Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection, Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money

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1 Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection, Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money Robert T. Wheeler Assistant Professor To cite this article: Robert T. Wheeler Assistant Professor (2009) Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection, Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money, Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 21:1, , DOI: / To link to this article: Published online: 12 Feb Submit your article to this journal Article views: 2950 View related articles Citing articles: 19 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at Download by: [ ] Date: 10 January 2018, At: 07:39

2 Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 21:80 107, 2009 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: print / online DOI: / Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection, Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money ROBERT T. WHEELER Department of Communications, College of Communications, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California, USA Two studies examine celebrity endorsers in a nonprofit context. In Study One a framework is developed incorporating connection (congruence), source credibility, involvement, and gender as key elements in understanding the impact of celebrity endorsers on nonprofit advertising effectiveness. Hypotheses are tested in the course of the studies that manipulate celebrity connection and advertising involvement. Results support the primary model viewing a relationship between the celebrity s connection, source credibility, and intention. Study Two verifies the connection and source credibility findings of Study One, but cannot confirm the impact of the celebrity connection on intention. Study Two includes attractiveness as a source credibility dimension, and increases the number of endorser types. An attractiveness main effect on intention is identified. KEYWORDS nonprofit, advertising, celebrity, endorser, congruence, connection fit, involvement, source credibility, intention, gender The topic of celebrity endorsers in American advertising has an extensive and celebrated history (Kaikati, 1987; Erdogan, Baker, & Tagg, 2001). Use of celebrity endorsers in advertising peaked in the 70s and 80s with at least 20% of the prime-time TV ads featuring a celebrity endorser and then faded, Address correspondence to Robert T. Wheeler, Assistant Professor, Department of Communications, College of Communications, California State University, Fullerton, College Park 460-2, PO Box 3468, Fullerton, CA, rwheeler@fullerton.edu 80

3 Celebrity Endorsers 81 but is in the midst of a revival (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995). The TV Guide Magazine list of best commercials (Post-Gazette.com, 1999), and The 50 Greatest Commercials of the 80s (Gaint, 2006) confirm the popularity of this advertising technique with ten or more of the top 50 ads featuring a celebrity endorser. Research over the last thirty years is centered on two areas of celebrity endorser advertising effectiveness. The first research area identifies suitability factors of different source types for products (Baker and Churchill, 1977; Freiden, 1984; Friedman & Friedman, 1979; Kahle & Homer, 1985; Kamins, 1989, 1990; Lynch & Schuler, 1994; Maddux & Rogers, 1980; Till & Busler, 2000; Till & Shimp, 1998). The second research area looks at the persuasive impact of ad subject involvement (Homer & Kahle, 1990; Kahle and Homer, 1985; Mowen & Brown, 1981; Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). Unfortunately, these studies make no distinction between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Additionally, nonprofit is an important and fastgrowing advertising and promotional area. The annual amount of advertising and promotion spending by nonprofit organizations with revenues greater than $10 million is $7.6 billion annually (Watson, 2006). Despite the growth, the impact of celebrity endorsers and involvement in a nonprofit context is not fully explored. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to enhance our knowledge and fill in literature gaps concerning the advertising effectiveness of celebrity endorsers in a nonprofit setting. This experiment examines the effect and interaction of: 1) the connection of the celebrity; 2) the ad subject s involvement - high or low; 3) the ad subject s gender, in relation to source credibility and intention to volunteer time or donate money. To make this study more realistic, a fictional nonprofit was conceived. The Parkinson s Disease Association of America (PDIA) organization is engaged in the fight to find a cure for Parkinson s Disease, a chronic and progressive neurological disease that eventually affects one out of every 200 people in the United States (American Parkinson s Disease Association, Inc., 2007). Study One begins with a review and discussion of important concepts pertaining to advertising effectiveness in a nonprofit context. This is followed by descriptions of the research design and manipulations employed and the results of the experiment. Study Two is presented in a similar manner. The last part of this article includes a discussion of both studies followed by limitations, implications, and opportunities for future research. STUDY ONE Celebrity Advertising Effectiveness In this study, advertising effectiveness deals with persuasion and attitude change. Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann (1983) posit the most popular

4 82 R. T. Wheeler mechanism of how attitude change occurs. They contend that there are two possible routes to attitude change, a central route and peripheral route. The central route is driven by a person s diligent consideration of issue relevant information. central to the true merit of a particular attitudinal position. The peripheral route concludes that an ad subject may not cognitively process the information in the ad, but instead associates the object or issue with positive or negative cues. The peripheral cues in this study are the celebrity and the celebrity s association with the nonprofit organization. While the Petty et al. study deals with involvement s impact on advertising effectiveness, Kahle and Homer (1985) feel that Petty et al. study may have unintentionally matched an attractive celebrity with a personal care product, and this matching may have influenced the results. We will never know whether this linking confounded the outcome of the study, because comparability of celebrities was not a test variable and was not a central concern. In the present study comparability of celebrities is of major importance, because without properly matching celebrities the findings are open to multiple explanations. Even when these variables are controlled statistically, other questions may often arise. A second view of a mechanism describing the interaction between celebrity endorsers and subjects is discussed in Kahle and Homer s, Physical Attractiveness of the Celebrity Endorser: A Social Adaptation Perspective (1985). In this study, Kahle and Homer present a theory of attitude change based on social adaptation (Kahle & Timmer, 1983). This idea supports the existence of match-up between celebrity and object or issue, and states that the adaptive significance of information will determine its impact and not the diligent processing of source and image association. Kahle and Homer continue, Information based on importance may be processed, but its influence may be based on usefulness for adaptation (Kahle & Homer, 1985). Kamins (1990) illustrates this difference between the idea of central and peripheral routes and the social adaptive to attitude change. An attractive female or male model may serve as an effective source of information (a cue à la Petty) for a product that is attractiveness related (i.e., facial cream), and An attractive model in an advertisement may lead some consumers to the idea that use of the product will also enhance their physical attractiveness just as it did for the model, thus providing adaptive information leading to attitude change (Kamins, 1990). Recent work stresses Associative Learning Theory (Till & Busler, 2000). This study discusses the importance of establishing a link between the object and the endorser. This link is expressed in terms of belongingness, relatedness, fit and similarity, and it is this relationship link between the advertised product and the spokesperson that motivates the effectiveness of the celebrity advertising. Till and Busler s two-study work recognizes the power of attractiveness in matching product and celebrity, and then measures the effectiveness of attractiveness along with expertise and

5 Celebrity Endorsers 83 trustworthiness in relation to brand attitude and purchase intention. These present studies conclude that while attractiveness does have a main effect on brand attitude and purchase intention, there is no interaction between product and attractiveness supporting the matching concept. Additionally, they do establish that the spokesperson source dimension of expertise does interact with the product to effect brand attitude, but not purchase intention. In summary, while these studies do provide considerable evidence of relationships between celebrity spokespersons and attitude change, none of these studies discuss the gender of the ad subject in detail, nor do they extend their findings to the nonprofit environment. Celebrity Match-up Matching in the context of advertising describes the fit or congruence between the endorser and the advertised product (Kamins, 1990). Most scholars concur that for a celebrity endorsement to be effective, there needs to be good convergence between the message conveyed by the image of the celebrity and the message (Kahle & Homer, 1985). Michael Kamins (Kamins, 1989, 1990) built his concept of match-up on earlier research from two areas in marketing and the social sciences. In his match-up hypothesis, Kamins argues that the message delivered by the celebrity source and the image of the product must converge for the advertising to be effective. His work focuses on the match-up connection between celebrity attractiveness and product, and emphasizes that the advertising image is more important than the arguments that are presented in the ad. Most agree with Kamins conclusions, i.e., that advertising effectiveness is increased in situations where an attractive celebrity is matched with an attractiveness-related product or service. In the end, Kamins did not take measurements to test the involvement mechanism, and does not offer an explanation of which involvement mechanism he believes is at work in match-up a high involvement centrally processed approach, or a low involvement, peripherally processed path. This leaves the door open for an interesting theoretical question: Is match-up a high or low involvement mechanism? Additionally, Kamins did not test to see if the attractiveness of the celebrity was carried over to intention to purchase. In summary, Study One looks at both the question of the celebrity endorser involvement mechanism and the question of intention to purchase. This is done in a nonprofit setting. Celebrities and Source Credibility Roobina Ohanian published two important studies about celebrity endorsers and source credibility. The first study establishes a measurement scale for

6 84 R. T. Wheeler source credibility that includes the perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness of the celebrity endorser (Ohanian, 1990). In second study, Ohanian ties a celebrity source credibility scale with intention to purchase (Ohanian, 1991). While Ohanian s source credibility scale is valuable in most advertising circumstances, it has not been tested in the nonprofit environment, and there are concerns about the inclusion of the attractiveness dimension with the two other traditional factors of trustworthiness and expertise (Hovland, 1953; Woodside & Davenport, 1974, 1976; Sternthal, Dholakia, & Leavitt, 1978). Even though this study includes an attractive celebrity endorser (Harrison Ford) as an integral part of the advertising messaging tactics, the traditional source credibility factors appear more appropriate for measuring source credibility in a nonprofit situation. Therefore, only expertise and trustworthiness are employed in Study One, but attractiveness becomes a factor in the source credibility construct in Study Two. Based on the previous discussions:1) Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann did not test for the comparability of celebrities when assessing the involvement mechanism; 2) Kamins did not test for the involvement mechanism and intention to purchase in the match-up studies; 3) and Ohanian did not test the source credibility construct in the nonprofit environment. There is, however, a sound theoretical basis on which to add to current literature on celebrity endorser advertising effectiveness in both a for-profit and nonprofit context. Consequently, a central theme in this inquiry is to explore the effects and interaction of the celebrity endorser connection process with the involvement, source credibility, intention, and gender of the ad subject. Connection and Celebrity Endorsers Before hypotheses are presented, an operational description and understanding of the concept of connection used in this inquiry is needed. Connection builds on Kamins match-up hypothesis but does not incorporate the attractiveness dimension. The elements defining the connection of the celebrity endorser with the nonprofit issue do not rely on the image and attractiveness of the celebrity, but on the perceived connection of the celebrity endorser with the nonprofit organization. The operational definition for connection is based on a three-item factor comprising the dependent variable: 1) is the celebrity endorser a fit or unfit choice for the nonprofit ad? 2) is the celebrity endorser a logical or illogical choice for the nonprofit ad? 3) is the celebrity appropriate or inappropriate choice for the nonprofit ad? Michael J. Fox, a Parkinson s disease (PD) victim, is a celebrity closely connected to the fight for a cure for PD. Harrison Ford, who is a comparable celebrity on the dimensions of familiarity and likeability, is not closely connected to the fight for the cure of PD. Both of these celebrities, along

7 Celebrity Endorsers 85 with a fictional average person with PD, Michael D. Jenkins (the control variable), comprise the independent variable used in testing the connection hypothesis. Celebrity Endorser Connection Hypothesis The celebrity connection idea hypothesizes that the message offered by the celebrity endorser and the issue of the nonprofit organization must converge for effective advertising to occur. The stronger and more obvious the connection between the celebrity and the nonprofit issue, the more effective the advertising. Advertising effectiveness is expressed in higher celebrity source credibility leading to greater intention to volunteer time and donate money. Therefore, based on the concept of celebrity connection, questions rising out of previous research, as well as gaps in current knowledge, the following hypotheses are presented: H 1a : H 1b : H 1c : The impact of connection on source credibility is such that source credibility for a connected celebrity is greater than for either an non-connected, comparable celebrity, or an connected ordinary person when compared in an ad for the same nonprofit organization. Intention to volunteer time or donate money will be greater for a connected celebrity than for either a non-connected comparable celebrity, or connected ordinary person. The impact of connection on intention is mediated by source credibility. Involvement Mechanism and Celebrity Endorsers The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) hypothesizes that when an ad subject s personal involvement is high, the central route is more likely to induce effective attitude change, and when an ad perceiver s personal involvement is low, the peripheral route would be best (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). Application of ELM theory in advertising is seen in various messaging strategies. Advertisers may choose a specific messaging route based on the campaign. For example, if an individual is interested in an issue, the individual may engage in more cognitive activity in reviewing the ad, than a person who has no interest in the issue. Stated differently, subjects spend more cognitive time on the qualities of an issue when their involvement is high, rather than low. ELM contends ads that are centrally processed depend on strong argument to change attitudes toward an issue, whereas a peripherally

8 86 R. T. Wheeler processed ad depends more on cues. Cues often associated with low involvement peripherally processed ads are elements such as music, humor, experts and celebrities. Typically, celebrities are thought of as low involvement peripherally processed manipulations or cues intended to generate greater awareness leading to greater intention to act. Following this line of thought, there is support to the belief that a low involvement ad featuring a celebrity endorser will generate higher source credibility resulting in a more significant effect on the ad subjects intention to volunteer time or donate money than the same celebrity endorser featured in a high involvement situation. Consequently, the second hypothesis of celebrity connection is: H 2 : Connection interacts with involvement such that the effect of connection on source credibility is greater under low involvement than under high involvement. Celebrities, Involvement and Ad Subject Gender Beginning with Meyer-Levy (1988), Meyer-Levy and Maheswaran (1988) and Meyer-Levy and Sternthal (1991), and continuing to the present with Brunel and Nelson (2000), gender difference in advertising is a subject that has received considerable attention. Much of this work focuses on how men and women process messages, and where gender differences may occur. The consensus is that men and women process messages differently, and this finding has resulted in ad messaging strategies being developed based on target gender. In this study, it is argued that nonprofit organizations such as PDIA are caused-base entities founded on principles of human decency, caring, and giving, and that these values are echoed by supporters. It is further argued that messaging based on these moral values influence advertising effectiveness, and these messages do affect women and men differently. This proposition is based on the work of Carol Gilligan in her 1990 seminal study, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women Development. In this study, Gilligan proposes that there is a different moral orientation different voice present in women than in men. This voice is one of care and responsibility and of concern and connecting with others. Gilligan s different voice is based on moral concern grounded in responsiveness to others, and this moral orientation dictates providing care, preventing harm and maintaining relationships. Gilligan s moral development work is referred to as the ethics of care (Larrabee & Shank, 1990). Consequently, supported by the work conducted in gender research, there is reason to believe that women may respond differently than men to

9 Celebrity Endorsers 87 ads from nonprofit organizations featuring connected celebrities. Accordingly, the third set of celebrity connection hypotheses are: H 3a : H 3b : Connection interacts with gender such that the effect of connection on source credibility is greater for women than for men. Involvement interacts with gender such that the effect of involvement is different for women than men. Hypothesized Connection Construct of Celebrity Endorsers The model of connected celebrity endorser hypothesized in this inquiry is represented in Figure 1. METHOD - STUDY ONE Pretest A pretest was conducted: 1) to identify any problems with the questionnaire; 2) to select one of two non-connected celebrities (Harrison Ford and Robin Williams); 3) to test the connection and involvement variable manipulations. The pretest variable manipulations were successful and Harrison Ford was selected as the non-connected comparable celebrity. FIGURE 1 Model of Celebrity Connection Hypothesis.

10 88 R. T. Wheeler Method Study One is a factorial model (endorser type: Fox versus Ford versus Jenkins) 6 2 (involvement: high versus low) 6 2 (gender: men versus women) exploring the main effects and interactions of these independent variables on source credibility and intention to volunteer or donate money in a nonprofit environment. Subjects were presented an ad booklet with a series of nonprofit celebrity endorser ads specifically created for this test. Each ad booklet was comprised of three diversion ads and one connection ad. The diversion ads included: a Nancy Reagan ad for the Alzheimer s National Institute of Health; a Paul Michael Glaser ad for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and a Donovan McNabb ad for the American Diabetes Foundation. Three connection celebrity ads were at the center of this research design. They included the following: a Michael J. Fox Parkinson s Disease Institute of America (PDIA) ad, a Harrison Ford PDIA ad, and an ad featuring a fictitious average person with Parkinson s Disease named Michael D. Jenkins for PDIA. This ad was used as the control. To test the connection hypothesis, the three different celebrity PD ads were manipulated such that approximately one third of the subjects saw each of the ads. Each of the ads was identical in every respect with the exception of the headline used in the Harrison Ford ad. Since Ford is not a PD victim, the headline used in this ad read, I m Harrison Ford, and I need your help in fighting Parkinson s disease. The headline used in the other two PD ads read, I m Michael J. Fox (or Michael D. Jenkins) I have Parkinson s disease, and I need your help. In support of the involvement hypothesis, a manipulation of instructions to test subjects was made. Approximately one half of the subjects received high involvement instructions while the other half received low involvement instructions. An explanation of why the subjects were given a series of ads was made. The concern was that without an explanation the subjects would speculate as to the objective of the study and as a result possibly confound the inquiry. The explanation and booklet instructions were similar to those used by Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann (1983). Subjects Four hundred and three university students participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to the cells of a factorial design (Connection 6 Involvement - high or low 6 Gender. There were a total of twelve test sessions with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 74 subjects per session. The test sessions occurred over a two and one-half week period. Of the 403 questionnaires that were administered, only 6 were excluded. Gender make-up was 52% female and 48% male.

11 Procedure Celebrity Endorsers 89 In each test session the researcher randomly distributed the ad booklets, questionnaires and consent forms and provided detailed directions to the subjects: Measures In addition to three demographic variables (gender, year in college and major), the dependent measures for Study One included: Familiarity Familiarity was assessed using two, seven point semantic differential scales (Oliver & Bearden, 1995) in response to the following question: Please indicate how familiar or unfamiliar you are with (name of celebrity/endorser source). The positive anchor points were very familiar, know very well, and the negative anchor points were not very familiar at all, and don t know at all. Likeability Likeability was measured using three, seven point semantic differential scales (Tripp, Jensen, & Carlson, 1994), in response to the following question: Now, tell us about your overall feeling about (name of spokesperson source) by responding to the following question. I find (name of spokesperson source). The positive anchor points were very likeable, very pleasing, and very agreeable, and the negative anchor points were not very likeable, not very pleasing, and not very agreeable. Connection The connection measures were presented in three seven-point semantic differential scales created by the author in response to the following question: As an endorser for Parkinson s disease research, I find (name of spokesperson source) to be. The positive anchor points were logical, a good fit and appropriate, and the negative anchor points were illogical, a bad fit and inappropriate. Involvement Involvement measures were presented in the form of three, seven point semantic differential scales (Johar, 1995), in response to the following question, Would you say that while reading the ad about Parkinson s

12 90 R. T. Wheeler disease featuring (name of the spokesperson), you were The positive anchor points were, were very interested, were very absorbed, and very involved, and the negative anchor points were, not at all interested, not at all absorbed, and not very concerned. Source Credibility Source credibility measures were presented in the form of eight item semantic differential scales representing Ohanian s (1991) trustworthiness and expertise factors, in response to the question, As an endorser for the Parkinson s cause, I find (name of source spokesperson) to be. For the Trustworthiness factor the four positive anchor points were honest, reliable, sincere and trustworthy, and the negative anchor points were dishonest, unreliable, insincere and untrustworthy. The positive anchor points for the Expertise factor were expert, experienced, knowledgeable and qualified, and the negative points were not an expert, inexperienced, unknowledgeable, unqualified. Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money Intention to volunteer or donate money factors were based on items from MacKenzie, Lutz and Belch s (1986) work and asked in response to the question please indicate the likelihood that you would volunteer time to the Parkinson s Disease Institute of America. The positive anchor points for this factor were likely and probable, and the negative anchor points were unlikely and improbable. For the intention to donate money the positive and negative anchor points were exactly the same. RESULTS The source credibility and intention dependent variables were first evaluated with multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). This was followed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA). MANOVA is a common technique used to guard against Type-I errors due to repeated ANOVA s (Zhang & Zinkhan, 2006). Mediation of connection by source credibility on intention was evaluated with regression analysis. Means and standard deviations for the variables are summarized in Table 1. Manipulation Checks Evaluation of the connection manipulation yields a significant difference in the average mean between the connected celebrity Michael J. Fox, the nonconnected celebrity Harrison Ford (Fox M , Ford M , t ,

13 TABLE 1 Tabled Means for Independent and Dependent Variables Independent Variables Dependent Variables Endorser High/Low Male/Female Source Expertise Trustworthiness Intent Vol. Donate M std. dev. M std. dev. M std. dev. M std. dev. M std. dev. M std. dev. Michael J. Fox High Male Female Low Male Female Harrison Ford High Male Female Low Male Michael D. Jenkins Female High Male Female Low Male Female Celebrity Endorsers 91

14 92 R. T. Wheeler p 5,.000) and the connected average person Michael D. Jenkins (Fox M , Jenkins M , t , p 5,.000). Consequently, the manipulation was successful. The involvement manipulation was also successful, displaying a significant difference between the high and low conditions F (1, 390) , p ). Familiarity and Likeability A comparison of the two independent variables of familiarity and likeability was conducted. An independent t-test of these measures indicated there was no significant difference between the two celebrities (familiarity: Fox M , Ford M , t , p 5.588; likeability: Fox M , Ford M , t 5.597, p 5.112). As expected, there was a significant difference between Fox and Jenkins (familiarity: Jenkins M , t , p 5.000; likeability: Jenkins M , t , p 5.000). Initial Analysis An overall MANOVA was first conducted on the two independent measures and their individual sub-components (source credibility 5 trustworthiness and expertise; and intention 5 volunteer and donate) to identify significant interaction and main effects. The MANOVA identified significant connection main effects on expertise (F , p,.001, df 52, 381), trustworthiness (F , p,.001, df 52, 376), volunteer (, F 5 4.2, p 5.015, df 5 2, 381), a marginally significant effect on donate (2, 381; F 5 2.6, p 5.075), and a significant gender main effect on volunteer (2, 380; F , p 5.001). A significant two-way interaction of involvement and gender with expertise (1, 381; F 5 5.4, p 5.020), and a marginally significant interaction of involvement and gender with trustworthiness (1, 381; F 5 3.1, p 5.077). A marginally significant three-way interaction between connection, involvement and gender on source credibility was identified as well as with the two source credibility components (expertise and trustworthiness). No other effects were found to be significant. The subsequent ANOVA analysis found the connection main effect on donate to be significant. The MANOVA provided evidence of mean difference across the proposed model. At the end of the multivariate analysis, ANOVA s were used to test each of the hypotheses. Factor Analysis Reliability tests were performed on each of the factors (Table 2). The factor loadings are significant and substantively large.. Each of the factors yielded a

15 Celebrity Endorsers 93 TABLE 2 Factor Reliability Analysis Factor Number of items in factor Cronbach s a Familiarity Likeable Connection Involvement Source Credibility Trustworthiness Expertise Intention Volunteer Time Donate Money composite reliability exceeding.901. The inter-item correlation among the dimensions ranged from.822 to.949. Connection Hypotheses - H 1a,H 1b, and H 1c ANOVA was conducted on each of the three connection related hypotheses. The ANOVA for hypothesis H 1a indicated that the subjects reported a main effect of connection on source credibility, as well as the two individual dimensions of source credibility: expertise and trustworthiness. These findings support H 1a : The impact of connection on source credibility is such that source credibility for a connected celebrity is greater than for either a non-connected, comparable celebrity, or a connected average person when compared in an ad for the same nonprofit organization (Table 3). The ANOVA of hypothesis H 1b determined that intention to volunteer time or donate money for a connected celebrity is greater than for a nonconnected celebrity or a connected average person. When the intention construct was divided into the two intention component dimensions, both volunteer time or donate money were significant. These findings support Hypothesis H 1b : Intention to volunteer time or donate money will be greater for a connected celebrity than for either the non-connected, comparable celebrity, or the connected average person (Table 4). Regression analysis was used to verify that source credibility mediates connection (H 1c ). Table 5 highlights the results of the recommended TABLE 3 Main Effect of Connection on Source Credibility Independent Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Variable Connection Source Credibility Expertise Trustworthiness

16 94 R. T. Wheeler TABLE 4 Main Effect of Connection on Intention Independent Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Variable Connection Intent Volunteer Donate TABLE 5 Estimated Regression Coefficients for the Impact of Credibility and Source Credibility on Intention Variable Intent Volunteer Donate b t sig b t sig b t sig Connection Source Credibility Connection Source Credibility b 5 standardized coefficient beta. t 5 t-value. sig 5 two tail p-value. procedure (Barron & Kenny, 1989) used to test if mediation of connection on intention to volunteer time or donate money by source credibility was present. The initial regression analysis yielded a complete mediation of connection by source credibility when the intention construct was viewed as a whole or by the individual volunteer time or donate money factors. These findings support Hypothesis H 1c : The impact of connection on intention will be mediated by source credibility. Involvement Hypothesis H 2 Table 6 provides the results of the ANOVA procedure used to test the H 2 interaction hypothesis of connection and involvement on source credibility. While the manipulation of the independent variable involvement was effective, the analysis of the interaction between involvement and TABLE 6 Interaction of Connection and Involvement with Source Credibility (Experience and Trustworthiness) Independent Variable Connection and Involvement Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Source Expertise Trustworthiness

17 Celebrity Endorsers 95 connection on source credibility showed no significant relationship. Therefore, Hypothesis H 2, Connection interacts with involvement such that the effect of connection on source credibility is greater under low involvement than under high involvement, was not proven. Gender Hypothesis H 3a and H 3b An ANOVA for Hypothesis H 3a was conducted to assess the interaction of connection and gender on source credibility. The tests revealed no significant interaction between connection and gender on source credibility. Therefore, Hypothesis H 3a, Connection interacts with gender such that the effect of connection on source credibility is greater for women than for men, was not confirmed (Table 7). As anticipated in H 3b there is an interaction between gender and involvement with source credibility. This interaction is also seen on the individual factors comprising source credibility. Both expertise and the trustworthiness factors were significance. Therefore, Hypothesis H 3b, Involvement interacts with gender such that the effect of involvement is different for women than men, was confirmed (Table 8). REVISED CONSTRUCT Based on the analysis conducted, the hypothesized connection construct for this study has changed materially from that originally proposed. Figure 2 presents this new construct. TABLE 7 Interaction of Connection and Involvement with Source Credibility Independent Variables Connection and Gender Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Source Credibility Expertise Trustworthiness TABLE 8 Interaction of Gender and Involvement with Source Credibility Independent Variable Gender and Involvement Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Source Expertise Trustworthiness

18 96 R. T. Wheeler FIGURE 2 New Model of Celebrity Connection Hypothesis. STUDY TWO Study Two addresses two questions generated in Study One. The first question asks, Will including additional endorser/source types change the outcome of celebrity connection, source credibility and intention? The second question asks, Will including the attractiveness factor with expertise and trustworthiness in the source credibility construct yield different celebrity connection, source credibility and intention outcomes? Expanded Endorser/Source Options In Study One, three endorsers appear in the print ads encouraging the ad subjects to volunteer time or donate money to the PDIA: Michael J. Fox a connected celebrity; Harrison Ford a celebrity of comparable familiarity and likeability, not connected to the PD cause; and Michael D. Jenkins, the experiment control, an average person and PD victim. A concern of Study One is that too few endorser/source types are compared, and that expanding the source set may yield greater understanding of the connection construct. As a result, in this second study, two additional sources are included: 1) a nonconnected average person; 2) a cause-based nonprofit institution entity (PDIA). The last source is the control for Study Two. The new hypotheses developed to test the expanded set of source conditions is similar in all respects to Study One except there are five source conditions rather than three. Consequently the hypotheses are: H 1a : The impact of connection on source credibility is such that source credibility for a connected celebrity is greater than for a nonconnected, comparable celebrity, a connected ordinary person, an non-connected average person, or the connected nonprofit

19 Celebrity Endorsers 97 H 1b : organization, when compared in an ad for the same nonprofit institution. Intention to volunteer time or donate money will be greater for a connected celebrity than for a non-connected, comparable celebrity, a connected average person, a non-connected person or a connected nonprofit institution. Attractiveness Factor and Source Credibility An additional concern in Study One was that an abbreviated source credibility construct was used to test source effectiveness on intention. Inclusion of the attractiveness factor in the source credibility construct has received much attention in recent years (Bower, 2001; Kamins, 1990; Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Till and Busler, 2000). The findings of theses studies are mixed relative to the effectiveness of the attractiveness factor. Additionally, none of these studies tested attractiveness in a non-profit context. Therefore, there is sufficient support to argue that attractiveness should be included as a source credibility factor. Consequently, the third hypothesis is: H 2 : The attractiveness factor of the source credibility construct (Ohanian, 1990) will have a significant effect on the intention to volunteer time or donate money. METHOD - STUDY TWO Method Method, design method and administration of Study Two is similar in all respects to Study One. The one exception is that a pre-test manipulation connection was not conducted because of the successful pretest and test in Study One. Study Two is a factoral design (endorser type: Fox versus Ford versus average person #1 versus person #2 versus research organization) 6 2 (gender: men versus women). This study considers a greater selection of source spokespersons and a broader range of inter-factor items for measuring source credibility and intention (264 females and 269 males). Subjects Five hundred and thirty-nine university students participated in the study. Subjects were assigned randomly to the cells of a factorial design (Connection: Michael J. Fox; Harrison Ford; Michael D. Jenkins connected; Michael D. Jenkins not connected; and PDIA 6 Gender: Male or Female). Eleven test sessions were held with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 101

20 98 R. T. Wheeler subjects each. The test sessions occurred over a one and one-half week period. Of the 539 questionnaires administered, only six were excluded. The primary reason for exclusion was that subjects chose not to participate, and the questionnaire was entirely blank. This left 533 subjects for further analysis (264 females and 269 males). RESULTS The source credibility and intention dependent variables were first evaluated with MANOVA. This was followed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Means and standard deviations for the dependent and independent variables are summarized in Table 9. Manipulation Check Evaluation of the connection manipulation in the final test yields a significant difference between groups, F (4, 528) , p,.000. Familiarity and Likeability An analysis of the two independent variables familiarity and likeability was conducted. An independent t-test of these measures indicated there was no significant difference between the two celebrities on the familiarity measure (Fox M , Ford M , t , p 5.366); There was, however, significant difference on the likeability measure (Fox M , Ford M , t , p 5.045). As expected there was a significant difference between Fox and the other endorser/sources on both familiarity and likeability (familiarity: Fox M , Jenkins connected, M , t , p 5.000; Jenkins not connected, M , t , p 5.000; PDIA, M , t , p 5.000; and likeability: Jenkins connected, M , t , p 5.000; Jenkins not connected, M , t , p 5.000; PDIA, M , t , p 5.000). Since there was a significant difference between Fox and Ford on the likeability factor it would need to be controlled in the subsequent analysis. This would be done to avoid the potential confound that Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann may have experienced in their 1983 study. Factor Analysis Reliability tests were performed on each of the factors (Table 10). The factor loadings are significant and substantively large. Each of the factors yielded a composite reliability exceeding.873. The intercorrelation among the dimensions ranged from.959 to.820.

21 Celebrity Endorsers 99 TABLE 9 Tabled Means for Key Dependent and Independent Variables Independent Variables Source Male/ Female Dependent Variables M std. dev. M std. dev. M std. dev. Source Expertise Trustworthiness Attractiveness M std. dev. Michael J. Fox Male Female Harrison Ford Male Female Michael D. Jenkins Connected (#1) Michael D. Jenkins Unconnected (#2) Male Female Male Female PDIA Male Female Independent Variables Source Male/ Female Dependent Variables Intention Volunteer Donate M std. M std. M std. dev. dev. dev. Michael J. Fox Male Female Harrison Ford Male Female Michael D. Jenkins Male connected Female Michael D. Jenkins Male unconnected Female PDIA Male Female ANOVA Analysis The subjects responses to the questionnaire were submitted to a (Connection 6 Gender 6) analysisofvariance(anova).thisanalysis gave precedence to the hypothesized interaction between the celebrities (Fox, Ford, Jenkins #1, Jenkins #2, and PDIA), gender (male, female) and the dependent variables of source (trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness) and intention (volunteer and donate). For clarity of presentation, means and standard deviations are presented in Table 10.

22 100 R. T. Wheeler TABLE 10 Factor Reliability Factor Number of items in Cronbach s a factor Familiarity Likeable Connection Source Credibility Trustworthiness Expertise Attractiveness Intention Volunteer Time Donate Money Test of Connection Hypotheses - H 1a, and H 1b An ANOVA was conducted for both connection related hypotheses H 1a, and H 1b. The ANOVA for hypothesis H 1a indicated a main effect of connection on source credibility. Additionally, there was a significant main effect between subject groups on all three factor dimensions of source credibility: trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness. These findings support Hypothesis 1a : The impact of connection on source credibility is such that source credibility for a connected celebrity is greater than for either a non-connected, comparable celebrity, or a connected average person, a non-connected average person and a PD research organization, when compared in an ad for the same nonprofit organization (See Table 11). An ANOVA was conducted for hypothesis H 1b and it was determined that intention to volunteer time or donate money for a connected celebrity is not greater than any of the four other connection conditions (Table 12). When the intention construct was divided into the two dimensions of intention, both volunteer time and donate money were not significant. These findings did not support Hypothesis H 1b : Intention to volunteer time or donate money will not be greater for a connected celebrity than for either the unconnected, comparable celebrity, or the connected average person. TABLE 11 ANOVA: Main Effect of Connection on Source Credibility Independent Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Variable Connection Source Credibility Trustworthiness Expertise Attractiveness

23 Celebrity Endorsers 101 TABLE 12 Main Effect of Connection on Intention Independent Dependent Variable df SS MS F Sig. Variable Connection Intention Volunteer Donate Test of Attractiveness Factor - Hypothesis H 2 Table 13 provides the results of an ANOVA procedure to test the H 2 hypothesis of individual dimensions of source credibility and their effects on intention. Trustworthiness effect on intention showed no significant relationship. On the other hand, both expertise and attractiveness have significant main effects on intention. Therefore, Hypothesis H 2, The three factors of source credibility will have a main effect on intention to volunteer or donate money, is not fully supported. DISCUSSION Major aims of these studies were to generate knowledge and to broaden our understanding of the connected celebrity in a nonprofit context. In doing so, a number of findings emerge that contribute to our knowledge of the relationships of connection, involvement and gender in nonprofit, causebased advertising. Building on previous research from the for-profit sector, the first finding of Study One validates that a celebrity who is closely connected to a nonprofit organization through experience and proper fit will generate greater source credibility than will a comparable celebrity or a connected average person in an ad for that organization. The second finding is that the source credibility generated by the connected celebrity will directly affect intention to volunteer time and donate money. The third finding is that ad subject involvement plays a significant role in determining level of source credibility and intention. The fourth finding is that the gender of the ad subject is an important factor and must be seriously considered when creating nonprofit advertising. TABLE 13 Main Effect of Trustworthiness, Expertise and Attractiveness on Intention Dimensions of Source Credibility df SS MS F Sig. Trustworthiness Expertise Attractiveness

24 102 R. T. Wheeler Study Two further adds to our knowledge in nonprofit advertising in at least two ways. First, this study reconfirms the effect that a closely connected celebrity does generate high source credibility; the effect of the connected celebrity, however, did not extend to intention to volunteer time or donate money, as it did in Study One. Second, attractiveness and expertise of the celebrity have a significant effect on intention, while trustworthiness does not. This was unlike Study One where both trustworthiness and expertise were significant. Study One and Two strongly support the connection hypothesis; i.e., celebrities who are well matched to a nonprofit organization will generate higher source credibility than will other less-connected celebrity endorsers. In Study Two, however, the effect of a connected celebrity with high source credibility did not lead to a significantly different and higher intention to volunteer time and donate money. There are at least three explanations for this occurrence. The first, and most obvious explanation, is that celebrity connection does not have a main effect on intention to volunteer time or donate money, and Study One was somehow incorrect in making that inference. A second explanation is that adding the two new sources to the design, from three to five, has changed the outcome significantly. A follow up ANOVA test that withheld the two new sources (Jenkins not connected and the PDIA entity) reaffirms the main effect of the celebrity connection on intention that was inferred in Study One. A third, and equally probable explanation, is that the decline in Fox s overall mean for connection (26%), source (214%) and intention (27%), was much greater than Ford s overall mean change for connection (21%), source (+2%) and intention (22%) for this same period. Was this change in the subjects perception of these factors due to the thirteen-month interval between Study One and Study Two, to the addition of attractiveness factor to the source credibility measure, or were these celebrities not comparable as the likeability measure suggests? Findings of both studies complement previous research of celebrity advertising effectiveness in the for-profit environment. This confirmation of celebrity connection in a nonprofit context establishes an empirically based link between for-profit and nonprofit celebrity advertising effectiveness that was previously based on supposition. Additionally, these studies construct new knowledge on how the mechanisms of source credibility and involvement interact with gender in a nonprofit context. In spite of the findings, it is premature to conclude that interaction of the ad subjects gender and involvement is different for women and men. One can certainly argue that the gender findings are based on the proposition that women are attuned to a moral and caring orientation with the other voice. Appealing to moral values should require more cognitive activity resulting in what is more closely allied to high-involvement than low-involvement elaboration.