The effects of celebrity endorsements on consumer buyer behaviour

Abstract

Social media is increasingly being used to advertise brands and products, especially amongst millennials. Due to social media platforms, marketers have a bigger reach than ever before. Social media is also one of the major platforms to search and purchase products online. Marketers are integrating old marketing strategies with new ones; celebrity endorsements, which have been used for many years have proved to have an impact on consumers. Individuals can follow their favourite celebrities through applications such as Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. This study investigates the Maltese millennials’ attitudes towards celebrities. It also explores whether the celebrity endorsements are affecting the consumers’ purchasing behaviours. A web-based survey questionnaire featuring the key constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour was used. The data was gathered from 110 students who attend the University of Malta. These respondents were familiar with social media applications and habitually follow celebrities on these social media accounts. The results of this research proved that the Maltese millennials’ attitudes and subjective norms had a significant effect on their intention to visit a promoted brand’s website. Moreover, the participants’ intention to look for promoted products from the brand’s website had a very significant correlation with their purchase behaviours. However, the findings suggest that the individuals’ perceived behavioural control did not have a significant effect on their intention to look for the brand’s (or brands’) products. This research concludes that there is scope for the Maltese marketers to use the celebrity endorsers to promote their products among social media users.