Entertainment Consumption of Sport Celebrity: Comparing Influences of Different Source Credibility Characters on Consumption Intention

This research compares the different influences of source credibility attractiveness and expertise of the sport celebrity endorser on consumers’ intention in purchasing the endorsed brand, introducing a model that integrates impacts of attractiveness related variables and expertise related variables as well as the moderator variable ideal congruity on audiences’ parasocial interaction with the sport celebrity. Results of the research reject the assumption that consumers tend to pay more attention on the attractiveness rather than the expertise of the sport celebrity in purchasing the endorsed brand, but validate the salience of the model. Audiences, who hold parasocial interaction with the sport celebrity, are driven by both homophily with the celebrity and reverence to the celebrity as well as ideal congruity between their ideal self-image and image of the celebrity. This model complements the existing literature on sport celebrity endorsement by positing attractiveness and homophily as a salient dimension of sport endorser effects.