The influence of self-disclosure micro-celebrity endorsement on subsequent brand attachment: from an emotional connection perspective

ABSTRACT

This study explores the impact of micro-celebrity endorsements on brand attachment using the emotional connections of followers to the self-disclosure micro-celebrities on Instagram as mediator variables. The research involved target audiences who followed micro-celebrities on Instagram in Taiwan and employed quota sampling to distribute questionnaires on the social media platform. Four hundred eighteen valid samples were collected in the spring of 2022 and analyzed with structural equation modeling. The empirical results indicate that the main path was from homophily through relatedness need satisfaction to brand attachment (HOM→RNS→BA). Regarding relatedness need satisfaction as a mediator variable, homophily had a greater impact on brand attachment than benign envy. Moreover, this study is the first to expand the effects of emotional connection to brand attachment while showing that homophily and attractiveness positively impact brand attachment through benign envy and relatedness need satisfaction in micro-celebrity endorsements.

摘要

本研究使用追隨者與 Instagram 上自我揭露型微名人的情感聯結作為中介變數，探討微名人代言對品牌依戀的影響。它涉及在台灣 Instagram 上關注微名人的目標受眾，並採用配額抽樣的方式在該社交媒體平台上分發問卷。於 2022 年春季採集有效樣本418份，並使用結構方程模型(SEM)進行分析。實證結果表明，主要路徑是從同質性透過相關性需求滿足影響到品牌依戀。在相關性需求滿足作為中介變數的情形下，同質性對品牌依戀的影響大於良性嫉妒。此外，本研究首次擴大了情感聯結對品牌依戀的影響，並表示同質性和吸引力透過微名人代言中的良性嫉妒和相關性需求滿足，對品牌依戀產生正向的影響。

KEYWORDS:

• Attractiveness
• homophily
• benign envy
• relatedness need satisfaction
• brand attachment

關鍵詞:

• 吸引力
• 同質性
• 良性嫉妒
• 相關性需求滿足
• 品牌依戀

Data availability statement

There is not data set associated with this paper.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Clinical trial registration

This article does not contain any clinical trial affairs to human or animal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tser-Yieth Chen

Chen Tser-Yieth is a Professor of Graduate Institute of International Business at the National Taipei University in Taiwan. He completed his PhD degree in Management Science at National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan. His main research interests are customer behavior, marketing management, service management, and performance management. His more than 30 articles have been published in SSCI or SCI Journal such as: Service Industries Journal, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Journal of Business and Psychology, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Innovation: Organization and Management, Growth and Change, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Programs: Electronic Library and Information Systems, Energy Policy, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Operational Research Society, and Applied Economics Letters, etc.

Tsai-Lien Yeh

Yeh Tsai-Lien is a Professor of Department of International Business at the Ming-Chuan University in Taiwan. He completed his PhD degree in Management at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Her main research interests are marketing management, performance management, and technology and innovation management. His more than 10 articles have been published in in SSCI or SCI Journal such as: Service Industries Journal, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Innovation: Organization and Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Energy Policy, and International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, etc.

Ya-Wen Huang

Huang Ya-Wen is a Master of Graduate Institute of International Business, National Taipei University in Taiwan.