Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Impulse Buying Behaviour Among University Undergraduates

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between celebrity endorsement and impulse buying behavior among university undergraduates. The participants were 244 undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. They comprised of 112 males (45.9%) and 132 females (54.1%). Data were collected using Ohanian (1990) celebrity endorsement scale and Rook and Fisher (1995) impulse buying behaviour scale. Pearson product moment correlation statistic was used for the analysis. The results revealed that expertise (r=.17, p<.05), attractiveness (r=.24, p<.01) and trustworthiness (r=.19, p<05) all had a significant positive relationship with impulse buying behaviour. The implication of these findings is that since these young consumers are easily influenced by these celebrities, firms and marketers may use that medium to exploit them. It was then recommended that Nigerian Consumer Protection Council should come up with good policies that will see that manufacturers and marketers are not exploiting the use of celebrity endorser to deceive consumers into buying products that are of substandard quality.