902, HAL.
    15. Akhtar, Naeem & Siddiqi, Umar Iqbal & Gugnani, Ritika & Islam, Tahir & Attri, Rekha, 2024. "The potency of audiovisual attractiveness and influencer marketing: The road to customer behavioral engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Cheah, Chee Wei & Koay, Kian Yeik & Lim, Weng Marc, 2024. "Social media influencer over-endorsement: Implications from a moderated-mediation analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Cabeza-Ramírez, L. Javier & Sánchez-Cañizares, Sandra M. & Santos-Roldán, Luna M. & Fuentes-García, Fernando J., 2022. "Impact of the perceived risk in influencers' product recommendations on their followers' purchase attitudes and intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    18. Huang, Wensheng & Wang, Xiaochen & Zhang, Qianyao & Han, Junhui & Zhang, Runtong, 2025. "Beyond likes and comments: How social proof influences consumer impulse buying on short-form video platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Ooi, Keng-Boon & Lee, Voon-Hsien & Hew, Jun-Jie & Leong, Lai-Ying & Tan, Garry Wei-Han & Lim, Ai-Fen, 2023. "Social media influencers: An effective marketing approach?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    20. Li, Jian & Huang, Jinsong & Li, Yaqi, 2023. "Examining the effects of authenticity fit and association fit: A digital human avatar endorsement model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:joreco:v:84:y:2025:i:c:s0969698924005137. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.