Alexander Schouten

Who they are

The work of Alexander Schouten reaches this site through the paper listed below. On this site the name is tied to Influencer Endorsement, Source Credibility, Wishful Identification, Perceived Similarity.

Key papers

Schouten, A., Janssen, L., & Verspaget, M. (2020). Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit. International Journal of Advertising, 39(2), 258-281. What it reports: Two experiments (131 and 446 participants) compared celebrity and influencer endorsers with good or poor product fit, using a beauty and fitness product in study 1 and a food and fashion product in study 2. Participants identified more with influencers, felt more similar to them and trusted them more; similarity, wishful identification and trust mediated the link between endorser type and advertising effectiveness (attitude toward advertisement and product, purchase intention); product-endorser fit explained none of the mediating or dependent variables. Credibility defined as trustworthiness and expertise.

Key ideas

Influencer Endorsement: A recommendation delivered by a social media creator whose audience sees them as an ordinary, relatable person, studied as a route to trust and purchase intention.

Source Credibility: How far a message source is seen as trustworthy and expert, the two parts of credibility used in the influencer experiments.

Wishful Identification: Wanting to be like a character or to act like one, measured by Cynthia Hoffner and Martha Buchanan in 2005.

Perceived Similarity: A person's impression of how alike they and another person are, measured separately from how alike the two are on their own answers.

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