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Nowadays, star athletes are global brand personalities. The increased popularity of the professional sport has contributed to elevating exceptional athletes to international star status. This empirical study aims to assess the impact of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement with the mediation effect of celebrity athlete endorsement.

A quantitative survey was conducted with 399 Chinese participants. PLS-SEM is adopted to examine the associated paths and the mediating effect of celebrity endorsement.

The results demonstrate the significant impact of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement. Celebrity endorsement partially mediates the effects of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement.

This study extends understanding of celebrity athlete endorsement and provides insight into the strategic implications for Chinese social media-based marketing initiatives in the context of the recent Olympic Game in Tokyo 2021.

Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have increased the visibility of their corporate brand to consumers by adding a corporate logo (e.g. Unilever “U”) on the packaging of their product brands (e.g. Dove, Domestos, Lipton, Knorr) and showcasing their product-brand portfolio in additional corporate-brand advertising. This paper aims to investigate consumer needs and product-brand familiarity as moderators of the impact of such a strong form of corporate-brand endorsement on the evaluation of established CPG product brands.

Two experiments with n = 670 and n = 118 respondents compare consumer evaluations of eight (Study 2: ten) product brands of a major German (Study 2: Anglo-Dutch) CPG company with versus without corporate-brand endorsement. The authors measure (Study 2: manipulate) the importance a consumer attaches to symbolic, experiential, relational and functional needs in brand choice.

Corporate-brand endorsement improves (decreases) the evaluation of established CGP product brands among consumer segments who base their brand choice in a CPG category predominantly on functional or relational (experiential or symbolic) needs. Furthermore, it exerts a negative effect on product brands among heavy category users due to their higher product-brand familiarity.

Rather than endorsing all its product brands with the corporate brand, a CPG company should do so selectively, depending on the positioning and target audience of each product brand.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to demonstrate the importance of consumer needs and product-brand familiarity in corporate-brand endorsement.

Purpose – This study examines the relationship between endorsement of positive stereotypes of women and support for women's rights to shed light on the role that endorsement of positive stereotypes may play in maintaining social stratification.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses data collected from a web-based survey of 181 male undergraduate students in six different universities and colleges to examine the relationship between the endorsement of positive stereotypes of women and support for women's rights. The paper examines four ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to determine the relationship and utilizes the statistical software Stata 9.2.

Findings – Rather than a simple direct relationship, the findings suggest that the relationship between the endorsement of positive stereotypes and support for women's rights varies based on the level of hostile sexism. Increased endorsement of positive stereotypes of women was associated with decreased support for women's rights among males with the lowest level of hostile sexism, but the opposite relationship was found for males at the mean and the highest level of hostile sexism.

Research limitations/implications – The findings suggest that endorsement of positive stereotypes plays a unique role for males who do not endorse traditional sexist attitudes. Although data are not available to clarify what processes might be undergirding the relationship, the author suggests directions for future research.

Practical implications – Given the relationship found, prejudice reduction interventions that rely on the promotion of positive stereotypes of various social groups should be closely examined to determine if they actually foster attitudes that are detrimental for the eradication of social stratification.

Originality/value – This study is one of the first to examine the possible negative impacts of endorsement of positive stereotypes of women on gender stratification through a moderated relationship with levels of hostile sexism.

Given the importance of third-party endorsements as external cues during purchase evaluations, the manipulation of endorsements may raise consumers’ suspicion and thereby reduce the effectiveness of marketing messages. Consumers find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between authentic and biased brand reviews. This research conducts two experiments regarding brand rankings of third-parties in four industries. Study 1 aims to probes the interaction effect of persuasion knowledge and fairness of rating method (fair vs. unfair) on brand rankings’ credibility and brand image enhancement. Study 2 examines the interplay of dispositional persuasion knowledge and reputation of third parties (high vs. low).

This research builds on an analysis of data (Study 1, N = 122; Study 2, N = 123) from Taiwan, where brand rankings held by third-party organizations are regular. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS’s PROCESS macro.

Drawing on previous research of persuasion knowledge, the authors find that a fair rating method and a high reputation of third-party organization can mitigate the negative effect of persuasion knowledge.

The results of this research suggest that marketers need to manage third-party endorsements carefully. Consumer skepticism toward these endorsements (e.g. third-party’s brand rankings) can be weakened when persuasion attempt is considered appropriate.

This is one of the first efforts to empirically explore the influences of persuasion knowledge on third-party endorsements. The importance of this work is underscored by the fact that a growing number of third-party endorsements are sponsored or even manipulated by brand owners.

This chapter has three central goals: First, it aims to introduce the concept of consumers’ online brand endorsements, which we define as consumers’ intentional, public, and positive online affiliations with brands (e.g., liking a brand page on Facebook). Second, it provides an overview of the drivers and consequences of this phenomenon. Third, it answers the question whether and when the broadly adopted marketing strategy of consumers’ online brand endorsements is feasible.

To accomplish these goals, we conducted a general review of the literature.

We identified three different drivers of consumers’ online brand endorsements: Identity-related drivers, brand-related drivers, and community-related drivers. Based on the literature we suggest that from the perspective of the endorsing consumer, online brand endorsements have the potential to be a two-sided sword.

The greater potential of this marketing technique appears to rely on the fact that consumers’ online brand endorsements are broadcasted to a gigantic network of other consumers and their potential to be contagious.

Consumers’ online brand endorsements are a new phenomenon and therefore quite understudied. Still, many brands have social media marketing strategies that aim to acquire huge amounts of endorsements by their consumers. This chapter contributes to our knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of consumers’ online brand endorsements. Moreover, it shows how and when consumers’ online brand endorsements can be a feasible marketing strategy.

We identify methodological weaknesses in a paper by Skocpol, Abend-Wein, Howard, and Lehmann (1993) on the origins of mothers’ pensions in the American states in the early twentieth century. These include a sub-optimal and potentially biased strategy for assessing the impact of state characteristics on the time to adoption of pensions, as well as the use of a backward stepwise regression procedure for selecting independent variables. To determine whether Skocpol et al.’s conclusions remain valid, we recreated most of their dataset and used methods that are more appropriate for the analysis of duration data, including the Cox and complementary cloglog event history procedures. While we find support for several of their claims, our findings allow for a more straightforward interpretation of the role of explanatory variables, and the temporal dependence of the adoption process.

There are two major strategies for short video advertising which are KOL (key opinion leader) endorsement and in-feed advertising. The authors aim to research the effectiveness of these two strategies for heterogeneous sellers.

The study employed a data set of users from Douyin. Using an endogenous treatment model, the study empirically examines the two strategies' effectiveness in attracting product traffic for online retailors at a short video app Douyin (TikTok).

The results show that the performance of in-feed advertising is higher when the seller's product is of lower price and when the seller has smaller cumulative video exposure. In addition, KOL endorsement is effective regardless of the product price, but performs better when the seller has larger cumulative video exposure.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the interaction effects of two major advertising strategies, KOL endorsement and in-feed advertising on short video platforms. The findings provide important theoretical contributions and practical implications.

The authors examine mutually exclusive sub-groups of congruent expectations for leader and follower roles relate to sub-groups of self-other endorsement, and how these patterns predict relationship quality.

The authors examine patterns of congruent implicit theories relate to patterns of self-other endorsement, at the dyadic level, using latent class analysis in 193 working-adult dyads. The authors then examine how these patterns predict leader and follower assessments of relationship quality using general linear models (GLM).

The authors supported 4 classes of dyads with specific patterns of congruent (or incongruent) ILT's and IFT's: Role congruent, exchange congruent, committed leader congruent, and role incongruent dyads. Class membership predicted leader-assessed leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived support. The authors then supported 3 classes of self-other endorsement: dyads with mutual endorsement, leader identity endorsement, and no endorsement. Class membership predicted follower-assessed LMX, perceived support, and perceived contribution from leaders. Class membership corresponded meaningfully.

The authors empirically examine the extent to which relationship behavior can be understood: (1) by similar implicit theories, or (2) through identification with a leader or follower role. Moreover, the authors uncover unique combinations of congruence, and address a key challenge posed by traditional variable-oriented strategies typically used in LMX research.

From the perspectives of service-dominant logic and social identity theory, this study aims to assess social networking site (SNS) users’ likes as a form of social endorsement as well as its effects on like-clicking behavior, perceived brand value, customer-brand identification and purchase intention. Furthermore, the different effects of social endorsement on the perceived functional, hedonic, social and monetary brand value were investigated so as to support SNS users’ role as value cocreators.

An online survey was administered as a pretest of customer perceptions regarding brands that are liked on SNSs. Next, an experiment was conducted to verify the effects of social endorsement. A mixed-method approach including partial least squares (PLS) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was adopted for the data analysis.

The results revealed that like-clicking behavior could be contagious because SNS users exposed to others’ likes were more likely to click the like button themselves. Like-clicking behavior positively influenced the perceived functional, hedonic, social and monetary value of the liked brand. Perceived brand value strengthened customer-brand identification, thereby increasing purchase intention.

Like-based social endorsements were confirmed as a type of value cocreation behavior that benefits the endorsed brand by spreading brand awareness, and increasing customer acquisition and retention. An fsQCA approach was developed to measure the moderating effect of users’ propensity to click the like button on perceived brand value, thus contributing to the advancement of fsQCA.

This study aims to examine the effectiveness (ad attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention) of celebrity endorsement in the form of explicit vs embedded advertising in the context of different new media (digital and social media).

An online experiment was conducted using a 2 (digital media vs social media) × 2 (explicit vs embedded celebrity endorsement) between-subjects design. Participants (n = 137) were exposed to a fictitious piece of online branded content using celebrity endorsement. Four experimental treatments were generated as the authors manipulated the new media and the explicitness of the celebrity endorsement in the ad piece.

The main result highlights that using social media (vs digital media) enhances celebrity endorsement's indirect influence on purchase intention via the serial mediating role of ad attitude and brand attitude, regardless of the explicitness of the message. In terms of the message format, no differences were observed.

The differential power of using celebrities across different new media to promote brands suggests the importance of interactivity in the context of celebrity endorsement. Additionally, the absence of differences in terms of message formats would show that the presence of the celebrity per se has a powerful effect.

Firms using new media to deliver their brand communication, including celebrity endorsements, can better understand the different capabilities of social media and digital media.

In the context in which empirical research equates new media with social media, this study provides an examination of celebrity endorsement assuming the complexity of the celebrity endorsement ion the current scenario: different types of new media and different types of message formats.

Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar la efectividad (en términos de actitud a la pieza publicitaria, actitud hacia la marca e intención de compra) del celebrity endorsement en la forma de publicidad explícita versus incrustada en el contexto de diferentes tipos de nuevos medios (medios digitales y redes sociales).

Se llevó a cabo un experimento en línea utilizando un diseño between-subjects de 2 (medios digitales vs. redes sociales) × 2 (apoyo explícito vs. incrustado de celebridades). Los participantes (n = 137) fueron expuestos a una pieza online ficticia de contenido de marca en línea que utilizaba celebrity endorsement. Se generaron cuatro tratamientos experimentales, en los cuales los autores manipularon el uso de nuevos medios y el nivel de explicitación del celebrity endorsement en la pieza publicitaria.

Los resultados principales ponen de manifiesto que el uso de las redes sociales (vs. medios digitales) mejora la influencia indirecta del celebrity endorsement en la intención de compra a través del rol de mediación en serie de la actitud hacia la pieza publicitaria y la actitud hacia la marca, independientemente del nivel de explicitación del mensaje. En cuanto al formato del mensaje, no se observaron diferencias.

El poder diferencial del uso de celebridades en diferentes tipos de medios nuevos para promocionar marcas sugiere la importancia de la interactividad en el contexto del celebrity endorsement. Además, la ausencia de diferencias a nivel del formato del mensaje muestra que la presencia de la celebridad per se tiene un efecto relevante.

Según los resultados de los autores, las empresas que utilizan nuevos medios para su comunicación de marca, incluyendo celebrity endorsements, pueden comprender mejor las diferentes capacidades de las redes sociales y los medios digitales.

En un contexto donde la investigación empírica equipara los nuevos medios con las redes sociales, este estudio proporciona un examen del celebrity endorsement considerando la complejidad de la técnica en el actual escenario: diferentes tipos de nuevos medios y diferentes tipos de formatos de mensajes.