Fostering Parasocial Relationships with Celebrities on Social Media: Implications for Celebrity Endorsement

By Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho. 2017

694 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The purpose of this study was to explore the underlying mechanisms through which the use of social media affects endorser effectiveness. Based on theories related to parasocial relationships, self-disclosure, and celebrity endorsement, this study proposed a theoretical research model and empirically tested the model using online survey data collected from 400 Korean Wave fans in Singapore. The results showed that consumers’ parasocial interactions with celebrities though social media have a positive impact on celebrity endorsement. Specifically, we found that: (1) parasocial relationships mediated the relationships between social media interactions and source trustworthiness, (2) social media interactions influenced parasocial relationships via self-disclosure; and (3) source trustworthiness had a positive effect on brand credibility, which, in turn, led to purchase intention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Subfields: Literature and Literary Theory, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/03dc365704e7c607c8971d20a8a836a95cfe9760

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Citations in the corpus

Meaning transfer in celebrity endorsement and co-branding: meaning valence, association type, and brand awareness (2021, background): “Lastly, our findings for celebrity endorsement and co-branding on Instagram expands the emerging body of research about celebrity branding on social media (e.g. Chung and Cho 2017) and provides practical implications for marketers to build effective collaborations with celebrities.”
Impulse Buying Behaviors in Live Streaming Commerce Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework (2021, background): “Highly trustworthy influencers can produce an effective attitude toward brand credibility and purchase intentions [39].”
I Like What She’s #Endorsing: The Impact of Female Social Media Influencers’ Perceived Sincerity, Consumer Envy, and Product Type (2020, result): “Consistent with literature on parasocial relationships (e.g., Chung and Cho 2017; Lee and Watkins 2016), results demonstrated that consumers tend to hold more favorable attitudes toward an SMI with a high perceived sincerity trait.”
Blind trust? The importance and interplay of parasocial relationships and advertising disclosures in explaining influencers’ persuasive effects on their followers (2021, background): “Hence, although interactions through social media features are possible (e.g., by leaving a comment), communication between SMIs and their followers is not on even terms, and thus they should be considered PSIs (e.g., Chung and Cho 2017; Lee and Watkins 2016).”
The impact of the source credibility of Instagram influencers on travel intention: The mediating role of parasocial interaction (2021, background): “Indeed, social media websites are suitable platforms to create parasocial relationships (Chung and Cho, 2017).”
Celebrity influences on consumer decision making: new insights and research directions (2019, background): “Celebrities’ self-disclosure of their personal lives and personal experiences through social media networks (SMNs) lead to stronger PSRs friendships with their followers (Kim & Song, 2016), which can increase brand credibility and purchase intention (Chung & Cho, 2017; Hwang & Zhang, 2018).”
The Perceived Fit between Instagram Influencers and the Endorsed Brand (2019, background): “One study (Chung and Cho, 2017) incorporated participants’ familiarity with the influencer into their research design, using the concept of parasocial relationship (Horton and Wohl, 1956; Schramm, 2008).”
FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research (2018, background): “There is evidence to suggest that the stronger the attachment to the celebrity in question, the more likely a fan is to adopt the messages promoted by the celebrity (Basil 1996; Brown and de Matviuk 2010; Chung and Cho 2017).”