The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in Online Advertisement towards

Consumer Purchase Intention

Atirah Sufian1; Muliati Sedek2; Hua Ting Lim1; Murzidah Ahmad Murad1; Juhaini Jabar1; Adeel Khalid3
1
Faculty Technology Management and Technopreneurship, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian
Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
2
Centre for Language Learning, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
3
Department of Marketing, The University of Auckland Business School, 12 Grafton Road Sir Owen G Glenn
Building, New Zealand.

Abstract
Celebrity endorsement is a type of marketing campaign that involves a well-known celebrity such as
movie stars, entertainers, and athletes to endorse the products which include physical products,
services, and ideas. It is tough to capture a position in consumers’ mind, but celebrity endorsements
give the companies an added dimension in keeping the attention of viewers. The presence of celebrities
will improve a brand awareness and provide an enormous support needs by promoting the brand's
intrinsic value. However, the power of celebrity endorsers in achieving positive attitudes and purchase
intentions for the endorsed brand has been questioned by some studies. Therefore, the purpose of this
research is to investigate the relationship between celebrity endorsement in online advertisement and
consumer’s purchasing intension. This study examined the effect of attractiveness, trustworthiness,
expertise and product fit of celebrity endorsement towards the consumer purchase intention. The
sample is obtained from a total of 200 respondents from all the states in Malaysia. The essential
analysis involved are reliability analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, correlation analysis, multiple
regression analysis and hypothesis testing. All of the analysis were analyzed using the SPSS Version
25. The findings of this study depicted that attractiveness, trustworthiness and product fit play an
important role in ensuring the effectiveness of a celebrity endorsement. Hence, those variables could
be a powerful marketing tools for marketers when implementing celebrity endorsement as part of their
marketing strategies.

Key-words: Online Advertisement, Celebrity Endorsement, Attractiveness, Trustworthiness,

Customer Purchase Intention.

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1. Introduction

According to Zafar and Rafique (2012), “throughout this modern age, people seem to disregard
all commercials and advertisement when reading through the newspapers and magazines, or watching
TV. However, a celebrity's glamour rarely goes unnoticed”. Digital network is a new medium for
companies to communicate with the public and audiences. In the digital era, digital marketing
especially social media marketing is crucial for all types of businesses from micro (Sufian et al., 2020)
to large. Therefore, in order to connect with the customers, marketers have recruited celebrities to
support their products in an online advertisement.
Marketing communication has expanded and filled with advertisement in this technology
decade, but it is still difficult to get consumers’ attraction. It becomes a huge task for the advertisers to
create an advertisement that is different from the others. To attract the consumers’ attention, currently
many advertisers have invested a lot of resources in celebrity endorsement. However, according to
Apejoye (2013) , the truth is that many celebrity products and expensive advertisement have failed to
draw consumer interest to other items. Apejoye (2013) also states that, “the dimension of source effect
models illustrates that it reflects on the audience's understanding of the source's knowledge, confidence
and awareness to embrace and respond favorably to the advertising message. In addition, positive
communicator characteristics can influence the message that a receiver accepts.
If a celebrity is not accepted by the public, its unacceptableness will impact the product and
thus leads to negative outcome. In this case, companies will fail to attract their consumers and
eventually will waste a lot of resources. Therefore, it is important to investigate the relationship
between the endorsement of celebrities and the credibility perceived by consumers.
Apejoye (2013) states that measuring the effectiveness of the advertisement endorsed in line
with the sales revenue, the powerfulness of the product and its public acceptance have always been the
subject of discussion. However, a national brand business uses an acceptable celebrity with a global
reach to gain the attention of customers for its brand in society, is always a question there. Hence, this
research will benefit advertisers and companies to produce an effective advertisement with celebrity
for the consumer.

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2. Literature Review

Effect of Using Celebrity Endorsement

According to Schiffman and Kanuk (2010), celebrity endorsement is defined as celebrity

appearing on behalf of products they may or may not have actual knowledge or experience with.
Erdogan and Baker (2000) proposed that major firms have a common practice of using the celebrity
for their public relation campaign to endorse corporate or brand imagery. Ilicic and Webster (2011),
asserted that in this contemporary market place, celebrities are a common characteristic that reflect the
identity, not only of products and brands but also of organizations. Most of the time, the public will
know the celebrities more than the products they endorsed. The importance of celebrity endorser is not
that they are used by the company to increase the revenue, however, the dominant factor is how they
improve the benefits to the company, brand and product (Amos et al., 2008).
Erdogan (1999) stated that marketing communication is important for an organization to
formulate a strategy in achieving successful product or service differential benefits. To attempt this,
celebrity endorsement is frequently used in the digital marketing campaign. Kansu and Mamuti (2013)
also echoed that celebrity endorsement typically lends their names to product or service advertisements
for which they may or may not be the experts. It is necessary that an audience have a certain celebrity
in life and a degree of attraction as well as respect to be affected by the celebrity endorsement (Ohanian,
1990). Besides, celebrity is not only about creating and attracting the attention of consumers but also
to achieve strong recall rates of the products or services message in today’s competitive environment
(Erdogan, 1999). In relation to celebrity endorsement strategy, a celebrity who has a high positive effect
is not enough but having high appropriateness for the brand is a must for them. Wang et al.’s (2013)
study proves that celebrity endorsement has directly influenced the consumer’s purchase intention.
When consumers have good feeling towards the celebrity, their purchase’s intention will increase.

Celebrity Endorsement in Online Advertisement

Celebrity endorsement is one of the marketing strategies by which marketers seek to exploit the
celebrity's image and reputation in promoting a product or business. For example, in Malaysia,
entertainment is what consumers seek from mobile advertising (Hakimi et al., 2019) which is why
celebrity endorsement is getting its popularity. Furthermore, web attractiveness is momentous
especially for your adults (Pebrianti, 2016) hence the recruitment of celebrities by advertising

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companies is escalated. Advertisers are supported by celebrities because of their greater benefits and
their immense influence (Ahmed et al., 2012). According to Erdogan (1999), using celebrities in an
advertisement is not a recent strategy, yet has developed over the years. Owing to the advent of modern
advertising platforms such as radio in 1930's, television in 1950's and internet in 1990's, celebrities
have endorsed goods since the late 19th century and evolved further in the 20th century. According to
Wood and Burkhalter (2014), an advertiser using celebrity endorsers in traditional offline media is a
common practice. However, in today's world where digital media is becoming increasingly popular,
marketers and advertisers are finding ways to use brand-promoting celebrities in various online
environments. Celebrity endorsements show up in many other ways than advertising such as posting
brand names or pictures of a brand in their social media platform (Wood & Burkhalter, 2014). Ohanian
(1990) proposed that the marketers and advertisers argue that a communicator 's character has a major
impact on the persuasiveness of the message.
Chung and Cho (2014) proposed that celebrities today use numerous social networking sites
(SNSs) to communicate with their followers in a constant conversation. According to Cunningham and
Bright (2012), social media has changed the way fans and celebrities communicate with each other
through direct access and the absence of conventional media intermediaries. Stever and Lawson (2013)
suggested that websites enable people with limited internet skills to set up personal pages in which they
can share with an audience a regular posting of opinions, beliefs, and values, photos, web links and
other items of interest. The most obvious reason for using social media is to create a sense of closeness
and interaction between celebrities and their fans (Chung & Cho, 2014).

Attractiveness
Olson and Marshuetz (2005) proposed that physical attractiveness has a very powerful effect
on the person's ability to convince others, even though he or she is not bent on persuading anyone.
According to Erdogan (1999), physical attractiveness does not simply mean physical attractiveness.
However, it requires any number of virtues qualities which may be viewed by customers in a celebrity
endorser such as intellectual skills, personality traits, lifestyle, and athletic prowess. Attractiveness is
another factor that acts as an important role in the communicator’s initial decision. Physical
attractiveness emphasizes primarily the visual characteristics of the source and celebrities, but has been
challenged for body objections, particularly for female images that appeal to personal amusement and
male look. Likability is the first important dimension of attractiveness, referring to the “source affection

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due to physical appearance, behaviour or other personal characteristics” (Erdogan B. Z., Michael J.
Baker, 2000).
According to Wang and Scheinbaum (2017), attractiveness requires the physical appearance
externally. Felix and Borges (2014) found that previous research showed different results on the impact
of physical attractiveness on the effectiveness of persuasion and advertising. For example, some of the
research are not in role to prove that impact of physical attractiveness towards persuasion or consumer
willingness to purchase the endorsed product. However, Silvera and Austad (2004) suggested that
celebrity endorser with a higher rate of attractiveness can achieve more positive attitude to the
advertisement. Moreover, Solnick and Schweitzer (1999) asserted that an attractive negotiator can
receive higher offer compared to the unattractive negotiator. Besides, consumers will believe that a
celebrity endorser's beauty can improve the attitude of the consumer towards the endorsed brand or
attitude towards the company (Wang & Scheinbaum, 2017). Thus, the hypothesis to be examined is:
H1: There is significant relationship between attractiveness of celebrity endorsement towards
consumer purchase intention.

Trustworthiness
According to Erdem and Swait (2014), confidence or trustworthiness is a sub-dimension of
brand credibility related to the view of consumer of the willingness of companies to fulfill their
promises and provide what has been promised. According to Liebowitz, Paliszkiewicz and
Gołuchowski (2017), there are three types of trust which are institutional, character-based and process-
based trust. Institutional trust defined as trust established and enshrined in the legal system. For
example, a dentist endorsing the dental care product as they find it to be. Character-based trust is about
consumers as individuals believe the source and it is not fully applicable to celebrity endorsement. For
example, a consumer believes the salesman when he or she want to purchase something. Process-based
trust as a trust that developed over times. For example, the trust between a consumer and a celebrity
due to the reputation.
Goldsmith, Lafferty, and Newell (2000) also found that the trustworthiness of the marketing
endorser is among the key factors in ensuring the consumer's desire to buy, the greater the
trustworthiness, the higher the optimistic advertising and the attitudes of the brand. The good or service
depends on how sincere the celebrity says about the brand. Based on Seiler and Kucza (2017) research,
the result shows that trustworthiness is the strongest effect compare to attractiveness and expertise.
Furthermore, Seiler and Kucza (2017) recommended that trustworthiness is the most critical if

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reputation and the attitude towards the brand are to be positively affected, which eventually affects the
customer buying intensity. Thus, the hypothesis to be examined is:
H2: There is a significant relationship between trustworthiness of celebrity endorsement
towards consumer purchase intention.

Expertise
According to Silvera and Austad (2004), the expertise credibility is higher that the
trustworthiness effects. Goldsmith et al., (2000) defined expertise as the professional of the product
endorser who can pursuade consumer to buy products. The expertise of the endorser is similar to the
qualification of the source and it can directly affects the level of conviction to pursuade consumer to
buy what is endorsed (Wang & Scheinbaum, 2017). Amos et al. (2008) also found that when the
consumer receive the message from the celebrity with high level of expertise, he or she will be easily
be pursuaded by the message in the advertisment.
Amos et al. (2008) suggested that celebrity expertise is one of the reason that affects recipient’s
message. Through the research of Seiler and Kucza (2017), the result shows that expertise has positive
effects on purchase intention and therefore expertise may be identified as important and effective in
testimonial that represent experts as endorser. Thus, the hypothesis to be examined is:
H3: There is a significant relationship between expertise of celebrity endorsement towards
consumer purchase intention.

Product Fit
Hussain and Khan (2017) proposed that positive advertisement on reputation, behaviors and
behavioral expectations is about whether the product “fit” with the celebrity endorsement. Seno and
Lukas (2007) enlightened that the higher the perceived correlation between the respective product
characteristics and celebrity features, the easier the consumer establishes a relational link between the
two. Meanwhile, according to Erfgen, Zenker and Sattler (2015), “Vampire Effect” will occurred if
without clear and unique relationship between the endorsed product and the celebrity, it will have quite
poor impact as consumers will only keep in mind of the celebrity compare to the product. Vampire
effect in the term of celebrity endorsement is defined as celebrity overshadows the product
characteristics in the advertisement (Kuvita & Karlíček, 2014). The vampire effect is more likely to
occur when there is no relationship between the celebrity and product endorsed (Erdogan, 1999). Based
on the research by Kuvita and Karlíček (2014), marketers should be able to strike a balance between

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getting their target audience’s attention and providing message relevant to the product and brand as a
result of unrelated celebrity who has created a gap in the company’s communication effort.
Seno and Lukas (2007) proposed that the identity of celebrity and the image of brand are linked
and the image of celebrity and brand are equity drivers. Hussain and Khan (2017) found that celebrity
match up with product is more effective in ensuring the successful campaign for celebrity endorsement
when compare to other credibility source. Moreover, Choi and Rifon (2012) suggested that high level
of congruence between the product and celebrity endorser leads to more favorable attitude toward the
advertisment, brand and purchase intention. Thus, the hypothesis to be examined is:
H4: There is a significant relationship between product fit of celebrity endorsement towards
consumer purchase intention.

3. Theoretical Framework

The development of the conceptual framework is based on source credibility model (Ohanian,
1990), source attractiveness model (Kahle & Homer, 1985) and match-up hypothesis model (Kamins,
1990). The purpose of the research framework is to determine the interaction between the independent
variables and celebrity endorsement in online advertisements towards consumer purchase intention.

Figure 1 - Proposed Theoretical Framework

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4. Methodology

This research employed a quantitative method and the questionnaire was used as a tool to collect
the data and opinion among the respondents towards the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in
online advertisements. The questionnaire consisted of close-ended questions. Respondents were given
five points scale which is in the agreeable term and represents 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree,
3-neutral, 4-agree, and 5-strongly agree. The questionnaire was constructed using Google Form and
distributed via online. Most of the questions were designed and modified from the previous research
questions that fit with the research topic.
The sampling technique that was used in this research is non-probability convenience sampling.
For time and practical reasons, this approach was chosen because it included the people to which the
researcher had direct access. To collect the necessary data for this analysis, the questionnaire was
distributed via email and Whatsapp to approximately to 200 respondents across Malaysia.
SPSS was employed in perform all the analyses, testing the formulated hypothesis as well as
testing reliability and correlations between variables. Meanwhile, descriptive statistics have created
more meaning and allows the researcher to feel numerical data. This includes representing data in a
way that illustrates its value beginning with the respondents’ demographic data. Multiple regression
analysis was applied to assess how dependent variables were specified by the independent variables.
This analysis will show how significant the relative contribution of each of the independent variables
is. For this study, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to define the relationship between the
variables in the research model, and to illustrate how statistically these variables were linked to each
other. The results of the correlation analysis have provided a value between -1 and 1.

5. Results

For the reliability test, the questionnaire of this research consists of 25 items and was distributed
to 200 respondents in all the states in Malaysia. The reliability result reveals that each of the variables
have a good reliability score as the value of Cronbach’s Alpha for all variables are more than 0.7.

Table 1 - Reliability Statistic

Variables Number of Items Cronbach’s Alpha
Attractiveness 5 0.824
Trustworthiness 5 0.856
Expertise 5 0.772
Product Fit 5 0.795
Consumer Purchase Intention 5 0.872
Overall 25 0.948

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Descriptive Analysis for Demographics

The part A in the questionnaire was related to the demographic profile of respondents and it
was analysed by using frequency analysis. The questions related to the personal information of the
respondents includes gender, age, races, occupation, monthly salary, state and region. It also sought for
does the respondents have a social media account, does the respondents watch celebrity endorsement
advertisement before and what are the type of social media platform used by the respondents.

Descriptive Statistic for Variables

The result of descriptive statistics for variables are shown in table 2. The independent variables
include attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise and product fit whereas the dependent variable is
consumer purchase intention. The result states the overall value of means for all independent variables
are more than 3.0 which means majority of the respondents agree with the statement of independent
variables in the questionnaires. According to table 2, attractiveness has the highest mean value which
is 4.60 and the standard deviation value is 0.622. The independent variable that has second highest
mean value is trustworthiness which mean value is 4.55 and the standard deviation value is 0.691.
Product fit is in the position of third highest mean value which is 4.18 and the standard deviation is
0.595. Expertise has the smallest mean value which is 3.37 and the standard deviation value is 0.692.

Table 2 - Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Attractiveness 200 1.00 5.00 4.6070 .62200

Trustworthiness 200 1.00 5.00 4.5590 .69175

Expertise 200 1.00 5.00 3.3710 .69206

Product Fit 200 1.20 5.00 4.1830 .59539

Valid N (listwise) 200

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Pearson’s Correlation Analysis

Table 3 - Correlations
Correlations
Att Trust Exp P.F P.I
Att Pearson Correlation 1 .849** .519** .796** .859**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200
Trust Pearson Correlation .849** 1 .425** .759** .832**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200
** **
Exp Pearson Correlation .519 .425 1 .621** .510**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200
** ** **
P.F Pearson Correlation .796 .759 .621 1 .849**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200
P.I Pearson Correlation .859** .832** .510** .849** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 3 shows the result of correlation between independent variable and dependent variable.
The larger the coefficient value, indicating the better relationship of the correlated variables.
Based on the findings, attractiveness and purchase intention have a very strong relationship,
(r = 0.859, p-value = 0.00). Second, trustworthiness and purchase intention also have a very strong
relationship, (r = 0.832, p-value = 0.00) while expertise and purchase intention have a moderate
relationship, (r = 0.510, p-value = 0.00) which is the lowest value among the independent variables.
Next, the correlation between product fit and purchase intention is very strong (r = 0.849, p-
value = 0.00). According to the analysis, independent variables of attractiveness, trustworthiness and
product fit have significantly correlated relationship with the dependent variable, purchase intention.
Even though the correlation of expertise and purchase intention is only in moderate relationship, but
both variables have the significant relationship.
In addition, Table 3 also reveals that there is a correlation between two continuous variables.
The findings show that attractiveness and trustworthiness have a strong relationship (r = 0.849,
p = 0.00). Meanwhile, the correlation between attractiveness and expertise is moderate, (r = 0.519,
p = 0.00) while attractiveness and product fit have strong relationship, (r = 0.796, p = 0.00). Besides,
trustworthiness and expertise also in a moderate relationship, (r = 0.425, p = 0.00). There is a strong

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relationship between trustworthiness and product fit, (r = 0.759, p = 0.00). Lastly, expertise has a strong
relationship with the product fit, (r = 0.621, p = 0.00).

Information Correlation of Table 3.

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Att= Attractiveness.
Trust= Trustworthiness.
Exp=Expertise.
P.F=Product Fit.
P.I= Purchase Intention.

Multiple Regression Analysis

Multiple regression analysis is an effective technique used to estimate a variable's unknown

value from the known value of two or more variables. The unknown variable is dependent variables
(purchase intention) and independent variable (attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise and product
fit) is known value. Independent variables are used to predict the value of the dependent variable.
Multiple regression analysis is to evaluate the overall fit and the possible influence of each predictor to
the total variance described.
In multiple regression, the R represents the coefficient correlation between the dependent
variable and independent variables. The table 4.14 reveals that R value is 0.911 which means that
dependent variable and independent variables have a very strong relationship and independent variables
can significantly explain the dependent variable in this study.
Moreover, the R Square value in this research is 0.83. This means that there are 83% of the
dependent variable (purchase intention) can be explained and determined by the independent variables
(attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise and product fit). However, 17% are influenced by the other
factors that are not included in this study.

Table 4 - Model Summary

Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
a
1 .911 .830 .826 .28608
a. Predictors: (Constant), Product Fit, Expertise, Trustworthiness, Attractiveness

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 Based on the ANOVA analysis in Table 5, the F-value is the mean square regression (19.442)
divided by the mean square residual (0.082), giving F=237.553. The p-value that related to the F-value
is very small which is 0.00. Each of these values are being used to determine that the independent
variables match the dependent variable accurately. Since the p-value is 0.00 which is smaller than 0.05,
it means that independent variables are assured to predict the dependent variable.

Table 5 - Anova
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 77.768 4 19.442 237.553 .000b
Residual 15.959 195 .082
Total 93.728 199
a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention
b. Predictors: (Constant), Product Fit, Expertise, Trustworthiness, Attractiveness

Hypothesis Test Analysis

Regression analysis is used to test the validity of the hypothesis in the research. The hypothesis
accepted is as t-value is exceed 1.96 and the p-value is lower than 0.05. In contrast, if the t-value is
lower than 1.96 and p-value higher than 0.05, which means there is no significant impact of independent
variables toward the dependent variable and the hypothesis is rejected. The result of the hypotheses
was revealed at Table 6.

Table 6 - Coefficients
Coefficients
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) -.050 .157 -.320 .749
Attractiveness .372 .069 .337 5.354 .000
Trustworthiness .244 .058 .246 4.186 .000
Expertise -.023 .038 -.023 -.604 .547
Product Fit .472 .064 .409 7.323 .000
a. Dependent Variable: Consumer Purchase Intention

Based on Table 6, the Beta value of the attractiveness is 0.337, t-value is 5.354 and significant
value, p is 0.00. T-value of attractiveness is high, with significant level p<0.05, shows that
attractiveness of the celebrity endorsement is significantly affect the consumer purchase intention.
Therefore, hypothesis 1 is supported.

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 The beta value of trustworthiness is 0.246 and t-value is 4.186 at significant level of
p-value = 0.000. T-value of trustworthiness is more than 1.96 and the significant level p<0.05. The beta
value of trustworthiness is positive which indicates trustworthiness of celebrity endorsement act as one
of the important factors to determine the consumer purchase intention. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is
supported.
It can be found that the beta value of expertise is -0.023 and t-value= -0.604 with significant
level 0.547. The t-value shows are less than 1.96 and the significant level is higher than p>0.05, the
beta coefficient is not statistically significant. Hence, expertise of celebrity endorsement is not
significantly as a predictor of consumer purchase intention. Therefore, hypothesis 3 is rejected.
The result of Beta value of product fit is 0.409 and t-value is 7.323 at significant level of p
=0.00. The beta value of product fit is high which indicates it act as one of the important predictors in
determine the consumer purchase intention towards celebrity endorsement. Therefore, hypothesis 4 is
supported.

Table 7 - Summary of Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis Result
𝐻1 : There is a significant relationship between attractiveness and consumer purchase Supported
intention.
𝐻2 : There is a significant relationship between trustworthiness of celebrity Supported
endorsement and consumer purchase intention.
𝐻3 : There is a significant relationship between expertise of celebrity endorsement and Rejected
consumer purchase intention.

Di𝐻4 : There is a significant relationship between product fit of celebrity endorsement and consumer
purchase inten
y endorsement in online advertisement, such as attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise and
product fit. According to Adnan, Jan and Alam (2017), the use of the celebrity endorsers provides brand
advertisers a lots of benefits. Celebrity endorsers give them better excessive exposure to the brand,
draw the attention of consumers and eventually increase his interest in purchasing the endorsed brand.
Based on the finding, the attractiveness variable has a strong relationship with consumer
purchase intention which has the value of r = 0.859. This finding is similar Han and Yazdanifard (2015),
which state that physical appearance stimulates consumers to feel positive. When the source meets
these three characteristics of likeable, identical and friendly to the celebrity, then the user may
understand the message and be more likely to cognitively participate in the advertising. According to
Wang and Scheinbaum [41], attractiveness of celebrity has positive effect on brand credibility and

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directly influence the purchase intention. Similarly, Baniya (2017) proves that influential physical
attractiveness has a positive impact on both the attitude towards the brands and the purchase intention
since the result is in the range of strong relationship which means that physical attractiveness has a
stronger relationship with the buying intention.
Secondly, the result of this study shows a strong relationship between the trustworthiness
variable and consumer purchase intention in which r = 0.832. Trustworthiness, as its feature, is a
significant determinant of source credibility which can affect values, perceptions, attitudes and
behaviors (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019). This finding supports Samad, Iskandar, Ismail, Jogeran, and
Kadir (2019) study which reveal that trustworthiness has a strong relationship with the purchase
intention. In a similar vein, Wang and Scheinbaum, (2018) claim that endorser trustworthiness is the
only element of the source credibility theory that is relevant for airlines consumer who are not heavily
involved in airline travel and trustworthiness is more effective for enabling celebrity endorsers than
expertise or attractiveness in enhancing brand credibility. In other words, trustworthiness is one of the
life 's foremost qualities.
The relationship between expertise and consumer purchase intention in this study is moderate
with r = 0.510. This finding supports previous research such as Hassan Fathelrahman Mansour and
Mohammed Elzubier Diab (2016) who propose that variables of celebrities’ expertise and respect were
not significant with consumers’ purchase behavior and Dellink (2017) who also suggest that attractive
of celebrity is more important than the expertise. Therefore, expertise of celebrities is not an important
factor towards consumer purchase intention because consumers will more likely to support their
admired celebrity or celebrity with high recognition instead of selecting the celebrity with expertise.
Hence, the consumers will purchase the product which is endorsed by their admired endorser even
though he or she has no knowledge on that product.
Finally, product fit has a strong relationship with consumer purchase intention with r value,
0.849. The finding is supported by previous research where the better the celebrity endorser with
product fits, as viewed by customers, the higher the efficacy of advertising endorses (Amos et al.,
2008). Similarly, McCormick (2016), reveals that product fit has positive effect on millennials attitude
and purchase intention. When teenagers do not feel the unfamiliar celebrity endorser matches properly
with the product, they will be less likely to be affected and purchased the advertised product. As
according to Dom, Ramli, Chin, and Fern (2016), they proposed that the lack of engagement between
the celebrity and the endorsed product may lead consumers to contemplate that the product purchased
or paid for thereby reducing the effectiveness of the endorsed advertising. Besides, Muda et al. (2015)

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state that advertising a product through a celebrity with a comparatively high product credibility results
in a higher advertiser and a higher celebrity prestige compared to the lower product profile. Based on
the previous research result, product fit is an important factor which has the positive relationship with
the intention to purchase.
This study also reveals that product fit is the most significant factor that influence the
effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in online advertisement towards consumer purchase intention.
The second most significant factor is attractiveness, followed by trustworthiness and the least
significant factor is expertise.

Implication of Study

This study has several theoretical implications in making up for this research gap on the
relationship between celebrity endorser and customer purchase intention. Firstly, this study examines
the effectiveness of the celebrity endorsement in online advertisement when there are not many studies
being conducted on celebrity endorsement and online advertisement particularly in Malaysia.
Therefore, the findings of this study could add to the existing literature review on the area. This study
could also assist organizations in strategizing their marketing tools in the realm of online marketing.

6. Conclusion and Suggestion for Future Research

There are in total four independents are applied in this research, which are attractiveness,
trustworthiness, expertise and product fit. Based on the result, product fit is the most significant factors
that affect the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in online advertisement while expertise is the
least significant factor. Therefore, it is important for organizations to ensure that their products match
the celebrity endorser as customers are more influenced to purchase if they view the celebrity fit with
the product. However, customers are less influenced by the experts that the organization hires to
promote and talk about the products. This findings help organization to focus on the most efficient
marketing tools so that they can maximize their return from the advertising that they undertake.
Future researchers can carry out the research by using qualitative method in order to get more
insight of the relationship between celebrity endorsement and customer purchase intention. Through
the qualitative method, the researcher can direct contact with the respondents and receive more opinions
from the respondents. Besides, the qualitative method usually uses the open questions, therefore,

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researcher can directly get the different completed answers thus making the research result more
accurate.
Furthermore, in future research, researchers can separate more age groups and narrow down the
range of age in order to determine the result according each of the group. When the research is carried
out according to the age groups, the research result will be more useful for the company that using the
celebrity in advertisement. It is also recommended that future researcher apply different theory and new
variables or apply the mediating variable to investigate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in
online advertisement. For example, future research can look at research relating celebrity endorsement
and social media as in today’s market, internet and social media has become an important platform for
advertisement.

7. Acknowledgements

Authors wish to acknowledge Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka and SuITE, Center of
Technopreneurship Development (C-TeD) for the support.

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