MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT

i) Introduction 2

ii) Summary 3

iii) Evaluation & Critiques 4

iv) Suggestions & 5

Recommendations

v) References 6

vi) Appendix 7

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 0

 PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS

Juha Munnukka Outi Uusitalo Hanna Toivonen, (2016),"Credibility of a peer endorser and
advertising effectiveness ", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 33 Iss 3 pp. 182 – 192

The journal, "Credibility of a peer endorser and advertising effectiveness" was written by Juha
Munnukka, an Assistant Professor of marketing at Jyväskylä University School of Business and
Economics, Outi Uusitalo, a Professor of marketing at the same university and Hanna Toivonen,
a PhD candidate, also from the same university.

I) Introduction

Finnish researchers Juha Munnukka, Outi Uusitalo and Hanna Toivonen attempted to
explore factors that contribute to the formation of peer-endorser credibility in influencer
marketing in their 2016 paper. This paper established that the credibility of a peer endorser is
constructed from four major factors which are trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and
attractiveness dimensions. It was found that all aforementioned dimensions positively affect
consumers' attitude toward an advertisement and a brand. In the research, low-involvement
products were used and these products are categorized as beauty related products or products
that relates to physical appearance. Thus this significantly limits the research’s findings as they
only apply on a certain type of products. According to Petty and Goldman (1981), consumers
are likely to form attitudes based on the endorser in low-involvement situations. Highly involved
consumers consider the content in the endorsement advertisement to be more important.

In the first section of the journal, Munnukka, Uusitalo and Toivonen defined peer
endorser as a typical satisfied customer who endorses a product or service and influences
others to accept a specific message, as a result of his perceived credibility (Batra et al., 1996).
Though celebrities are often used as endorses due to their ability to draw attention to
advertising’s messages and ultimately influence attitudes and purchase intentions. However,
celebrities may not always be effective as endorsers. Hence, as a way to improve advertising
credibility, many companies use ordinary people as endorsers in consumer advertising. In this
journal by Munnukka, Uusitalo and Toivonen, it only focuses on peer endorsers excluding the
celebrity ones.

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 1

 II) Summary

In the paper, the authors attempted to understand the construction of peer endorser
credibility from trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness dimensions. It is showed
that all the dimensions mentioned positively affect consumers’ attitude toward an advertisement
and a brand. It is also acknowledged that product involvement is a big factor which affects the
advertising effectiveness through the endorser-credibility construct.

This study was designed around three objectives and the first was to explore the
construction of peer-endorser credibility. The authors conducted a quantitative study among 364
university students aged between 18 and 29 years old, of which 74 percent of the total
respondents were female. The research is questionnaire based with identical questions
constructed for three advertisements on Dove firming lotion, Dove shower gel and Nutrilett
weight management meal replacements bars as these brands represent relatively low-priced,
low-involvement products. In the questionnaire, respondents were asked to rate the endorser in
the advertisement assigned on four criteria, specifically; endorser’s trustworthiness, expertise,
similarity (with the respondent) and attractiveness. This study is consistent to previous study
which indicated that the credibility of a peer endorser is constructed by trustworthiness,
expertise, similarity and attractiveness (Amos et al., 2008).

Second objective of the study was to investigate how peer-endorser credibility affects
the effectiveness of an advertisement. It was found that a peer endorser’s trustworthiness,
expertise, similarity and attractiveness to the consumer positively affect consumer attitudes
towards advertisement which translate positively on brand attitude (Amos et al., 2008). These
results also supported previous findings in earlier studies (Spry et al., 2011). Though Munnukka,
Uusitalo and Toivonen did not bring anything new in this aspect, it approved prior studies done
in this very topic.

Thirdly, the research was to clarify how consumers’ product involvement affects attitudes
toward an advertisement through the endorser-credibility construct. According to Eliot and Percy
(2007), it is found that consumers process advertising messages very differently corresponding
to the level of product involvement with the advertised product. It is also verified in some earlier
studies that advertising effectiveness may be affected by product involvement through the
endorser credibility construct.

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 2

 III) Evaluation & Critiques

Sample size and sample characteristics

The sample size for this study was biased towards female respondents with 74 percent of the
total sample size. Though the items selected for the advertisement (Dove firming lotion, Dove
shower gel and Nutrilett weight management meal replacements bars) were beauty-related
items, the sample size should not be gender biased.

The age bracket for the sample size is also limited to the young adults aged between 18 to 29
years old. This was contributed to the fact that the study was done in a university however the
sample size age can be improved to include participations from a more varied age group.
Unless the study is targeted for a specific age group, the sample size and characteristics should
be refined to avoid sampling error.

Type of products

The three products selected as stimuli in the study were Dove firming lotion, Dove shower gel
and Nutrilett weight management meal replacements bars. It was mentioned that these brands
were chosen as they represent relatively low-priced, low involvement beauty-related products.
Two out of the three products used in this study were from Dove and in my opinion, it would be
more wholesome if the stimuli can comprise of different brands. A completely different type of
product can also be used as stimuli for explorative study on peer endorser credibility.

Data collection

In this study, both first-hand data (from the questionnaire) and second-hand data (from prior
studies) were used. However, the first hand data from the questionnaire can be somewhat
inaccurate and the questionnaire design was confusing and unclear, in my opinion. For
example, under the factor construct of “similarity”, among the question asked was to rate level of
agreement of these two facts, first; “The endorser and I have a lot in common” and secondly;
“The endorser and I are a lot alike”. To me, the two carry the same meaning and respondents
might treat both question the same, giving them the same rating. Another example is the
questions under product involvement factor, “The product is meaningful to me” and “The product
is important to me”. The questionnaire questions should be constructed carefully so that
redundancy of duplicate questions or perhaps unclear questions resulted by poor questionnaire
construction can be avoided.

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 3

Research findings

This study is consistent to previous studies which indicated that the credibility of a peer
endorser is constructed by trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness. The study
found that a peer-endorser’s trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness contributed
positively to the attitude towards the advertisement and ultimately to the brand attitude, which
agrees with the study done by (Amos et al., 2008). It is also found that the key sources of peer-
endorser credibility which was most influential on advertising effectiveness are the
trustworthiness and similarity dimension, as reported in prior studies (Eliot and Percy, 2007). To
be very blunt, this study did not offer anything new; nevertheless, the authors work still provided
the impetus for the increasingly popular topic of peer endorser marketing.

IV) Suggestions & Recommendations

A comparative study between consumers from different cultures can be a good future
research to build up from this study. Geographical factor colors the consumer’s attitude
specifically in constructing peer endorser’s credibility.

Different type of products can be used to diversify the stimuli as to include products that
are not related to the female only. A Gillette Fusion5 Proglide razor or Redken’s Stand Tough
Extreme Hold hair gel are good substitutes for one of the stimuli as they are within low-
involvement products beauty related products.

Future research should explore other types of products, not limited to beauty products or
products relating to physical appearance outlook. This includes food, services, health products
and electronics among others. It is noteworthy that the higher-involvement products especially
technology-related products like mobile phones for example, the peer endorser’s expertise has
been found to be the most influential out of the four dimensions.

The role of peer endorsers on social media, also known as social media influencers, is
increasingly popular and it is coined as social media marketing (Cabosky, 2016). This would be
another future research avenue, exploring the credibility and effectiveness of social media
influencers.

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 4

 V) References

Amos, C., Holmes, G. and Strutton, D. (2008), “Exploring the relationship between celebrity
endorser effects and advertising effectiveness: a quantitative synthesis of effect size”,
International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 209-234.

Batra, R., Myers, J. and Aaker, D. (1996), Advertising Management, Prentice Hall International,
Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Cabosky, J. (2016), "Social media opinion sharing: beyond volume", Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 33 Iss 3 pp.

Elliott, R. and Percy, L. (2007), Strategic Brand Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Petty, R.E. and Goldman, R. (1981), “Personal involvement as a determinant of argument-

based persuasion”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 847-
855.

Spry, A., Pappu, R. and Cornwell, B. (2011), “Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and brand
equity”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45 No. 6, pp. 882-909.

PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT EFFECT ON PEER ENDORSER ADVERTISEMENTS Page 5