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. 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.
    2. 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.
    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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Ahn, Jungyong & Kim, Jungwon & Sung, Yongjun, 2022. "The effect of gender stereotypes on artificial intelligence recommendations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 50-59.
    10. Cheong Kim & Hyeon Gyu Jeon & Kun Chang Lee, 2020. "Discovering the Role of Emotional and Rational Appeals and Hidden Heterogeneity of Consumers in Advertising Copies for Sustainable Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    11. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Deshpande, Rohit & Isen, Alice M., 2007. "Should I stay or should I go? Mood congruity, self-monitoring and retail context preference," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 640-648, June.
    12. Liu, Yeyi & Hultman, Magnus & Eisingerich, Andreas B. & Wei, Xingjie, 2020. "How does brand loyalty interact with tourism destination? Exploring the effect of brand loyalty on place attachment," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Carl Obermiller & Alan Sawyer, 2011. "The effects of advertisement picture likeability on information search and brand choice," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 101-113, June.
    14. Louro, M.J.S., 2005. "Leaving pleasure : Positive emotions and goal-directed behavior," Other publications TiSEM a8907dd8-8fb1-45c9-b72d-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Marion Garaus & Elisabeth Wolfsteiner, 2023. "Media multitasking, advertising appeal, and gender effects," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 539-567, February.
    16. Zablocki, Agnieszka & Makri, Katerina & Houston, Michael J., 2019. "Emotions Within Online Reviews and their Influence on Product Attitudes in Austria, USA and Thailand," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 20-39.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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.