_____________________________________
Commercial persuasiveness of bloggers:
The roles of blogger-topic congruency and product
involvement
Name: Mary Therri Francis van ‘t Hullenaar Student number: 11393750
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme Communication Science, Persuasive Communication Supervisor: Stefan Bernritter
Academic year 2016-2017, Semester 2 Date of completion: June 28, 2017
Abstract
Brands are increasingly using bloggers in their online marketing strategies, as consumers are becoming more resilient to direct marketing initiatives of brands. In order to create effective online marketing strategies, it is important for brands to know which factors make a blogger most effective and efficient. This research adds to existing literature about sender-message congruency by providing an answer to the question whether or not there is a difference in effect of blogger-topic congruence (congruent vs. incongruent), and if involvement (high vs. low) moderates this effect. Based on the Principle of Congruity, the Source Credibility theory, and relating studies regarding sender-message congruence, it was predicted that congruent blog posts are more effective in influencing purchase intention compared to incongruent posts. Furthermore, taking into account the Elaboration Likelihood Model and related research on the effects of different levels of involvement, it was argued that involvement moderates the effect of blogger-topic congruence on purchase intention. An online experiment with a 2 x 2 between subject factorial design was performed among 166
participants. The results showed no significant support for the assumed differences between congruent versus incongruent conditions in combination with high versus low product involvement. The null results might indicate that the persuasiveness of bloggers is less dependent on blogger-topic congruency and product involvement than was previously assumed. The results of this study are nonetheless an addition to scientific literature, as they contribute to our understanding of sender-message congruence, and might suggest that the Principle of Congruity is not generalizable to all sources and their messages.
Index
Introduction……… 4
Conceptual Background………... 6
Blogger-topic congruence versus incongruence………. 6
The moderating effect of involvement……… 9
Method……… 12
Design and participants………... 12
Procedure ………... 12
Stimulus material……… 13
Measurements………. 14
Results………. 17
Randomization check and manipulation check………... 17
Main analysis………. 18
Conclusion and Discussion……… 19
Limitations and directions for future studies………. 22
Implications……… 24
References………. 25
Appendix A……… 30
Commercial persuasiveness of bloggers:
The roles of blogger-topic congruency and product involvement
Introduction
The use of social media, and especially that of electronic word of mouth (EWOM) has become an increasingly important tool for marketing managers of brands in their marketing strategy. Word of mouth has proven to be a powerful and effective way for companies to stimulate purchase intention more than traditional advertising, due to consumers trusting each other more than they trust companies (Cova and Dalli, 2009; Magnini, 2011; Smith, Menon and Sivakumar, 2005). To take advantage of trust among consumers in social media, brands are increasingly recruiting online influencers to endorse their brand (Tarokh, Arian and Spelly, 2015). A highly influential group of online influencers are bloggers (Technorati’s digital report, 2013). Therefore, sponsoring bloggers in marketing strategies can be a great advantage. Since it is only profitable to sponsor bloggers who influence consumer’s purchase intention, companies need to know which factors make bloggers successful in positively influencing purchase intention.
Nowadays, bloggers have risen in numbers significantly, increasing competition among them for consumers’ attention. Therefore, bloggers feel inclined to find new ways to distinguish themselves. One way bloggers increasingly try to achieve this is by broadening their focus of blogging topics (Wang, Hsu, Huang and Chen, 2015). Consequently, bloggers began writing about topics that initially were not what their readers expected from them. Readers might find the topic a bad fit (incongruent) for that blogger. The bloggers might be perceived as less trustworthy and experienced and therefore less credible in case of
incongruent topics (Chu and Kamal, 2008; Magnini, 2011; Park and Cho, 2015). This raises the question if blogging about incongruent topics might have negative consequences,
on the difference between effects of topic congruence (BTC), compared to blogger-topic incongruence (BTI) on purchase intention. Additionally, the role of involvement will be investigated in this context.
In the stream of research on sender-message congruence, a considerable number of studies have been done. Multiple studies regarding sender-message congruence were examined, including ones about congruency of influencers with the brand or organization’s cause (Pradhan, Duraipandian and Sethi, 2014; Yoo and Jin, 2013), with the product or service (Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Park and Cho, 2015; Yoo and Yin, 2015), and with consumers’ personalities (Wang, Hsu, Huang and Chen, 2015). Interestingly, the examined studies focused mostly on celebrities as source. Minimal research has investigated BTC, while Chu and Kamal (2008) found that factors influencing a celebrity’s credibility are different than for a blogger. In contrast to blogger credibility, an important factor influencing celebrity credibility is personality (Chu and Kamal, 2008; Park and Cho 2015). Blogs on the other hand, are often read for an expert’s view and information about a product, in which expertise and trustworthiness are most relevant, and personality fades into the background (Chu and Kamal, 2008). Accordingly, BTC affects different factors leading to credibility than celebrity-topic congruence, possibly affecting purchase intention differently as well.
Therefore, this study investigates the effect of BTC on purchase intention, taking into account expertise and trustworthiness as most influencing factors on BTC.
Additionally, past studies showed that consumers pay more attention to content, and are more skeptical in high involvement situations, compared to low involvement situations (Micu and Pentina, 2014; Petty, Cacioppo and Shumann, 1983). When individuals are more skeptical, they are more inclined to wonder about ulterior motives bloggers might have to write outside of their expertise. This suspicion about ulterior motives might lead to less credibility and a lower purchase intention, compared to blogging about subjects within their
expertise. In case of low involvement, individuals will not critically analyze the situation, and the difference between BTC versus BTI will most likely be insignificantly small. Thus, involvement might influence the relationship of BTC and purchase intention.
The goal of this paper is to fill a gap in existing literature by investigating how BTC versus BTI affects purchase intention, and to bring to light what the role of involvement is. Accordingly, the objective of this study will be reached by finding an answer to the following research question:
To what extent does blogger-topic congruence (versus incongruence) cause a difference in effect on consumers’ purchase intention, and what is the role of product involvement in this context?
To my knowledge, the effect of BTC on purchase intention, and the role of
involvement has not been researched before. The answer to the research question is therefore a contribution to scientific literature about influence of brands endorsers, and especially about sender-message congruence. The research adds to existing literature by studying BTG, and expertise and trustworthiness, instead of personality as most important factors influenced by source-topic congruency (Chu and Kamal, 2008). This study might be useful to explain effects of topic congruence among other expert sources as well. This study is also of practical relevance, as it helps brand managers make decisions about the most efficient and effective influencer to recruit endorsers for their product or service in social media.
Conceptual Background Blogger-topic congruency
Web 2.0 has empowered consumers to take over a significant part of online branding from companies (Magnini, 2011). Consumers have the power to voice their opinion about brands and their products through the web, where they have a wide reach. Some of these
consumers have started frequent reports about their consumption experiences, often within a specific domain like beauty products. These individuals are bloggers. In their blogposts, bloggers share their experiences and thoughts. The blogs are used by other individuals to gain information about the product or service, or are read for entertainment (Muntinga, Moorman and Smit, 2011; Trammell and Keshelashvili, 2005). Marketing managers of companies are increasingly integrating bloggers in their online marketing strategy, as consumers are responding less and less to direct online marketing initiatives (Tarokh, Arian and Speily, 2015). Since consumers are daily exposed to thousands of marketing messages, they have created psychological defenses to ignore company messages. Therefore, companies started to seek other ways to reach individuals on the internet, such as through bloggers (Tarokh, Arian and Speily, 2015). Blogs are one of the most informed sources, and perceived as one of the most trustworthy sources by consumers, making bloggers an important aspect for companies to take into their online marketing strategy (Technorati’s digital influence report, 2013).
To be most effective in influencing consumers’ purchase intention, companies should choose endorsers that fit with their brand and products (Osgood and Tannebaum, 1955). The positive effect on attitude of matching the source and the message is also called the Principle of Congruity (Osgood and Tannebaum, 1955). Multiple studies have added to theoretical knowledge about the relevant factors to take into consideration when choosing an endorser. Many of these studies show that congruence between the source and message (topic) is an important aspect, which includes the studies about congruence of an influencer’s personality. Since bloggers create their own content, and their content is read to gain information, their perceived knowledge and expertise about the topic are the most relevant factors in
influencing credibility, attitudes and purchase intention (Chang, Chen and Tan, 2012; Chu and Kamal, 2008; Kelman, 1961; Ohanian, 1991). The question is whether or not broadening
to other topics will lead to lower perceived expertise by the reader, and thus lower beneficial effects.
According to the Source Credibility Theory, persuasion and influence on purchase intention are more obtainable when the credibility of the source is high (Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Ohanian, 1991, Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983). The key variables influencing bloggers’ credibility are expertise and trustworthiness, in contrast to that of celebrities for whom attractiveness and personality is an important dimension of credibility (Chu and Kamal, 2008; Ohanian, 1991). Expertise is the extent to which the source can validly and accurately discuss information (Chu and Kamal, 2008; McCracken, 1989). Trustworthiness is the belief that the source is honest and sincere in providing information (Chu and Kamal, 2008; McCracken, 1989). Assumptions are that BTI might lead to less expertise and trustworthiness and therefore less credibility.
In case of BTI, bloggers’ trustworthiness might be less, as consumers might suspect that these bloggers have ulterior motives for writing about a product outside of their
expertise, such as receiving compensations from the company (Lu, Chang and Chang, 2014). Even though bloggers are obligated to mention sponsorships in their posts nowadays,
especially compensations, consumers are not always aware of this regulation (Hwang and Jeong, 2016). When consumers suspect influencers to be motivated by ulterior motives, consumers perceive the influencers as less honest and trustworthy, and more interested in their own profit instead of their readers’ wellbeing (Hwang and Jeong, 2016). Consequently, influencers will be perceived as less credible, which will significantly diminish their
influence on purchase intention (Chu and Kamal, 2008; Moore, Mowen and Reardon, 1994). Moreover, consumers might perceive bloggers’ knowledge about incongruent topics to be less than knowledge about their main expertise, as bloggers focused mostly on topics within their main expertise in the past. Due to perceived lack of experience in other fields,
consumers might find argumentation in other fields less believable, compared to
argumentation in blogs within their expertise, even if the arguments are exactly the same. Accordingly, the sources’ perceived expertise will be smaller in case of BTI, and therefore less credible (Chang, Chen and Tan, 2012; Chu and Kamal, 2008; Ohanian, 1991). While bloggers’ knowledge, skills, and experience develops over time, it is difficult for individuals to change their initial impressions of others (Mclaughin, 2014). Consequently, when a blogger gives an impression of a beauty-blogger, a blog about technology gadgets will not likely be an equally influencing blog, as a blog about a make-up product. Hence, I
hypothesize that:
H1. Blogger-topic congruence (versus topic incongruence) will have a positive effect on consumers’ purchase intention.
The moderating effect of involvement
This study assumed that the relation between BTC and purchase intention is affected by product involvement, because of findings in past studies. The difference between high involvement and low involvement has been researched in many different studies, including in web advertising (Biswas, Biswas and Das, 2006; Micu and Pentina, 2014; Racherla,
Mandviwalla and Conolly, 2012; Wang, Wang and Fam, 2009). The difference between levels of involvement can be explained with the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion (Petty and Caciappo, 1984). This dual process model distinguishes a central route and peripheral route to persuasion. The central route is used when individuals carefully consider the information. Information is carefully considered, when people are highly involved with the product. In high involvement, having strong and many arguments is therefore relevant to influence consumers’ attitudes and behaviors (Petty and Caciappo, 1984). However, when people are lowly involved (depending on information intensity, user
motivation, and message complexity), attitudes change through a peripheral route and individuals will process information in a more superficial way. Positive and negative
peripheral cues, which can be related or unrelated, influence individuals’ attitudes towards a message. Peripheral cues might exist of sounds, visuals, source liking and attractiveness, attitudes of others towards the message, etc. (Chu and Kamal, 2008; Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983).
Micu and Pentina (2014) found in their study that information content and
argumentation was a more relevant attribute for high involvement situations compared to low involvement situations, as information is carefully considered. A second study by Biswas, Biswas and Das (2006) found that experts were effective in high involvement situations, because of their perceived knowledge and argumentation, while celebrities were effective in low involvement situations as peripheral cues were more important in those situations. Thus multiple studies found evidence for the relevance of expertise and argumentation in high involvement situations. Combining the relevance of expertise in high involvement, with the expectations about the difference in effect of BTC (versus BTI), involvement is expected to influence the relationship between BTC (versus BTI) and purchase intention. It was expected that bloggers would be perceived to have more experience in their own field. When they blog outside of that field, their experience will be perceived as less, than when they blog about congruent topics, even if their arguments are the same. This led to the assumption that bloggers (as experts) might be more successful to persuade in congruent and high involvement situations, than in incongruent and/ or low involvement situations.
Secondly, besides the need for high perceived expertise to influence purchase intention, individuals are more skeptical and alert towards the message in high involvement situations compared to low involvement situations (Micu and Pentina, 2014; Park and Cho, 2015). In case of high involvement, subjects in BTI will most likely be reviewed more
skeptically, as it is hard to link unrelated topics to their expertise. Without a clear link to the main expertise, consumers are more inclined to wonder whether the source had ulterior motives, such as compensation from the company, to write the blog (Lu, Chang and Chang, 2014). Accordingly, trustworthiness and perceived expertise will be negatively affected, and in turn credibility and purchase intention will decrease as well. Hence it is expected that purchase intention will decrease in the high involvement and incongruent condition, compared to congruent and low involvement conditions.
When involvement is low, the difference in effect of BTC versus BTI is expected to be insignificantly small, whereas lowly involved readers will look at peripheral cues instead of critically analyzing arguments (Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983). Peripheral cues of blogs by the same blogger will not differ much or at all, since the layout of the blog, the background, attractiveness of the source, and other visual peripheral cues will not change in case of BTC or BTI, except perhaps a picture within the text itself. Hence it is hypothesized that:
H2. The positive effect of blogger-topic congruence (vs. incongruence) on consumer purchase intention will increase if involvement is high (versus low).
Figure 1. Conceptual model
Method Design and participants
An online experiment was performed to test the hypotheses, in which the participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. This is relevant to find possible causality between variables (Boeije, Hart & Hox, 2009). The experiment consisted of a 2 (BTC versus BTI) x 2 (high involvement versus low involvement) between-subject design. A convenience sample was applied, which is a sample taken from materials that were available to the
researcher. The participants were chosen from the researcher’s social network. They were approached through Facebook, LinkedIn, email, and personal contact. The participants were encouraged to share the link to the online experiment.
The target group of this research was the entire Dutch population of 18 years and older. A total of 216 participants took part in the questionnaire, of which 173 completed the questionnaire. Those who did not finish the entire questionnaire were excluded. Six
participants were excluded, because they indicated to be younger than 18 years old and one participant did not agree with the rights they were given, leaving a total of 166 participants that were included in the analysis. The participants were 44.2 percent male. Most participants were in the age group 20 to 40 years old (69.9%), after that the group of 40 to 65 years old was most represented (14.5%), followed by age group younger than 20 years old (13.3%), and the age group 65 years and older (2.4%).
Procedure
The data for the experiment was gathered through Qualtrics. A test among three peers was done to check for mistakes or confusion. A few small alterations were made in the
introduction about the blogger. A link to the survey in Qualtrics was shared on Facebook and LinkedIn. The online experiment was spread among the participants in the period of April 18 until April 26, 2017. Before the participants started the survey, they received a short
instruction, in which they were thanked for participating, and where they were asked for their informed consent.
After participants gave their informed consent, participants were asked if they are 18 years or older, so that individuals of younger than 18 were excluded from the rest of the experiment. Qualifying participants were then evenly divided over the four conditions and were exposed to the stimulus (Appendix A). A short introduction about the blogger was initially given to the participants. The participants were then asked to carefully read the blogpost that was supposedly written by the blogger.
After reading the assigned blog, all respondents from different conditions were asked to answer the same questions (Appendix B). Items for brand and product attitudes, and the items for purchase intention were displayed. After that, a question about attitude towards the brand and product were asked, to check if conditions might also affect this. Next, a question about (in)congruence of the blogger with the topic was asked, to check for successful manipulation. A question about the attitude towards the blogger was asked to check if the different conditions might also affect this. Previous knowledge about the brand and product were asked, to check if these factors might influence the dependent variable. Lastly,
demographic variables were asked. After completion of the questions, participants were thanked for their participation.
Stimulus material
The stimulus material of the experiment was a fictional blog post on Wordpress. The entire experiment was in Dutch. The topic of the blog was a blender. Manipulation of BTC
was reached by changing the type of blogger in the conditions. As a congruent blogger with the topic, a lifestyle blogger was used. It was emphasized that this blogger often writes about home products and interior in her blogs. As an incongruent blogger, a beauty blogger was used. For this blogger it was emphasized that she normally writes about makeup tutorials and skin care, which is not easily associated with blenders.
To manipulate involvement, the price of the blender differed in the blogs. There is a higher product involvement when it concerns more expensive products (Akbari, 2015). These products have a longer life-cycle, and investment into the product is higher, which makes consumers more careful to make the right decision. Accordingly, cheaper products with a shorter lifecycle and less investment, have less involvement. The price for the low
involvement product was set on €30, -, and the price for the high involvement product was €180, -. For blenders these prices are respectively the same as the cheapest and most expensive blender (without extra functions, like a timer) in a Dutch electronics store.
A blender from Oster Versa was chosen as topic, as blenders can change drastically in price without raising suspicion. Blenders exist from €20, - up to €800, -. The product does not limit itself to a specific age group or gender. The topic had to be unisex, as the target group included men as well as women. The Oster Versa performance blender was also chosen, as the brand is not well known in the Netherlands. Therefore, participants’ purchase intention would not be influenced by previous knowledge, or an existing attitude towards the brand or the product. The actual price of the Oster Versa performance blender is $367, -. The name of the blogger, as well as the bloggers heritage, amount of followers, and the content of the blog were controlled in all conditions except for the price and type of blogger.
Dependent variable purchase intention. Purchase intention was measured with a scale by Barber, Kuo, Bishop and Goodman (2012). The scale consists of four 7-point Likert scale items varying from 1=disagree to 7 = agree. The items were as follows: ‘I would consider purchasing this product’, ‘I intend to try this product’, ‘I plan on buying this
product’, and ‘I am interested in trying this product’. Internal consistency for these items was measured as well, and proved to be a reliable scale for purchase intention (M=3.79, SD=1.43, α = .89).
Control variables
Brand attitude. An existing scale by Spears and Singh (2004) was used to measure brand attitude towards the product. The scale consists of five 7-point Likert scale items, measuring how appealing, good, pleasant, favorable, and likable participants perceived the brand. The last item was reversed to avoid response set (Vennix, 2006). This item was later recoded. The items proved to form a reliable scale, and were averaged to form the item brand attitude (M=4.70, SD=0.86, α = .82).
Product attitude. The scale used for brand attitude by Spears and Singh (2004) was altered to measure product attitude. It was measured with five 7-point Likert scale items, testing how appealing, good, pleasant, favorable, and likable participants perceived the product. Same as with the previous scale, the items for this scale proved to be reliable, hence they were averaged to form the measurement for product attitude (M=4.98, SD=0.83, α = .81).
Brand and product familiarity: Oster is known as a high quality brand and the real price of the blender is more expensive. If people know the brand and the product, they
perceive the brand and blender as more expensive than in this stimulus. This could affect their mindset while reading the blog, and affect the eventual purchase intention. Therefore, their familiarity with the brand and product were asked with a one item question for
knowledge about the brand, and one item for knowledge about the product, to which they could answer with yes or no. However, most participants were not familiar with the brand and the blender before they read the blog. Only few participants indicated that they know the brand (3.6%) and the product (1.2%).
Blogger attitude. Attitude towards the blogger was another control variable taken into account, and was measured with one item on a 7-point Likert scale. This item was: ‘The blogger seems to me like someone who is …’, to which they can answer from 1 = unlikable to 7 = likable. This item was chosen from the attitude scale by Spears and Singh (2004) used for brand and product attitude.
Demographic characteristics. Age, gender, and highest completed education were asked, and served as control variables. When people indicated that were younger than 18 years old, they could not continue with the rest of the survey. The measurements used for demographics can be found in Appendix B.
Frequency of reading blogs. How often consumers read blogs was asked as a control variable, to check if this might influence the combined effect of BTC and involvement. The question asked to measure this was: ‘How often do you read blogs?’, to which they could reply by choosing from the options: ‘daily’, ‘weekly’, ‘monthly’, or ‘never’.
Manipulation check BTC. As a manipulation check for the perceived difference between the BTC and BTI conditions, perceived BTC was measured with the following statement: ‘The blog fits well with the overall writing topics of the blogger (when you think back to the short introduction about the blogger)’. Respondents were asked to give their opinion by using a 7-point Likert scale (1= ‘totally disagree’ to 7= ‘totally agree’).
Results Randomization check and manipulation check
The number of participants per condition were randomly assigned by Qualtrics. Condition one consisted of 42 participants, condition two had 47 participants, condition three had 38 participants, and condition four consisted of 39 participants.
To check if random assignment to conditions was successful for the demographic variables and other control variables, Chi-square tests were conducted for distribution of gender, age groups, education level, frequency of reading blogs, and familiarity with the brand and product. There was no significant difference between the condition on the
demographic variables, including age groups, χ2 (9, N = 166) = 14.47, p = .107, nor gender, χ2 (3, N = 166) = 3.08, p = .380, or educational level χ2 (12, N = 166) = 14.02, p = .299. Neither did there seem to be a difference between conditions for frequency of reading blogs χ2 (9, N = 166) = 10.53, p = .309 nor for familiarity with brand χ2 (3, N = 166) = 2.76, p = .430, or familiarity with the product χ2 (3, N = 166) = 2.34, p = .505.
A manipulation check for the perceived difference between the BTC (versus BTI) was performed. An independent sample T-Test was used to test if the conditions indeed
significantly differed from each other. As intended, participants considered the lifestyle blogger as significantly more congruent with the blog topic (M = 3.64, SD = 0.83), than they
did the beauty bloggers (M = 3.01, SD = 0.93; t (164) = 4.6, p < 0,001) 95% CI [0.896, -0.359]).
Independent regression analyses were conducted to check if any of the control variables had a significant effect to predict the dependent variable: purchase intention. A significant effect was only found for the participants’ age. However, this was not included in the main analysis, since most participants belonged to the same age group.
Main analysis
A two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed to test both hypotheses. BTC was converted into a binary variable (0 = incongruence, 1 = congruence) and
involvement was also made into a binary variable (0 = low involvement, 1 = high
involvement). BTC and involvement were added as the independent variables, and purchase intention as the dependent variable.
It was hypothesized that BTC, versus BTI would have a more positive effect on purchase intention (H1). Results showed that BTC (M = 3.84, SD = .14) versus BTI (M = 3.76, SD = .15) did not significantly differed in affecting purchase intention F (1, 162) = .18, p = .670. Therefore, hypothesis 1 was rejected.
It was also proposed that the positive effect of BTC (versus BTI) would increase only if involvement is high (versus low) (H2). The results showed no significant interaction effect of involvement on the relationship between BTC and purchase intention, as the high
involvement and BTC blog (M = 3.47, SD = .19), the high involvement and BTI blog (M =3.52, SD = .21), the low involvement and BTC blog (M = 4.21, SD = .20) and the low involvement and BTI blog (M= 4.00, SD = .21) did not significantly differ from each other (F (1, 162) = .47, p = .496). This can also be seen in Figure 2, as the means differ
insignificantly in the high and low involvement condition. Therefore, hypothesis 2 was rejected as well.
The analysis revealed a significant effect of involvement on purchase intention F (1,162) = 8.59, p = .004, as the average purchase intention is significantly higher in the low involvement condition (M = 4.10, SD = .15) than in the high involvement condition (M = 3.50, SD = .14).
Figure 2. Consumers’ purchase intention as a function of congruence and involvement
Conclusion and Discussion
Despite the considerable amount of past studies about sender-message congruence, there are still gaps in current literature. By investigating the effect of BTC and the role of product involvement on consumers purchase intention, this study aimed to fill one of these gaps. The results showed that BTC does not significantly influence purchase intention.
Additionally, the results demonstrated no role of involvement on the relationship between blogger-topic congruency and purchase intention.
The results were against expectations, whereas building on past literature about experience, knowledge, the Principle of Congruity (Osgood and Tannebaum, 1955), and the Source Credibility Theory implied that BTC would be more effective than BTI, with respect to purchase intention (H1). In their study, Osgood and Tannebaum (1955) found that attitudes are easier to influence when a source and message are congruent. The study by Biswas, Biswas and Das (2006) researched the effects of experts versus celebrity endorsers. Their study found that when topics are more congruent with the expert, they exercise more influence than when the topics are incongruent. The current study did not substantiate these results in literature.
The null effect might be attributed to the difference between the means of the perceived BTC (M = 3.64) versus the BTI (M = 3.01). Even though these proved to differ significantly from one another, the difference might have been too small. Leading to the effect of more BTC versus less BTC, instead of to BTC versus BTI. This could be a consequence of not operationalizing expertise clearly enough in the stimulus material, whereas expertise about the product is not explicitly mentioned. If further study on the subject is done, it is recommended that expertise will be operationalized more clearly. A second possibility might be that the trustworthiness and therefore credibility of BTC was low as well, despite the significant difference between perceived BTC and BTI. Both the BTC blog as well as the BTI blog were extremely positive about the product, which might have caused suspicion about the bloggers’ motives not only in the BTI blogpost as predicted, but in the BTC blogpost as well. This would be supporting findings by Magnini (2011) and Park and Cho (2015), as the messages would then be perceived as unmentioned
However, to verify this as a reason for the negative results, it should be tested in future studies.
A theoretical explanation for the null results might be derived from a study by Siemens, Smith, Fisher and Jensen (2008), who discovered that the positive effect of topic congruency of experts on brand attitude and purchase intention was significant when individuals were familiar with the expert, compared to when the expert was a stranger. In case of an unfamiliar expert, there was an insignificant effect of expert-product congruency on purchase intention. As the source in the current study was fictional, the source was
unfamiliar for all the participants. Since unfamiliarity of the expert has seemed to dissolve the positive effect of sender-message congruency before, this could also be an explanation for the null-effects in this study. However, to check if this is the actual reason for the null-results, this should be tested in a future study.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1984) and past studies about the effects of involvement on product evaluations (Biswas, Biswas and Das, 2006; Micu and Pentina, 2014; Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983) led to the assumption that involvement affects the relationship between BTC (versus BTI) and purchase intention (H2). However, the results of this study did not support the findings in the literature, as no moderating effect of involvement on the relationship between BTC and purchase intention was found.
A practical explanation for the null-effect might be that the participants were all asked to look at the blog carefully before they were exposed to the stimulus. This might have
influenced participants to look at the blog in a high involvement way, even when they were assigned to the low involvement condition.
A theoretical explanation can be derived from a study by Chaiken (1980), who found that individuals with low involvement do take into account perceived expertise as a
other noticeable cues, apart from the text itself. There was a significant difference between perceived BTC and BTI, even in the low involvement situation. Therefore, participants in the BTI and low involvement condition have possibly taken into consideration that the blogger was writing about an entirely different product than they are known for, same as in the high involvement and BTC conditions. Consequently, their expertise and therefore credibility would also be perceived as low in the low involvement conditions, leading to insignificant differences compared to the high involvement condition.
Even though the hypotheses were rejected, this study has added to scientific literature about sender-message congruence and product involvement, especially since studies about congruence of topics and bloggers were limited. The study found no difference in effect of BTC (versus BTI) on purchase intention of readers of the blog, which is contradictory to the Principle of Congruity and other past literature about sender-message congruence. This means that there may be specific kind of situations or sources for which this principle does not apply, such as for unfamiliar experts as was discovered by Siemens et al. (2008) and possibly for (unfamiliar) bloggers, as the results of this study might lead to believe. However, future research has to be done to verify the results of this study, since there were some
limitations.
Limitations and directions for future studies
This study has some limitations. A convenience sample of mostly students was used, affecting the external validity of this study. Therefore, the sample is not representative for the entire Dutch population reading blogs. A more varied sample in terms of background
variables (age, education level, and amount of blog reading), could lead to different findings, and would make the study more generalizable to the entire Dutch population. Furthermore, because of limited time and resources, the sample existed of only 166 participants. This
sample might have been too little to form a representative sample for the Dutch population. Additionally, age was measured in groups instead of as a continuous variable, while it would have been better if this variable was measured as a continuous variable. The wrong measure in combination with unvaried sample size made age an unreliable control variable. Therefore, future studies on this subject, with more time and means should consider taking a bigger, and more varied sample size into account.
With respect to the stimulus material, the blog was developed especially for this study, to make it easier to manipulate all factors. However, the arguments in this blog might not be as qualitatively strong as those of actual bloggers with experience in their field would be, even though inspiration for the blog was derived from actual blogs about blenders. The blog itself might not have looked as professional as that of an experienced blogger, even though it was made on a website to create blogs. This perceived professionalism of the blog might have influenced the peripheral cues, as the blog was very clean and peripheral cues were rather limited. Future studies should consider including an experienced and successful blogger to make the stimulus material more realistic and believable.
Additionally, the product in the stimulus material was a blender. This product was carefully chosen, because it is a gender neutral product. However, many individuals might already have a blender in their possession, which may have influenced their purchase
intention to buy another one. Future studies should check if current possession of the product might be a control variable, or include a product or service that is innovative and not many individuals have yet. More research should examine congruence (versus incongruence) with different product or service categories or different bloggers, as a study by Allsop, Bassett, and Hoskins (2007) has shown that consumers consult different sources for different sorts of information. When consumers want to be informed about blenders, they may possibly choose a technology blogger over a lifestyle blogger, as they might perceive lifestyle bloggers as less
experienced compared to another kind of bloggers as well. This lack of perceived expertise in BTC conditions may have led to the insignificant difference in effect of BTC (versus BTI) on purchase intention.
Implications
Looking at the results of this study in terms of practical relevance, the results help marketing managers in allocating their resources most efficiently, when choosing the most effective bloggers to endorse their brand and products or services. It is relevant for marketing managers to know that BTC (versus BTI) does not affect purchase intention. This would mean that marketing managers might not have to take this into account when choosing a blogger as endorser. This will save marketing managers time and resources when screening bloggers, and identifying who fits with their product or service best. However, from the results in this study it can not be concluded that BTC (versus BTI) will never affect purchase intention differently, as there are some limitations to this study that might lead to different findings when taken into account in future studies.
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Appendix A Stimulus material Conditie 1.
U zal eerst een blog van de van de volgende blogger te zien krijgen. Lucy is een 25-jarige Nederlandse lifestyle blogger die in het verleden veel heeft geschreven over huiselijke producten en interieur die zijn zelf (heeft) gebruikt in haar weblog (blog). Op het moment heeft ze bijna een half miljoen volgers
(In the conditions only the text in the first screenshot differs) Conditie 2.
U zal eerst een blog van de van de volgende blogger te zien krijgen. Lucy is een 25-jarige Nederlandse lifestyle blogger die in het verleden veel heeft geschreven over huiselijke producten en interieur die zijn zelf (heeft) gebruikt in haar weblog (blog). Op het moment heeft ze bijna een half miljoen volgers
Conditie 3.
U zal eerst een blog van de van de volgende blogger te zien krijgen. Lucy is een 25-jarige Nederlandse beauty blogger die in het verleden veel heeft geschreven over make-up tutorials en huidverzorging, die zijn zelf (heeft) gebruikt in haar weblog (blog). Op het moment heeft ze bijna een half miljoen volgers
Conditie 4.
U zal eerst een blog van de van de volgende blogger te zien krijgen. Lucy is een 25-jarige Nederlandse beauty blogger die in het verleden veel heeft geschreven over make-up tutorials en huidverzorging, die zijn zelf (heeft) gebruikt in haar weblog (blog). Op het moment heeft ze bijna een half miljoen volgers
Appendix B Measurements (translated from Dutch)
Purchase intention
Dependent variable – Purchase intention I would consider purchasing this product I intend to try this product
I plan on buying this product
I am interested in trying this product (1 to 7: Totally disagree-Totally agree) Brand attitude I find the brand of the product…
Appealing Good Pleasant Favorable Likable
(1 to 7: Totally disagree-Totally agree) Product attitude I find the product itself…
Appealing Good Pleasant Favorable Likable
(1 to 7: Totally disagree-Totally agree) Manipulation Check
Congruence The blog fits well with the regular blogging topics of the blogger
(1 to 7: Totally disagree-Totally agree) Control variables
Brand familiarity Are you familiar with the brand Oster? Product familiarity Are you familiar with the Oster versa
Performance blender? (Yes or No)
Blogger attitude The blogger seems to me like someone who is…
1 to 7: Not nice-Very nice Frequency of reading blogs How often do you read blogs?
Never Monthly Weekly Daily Demographic characteristics
Age Younger than 20 years old
20 – 40 years old 40 – 65 years old 65 – 80 years old 80 years or older
(one of the above categories)
Female
(one of the above categories) Highest completed education Elementary school
High school (VMBO, HAVO, VWOO Middelbaar beroepsonderwijs (MBO Hoger beroepsonderwijs (HBO)
Wetenschappelijk beroepsonderwijs (WO) Something else…
