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The effects of association strength on attention and product evaluation: Reconsidering endorsement effectiveness

Yonghwan Chang (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Yong Jae Ko (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 8 March 2018

Issue publication date: 16 April 2018

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to test whether endorsements that show a low strength of association (bottom-up bias) benefit from increased attention and processing efforts. The current study also tested whether consumer involvement level (top-down bias) dynamically interacts with the bottom-up attention phenomena.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a series of pretests, 36 potential celebrity-product matches were identified using real athletes and product brands. Two experiments were conducted: 330 individual responses (110 participants × three conditions) were obtained in a within-subjects lab experiment, and 868 participants were recruited for a between-subjects online experiment. Linear mixed modeling and moderated mediation analysis were performed.

Findings

The relationships between the strength of image associations and attention time to endorsements and recall and choice consideration of endorsed brands were U-shaped and curvilinear. Attention largely mediated the relationship between the strength of association and recall/choice. Involvement effects were diluted by the strength of association effects, rejecting top-down attentional control.

Practical implications

Brand managers for both products and celebrities are recommended to search for corresponding not only image-matched partners but also endorsement partners with dissonant pre-existing images.

Originality/value

The majority of the existing endorsement literature has conventionally suggested that congruence between the endorser and the endorsed property, rather than incongruence, induces consumers’ positive endorsement evaluation. This study constructs important theoretical advancements to the existing literature by empirically proving that through an attentional process, an endorsement contract, conventionally perceived as mismatched, can also generate positive outcomes.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the insightful comments of Chris Janiszewski on an earlier draft of this manuscript and are grateful for the help of Michael Sagas and Brian Mills in conducting this research. The authors also acknowledge the helpful input of the editor (Nick Lee), the associate editors (Nicholas Ashill and Ian Lings) and the anonymous reviewers. Any remaining errors are the authors’ responsibility. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Citation

Chang, Y. and Ko, Y.J. (2018), "The effects of association strength on attention and product evaluation: Reconsidering endorsement effectiveness", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52 No. 5/6, pp. 1257-1279. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-05-2016-0261

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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