Role of Credibility of Phenomena in Attitude Toward Advertising

Abstract

Having a huge transformation in conjunction with transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, the Internet gave rise to emergence of micro-celebrities called phenomena and led the concept of influencer marketing which uses these celebrities as the basic decision makers to gain popularity among today's marketing activities. Many studies reveal that the phenomena (influencers) acting as "senders" in online marketing activities influence their followers and activate them in desired direction. In the present study conducted in this direction, the impact of the credibility, attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness of the phenomena on the attitude toward advertising was examined. The research was done on university students. The correlation analysis made in the study to reveal if there is a significant correlation between the credibility dimensions of attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness of the phenomena and the attitude toward advertising shows that there are significant correlations between all three dimensions and attitude toward advertising (r=0.46, p<0.01 for attractiveness; r=0.26; p<0,01 for expertise; r=0.31; p<0,01 for trustworthiness). Furthermore, the results of the research show that only the attractiveness dimension of the phenomena among their credibility dimensions (attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness) has a significant impact on the attitude toward advertising.