constructing athlete identification and the effectiveness of athlete endorsement on customer’s purchase intention

CAO NHAT TUAN CONSTRUCTING ATHLETE IDENTIFICATION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ATHLETE ENDORSEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE INTENTION A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRE

CAO NHAT TUAN

CONSTRUCTING ATHLETE IDENTIFICATION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ATHLETE ENDORSEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE INTENTION

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

CAO NHAT TUAN

CONSTRUCTING ATHLETE IDENTIFICATION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ATHLETE ENDORSEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE INTENTION

Major : Business Administration

ID number : 60340102

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Business Administration

Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor – PhD

(UK) Nguyen Minh Ha

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4

1.4 THE SCOPE OF STUDY AND THE TIME OF STUDY 4

1.4.1 The scope of study 4

1.4.2 The time of study 4

1.5 METHODOLOGY 5

1.5.1 Qualitative Research 5

1.5.2 Quantitative Research 5

1.6 STUDY SIGNIFICANCE 6

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH 6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS 8

2.1.1 The concept of Human Brands 8

2.1.2 The concept of Athlete Brand 9

2.1.3 The concept of Parasocial Relationship 10

2.1.4 The concept of Athlete Identification 11

2.1.5 The concept of Athlete Endorsement 17

2.1.6 The concept of Athlete Transgression 18

2.1.7 Meaning Transfer Process 18

2.1.8 The concept of Customer’s Purchase Intention 21

2.2 THEORETICAL MODEL 21

2.2.1 The Brand Personality Model 21

2.2.2 Perceived Value Model 23

2.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 24

2.3.1 Source Credibility Model and Athlete Personality hypothesis 24

2.3.2 Athlete Transgression 28

2.3.3 Meaning Transfer Model 29

2.4 REVIEWING PREVIOUS STUDIES 30

2.4.1 Reviewing the remarks of previous studious 30

2.4.2 Similarities and differences between the research and previous studies 36 2.5 SUGGESTED RESEARCH MODEL 43

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 44

3.1 RESEARCH PROCEDURE 44

3.2 METHODOLODY 45

3.2.1 Qualitative Research 45

3.2.2 Quantitative Research 46

3.3 THE SCALE OF THE RESEARCH 46

3.4 SAMPLE COLLECTION METHOD 53

3.4.1 Sample Size 54

3.4.2 Sampling collection method 55

3.4.3 Data analysis methods 55

CHAPTER 4 – DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 61

3.1 SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHIC 61

3.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 65

3.3 RELIABILITY TEST 73

3.4 MODIFIED MODEL AND ADJUSTED HYPOTHESES 85

3.5 EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (EFA) 86

3.6 CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (CFA) 93

3.7 STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING (SEM) 99

3.8 RESULT DISCUSSION 103

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION AND LIMITATIONS 115

5.1 CONCLUSION 115

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 118

5.3 FUTURE RESEARCH AND LIMITATIONS 121

REFERENCES 122

APPENDIX A 133

APPENDIX B 137

APPENDIX C 139

APPENDIX D 146

APPENDIX E 148

APPENDIX E 156

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 The previous studies 32

Table 2.2 The comparison with the research of Brad and Todd 36

Table 2.3 The comparison with the research of Koernig and partners 37

Table 2.4 The comparison with the research of Till and partners 38

Table 2.5 The comparison with the research of Jessica and partners 39

Table 2.6 The comparison with the research of Francois and Alain 40

Table 2.7 The comparison with the research of Baker and Tagg 41

Table 2.8 The comparison with the research of Braustein and Zhang 42

Table 3.9 Variables of Trustworthiness, Expertise, Attractiveness, Toughness 47

Table 3.10 The variables of Transgression 50

Table 3.11 The variables of Athlete Identification 51

Table 3.12 The variables of Athlete Endorsement 52

Table 3.13 The variables of Purchase Intention 53

Table 3.14 The Codes of Observed Variables 56

Table 3.15 Model Fit Indices 59

Table 4.16: Total numbers of questionnaires 62

Table 4.17 The summary of total income of respondents 63

Table 4.18 The summary of age groups of respondents 64

Table 4.19 Descriptive Statistics of Expertise 66

Table 4.20 Descriptive Statistics of Trustworthiness 67

Table 4.21 Descriptive Statistics of Attractiveness 68

Table 4.22 Descriptive Statistics of Toughness 69

Table 4.23 Descriptive Statistics of Transgression 70

Table 4.24 Descriptive Statistics of Athlete Identification 71

Table 4.25 Descriptive Statistics of Athlete Endorsement 72

Table 4.26 Descriptive Statistics of Customer’s Purchase Intention 73

Table 4.27 Reliability Statistics of Trustworthiness 74

Table 4.28 Item-Total Statistics of Trustworthiness 74

Table 4.29 Reliability Statistics Re-test of Trustworthiness 75

Table 4.30 Item-Total Statistics Re-test of Trustworthiness 75

Table 4.31 Reliability Statistics of Expertise 76

Table 4.32 Item-Total Statistics of Expertise 76

Table 4.33 Reliability Statistics of Attractiveness 77

Table 4.34 Item-Total Statistics of Attractiveness 77

Table 4.35 Reliability Statistics Re-test of Attractiveness 78

Table 4.36 Item-Total Statistics Re-test of Attractiveness 78

Table 4.37 Reliability Statistics of Toughness 79

Table 4.38 Item-Total Statistics of Toughness 79

Table 4.39: Reliability Statistics Re-test of Toughness 80

Table 4.40 Item-Total Statistics of Toughness 80

Table 4.41 Reliability Statistics of Transgression 81

Table 4.42 Item-Total Statistics of Transgression 81

Table 4.43 Reliability Statistics of Athlete Identification 82

Table 4.44 Item-Total Statistics of Athlete Identification 82

Table 4.45 Reliability Statistics of Athlete Endorsement 83

Table 4.46 Item-Total Statistics of Athlete Endorsement 83

Table 4.47 Reliability Statistics of Customer’s Purchase Intention 84

Table 4.48 Item-Total Statistics of Customer’s Purchase Intention 84

Table 4.49 The Adjusted Hypotheses 86

Table 4.50 KMO and Bartlett's Test 87

Table 4.51 Total Variance Explained 88

Table 4.52 Pattern Matrix 90

Table 4.53 The indices of CFA model fit 95

Table 4.54 Standardized Regression Weights 96

Table 4.55 The indices of C.R and A.V.E 98

Table 4.56 The indices of SEM goodness-of-fit 101

Table 4.57 Regression Weights (Group number 1 – Default model) 102

Table 4.58 The Standardized Regression Weights 113

Table 4.59 The confirmed hypotheses 114

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: The Athlete Identification 12

Figure 2.3: The Meaning Transfer Process 19

Figure 2.4: Brand Personality Model 22

Figure 2.5: The Perceive Value Model 23

Figure 2.6: The suggested theoretical model 43

Figure 2.7: The research procedure 44

Figure 4.8: The proportions of Genders 62

Figure 4.9: The proportions of Institution Types 63

Figure 4.10: The summary of education level of respondents 65

Figure 4.11: The Adjusted model 85

Figure 4.12: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model 94

Figure 4.13: The Structural Equation Model 100

ABSTRACT

The targets of this essay focus on the effectiveness of the athlete endorsement on the purchase intention of customers as well as investigate the attributes of the athlete identification The issue as to whether the athlete endorsement is a main factor affecting the customers’ purchase intention directly or first becoming an attribute of customers’ perception with regard to the product before bringing a positive impact on customers’ purchase intention Four hundred and fifty respondents were surveyed a set

of questions in order to express their thinking toward the athlete endorser from a host

of perspectives The athlete endorsement scale including trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, toughness and transgression of the athlete help marketing decision makers with a thorough look at the trend of athlete endorsement

In this research, two main different software are applied to examine the theoretical model, which are Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis Of a Moment Structures (AMOS) with the help of Excel Microsoft software Four hundred and twenty valid questionnaires were input in SPSS and AMOS in order to test hypotheses as well as the whole suggested model

As a result, findings show that five attributes include Athlete Trustworthiness, Athlete Expertise, Athlete Attractiveness, Athlete Toughness, Athlete Transgression bring considerable effects on Athlete Identification Besides, Athlete’s Transgression also brings some negative impacts on Athlete Endorsement Finally, customers will buy products with the appearance of the athlete endorser

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION

Over the past decades, advertising has been given higher weight by specialists in economy, especially marketers Enterprises use the significant amount of their budget

in order to establish strong relationships between customers and their endorsers

(Zamudo et al, 2013), namely former footballers David Beckham and Pelé

Furthermore, it has become far more commonplace for customers to enjoy the positive impacts of the sport and leisure industry, which means that those who work in marketing field could take advantage of customer’s interest to create advertising campaigns that affect consumers’ purchase-making decisions With regard to sport and leisure industry, the athlete is not just only a person putting all his or her effort and time on practicing and taking part in competitions, the athlete is also a communicator, motivator who inspires others, especially sedentary workers, to get a better lifestyle (Hodge and Walker, 2015) As a result, the cult of using athlete’s images, reputation and success for endorsement is more popular than ever before (Bergkvist & Zhou, 2016) When a company uses the athlete as an endorser for goods or services in marketing communications, they want to convey the attributes of the product like wholesomeness, toughness or attractiveness to consumers Besides, customers perhaps buy items associated with the athletes as presents to illustrate their bonds with sports

people (Donavan et al, 2006) An observational evidence shows that there is a wide

range of companies that choose athlete endorsement as a part of their marketing strategies such as Christiano Ronaldo for Nike, Usain Bolt for Puma or David Beckham for H&M Researchers also discovered the phenomenon that athlete endorsement leads to favorable advertisement ratings and product evaluations, bringing

some positive effects on financial returns for businesses (Bush et al, 2004; Kim & Na, 2007)

On the one hand, there are thousands of athletes in sports industry; however, the public just know a few outstanding sports players and companies only uses the image, fame of some famous athletes to endorse their products These athletes are well-recognized since they possess some attributes making the ordinary people admire such as their attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise, toughness, etc For example, people all over the world truly admire the handsomeness of David Beckham, a former English soccer player, or the profession of Ronaldinho, a Brazilian former footballer The audience wants to find out more information about the acclaimed athlete since they want to create an invisible bond between them and their favorite athlete In fact, firms need to select carefully an athlete that gains adequate traits to become an endorser in their marketing campaigns According to Aaker (1997), about fifteen attributes need to present in order to create a personal brand, letting the general public recognize an individual Science and technology have brought some breakthroughs to people from all strata; therefore, the number of Aaker’s attributes seems too abundant and unnecessary for an athlete to become famous The aim of this research is to investigate some modern and suitable attributes for an athlete to create Athlete Identification, which is a personal brand

On the other hand, with the proliferation of cutting-edge entertainment and the seeking

of power, the athletes have been caused lots of scandals In other terms, the athlete is a type of person who is able to live in a high-class lifestyle and enjoys social evils such

as alcoholism, racism, (child) abuse, inequality to name but a few (Lohneiss and Hill, 2014), leading to the devastating effect on their career For instance, Lance Armstrong,

a former racing cyclist, used illegal drugs to enhance his stamina; Tiger Woods who is

an American professional golfer has involved a bunch of scandals like car crash,

having affairs, resulting in the fact that these transgressions destroyed their career and companies stopped hiring them as endorsing position anymore As a person of the public, the athlete should not have any kind of on-field and off-field scandals (Hughes

and Shank, 2005; Kelly et al, 2018) The scandals not only ruin the athlete’s life as

well as career but also destroy the reputation of the company that uses the image of the athlete to promote their products Therefore, marketers should take this aspect into account However, there are just few studies that focus on this issue, lacking the specific concept of the influence of athlete transgression on the athlete identification along with athlete endorsement

Vietnam is the country that has a strong passion for sports in general, and for football

in particular Investigating and deciding to apply athlete endorsements in order to

“stick” human brand in customer’s mind should be taken into account; however, with the coming of the information age, people have become smarter customers with lots of knowledge, references and choices before making a purchase decision (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2016) Hence, the aim of this research is to delve into the influence of athlete endorsement and the athlete-product congruence on customer’s purchase decision

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Many studies have already examined the effect of athlete endorsement using components of Athlete Identification (Brad and Todd, 2013; Braustein & Zhang, 2005;

Spry et al (2011),Akiko et al (2013)); however, most of these studies have been

ignoring the attributes of negative factors like athlete’s scandals, eliminating these components out of the studies Hence, the objectives below are formed to found out clearly and thoroughly the proliferation of athlete endorsement nowadays

This study focuses on objectives as follows:

1 Factors that affect the identification of an athlete

2 Factors that make sportsman to become an endorser

3 The relationship between athlete transgression and athlete career as well as athlete endorsement

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The target of this study is to solve the following questions:

1 What are factors that contribute to the Athlete Identification?

2 What are factors that help an athlete to become an endorser?

3 Is there any relationship between athlete scandals and the sports career as well

as endorsement career?

1.4 THE SCOPE OF STUDY AND THE TIME OF STUDY

1.4.1 The scope of study

This study is conducted with a sample of Vietnamese customers who either has seen advertisements with the appearance of the athlete or has used the endorsed product

1.4.2 The time of study

This study is conducted in a period of 2 years, starting from 2018

year

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5

Literature Review

Methodology

Data Analysis

Result

Managerial Implication

1.5 METHODOLOGY

1.5.1 Qualitative Research

The qualitative research is conducted using the individual depth interview (IDI) which

is the primary data collection method The size of sample is 20 participants (15 officers, 5 students of the age above 18) who have been watching the athlete’s advertisements and are asked to explore the attributes of athlete endorsement Besides, the study has been adjusted with the comments and advice collected from qualitative research

1.5.2 Quantitative Research

The Pilot Study

30 participants are asked to re-check the scale of research and the questionnaire using the 5-point Likert scale Besides, the study uses non-probability sampling method with convenience sampling to decide the number of participants attending the pilot study

The Official Study

The official study uses the questionnaire to ask 450 respondents regarding to athlete endorsement in Ho Chi Minh city Besides, the study uses the Descriptive Statistical Method, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling to select the appropriate attributes for the proposal model The official study also takes non-probability sampling method with convenience sampling

as a main methodology According to the result of quantitative research, the study will draw some conclusions so that marketers can understand clearly about athlete endorsement

1.6 STUDY SIGNIFICANCE

The study gives marketers in particular and companies as a whole a clearer understanding about the effect of athlete endorsement in the fast-paced market Besides, the research creates a model that includes attributes of athlete endorser to be examined in a Asian country, which is vastly different to Western ones

- Firstly, the study gives a specific set of athlete identification’s components (trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, toughness, transgression) Marketers could use the set to choose a perfect and suitable athlete endorser to become an endorser of their products, increasing the rate of advertising view and customer’s purchase intention

- Secondly, the study confirms the positive effect of athlete endorser on customer’s purchase intention Vietnamese consumers are keen on the appearance of athlete endorsers in sport-product advertisement

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH

The outline of the research has been divided into 5 chapters as following

Chapter 1: Introduction In this chapter, the study introduces the general information

in terms of the title of the study, the research objectives, the scope of study and the time of study, methodology of the research, scientific goal of the study and the outline

of the research

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Research Model In this chapter, the research

reviews some literature and previous studies that focus on athlete endorsement and then creates a theoretical framework for the athlete endorsement The research reviews

a set of concepts and definitions about athlete endorsement in modern marketing models and basic theoretical models conducted by other scholars, the result of previous studies in the endorsement In addition, the study includes hypotheses and suggested

research model The scientific purpose of this research was to examine the impact of

athlete endorsement on customer’s purchase intention

Chapter 3: Methodology In this chapter, the study shows the research process, the

results of various statistical methods inluding Descriptive Statistical test, the Reliability test, the Exploratory Factor Analysis, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling The research concludes some methods in methodology to examine the relationships in hypotheses as well as to test the logical and reasonable aspects of research model

Chapter 4: Result Analysis In this chapter, the study will includes the descriptions of

qualitative research, quantitative research, sample and data collection method and data analysis methods In detailed, the results of statistical methods in chapter 3 would be indicated through words and statements In addition, the results of methods would be

compared to the situations and conditions in Vietnam

Chapter 5: Conclusion, recommendation and limits of the research: In this chapter,

the research analyzes the statistics, the result of the research design The first research objective is to determine the necessary attributes of the Athlete Identification One of the most significant conclusions drawing from the research is that the Athlete Identification is built up based on 5 main components: Expertise, Trustworthiness, Attractiveness, Toughness and Transgression Besides, the study shows the conclusion

of the study and some limits for future studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the research reviews (1) a set of concepts and definitions with regard to athlete identification as well as athlete endorsement in modern marketing model, (2) basic theoretical models that has been conducted by other scholars, (3) the result of previous studies in the endorsement In addition, the study includes (4) hypotheses conducted to examine the effect of athlete endorse on customer’s purchase intention and (5) suggested research model The scientific purpose of this research was to examine the essential and crucial attributes of athlete identification as well as the impact of athlete endorsement on customer’s purchase intention

2.1 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

2.1.1 The concept of Human Brands

According to AMA (American Marketing Association), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services

of one seller and to differentiate it from those of competition” In the information age, the concept of “brand” does not just only refers to goods and services, any person who

is promoted by marketing communications could be considered as a brand (Hirchman

1987, Thomson 2006) Thomson (2006, p.104) states that “any well-known persona who is the subject of marketing communications efforts” could be seen as the human brand In addition, human brand also describes that “the persona, well-known or emerging, who are the subject of marketing, interpersonal or inter-organizational

communications” (Close et al, 2011) For instance, there is a range of human brands in

the world, such as Adam Levine – Maroon 5 (celebrity brand), David Beckham (athlete brand) and Warren Buffett (businessman brand) Whenever a famous person is able to brand himself or herself to become associated with the public and create a special feature for them, they could be viewed as a human brand (Thomson, 2006) Human

brands are used in marketing campaigns as an endorser in order to introduce the product to customers, such as the appearance of an endorser on TV, news, social media, in events relative to the product

Taking advantage of the fan communities as free word-of-mouth marketing tactics, celebrities could also use it as a leverage to accelerate their images, popularity and reputation (McCracken, 1989) Keller (1993) indicates that political nominees of any parties are frequently promoted during the elective period, just like any goods and services Movie stars, professional athletes, scientists or any virtuosos could enhance their brands in the media-driven society, presenting their brands as valuable entity From this study’s concept, human brand is a term which demonstrates an individual promote themselves to achieve a decent status by marketing communications efforts

2.1.2 The concept of Athlete Brand

A wide range of studies identify the athlete brand as one kind of “human brand”, trying

to classify athlete brand precisely; however, a discrete consensus has not been found

Arai et al (2013) state that if an athlete gains a well-known name, distinctive

performance and moral characteristics, they can be seen as a brand In sports and leisure industry, a brand is a name, symbol or design of a sports institute that are used

to distinguish one from another (Shank, 1999) Regarding financial aspects, Till (2001) states that an athlete only can be viewed as a brand if he or she makes a lucrative

income from endorsement contracts According to Stevens et al (2003), athlete brand is

a famous athlete who is considered as a hero in their field, especially millennials With

a further research upon this, Karla (2009) states that the “hero” traits of an individual athlete comprise ethnic personality, social behavior, athlete skills, celebrated status and the connection with other reasons With the proliferation of the Internet and social media, famous, or even notorious athletes are more likely recognized easily by the general public (Jones and Schumann, 2000), leading to the phenomenon that these

athletes could create their own brand Besides, athlete can take full advantage of technology and the Internet to stay in the limelight much longer than their career time, which means that they are still able to be in the center of public attention after their retirement Therefore, athlete brand is a set of prominent attributes that boost the athlete to a supremacy position

2.1.3 The concept of Parasocial Relationship

Parasocial Relationship is the theory designed by Horton and Wohl (1956) that describes the pseudo or one-sided relationship When a person sees the persona on TV, read articles with regard to them or watch them on Youtube, he creates an interest, a bond with this individual, while the individual who appears on media communications

is entirely unaware of this relationship, or the existence of that audience From marketing perspective, customers would create a strong relationship with the human brand over time in the hope of seeing the human brand longer in the future (Rubin & Perse, 1987) In a decent period, customers would feel the human brand as a memorable friend and create an invisible special connection with the human brand The human brand is like a part of audience’s life so they try to encourage, support and protect the human brand from time of crisis

A sense of admiration of customer’s on human brand would bring some positive effects

on the endorsed product (Jennifer, 2015) When seeing human brand as an old friend, customers are easier to be convinced by the message of the marketing efforts and believe the product is exactly what it is advertised In addition, Thomson (2006) implies that once customers are satisfied with the human brand via the image, message, audio that the persona conveys, customers are also satisfied their own autonomy

2.1.4 The concept of Athlete Identification

The concept of Athlete Personality

According to Aaker (1997), brand personality is a person’s distinctive characters which are fit with a brand Furthermore, Brad & Todd (2013) affirm that “brand personalities are adjectives used to describe a brand” When the brand has got favorable and acceptable characteristics, it will have competitive advantage in establishing strong relationship between consumers and the brand (Azoulay & Kapferer, 2003; Brad & Todd (2013)

Understanding these positive effects, enterprises have co-operated with the athlete in order to transfer athlete’s personality to the product For example, H&M (a non-sport firm) used the popularity of David Beckham, who is an internationally acclaimed former soccer player and acquires a reputation for his performance, to promote H&M’s clothes and accessories in the hope of customers could perceive the professional, charming and high-class features of the product According to Brad and Todd (2013), when the brand could possess positive traits, it will “provide a greater opportunity for consumer to develop a strong relationship with the brand” Furthermore, if the company could gain personalities that the endorser has, customers would have a positive predisposition toward products of the company To take sports brands as an instance, these firms often use the image or message of the athlete to advertise sports products since they want to convince customers that the product itself and the brand as

a whole also acquire the extraordinary characteristics, like toughness, vitality and dexterity

Each marketers build up their own brand personality list to make a suitable marketing strategy (Henre, 2010) Nevertheless, there are some brand personality scales which are not suitable with modern businesses, such as the brand personality of Aaker just provides few choices (lower than 5 choices) Therefore, studies about this problem

should be carried on to design a persuasive scale for marketing campaigns With an expanded research in sport management, Brad & Todd state that there are 5 attributes

of athlete personality, which are successful, wholesome, charming, tough and

imaginative

Figure 2.1: The Athlete Identification

Source: Brad and Todd (2013)

“Successful” is a personality referring the achievements, the goals that the athlete has already earned The successful athlete is like a shining star in the team, he or she could easier to be recognized than other players so they could create their own identification

in a team and easily gain the popularity (Brad and Todd, 2013)

“Wholesome” refers to the athlete who is healthy and morally good It means that the athlete always joins the competition with his or her own ability, staying away illegal drugs and putting all efforts to conquer the target of a team When the athlete is

perceived as a wholesome individual, he or she could create their own identification (Brad and Todd, 2013)

“Charming” athlete is a sports player who has physical attractiveness or fashionable lifestyle that audience perceives him as an attractive individual People occasionally think that sports players are unattractive people, so if athlete possesses the charming personality, it would help them to be identified among the large group (Brad and Todd, 2013)

“Tough” is a characteristic that refers to be strong enough to deal successfully with difficult games or matches In business term, the athlete differs from other celebrities since they have to do physically demanding activities; therefore, when he or she is perceived as tough person, people could easily recognize them (Brad and Todd, 2013) Finally, “Imaginative” is the last personality of Brad’s athlete personality scale, which refers to the ability of having new and exciting ideas during the games or matches With various styles of skills in playing sports, audience would have a positive predisposition toward the sportsperson, then increasing the level of athlete identification among the team (Brad and Todd, 2013)

The concept of Source Credibility

In spite of advantages of endorsements and well-known ambassadors for products, it is also problematic itself As a human being, famous people are not always able to control their sense of emotion in some particular situations and keep the image as a perfect celebrity all the time As an example, a well-known actor has to cope with issues happening in his daily life since every single thing that he does always attracts the concern of social media attention, leading to an increase of tension and easily causing scandals Therefore, this could bring some negative impacts on the brand that this actor endorses (Roger & Gunther, 2017) Choosing a suitable endorser for a product is a

crucial issue that marketers in particular and firms in general try to understand, solve and create a strategy for it

Source Credibility (SCM) is a model designed by Hovland et al (1953) to demonstrate

the level of message’s effectiveness “Trustworthiness” and “Expertise” of an endorser

are these 2 factors that directly affect the effectiveness of the message (Hovland et al,

1953) When an endorser has got sufficient credible source, he or she could make an

influence on the belief, point of view, the attitude of receivers (Erdogan et al, 1994) McGuire (1968) and Jessica et al (2016) believe that the audience’s perception of

endorser’s expertise and trustworthiness would result in the impact of the marketing campaign

Trustworthiness is a term of “the honesty, integrity and believability” of an endorser

(Erdogan et al, 1994) Since every single audience has their own perspective about

these features of the endorser, marketers need to select the endorser who is widely accepted as an honest and believable person (Smith, 1973) Consumers are likely to be convinced by a trustworthy endorser rather ran an untrustworthy one as the have a belief that a famous celebrity just only endorse high-end products, whereas a bad product could ruin their reputation, success and even make a life-long scandal Furthermore, Erdogan (1994) finds that customers would believe an endorser on condition that they have something in common, such as ethnic background (Asian, American, European or African), Characteristics (Independent, Humble or Industrious), Lifestyle (Moviegoer, gym-goer, sports aficionado) or hobbies about particular things

Expertise refers to “the knowledge, experience and skills” of the endorser (Erdogan et

al, 1994) When an endorser achieves their success and show their knowledge as well

as skills to the general public, the consumers are easier to believe in what they advertise in the advertisement Hovland and Weiss (1953) find that the expertise of an

endorser is not the expertise itself, it is the consumer’s perception about endorser’s expertise When customers find the endorser expert, they would psychologically feel that the product also possesses the outstanding features Moreover, Aaker (1997) affirms that the expert celebrity could bring more positive effects on customer’s purchase intention rather than the non-expert celebrity

Based on the SCM model, marketers have a tendency to choose a well-known person

to become an image of the marketing strategy efforts Understanding the Source Credibility is necessary because this model not only helps companies to choose sufficient endorsers for advertising, it also creates a significant impact on customers’ reaction

The Source Attractive Theory

The Source Attractive theory conducted by McGuire (1985) is a model expanding upon Source Credibility Model which refers to the attractiveness of the message on message receivers Debevec and Kenan (1984) state that customers have a tendency to create an interest and easily believe if communicators possess physical attraction Physical attraction is the set of an individual’s weight, height, external appearance that impress

others (Bardia et al, 2011) Furthermore, Media communications frequently use

attractive people to advertise or to be a host of programs since customers are impressed and charmed by the beauty of them (Ohanian, 1991) However, Source Attractive Theory indicates not only physical attractiveness but also ethical characteristics could affect consumer’s points of view

According to McGuire (1985), Attractiveness of the message is the “similarity”,

“familiarity” and “liking” of an endorser Erdogan (1999) announces that similarity is

the resemblance between the endorsers or the message conveyors and message

receivers and familiarity is the “the knowledge of the source” while likability is the

feeling of love in receiver’s mind when the message conveyer is a vision of loveliness and possesses attractively physical appearance Moreover, Cohen (1972) states that whether or not the message is successfully conveyed to receivers depending on a process, which is named “Identification” (Erdogan, 1999) This process refers a person’s acceptance of a message based on the physical attractiveness of a

communicator (Jessica et al, 2016; Erdogan, 1999) From marketing perspective, the

effectiveness of an attractive endorser has a huge benefit for the brand under various conditions To take shampoo advertising of Petty (1980) as an instance, the physically attractive endorser always affects persuasion, under high or low condition varies, in the positive way In fact, the effectiveness of an attractive endorser is like a “persuasive visual testimony” (Erdogan, 1999) for the product’s success under low involvement conditions whilst an attractive endorser would positively affect as a “persuasive

product-related cue” (Petty et al, 1980)

The Source Attractive Theory also refers that a likeable endorser would bring a great impact on recall for the brand in customer’s mind (Kahle & Homer, 1985) In addition, Kahle (1985) demonstrates that a beautiful endorser would make more purchase intentions that unattractive one Besides, according to Debevec and Kerman (1984), a female celebrity would create more improved attitudes than famous masculine Ultimately, people have a tendency that a good-looking person is smarter, more successful, more believable, etc This phenomenon is called “halo effect” as a person who is good at a particular field is also an aficionado of other fields so people will judge that person more easily and comfortable (Solomon, 1996; Erdogan, 1999)

In conclusion, there is no denying that attractive endorsers would improve the effectiveness of the message of the brand and are more likely to create purchase making decisions in customer’s mind

2.1.5 The concept of Athlete Endorsement

From general perspective, an athlete is a person who is good at sports, physical exercise within individual sports or group sports However, the proliferation of the Marketing strategies and the Internet has redefined the athlete in a remarkable way According to Turner (2004), sports players have the significant number of fans currently, becoming one of the most valuable assets in sport and leisure industry They can use “public recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (McCracken, 1989) People have a strong desire to know more about their idol’s daily stories, accessories that their idol wears, the place that their idol usually stops by or the service that their idol often gets In addition, Friedman & Friedman (1979) state that athlete endorsers are also a part of celebrity endorsers, beside actors, businessmen, military leaders, entertainers, models and politicians Fans often write some positive articles as well as post news, pictures and videos of their be-loved athletes on Facebook, Twitter, Zalo, Instagram or Youtube, which are social media channels with millions of users, turning to a free word-of-mouth marketing strategy to boost the athlete’s popularity Companies could take advantage of athlete’s reputation and over-connected lifestyle to promote the product to customers by advertising the product in athlete’s matches, letting the athlete uses the product, showing goods and services in athlete’s videos With their reputation as well as public fame, sports stars could use theirs images to represent goods or services of the firm in diverse contexts, namely paid advertisements (Francois & Alain, 2013) To take well-known football players as examples, David Beckham used to be an Endorser of Pepsi, Neymar Jr is an endorser for Redbull and Lionel Messi is Adidas’s endorser Therefore, Athlete Endorsement has played a pivotal and crucial role in modern marketing

2.1.6 The concept of Athlete Transgression

Sport scandal is actions which happen during the games the athlete plays or even in their daily lives that bring devastating effects on the athlete’s career in particular and

sport as a whole (Hughes & Shank, 2005) Furthermore, Kelly et al (2018) state that

sport scandal could be defined as athlete transgression When an athlete does something bad or unethical in sport-related activities as well as in his normal daily life, customers are less likely to believe in him and his performance In marketing contexts, when an athlete endorser involves in scandalous events, the company will also have to suffer from the “negative spillover” of that athlete endorser (Collins & Loftus, 1975) For instance, Tiger Woods, an American professional golfer, did a car crash in the year

2009, resulting in the negative spillover for AT&T, the company that he was the endorser To understand clearly the customers’ responses to Athlete Transgression,

Dae et al (2018) state that types of athlete transgression and the congruence of the athlete and the brand (Carrillat et al, 2010) should be considered to investigate the

effects of scandals on the endorsed brand

2.1.7 Meaning Transfer Process

Meaning Transfer is a process, which is designed by McCracken (1989), in order to show the process of celebrity endorsement (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2016) and bring the meaning to the product Albeit beneficial, Source Credibility Theory and Source Attractiveness Model as well as Match-Up Hypothesis are problematic themselves since these theories cannot guide marketers to choose an appropriate endorser for a marketing campaign Therefore, Meaning Transfer Model plays an important role in explaining the way that meaning of culture and society are conveyed to products through marketing efforts (Varsha & Subhadip, 2015)

There are various types of celebrities, such as “actors, athletes, businessmen, entertainers, military leaders, models, politicians and singers” (Freiden 1984) and each

kind of celebrities could contain a host of meanings Two specific celebrities would have differences in status, sex, demography, age, giving a lot of meaning for marketing

programs (Erdogan et al¸1999) Furthermore, Langmeyer and Walker (1991) notice

that Meaning Transfer Model is a process to explain stages built when the celebrity advertise the product

Figure 2.3: The Meaning Transfer Process

McCracken (1989)

Meaning Transfer Model focuses on Perceived Image (Jessica, James and Gaiden, 2016) and contains 3 stages: (1) the solidification of celebrity’s image in customer’s mind, (2) meaning delivered from the celebrity to a product and (3) meaning conveyed from the product to customers (McCracken 1989, Erdogan 1999) Thanks to their reputation, they could use their images, names as well as their persona to create an impressively unforgettable message

In stage 1, the advertising is used to develop the image of the celebrity Celebrity is radically different from unknown models since “endorsement gives the ad access to a special category of person” (Erdogan 1999) In other words, marketers take advantage

of recognizable people who have already achieved success in their life to transfer more

comprehensive and depth meaning in comparison with unpopular endorsers “Objects,

persons and context” refer the fact that a celebrity can access the variety of groups of

people when they are in media shows, such as films, reality shows or game shows Thus, McCracken (1989) states that new attributes will be resided in famous people

In stage 2, marketers have to identify the attributes of the product and then choose a well-known aficionado or a celebrity who is highly relevant to the product and is able

to represent the product’s attributes so that the meanings could be transferred from the suitable celebrity endorser to the product Besides, these attributes in stage one must be suitable with an endorsed product Nevertheless, choosing a well-matched celebrity is necessary in product marketing, it seems to be impossible since marketers just have general information about customer’s interest and thinking (McCracken, 1989) When

a celebrated person is chosen to be an endorser, the company should create an advertisement that includes meanings needed to be expressed from the celebrity (McCracken, 1989) Involving all outstanding meanings is important as customers could capture any meanings they expect from the advertisement Therefore, if the endorser and the product are not fit each other, the effectiveness of the meaning would reduce significantly (Roger & Gunther, 2017)

In the last stage, customers themselves will transfer the meaning from the product to their daily life, this means that consumers are putting an effort to show their self-image from the product Besides, this stage indicates that the endorser transfers the attributes

of goods and services into the attributes of customers According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), people try to fulfill their needs by giving a huge effort to achieve the things that they want to get but it seems utterly inconceivable as the meaning of product’s value is not able to set itself in customer’s mind automatically Thanks to reputations that they acquire, a famous endorser plays a pivotal role in terms

of becoming a perfect model after which customers could create the value, which is

based on the exemplification of the endorser, and transfer it from the product to their lives (McCracken, 1989) Customers are also a part of Meaning Transfer process; therefore, it is necessary to create a link between customers, an endorser and products

In other words, unless the meaning contained in advertising is perceived by consumers, the reputation of the celebrated endorser is entire useless

2.1.8 The concept of Customer’s Purchase Intention

Purchase intention is a type of decision-making from the entity, which drives them to

buy a specific good or use services (Shah et al, 2012) Besides, Morinez et al (2007)

say that a situation when consumer has a tendency to purchase a product in a certain circumstance is defined as purchase intention Kamins (1989) states that the endorsement is one of the most successful tactics to boost the purchase intention in customer’s mind When they see the endorser on social media, they are more likely to

recall the endorsed product (Petty et al, 1983) The profession and attractiveness of the

endorse would boost the Customer’s Purchase Intention and customer’s will match the products with the characteristics of the endorsers (McCracken, 1989)

2.2 THEORETICAL MODEL

2.2.1 The Brand Personality Model

The Brand Personality Model (BPM) is a theoretical model developed by Brad and D.Todd (2013) in order to determine the list of personal traits that associate with a brand (Aaker, 1997) The BPM has been in the limelight of marketers as well as sport companies to investigate the market and to choose a suitable athletic endorser for their

marketing strategies (Carlson et al, 2009; Heere, 2010)

Figure 2.4: Brand Personality Model

Source: Carlson et al, 2009

The BPM involves five characteristics of an athlete conducted by Aaker (1997) which are “tough”, “successful”, “charming”, “wholesome”, “imaginative” Aaker (1997) states that when these attributes reach a decent level, customers would be more likely

to attach with the brand Furthermore, these components of brand personality affect the prestige and distinctiveness of the athlete Davies (2004) implies that the prestige is the uniqueness, image and respect of an individual, whilst the distinctiveness refers the disparity between the individual and other competitors (Holt, 1995; Brad, 2013) Nevertheless, this model cannot classify a clear relationship between 5 characteristics and prestige or distinctiveness In fact, this paradigm fails in explaining the direct link between brand personality and the prestige or distinctiveness of the athlete Besides, some components are not suitable with modern athlete since sportsman or sportswoman is considered as a celebrity nowadays Thus, re-examining and eliminating old-fashioned component is a must

2.2.2 Perceived Value Model

Figure 2.5: The Perceive Value Model

Lee and partners (2013)

Perceived Value is the hypothesis that defined customer’s perception about the quality

of the product, based on the gap between the value that customers perceive when using the product (quality, benefit and social acceptance) and the cost that customers have to pay ( monetary cost and non-monetary cost) (Zeithaml, 1988) Chen (2003) states that perceived value is the customer’s perspective toward goods and services, depending on net benefits created the exchange of the costs incurred and benefits earned When marketers understand the perceived value in customer’s mind, they are able to examine the advantages and disadvantages of every single alternative strategy so that the company could determine the best features for the product (Fishburn, 1968) This model is the major premise to investigate the reason why customers decide to purchase the product

2.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

According to literature regarding to Athlete Identification, Source Credibility Model, Source Attractive Model, Perceived Value and Match-UP hypothesis, the study conducts hypotheses which are based on these literature reviews

2.3.1 Source Credibility Model and Athlete Personality hypothesis

Gwinner & Swanson (2003) state that one of the most significant attributes which create characteristics of an individual is expertise since it refers to the outstanding features as well as the status of the entity Furthermore, the effectiveness of celebrity’s expertise will bring more ameliorative effects to identify the celebrity (Aaker & Myker, 1987) According to Baker & Tagg (2001) the decision of choosing an endorser

depends on the level of endorser’s expertise perceived from customers Hovland et al

(1953) announce that an endorser achieves sufficient expertise will also acquire the great level of knowledge and skills

In 1976, Friedman et al conducted an experiment to investigation the difference

between the effectiveness of celebrity endorser and that of less famous endorser in advertisement The result was that celebrity endorser who possesses prestige would bring more benefits than ordinary endorser Moreover, Expertise is a vital and critical

feature for endorsers (Akiko et al, 2013)

Athlete’s Expertise is the most important variable that helps an athlete in being recognized by target customers (Braustein & Zhang, 2005) Meenaghan & O’Hahoney (1997) implies that the expertise of the endorser creates a great influence on the

credibility Spry and partners (2011) show that the effectiveness of the expertise of the

source brings some advantages to advertisements

However, there is just limited number of studies with regard to the expertise of the athlete endorser The research of Brad and Todd (2013) did investigate the relationship

of athlete’s expertise and athlete’s identification but they did not classify the variables that affect athlete’s expertise and the intensity of the effect Akiko’s study (2013) has a limitation about the scope of study that they just only did a survey about individual sports and ignored team sports Jessica’s finding (2016) clearly explained the effectiveness of Athlete Identification on customer’s purchase intention; however, they just conduct the study on a small scale as well as the questionnaire is only problematic itself

Therefore, based on Source Credibility Model (Hovland and Weiss, 1951) and Athlete Identification, this study engages a hypothesis with regard to the relationship between Athlete’s Expertise and Customers’ attitude toward athlete Identification

H1: Athlete’s Expertise has a positive effect on the attitude toward Athlete Identification of audience

In addition, Consumers consider the trustworthiness of the athlete endorser as an attribute of dignity, believability and honesty (Subhadip, Varsha &Pragati, 2013) O’Mahoney and Meenaghan (1997) find that the trustworthiness of the athlete affects

athlete identification in a positive way Spry et al (2011) announce that the

trustworthiness bring a significant effect on the endorsement There are many studies focusing on the relationship between general celebrities and the endorsement, but just a few athlete-targeting studies Most of these studies give similar conclusions that the

celebrity’s trustworthiness has a remarkable influence on the endorsement (Friedman et

al, 1976; Friedman and Friedman, 1979; Atkin and Block, 1983; Freiden, 1984)

However, the proliferation of social media and handheld devices has enormously changed the way that marketers advertise the product McCraken (1989) states that

“public recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement”, it means that an athlete is still able to become an endorser In addition,

Athlete is one kind of celebrities in sports and leisure age; therefore, marketers could use results of celebrity endorsement studies in temporary or short-term strategies This hypothesis is added to examine the relationship between athlete’s trustworthiness and athlete identification to have a clear look for marketers

H2: Athlete’s Trustworthiness has a positive effect on the attitude toward Athlete Identification of audience

Attractiveness refers to the similarity, likability and familiarity of the endorser (Ohanian, 1990) When an athlete possesses a decent level of attractiveness, customers are more likely to be convinced since they would have a strong feeling of admiration Besides, Joseph (1982) states that purchase intention of consumers are psychologically affected when the endorser is attractive Braustein and Zhang (2005) conduct a conclusion from their study that the attractiveness of the athlete endorser boosts the identification of athlete among others Misra and Beatty (1990) conclude that there is a relationship between athlete’s attractiveness and athlete identification

However, there is a host of studies that leans towards the view referring that the

attractiveness brings no general effect on endorsement efforts (Kamins 1990, Till et al

2000, Ohanian 1991) From his research, Kamin (1990) draws a conclusion that the attractiveness of the athlete endorser actually has neither positive impact nor negative

impact on marketing campaign efforts Till et al (2000) did find a slight connection

between athlete’s attractiveness and athlete Identification, but they suggest other scholars for investigating clearly this relationship Ohanian (1991) finds that the factor

“attractiveness”, in the end, does not influence the athlete identification

The issue whether or not the link between athlete’s attractiveness and athlete identification, remaining controversial Thus, this hypothesis engaging the relationship

in our model re-investigate the effect of attractiveness on athlete identification

H3: Athlete’s Attractiveness has a positive effect on the Attitude toward Athlete Identification of audience

When the firm wants to convey the product’s attribute with regard to health, strengths, stamina or something related to physically demanding activities, the image of athletes

is often used as a symbol of the product According to Brad & Todd (2013), Toughness

is an element that affects Athlete Identification, indicating the way that the athlete plays during matches In Brad and Todd’s study (2013), they find that Toughness affects not only the prestige of the athlete identification but also the distinctiveness of the athlete identification; however, they cannot differentiate the effect of toughness on prestige and distinctiveness Furthermore, Brad and Todd (2013) ignored to explain the factor “Toughness”, just focusing on the impact of “Wholesome”, “Imaginative” and leading to the confusion whether toughness truly brings impacts on athlete identification

Brad and Todd’s finding (2013) shows the limitation that they only did the survey on athlete in a sports team (the basketball team Dallas Cowboys) and they suggest that further research should re-test the attributes of Aaker (1997) such as Toughness in further research In addition, they only find the link between toughness and the number

of tickets sold in athlete’s match but we consider whether customers believe the athlete endorser being tough enough, they would more likely buy a product or not

From audience’s perspective, athlete first must complete the mission in their match, they have to be strong enough to deal with difficult on-field situations If the athlete cannot show their toughness, just being a weak, indecent player, customers will be more likely to forget or underestimate his or her identification

Thus, this research engages a hypothesis about the relationship between Toughness of the athlete and Customers’ Attitude toward Athlete Identification

H4: Athlete’s Toughness has a positive effect on the Attitude toward Athlete Identification of the audience

transgressions or immoral transgressions (Kelly et al, 2018)

From marketing’s perspective, there are numerous studies showing that athlete transgressions bring negative impacts on the athlete endorsement (Till and Shimp,

1998; Kulik et al, 2001), while many scholars prove that scandals of the athlete do not affect the endorsed product (Lohneiss and Hill, 2014; Carrillat et al, 2014)

However, the intensity of athlete transgression does not only depend on the athlete endorser himself, but also the brand that is endorsed Emerson (1962) states that the effect of athlete transgression is based on the dependency between the athlete and the brand If the product depends too much on the athlete endorser in marketing efforts, the product will suffer more than that of less dependent products when it comes to athlete scandal Thus, fully understanding the complicated link between athlete transgression types and the endorsed product will help marketers in finding solutions to overcome tough periods as well as to boost the revenues of the product

Therefore, this research investigates the effect of Athlete Transgression on Athlete Identification and Athlete Endorsement

H5: The athlete Transgression has a negative effect on Athlete Identification

H6: The athlete Transgression has a negative effect on Athlete Endorsement

2.3.3 Meaning Transfer Model

Meaning Transfer Model (McCracken, 1989) is a 3-stage process that indicates the way the celebrity endorsers use their own reputation to convey the benefits of the product to customers via advertisements In the first stage, if the celebrity achieves acclaimed identification and culture, he or she is able to transfer his or her image to celebrity endorsement Furthermore, according to the expanded research of Walker, Langmeyer (1992), the fame and image of endorsers are delivered to goods and services when these products are stuck with celebrities

There is a range of studies using Meaning Transfer Model as a key process to examine the effectiveness of an endorsement marketing campaign DeBono and Harnish (1988) indicate that an individual have a tendency to be convinced by the source credibility

and attractiveness of spokespeople McCutcheon et al (2003) tried to identify three

stages of Meaning Transfer process in entertainment field and drew the conclusion that customers the athletes could use their images, names as well as their persona to create

an impressively unforgettable message

Meaning Transfer Model helps us to understand the way that meaning of culture and society are conveyed to products through marketing efforts (Varsha & Subhadip, 2015) In Vietnam, Meaning Transfer Model is a suitable and reasonable process which Vietnamese marketers could apply to know exactly where their marketing efforts are in and choose a suitable tactics for stages Vietnamese athlete did not have lots of effectiveness on general audience or even ordinary people; however, since Vietnamese