Enhancing Brand Credibility via Celebrity Endorsement : Trustworthiness Trumps Attractiveness and Expertise

Building on source credibility theory, the authors test a structural model for advertisers and scholars to explain brand outcomes of celebrity endorsement. The empirical context is the global airline industry with a fitting sample of at an international airport (n=637). Results of structural equations analyses show that consumers’ perception of a celebrity endorser’s attractiveness and trustworthiness brings a lift in brand attitude, brand credibility, and in turn purchase intention towards endorsed brands. The contribution to source credibility theory is the finding that endorser trustworthiness is the only component of source credibility that is important to low involvement consumers. The takeaway for advertisers in this industry is to use attractive celebrity endorsers with a global appeal who are trustworthy to enhance brand credibility