How Influential are Corporate Credibility and Endorser Attractiveness When Innovators React to Advertisements for a New High-Technology Product?

Abstract

The introduction of new technological products makes it important for marketers to understand how innovators or first adopters respond to persuasion cues. In this study, corporate credibility and endorser attractiveness were manipulated to determine their relative influence on innovators' attitudes toward the brand and their purchase intentions. The degree of consumers' innovativeness for cell phones as well as their perceptions of the newness of the advertised product were measured independent variables. Subjects (n = 81) were shown an advertisement for a fictitious new cell phone. The results showed that consumer innovativeness and perceived product newness were independent constructs that had independent effects on attitude toward the brand and purchase intent for the new product. The results also suggested that corporate credibility was equally important to innovators and non-innovators, and endorser attractiveness was relatively unimportant to both in assessing a new high-technology product. Thus, marketers and advertisers may want to consider all four variables when developing promotional campaigns for new high-technology products.