CONSUMER PERSONALITY AND CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT: AN ANALYSIS USING SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS MODEL AND SOURCE CREDIBILITY MODEL

Abstract

This study attempts to describe the impact of consumer personality traits on their perception of source credibility and source attractiveness for cellular phones endorsed by celebrities. The fast pace of technological developments which impact everyday lives brings new challenges to the markets, industry and consumers. Advertising is a powerful tool to make use of technology to bring the producers and consumers together and to promote products effectively. To add more meaning, reliability and attraction to their products, producers use celebrity endorsements. However, the consumer personalities affect their decision making process and this impact has not been studied thoroughly. This research is undertaken to gain insights into this important aspect. To study consumer personality in detail, Big Five Inventory (BFI) for personality is used. The study sample is comprised of 380 users of cellular phones and their responses are recorded in a structured questionnaire. The results are analyzed through structural equation modeling using AMOS-20. It is observed that extraversion trait of personality has no significant relationship with the perceived source credibility and perceived source attractiveness. On the other hand agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience showed significant relationship both with perceived source credibility and perceived source attractiveness. The findings reveal that agreeableness and openness to experience are positively related to perceived source credibility and perceived source attractiveness. However, a negative relationship has been observed for conscientiousness and neuroticism.