Abstract:
Celebrity endorsement is widely used as an advertising technique. This
study examines three dimensions of celebrity endorsement, including
trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness, as predictors of positive word of
mouth by consumers. It also gauges the impact of word of mouth on purchase
intention and brand affection in terms of the role it plays as a mediating construct
between celebrity endorsement and consumers’ behavioral outcomes. The study
uses a sample of 369 respondents to test a structural equation model. Its results
reveal that the fully mediated model is superior to the partially mediated model and
that trustworthiness is the most important attribute of celebrity endorsement,
yielding positive consumer behavior.
