Celebrity endorsements: Investigating the interactive effects of internalization, identification and product type on consumers’ attitudes and intentions

In line with Kang and Herr's work (2006), this research questions the ELM's contention that celebrity credibility serves foremost as a peripheral element in persuasive communication context. Nevertheless, different light to ‘either-central-or-peripheral-role’ of source characteristic, advances plays concomitantly central roles message context depending on product involvement brand-purchase motive. Particularly, uses notions ‘source internalization’ identification’ (Kelman, 1961) theorize can have concomitant dual role (peripheral central) persuasion More precisely, investigates interactive effects identification internalization well motives consumers' attitudes intentions. Source is predicted contexts high-involvement informational products. low-involvement transformational The findings two experiments show acts through only single route (i.e., has effects) uniformly across levels motive types. We interpret these results lens ‘match-up’ hypothesis (Kamins, 1990).