“A study on the influence of celebrity endorsement on the purchasing behavior of

consumers for smartphones in India.”

Prof. B. Yashaswini Murthy Mr. Manish Jaiswal

Assistant Professor Post Graduate
Ramaiah Institute of Management Ramaiah Institute of Management
Bangalore 560054 Bangalore 560054
Yashaswini@msrim.org manishjaiswal4121@gmail.com
9986520131 7908768737

ABSTRACT

The study sought to examine the effect of various attributes of celebrity such as credibility,
appearance, trustworthiness and popularity which forms the image of the celebrity and their
impact on the purchasing intentions among the youth. A mixed method approach was adopted
where a survey involving 172 youth respondents in Bangalore was conducted through a
questionnaire survey. Quantitative data collected analyzed using the SPSS software while the
qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Conclusion drawn from the analysis is that celebrity
endorsement is effective in influencing sales but it does not influence the buying behavior of youth
for smart phones where they considered technological upgradation and features as more
important. The study recommends that Smartphone companies should invest more in their
technology to better customer experience as opposed to celebrity endorsement.

Key Words : credibility, appearance, trustworthiness, popularity

I. INTRODUCTION

The main focus of this study is Celebrity endorsement. The subject of the study is the celebrities
whose attributes are used for their endorsement effect on customer loyalty for smart-phone brands.
Growing business competition globally has forced marketers to adopt different strategies to beat
competitors. In the last two decades, advertisement using celebrities has become common in modern
competitive marketing environment for high recognition and creation of strong product perception.
The study sought to find out the effect of celebrity credibility and physical attractiveness on customer
loyalty to the brand endorsed.

The appetite of the young generation for technology is portrayed through the many ways that
Smartphones have become essential communication tools among the youth in India and worldwide.
Studies have discovered that young consumers have a fast adoption curve and that their desire to
stay connected in communication to friends is great. However, they tend to be prone to handset fads,
and long-term prospects for innovative.
Branding influences a customer’s purchase intentions, especially for the young markets and
therefore companies are determined to build strong brands (Lazarevic, 2011). Through branding,
organizations are in a position to create value and meaning for their products as they wish to make
consumers stick and choose their brands anytime (Frow, 2002).

One of the main ways of branding, especially in the telecommunication industry, is the use of
celebrity endorsement. Endorsement can be said to be a form of communication where the
endorser, who is a celebrity in this case, acts as a spokesman of the brand and uses his/her
popularity, personality and stature in the society to certify the claim made by the brand. According
to Roll, “In a market with a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands,
celebrity endorsement was thought to provide a distinct differentiation” (2006).

With the competition becoming stronger daily, it is a worthy research undertaking to examine the
influence celebrity endorsement has on young consumer when deciding on Smartphone brands.
This study therefore aimed to analyze customer loyalty, particularly of Smartphone brands and
factors that affect it. A Furthermore, analysis of the relationship between celebrity endorsement
and loyalty among the youth in India was done. The scope of this study, which basically focused
on the youth consumers and marketers‟ perspectives, provided better insight into the relationship
between the variables investigated.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Researcher have conducted a lot of studies on celebrity endorsement and their impact on various
dependents variables such as consumer perception, purchase decision, sales, customer loyalty,
brand perception etc. These studies have been very helpful in understanding why celebrity
endorsement has always been a powerful marketing communication tool which most of the
companies across the world consider it as one of the strongest advertisement strategy.

Rashid Saeed, Rimsha Naseer, Shazia Haider and Uzma Naz ( January 2014) conducted a study to
explore the impact of celebrity & non – celebrity advertisement on consumer perception. Through
analysis it is concluded that there is a positive relation of celebrity advertisement and non-
celebrity advertisement on consumer perception, but celebrity advertisement has greater positive
relation with consumer perception than non- celebrity advertisement.
 M.Naresh Babu & Dr.K.Lavanya Latha (30 December, 2014) presented a research paper focuses
on examining the perception of these Indian youth Consumers about the celebrity endorsement
process and the subsequent impact on their purchase decisions. Overall the findings from this study
explores that there is a impact of celebrities in advertisements on consumers (young) to Identify a
Brand in India Telecom industry and have given the practitioners a new way of rethinking the
practice on great impact.

Dr Vipul Jain (March 2011) conducted a research paper which focuses on examining the
perception of these Indian Consumers about the celebrity endorsement process and the subsequent
impact on their purchase decisions. The overall findings of the study included that Celebrity
Endorsement has an impact on sales on to a little extent and that Celebrities should not always be
used to endorse Brands of various products.

Onyancha Victor Welden (October, 2016) conducted a study which sought to find out the effect
of celebrity credibility and physical attractiveness on customer loyalty to the brand endorsed.
Conclusion drawn from the analysis is that celebrity endorsement is effective in influencing
sales but customer loyalty.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norazah Mohd Suki (Session 2012/2013) conducted a study which discusses
about the celebrities endorser, with consist of celebrity’s credibility and product/brand congruency,
the perceptions of the customer toward the advertisement and brand, and purchase intention. findings
suggest that most consumers have showed that the celebrity advertisement will affect them in the
purchase behavior and they are strongly agreed of the influence of celebrity endorsement . Results
also indicated an overall positive correlation between effective of celebrity advertisement and
customers purchasing intention of the brand perception.

Gary Holmes and Clinton Amos (January, 2015) has conducted a study which provides a quantitative
summary of the relationship between celebrity endorser source effects and effectiveness in
advertising. . Results suggest negative celebrity information can be extremely detrimental to an
advertising campaign. The source credibility model composed of celebrity trustworthiness, celebrity
expertise, and celebrity attractiveness appears to capture the three most influential source effects on
purchase intentions, brand attitudes and attitudes towards the advertisement.
Karen S. Freeman (May 16th,2015) conducted a research which seeks to evaluate the impact of
celebrity endorsement on young adults in Malaysia. It examines the relationship between the key
attributes of celebrity endorsers, based on the TEARS model, and consumers’ purchase intentions.
These attributes are: trustworthiness, expertise, physical attractiveness, respect and similarity. The
findings show that four of the five TEARS attributes significantly influence consumers’ purchase
intentions; only one, expertise, does not.

Dr. Anuradha Jeyapalan Assistant Professor, Bharathiar University ((February,2015) conducted a

study which seek to explore and examine the consumer’s perception about celebrity endorsements
and impact of celebrity endorsement on sales and to identify the key factors which may influence
consumer’s buying behavior through celebrity endorsements. The study results in the conclusion that
Celebrity Endorsement is high. This implies that Celebrity Endorsement has an impact on sales on
to a high extent and that Celebrities should always be used to endorse Brands of various
products. It concluded that there’s no harm in using celebrities for the endorsements, none the less
everything has its own pros and cons.

III. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study are

o To examine the impact of celebrity endorsement on the buying behavior.

o To analyze various factors of the celebrity that has an impact on the
customers purchasing decision.
o To analyze the perception of the customers towards the celebrity endorsement.

IV. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study was limited to celebrity endorsement and its impact on the consumer buying behavior
with respect to the youth generation in India. The study was done through questionnaire survey
in Bangalore and the participants were mostly students and professionals.
V. HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is no significant relationship between the image of the celebrity who endorsed the
mobile and its impact on the customer intention to buy it.

H1: There is a significant relationship between the image of the celebrity and its impact on the
customer intention to buy it.

VI. DATA AND METHODOLOGY

Primary Data

Questionnaire
Section A of the Questionnaire is set to obtain personal information (gender, age, occupation,
level of education and income group) on respondents.

Section B consisted of questions related to the customer perception about celebrity endorsement
and its impact on the buying behavior.

Secondary data:

Journals, Websites, Blogs, Magazines

Tools – Chi Square Testing.

Sample size – 100 to 150

Sampling Technique: Non-probability sampling - Convenience sampling.

VII. ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

CHI SQUARE TESTING FOR INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES OF CELEBRITY

CREDIBILITY

In order to examine whether the credibility as an attribute has any impact on the purchasing
intentions of the consumer, we consider the two questions which would show whether or not
,there is any relationship between the credibility of celebrity and the customer intention to
purchase the smartphone after performing the chi-square test on it.

Table 1

Chi-Square Tests

Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1-

Value Df sided) sided) sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 1.186a 1 .276

Continuity Correctionb .871 1 .351

Likelihood Ratio 1.187 1 .276

Fisher's Exact Test .351 .175

Linear-by-Linear Association 1.179 1 .278

N of Valid Casesb 172

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 34.50.

b. Computed only for a 2x2 table

P= .276

APPEARANCE

In order to examine whether the appearance as an attribute has any impact on the purchasing
intentions of the consumer, we consider the two questions which would show whether or not ,there
is any relationship between the appearance of celebrity and the customer intention to purchase the
smartphone after performing the chi-square test on it.
 Table 2
Chi-Square Tests

Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1-

Value Df sided) sided) sided)

Pearson Chi-Square .067a 1 .796

Continuity Correctionb .007 1 .933

Likelihood Ratio .066 1 .797

Fisher's Exact Test .863 .464

Linear-by-Linear Association .066 1 .797

N of Valid Casesb 172

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 19.26.

P=.796

POPULARITY
In order to examine whether the popularity as an attribute has any impact on the purchasing
intentions of the consumer, we consider the two questions which would show whether or not ,there
is any relationship between the popularity of celebrity and the customer intention to purchase the
smartphone after performing the chi-square test on it.
Table 3
Chi-Square Tests

Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1-

Value Df sided) sided) sided)

Pearson Chi-Square .008a 1 .927

Continuity Correctionb .000 1 1.000

Likelihood Ratio .008 1 .927

Fisher's Exact Test 1.000 .541

Linear-by-Linear Association .008 1 .927

N of Valid Casesb 172

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 15.24.

b. Computed only for a 2x2 ta

P=.927
TRUSTWORTHINESS

In order to examine whether the trustworthiness as an attribute has any impact on the purchasing
intentions of the consumer, we consider the two questions which would show whether or not ,there
is any relationship between the trustworthiness of celebrity and the customer intention to purchase
the smartphone after performing the chi-square test on it

Table 4.
Chi-Square Tests

Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1-

Value Df sided) sided) sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 2.447a 1 .118

Continuity Correctionb 1.963 1 .161

Likelihood Ratio 2.432 1 .119

Fisher's Exact Test .142 .081

Linear-by-Linear Association 2.433 1 .119

N of Valid Casesb 171

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 24.21.

P=.118
VIII. HYPOTHESIS TESTING

AVERAGE OF THE CHI SQUARE TEST OF ALL THE ATTRIBUTES FORMING THE
IMAGE OF THE CELEBRITY

AVERAGE OF THE CHI-SQUARE TEST OF ALL THE ATTRIBUTES.

ATTRIBUTES CHI-SQUARE
To determine whether the image of
CREDIBILITY 0.276
the celebrity has any impact in the
APPEARANCE 0.796
buying intention of consumers we
Popularity 0.927
take the average of the chi-square
Trustworthiness 0.118
test of all the attributes.
Average 0.52925

H0: There is no significant relationship between the image of the celebrity who endorsed the
mobile and its impact on the customer intention to buy it.

H1: There is a significant relationship between the image of the celebrity and its impact on the
customer intention to buy it.

Result: Since the p-value is 0.529, which is more than 0.05

Thus, null hypothesis will be accepted.

Hence, there is no significant relationship between the image of the celebrity who endorsed the
mobile and its impact on the customer intention to buy it.
IX.CONCLUSION

This research is in agreement that celebrity endorsement are still the powerful marketing
communication practices that helps to catch attention of the people and give good boost to the sales
in particular. From the research it is clear that the celebrity endorsement for smart phones does not
have a significant impact on the purchasing intentions of youngster across the country. Youngster
who see celebrity as their role mode does follow their preference and choice through which they
try to build up their own personality matching up with the personality of the celebrity but as far as
celebrity endorsement for smart phones are concerned , they prefer giving more importance on the
technological developments and features provided in the smart phones by the company. Although
the use of celebrity enhances the effectiveness of the product which changes the attitude of the
people towards it and also helps in increasing sales and profit but that does not go for the
smartphones as youngster in today’s world are more technologically driven.

X. REFERENCES

Rashid Saeed, Rimsha Naseer, Shazia Haider and Uzma Naz Bahauddin Zakariya University
Bahadur Sub Campus Layyah, Pakistan. “A study on Impact of celebrity and non-celebrity
advertisement on consumer perception”. The Business & Management Review, Volume 4
Number 3. January 2014. Pages-7.

Mr. Naresh Babu and Dr.K.Lavanya Latha School of Management, Pondicherry Central
University, Pudhucherry, India. “A study on the Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Purchase
Decision of Telecom Users- A Case of Engineering Students”. Global Journal Of Advanced
Research. Vol-1, Issue-2 PP. 289-305. 30 December, 2014. Pages-17

Dr Vipul Jain. “A study on Celebrity Endorsement And Its Impact On Sales: A Research
Analysis
Carried Out In India.” Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume 11 Issue 4
Version 1.0 March 2011. Pages-17.

Onyancha Victor Welden. “A study on the influence of celebrity endorsement of smartphones

in creating customer loyalty among university youth in Nairobi.” A research project report
submitted to the school of journalism, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a
master of arts degree in communication studies, university of Nairobi. October, 2016. Pages-92
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norazah Mohd Suki. Universiti Malaysia Sabah-Labuan International
Campusschool Of International Business And Finance “A study on impact of celebrity
advertisement on customer brand perception and purchase intention in Malaysia.” Session
2012/2013. Pages-13

Gary Holmes and David Strutton.“A study on exploring the relationship between celebrity
endorser effects and advertising effectiveness.” January, 2015. Pages-25.

Karen S. Freeman. “ A study on Wither the Impact of Celebrity Endorsement”.

International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design. May
16th,2015.Pages 16.

Dr. Anuradha Jeyapalan Assistant Professor, Bharathiar University PG Extension. “A study on

influence of celebrity endorsement of advertisement and its impact on sales.” Abhinav National
Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in Commerce & Management. Volume 4, Issue 2
(February,2015)
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