Title

How negative celebrity publicity influences consumer attitudes : the mediating role of moral reputation

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Journal of Business Research

Publication Date

8-1-2013

Volume

66

Issue

8

First Page

1013

Last Page

1020

Publisher

Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Negative publicity, celebrity endorsement, morality, Asia, attitudes

Abstract

This paper explores consumer reactions to negative celebrity publicity. We draw from the sociological analysis of morality and propose that an individual's concerns with moral norms of the target celebrity's personal conduct (deontology) and perceived wrongness of his/her act to the general public (teleology) have detrimental effects on celebrity endorsements. The results based upon a convenience sample of young Asian consumers reveal the crucial role of the evaluation of moral reputation in shaping respondents' reaction to the poorly behaving celebrity and the endorsed brands. The major implication is that moral reputation is an important bridging connection between the attribution process and consumers' reaction to negative celebrity publicity and therefore the celebrity endorser's moral reputation should be incorporated into celebrity endorsement research. Our approach captures a broad sociological process underlying consumer resistance to erratic behavior of celebrity endorsers.

DOI

10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.12.025

Print ISSN

01482963

E-ISSN

18737978

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Whitla, P. A., & Zhou, L. (2013). How negative celebrity publicity influences consumer attitudes: The mediating role of moral reputation. Journal of Business Research, 66(8), 1013-1020. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.12.025

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