Celebrity endorsement in international destination marketing: Evidence from eye-tracking techniques and laboratory experiments

Yaoqi Li, Biqiang Liu and Lishan Xie

Journal of Business Research, 2022, vol. 150, issue C, 553-566

Abstract: Celebrity endorsement has become ubiquitous in international destination marketing, but studies have rarely assessed the differences between the effects of endorsement by a local celebrity vs. a celebrity from tourist source countries (source celebrity). To bridge the literature gap, this paper draws on meaning transfer theory and match-up hypothesis to examine the effectiveness of these two types of celebrity endorsement by exploring the underlying mechanism. By carrying out a pretest and three experiments, the eye-tracking results and lab experiments show that international destination marketing involving a source celebrity (vs. local celebrity) can significantly increase tourists’ visual attention to the advertising destination scenery, positive attitudes toward the destination and intentions to visit. Furthermore, a serial mediation model of celebrity endorsement → celebrity–tourist congruency → tourist attitude toward celebrity → tourist response is also identified. Finally, this paper empirically examines the moderating role of regulatory focus on the celebrity endorsement effect.

Keywords: Celebrity endorsement; Eye-tracking; Meaning transfer; Match-up hypothesis; Serial mediation model; Destination marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:150:y:2022:i:c:p:553-566

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.040

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