Celebrity endorsement on social media in China: familiarity and likeability heuristics in impulse purchase

Brands invested heavily in social media to influence consumer judgement and decision-making in China. Based on the heuristic judgement theory, we built a theoretical framework to examine the heuristic effect of celebrity endorsement on consumers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses on social media. Results show that it is a U-shaped relationship between familiarity of celebrity endorsers and brand trust, while celebrity likeability is positively associated with brand trust. Trust is the mediating mechanism in the relationship between celebrity familiarity/likeability and impulse purchase. Yet consumer involvement plays a role as a boundary condition. Implications for theory, marketers, policymakers and consumers are discussed, respectively.