Measuring personality congruency effects on

consumer brand intentions in

celebrity-endorsed brands
Nilesh Arora
Department of Management, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India
Sanjeev Prashar
Department of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Raipur, Raipur, India
Sai Vijay Tata
Department of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, Ranchi, India, and
Chandan Parsad
Department of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya, Bodh Gaya, India

Abstract
Purpose – Brand managers frequently use well-known celebrities to position their brands and capture consumers’ attention to improve the brand’s
market share. The attachment of a celebrity with a brand creates a human image for a brand and helps in personifying its image. The consumer
perceives the brand as an individual and relates his personality, as well as the personality of the celebrity with that of the brand. It becomes
pertinent for marketers to understand how brand-celebrity personality congruence and brand-consumer personality congruence affect the brand
reputation, uniqueness and purchase intentions. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between the two personality
congruence aspects – brand & celebrity personalities and brand & consumer personalities, and their impact on the reputation of the brand and its
uniqueness. Further, the paper aims to examine the impact of the brand reputation and brand uniqueness on purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach – The present study uses Aaker’s five-factor personality scale to study the personality congruence effects on brand
reputation, brand uniqueness and purchase intentions. The literature review was carried out to categorize factors related to celebrity personality,
brand personality and consumer personality. The data for this study was collected through questionnaires from 1,235 respondents. In the first step,
congruencies between celebrity, brand and consumer personality were determined. This was followed by a two-stage structural equation modelling
for assessing the model fit and testing the hypotheses.
Findings – From the study results, it is observed that brand-celebrity congruency influences brand reputation and brand uniqueness. However,
brand-consumer congruency had an effect only on brand reputation and not on brand uniqueness. Both brand reputation and uniqueness have
favourable impact on consumers purchase intentions.
Originality/value – This study contributes to the existing literature on celebrity endorsement by extending the discussion with personality-based
congruence. The research deciphered two aspects of identification, i.e. consumer-brand personality congruence and brand-celebrity congruence. The
paper hypothesized the favourable association between brand personality and consumer personality congruence and brand uniqueness. However, it was
observed that brand personality-consumer personality identification had an insignificant influence on brand uniqueness. This is contrary to the findings
of some studies in the literature. Further investigation of this relationship in the future may add a new dimension to the identification context.
Keywords Brand reputation, Brand uniqueness, Brand-celebrity congruency, Brand-consumer congruency
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Celebrities have always been a point of attraction to the common
man since ages. Celebrity endorsement is a process where a
brand imbibes the personality of a well-known individual called a
celebrity. People aspiring to become like their favourite
celebrities, dress and behave like them, idealize and identify with
them. Marketers have been using the charm and charisma of the
celebrities for influencing consumers and generating a positive
inclination towards their brands. Besides assessing products by
looking into their physical traits or their utility, consumers choose
brands in a manner they choose their friends because they
personify brands such as individuals. Marketing managers

The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald for their valuable comments and inputs to the authors.
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0736-3761.htm Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant/fund from
funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Received 11 February 2020
38/3 (2021) 251–261 Revised 26 July 2020
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] 20 November 2020
[DOI 10.1108/JCM-02-2020-3634] Accepted 23 December 2020

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 Personality congruency
Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad
attempt to decode the consumers connect with the brand
characteristics, and how they personify a brand. The active
involvement of celebrities on social media and frequent public
appearances has been effective in creating connections with the
consumer. The present study endeavours to decipher the effects
of the endorser, consumer and brand personalities, congruencies
(brand-celebrity and brand-consumer) on brand reputation,
uniqueness and brand intentions.
The extant literature in the domain prominently focuses on the
importance of celebrities in the branding and promotion
strategies. Various perspectives include meaning transfer effect,
congruence effects, celebrity credibility, attractiveness and
expertize. The success of marketing communication mostly
hinges on the consumer’s perception of the knowledge and
credibility of a celebrity endorser (Spry et al., 2011). Celebrity
endorser and endorsed product congruence play a vital role in
celebrity featured marketing communication (Fleck et al., 2012;
Till et al., 2008). Nataraajan and Chawla (1997) and Till and
Busler (2000) focused on the association between a celebrity’s
image and expertize related to the product. While earlier studies
including Joseph (1982) and Peterson and Kerin (1977) have
emphasized on source attractiveness, Misra and Beatty (1990)
have explored the congruency effects of a celebrity endorser and
the brand endorsed in terms of brand recall. However, merely
having a brand relationship with an endorser may not be
sufficient for the brands’ success (Zhou and Whitla, 2013). Thus,
having clarity about the processes that trigger bond remains a vital
question for marketing managers (Bergkvist and Zhou, 2016).
The present study addresses the gaps in endorsement research,
where the congruency effects have been studied with a focus on
personality. Earlier research studies have validated the construct-
brand personality, to decipher a user’s acuity towards various
brands. Freling and Forbes (2005) observed that personality
construct plays an important role in creating advertising strategies
for the brand. Wang et al. (2009) highlighted the role of brand
personality-consumer personality match on consumers’ buying
intentions. According to Ambroise et al. (2005), brand promise,
confidence and alliance are the outcomes of brand personality
perception. Like celebrities, brands and consumers do have
personalities. Few studies have validated the personality
congruence effects on the consumer’s brand attitude and
purchase intentions (Pradhan et al., 2016). However, Albert et al.
(2017) and Knoll and Matthes (2017) have negated the influence
of celebrity-brand congruence and other celebrity models on
brand intentions. The current research attempts to understand
the association between the two personality congruence aspects –
brand and celebrity personalities and brand and consumer
personalities, and their impact on the reputation of the brand and
its uniqueness. Further, the impacts of the brand reputation and
brand uniqueness have been studied on purchase intentions.
This research is noteworthy in contributing to celebrity
endorsement literature. It amalgamates celebrity, brand and
consumer personality fitment, perceived brand reputation and
uniqueness into a single model to assess the impact of
personality congruence on brand purchase intentions. Thus,
the study aims to broaden the congruence research to include
the relationships between personality congruence, brand image
and purchase intentions.
The succeeding part deliberates the review of literature
related to celebrity endorsement components under study –
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celebrity, brand and consumer personality fitment, brand
reputation and uniqueness. Based on this, the research
framework was proposed and hypotheses have been
formulated, which have been explained in the next section.
Thereafter, the research methodology used and the findings
from hypotheses testing have been described. This is followed
by the discussion on managerial implications, limitations of the
research and the directions for future study.
Conceptual framework
Brand personality
Brand personality has emerged as an important construct in
endorsement literature that plays a significant role in
understanding the consumer’s behaviour and intention towards
various brand categories (Freling and Forbes, 2005; Plummer,
1985). Consumers relate themselves with the brand when they
find their own traits match with that of the brand. As per King
(1970), consumers personify brands as individuals. Brand
personality is identified as a set of physical and psychological
traits connected with a brand. To measure the personality of a
brand, Aaker (1997) proposed five elements – sincerity,
excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. While
sincerity includes honesty, wholesomeness and down-to-earth
aspects, excitement has been classified as energetic, creative,
daring and advanced. Competence has been explained through
the constructs such as reliability, intelligence and being
successful. Sophistication pertains to being upper class and
attractive. Finally, ruggedness has been defined as outdoorsy and
tough. With reference to meaning transfer theory (McCracken,
1989), the celebrity endorser’s characteristics such as reputation,
class and charisma are reassigned to the brand via endorsement
act. The consumption of a specific brand is stimulated by the
consumer’s urge to articulate his personality (Belk, 1988). A
brand personification acts as a vital symbolic connection to the
development of brand value, attitude towards the brand and
consumer brand attachment (Ouwersloot and Tudorica, 2001).
Match-up hypothesis
The “match-up hypothesis” discovers the congruence between
the celebrity endorser and the brand associated (Kamins, 1990)
and its succeeding influence on consumer buying intentions. It
postulates that advertising communication is perceived to be
successful if there exists a “fit” between the brand and its
endorser (Till and Busler, 2000). Erdogan (1999) also supported
that a celebrity with high brand compatibility improves the
efficiency of an advertising campaign. The congruence could be
between the brand personality and celebrity (Mishra et al., 2015),
pleasant celebrity appearance (Tingchi Liu et al., 2007), celebrity
attractiveness (Fleck et al., 2012; Arora et al., 2019b) and
knowledge (Lee and Thorson, 2008). Research scholars have
used a range of phrases to elucidate fitment as Kamins and
Gupta, (1994) expressed it as a match, Fleck and Quester (2007)
as “congruence”, Walker et al. (1992) as “consistency” and
Bower and Landreth (2001) as “match up”.
Personality congruence
In the context of brand and the celebrity, the construct
“personality” has received considerable attention in consumer
behaviour research (Carlson and Donavan, 2013;
 Personality congruency
Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad
Pradhan et al., 2016; Choi and Rifon, 2012; Albert et al., 2017).
“Personality match” plays an important role in creating brand
acceptance and developing a positive consumer perception.
Consumers have a favourable inclination towards the brands
that are close to their personality (Armutlu and Üner, 2009;
Cowart et al., 2007; Grubb and Hupp, 1968; Kressmann et al.,
2006; Quester et al., 2000; Sirgy and Danes, 1982; Sirgy et al.,
2008). Individuals react positively to the endorsers who look
like them, which, in turn, positively affects the purchase
intention (Arora et al., 2019a, 2019b; Erdogan, 1999). Chebat
et al. (2006) observed that personality match has a favourable
impact on store quality perception. According to Madrigal and
Chen (2008), consumer attaches to the sports teams that match
well to his or her own real or ideal self. This was also supported
by Carlson et al. (2009). In line with a meaning transfer model,
Wansink and Ray (1996) also advocated the positive effects of
personality congruency. Thus, the construct has a valid and
high relevance for the marketing managers in context to a
celebrity endorsement.
Brand reputation and uniqueness
The endorsement literature envisages two main aspects of a
person’s identification, namely, reputation (Bhattacharya et al.,
1995) and uniqueness (Mael and Ashforth, 1992). While
reputation pertains to the exceptionality, esteem and status of
the object or the person (Davies et al., 2004), uniqueness
relates to how the object or the individual is distinctive from all
(Holt, 1995). Thus, brand prestige or reputation is
characterized as the status or the image of the product
connected with a brand (Baek et al., 2010; Steenkamp et al.,
2003). A high-esteemed brand adds to the reputation of the
consumer as it symbolizes the social status, wealth or power;
these brands are part of infrequent purchase and have strong
ties with an individual’s self-concept and social repute. This
adds to the consumer’s perceived value of the spending through
prestige and noticeable consumption (Baek et al., 2010; O’Cass
and Frost, 2002); thereby, favourably influencing consumers’
attitude, intentions and loyalty. Carlson et al. (2009) also
suggested that brand personality attributes effect the reputation
and uniqueness of a sports team. In this light, we propose that
brand personality congruence with consumer personality and
celebrity personality will unswervingly influence brand
reputation and uniqueness, which shall further influence the
shoppers’ purchase intention of the brand.
Proposed framework
Figure 1 presents the research model proposed in this study.
Figure 1 Proposed model
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Theoretical framework
Social identity theory and meaning transfer model
The current study considers the social identity theory and the
meaning transfer model to formulate the model framework.
Presenting a theoretical basis to explain identification, “social
identity theory” offers a constructive and significant framework
for investigating the association among brand, consumer and
celebrity endorser personality and endorsement pairings. The
social identity of a person is derived from the social groups to
which she/he belongs. Social identity encompasses those
aspects of a person’s self-image that evolve from the social sets
to which he is affiliated, and these social sets define one’s
position within the social arena (Bhattacharya et al., 1995;
Hogg et al., 1995; Tajfel and Turner, 1985). Consumers’
impetus to match with a brand and an endorser can be
deciphered by studying the meaning-transfer model
(McCracken, 1989) within a social identification setup.
Consumers strive to enhance their status and identity with both
social identity theory and the meaning-transfer model. They
attach themselves to the celebrity with whom they identify
themselves and refer them in addressing their consumption
needs.
Formulation of hypotheses
Owing to their growing importance and worth for marketing
professionals, celebrity endorsements and match-up hypothesis
have been important areas of research. The discussion below
delineates the research carried out in this area, the theories that
outline the foundation of the hypotheses formulated for the
present research and the model thereof, explaining the
influence of brand personality-consumer personality
congruence and brand personality-celebrity personality
congruence on brand reputation, brand uniqueness and
purchase intention (PI).
Brand personality-consumer personality congruence and brand
reputation and uniqueness
Brand personality-consumer personality congruence is
understood as the perceived resemblance between the image of
the brand and that of the consumer (Tuškej et al., 2013). Sirgy
(1982a) proposed that a relationship exists between the brand
personality-consumer personality congruence and consumer
choice. Brand-consumer congruence is a significant construct
in developing acceptance of a brand (Dolich, 1969; Landon,
1974). Kwak and Kang (2009) also observed that personality
match and professed quality have a significant influence on
consumer buying intent. A consumer expresses himself or
herself (Belk, 1988), an ideal self (Malhotra, 1988) or specific
dimensions of the self (Kleine et al., 1993) by associating his or
her personality or identity with that of the brand. Carlson et al.
(2009) reported that sports teams have unique personalities,
which is a significant predictor of their reputation and
uniqueness. Individuals try to attach to the teams that match
their personality. These brand personality traits set apart the
teams from their competitors (i.e. augmented uniqueness) and
lift the brand reputation. Though diverse, brand personality
characteristics also have a noteworthy impact on individual
athletes’ reputations and uniqueness.
In line with these studies, this paper explores the impact of
brand personality-consumer personality congruence on brand
reputation and brand uniqueness. Thus, it is hypothesized:
 Personality congruency
Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad
H1. Brand-consumer personality congruence positively
influences brand reputation.
H2. Brand-consumer personality congruence positively
influences brand uniqueness.
Brand personality-celebrity personality congruence and brand
reputation and brand uniqueness
Studies such as Lee and Thorson (2008) and Mishra et al.
(2015) have posited that brand personality-celebrity
personality congruence, being the manifestation of similar
images, positively influences the purchase intention. Seno and
Lukas (2007) postulated that a match between a celebrity and
the brand is a must for an effective endorsement. Accordingly,
brand-celebrity congruency explicitly creates a cognitive
relationship that supports the transmission of endorser’s
attributes to the brand (Seno and Lukas, 2007). As per the
meaning transfer model, the endorser’s prestige, image and
charisma transmit to the brand via association (McCracken,
1989). Misra and Beatty (1990) proposed that for effective
endorsement, the congruence must replicate the unique
characteristics of the celebrity endorser and that of the brand.
The clearer this match, the more the consumer acknowledges
the endorser’s impact (Kamins and Gupta, 1994).
Thus, the following hypotheses:
H3. Brand-celebrity personality congruence positively influences
brand reputation.
H4. Brand-celebrity personality congruence positively influences
brand uniqueness.
Brand reputation, brand uniqueness and purchase intention
Both reputation and uniqueness can elevate levels of association
(Bhattacharya et al., 1995). Brand reputation pertains to the
relative status of brand positioning in comparison to the
competitor (Baek et al., 2010). Consumers associate with reputed
brands to convey their own identity (Belk, 1988; Steenkamp et al.,
2003). Uniqueness relates to being unusual and dissimilar from
competitors. According to Mael and Ashforth (1992), consumers
develop an unspoken identity by associating with a cluster that is
exclusive compared to another group. When consumers settle for a
brand that is reputed and unique, they transmit a brand’s positive
characteristics back to themselves. Baek et al. (2010) has
demonstrated the association between brand esteem (reputation)
and purchase intentions. On the other hand, Yu and Dong (2010)
and Curras-Perez et al. (2009) have observed that brand
reputation has a positive impact on brand attitude.
Accordingly, it is proposed that:
H5. Brand reputation positively influences purchase intention.
H6. Brand uniqueness positively influences purchase intention.
Methodology
The study commenced with preliminary research to identify a
suitable endorser and a product, which were to be used for data
collection. In total, 92 post-graduation students from a
prominent business school in India were contacted. They were
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asked to name celebrities from movies, sports and or any field,
whom they liked most and the product endorsed by him or her.
With maximum recall, Virat Kohli, a prominent Indian
cricketer and a celebrity endorser was selected for the study. An
ethnic fashion brand, Manyavar emerged as the most recalled
brand endorsed by this celebrity. Thus, Virat Kohli and
Manyavar were taken as a celebrity and a brand, respectively,
for the study. These 92 students were not considered for the
final data collection process.
Participants and procedure
A total of 1,235 respondents contributed by responding to the
data collection requests. These participants were in the
age group of 18 to 35 years, and over 97% of the participants
were single. Three-fourth of the sample respondents were men.
The questionnaire was divided into four sections. Participants
were asked to fill the socio-demographic details in the opening
section. Afterwards, the personality of the celebrity, brand and
individual respondents was assessed using five dimensions of
Aaker (1997) scale. The reputation of the brand and its
uniqueness were captured using three-item scales of Mael and
Ashforth (1992) and Donavan et al. (2005a), respectively. All
these constructs were assessed using seven-point Likert scales.
In the last section, purchase intention was measured by
adapting one item from Kamins and Gupta (1994) and two
items from Choi (2002).
Results
To test the hypotheses, the congruency between brand
personality and celebrity personality and brand personality and
consumer personality were estimated (Figure 2). These
congruencies were taken as independent variables in multi-
regression analysis.
In the first step, we calculated factor loading for the
personality of celebrity, brand and consumer, respectively. The
factor loading of all the antecedents (Table 1) was more than
0.70. The reliability and validity of the constructs were
calculated using composite reliability (CR) and average
extracted variance (AVE) values. The CR and AVE values of
celebrity personality was more than 0.70 and 0.50, respectively.
The data also supported discriminant validity among the
Figure 2 Celebrity, brand and consumer congruency
 Personality congruency Journal of Consumer Marketing
Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad Volume 38 · Number 3 · 2021 · 251–261

Table 1 Reliability and validity analyses

1 Celebrity-personality Loading CR AVE Ruggedness Sincerity Excitement Sophistication Competence
Ruggedness 0.706 0.748 0.501 0.708
Sincerity 0.778 0.808 0.585 0.460 0.765
Excitement 0.734 0.779 0.540 0.406 0.229 0.882
Sophistication 0.708 0.751 0.502 0.663 0.443 0.582 0.867
Competence 0.731 0.852 0.535 0.443 0.561 0.435 0.596 0.731
CMIN/DF = 4.88; GFI = 0.957; CFI = 0.962; NFI = 0.953; IFI = 0.963 and RMSEA = 0.056
2 Brand-personality Loading CR AVE Ruggedness Sincerity Excitement Sophistication Competence
Ruggedness 0.718 0.763 0.521 0.756
Sincerity 0.753 0.825 0.615 0.386 0.784
Excitement 0.717 0.842 0.517 0.426 0.604 0.719
Sophistication 0.730 0.851 0.535 0.589 0.595 0.622 0.721
Competence 0.756 0.800 0.572 0.506 0.671 0.654 0.654 0.731
CMIN/DF = 4.808; GFI = 0.957; CFI = 0.962; NFI = 0.953; IFI = 0.963 and RMSEA = 0.056
3 Consumer-personality Loading CR AVE Ruggedness Sincerity Excitement Sophistication Competence
Ruggedness 0.742 0.786 0.552 0.743
Sincerity 0.727 0.821 0.536 0.417 0.732
Excitement 0.736 0.825 0.542 0.613 0.650 0.736
Sophistication 0.800 0.842 0.641 0.492 0.683 0.677 0.800
Competence 0.714 0.839 0.512 0.482 0.521 0.757 0.558 0.716
Notes: CMIN/DF = 4.716; GFI = 0.95; CFI = 0.951; NFI = 0.939; IFI = 0.951 and RMSEA = 0.055

constructs, which was calculated by comparing AVE values for
each factor to its shared variance with any other factor. In the
case of the brand personality and consumer personality, CR
and AVE values were reported to be more than 0.70 and 0.50,
respectively (Table 1). Subsequently, the congruence between
brand-celebrity personality and brand-consumer personality
was calculated. This step presents a congruency factor for each
personality dimension for brand-consumer and brand-celebrity
(Table 2). Here, all the values of CR and AVE were more than
cut off values (Hair et al., 2006). Finally, the assessment of the
personality-based congruency for each factor was undertaken
using five personality dimensions of Aaker’s (1997) scale. The
two personality-based congruencies indicated (Table 4)
satisfactory convergent validity and reliability, with high CR
scores (above 0.91). Discriminant validity was also supported.
In the case of the other constructs (brand reputation, brand
uniqueness and purchase intention), each variable disclosed
satisfactory CR scores (above 0.70). Furthermore, all the AVE
levels were greater than the shared variance between
constructs, offering empirical support for discriminant validity
(Table 3).
Hypothesis testing
To test the proposed hypotheses and to assess the influence of the
two sets of congruencies on brand relationship outcomes –
reputation, uniqueness and purchase intention, an structural
equation modeling-based analysis was conducted with the help of
analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) 21. From the results
using 1,235 observations, it is observed that the brand-consumer
congruence (H1) has a strong influence on brand reputation (b =
0.564 and p = 0.000). Brand-consumer personality congruence
was hypothesized to have a positive impact on brand uniqueness.
With p = 0.199, H2 is rejected, implying that brand uniqueness is
not influenced by the brand-consumer congruence. Acceptance of
H3 (with b = 0.168 and p = 0.000) signifies that brand-celebrity
congruence has a positive influence on brand reputation. Similar
observation is noted for the relationship between brand-celebrity
congruence and uniqueness. H4 is accepted with b = 0.325 and
p = 0.000 (Table 5). Also, it was hypothesized (H5) that brand
reputation has a positive impact on consumer buying intention.
This relationship is confirmed with b = 0.297 and p = 0.000. The
final hypothesis proposed a positive influence of brand uniqueness
on purchase intention. This hypothesis is found significant (b =
0.125 and p = 0.000), and thus, H6 is accepted.
Test for mediation
The study undertook a mediation analysis to test for the
mediating role of brand reputation and brand uniqueness.
These constructs act as mediators between brand personality-
consumer personality congruence and purchase intention, and
between brand personality-celebrity personality congruence
and purchase intention. The mediation analysis was carried out
using a bootstrap method in AMOS (Shrout and Bolger, 2002).
This method is used to perform mediation analysis based on
direct, indirect and total effect. From Table 6, it is noted that
brand-consumer and brand-celebrity congruencies have no
direct effect on purchase intention, rather the effect was
indirect. This implies that brand uniqueness and brand
reputation act as a mediator in the paths of the brand-celebrity
congruency and brand-consumer congruency to purchase
intention.
Discussion
Human brands have become an integral part of brand
communication strategy. Celebrities symbolize human brands
that are professionally manageable, and hold added
associations/relationships and characteristics of traditional
brands (Thomson, 2006). The present study investigates the

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Table 2 Reliability and validity analysis of dimensions of personality-based congruency

Personality dimension Brand-consumer congruency Brand-celebrity congruency
Ruggedness 0.785 0.889
Sincerity 0.895 0.729
Excitement 0.797 0.839
Sophistication 0.866 0.865
Competence 0.747 0.800
Brand-consumer congruency CR AVE Ruggedness Sincerity Excitement Sophistication Competence
Ruggedness 0.763 0.617 0.785
Sincerity 0.700 0.53 0.525 0.728
Excitement 0.781 0.643 0.374 0.628 0.802
Sophistication 0.858 0.751 0.013 0.355 0.775 0.867
Competence 0.716 0.558 0.194 0.670 0.696 0.698 0.747
Brand-celebrity congruency CR AVE Ruggedness Sincerity Excitement Sophistication Competence
Ruggedness 0.888 0.800 0.894
Sincerity 0.737 0.584 0.455 0.764
Excitement 0.829 0.710 0.515 0.625 0.867
Sophistication 0.859 0.754 0.664 0.628 0.664 0.868
Competence 0.786 0.651 0.601 0.673 0.662 0.671 0.807

Table 3 Reliability and validity analyses: dependent variables

Variables Factor loading CR AVE Reputation Purchase intention Distinct
Reputation 0.826 0.816 0.692 0.832
Purchase intention 0.795 0.764 0.620 0.324 0.788
Distinct 0.773 0.817 0.598 0.287 0.202 0.773
Notes: CMIN/DF = 2.923; GFI = 0.994; CFI = 0.995; NFI = 0.992; IFI = 0.995 and RMSEA = 0.039

Table 4 Global personality-based congruency

Brand-consumer
Variables No. of items a CR congruency Brand-celebrity congruency
Brand-consumer congruency 5 0.910 0.930 0.765
Brand-celebrity congruency 5 0.910 0.910 0.535 0.708

effect of personality congruence of brand, celebrity and the
consumer on brand evaluation factors, namely, brand
reputation and brand uniqueness and further their impact on
buying intentions. The mediating role of brand reputation and
uniqueness between the two personality congruence pairings
and purchase intention has also been studied. The findings
support the proposed framework, and it was observed to be a
good fit. Five out of six hypotheses were supported in the study.
The hypothesis assuming the impact of brand-consumer
congruence on brand uniqueness was not validated. This can be

Table 5 Hypothesis results

Hypothesis Independent variable Dependent variable B p Result
H1 Brand-consumer congruency Reputation 0.564 0.000 Accepted
H2 Brand-consumer congruency Uniqueness 0.048 0.199 Not accepted
H3 Brand-celebrity congruency Reputation 0.168 0.000 Accepted
H4 Brand-celebrity congruency Uniqueness 0.325 0.000 Accepted
H5 Reputation Purchase intention 0.297 0.000 Accepted
H6 Uniqueness Purchase intention 0.125 0.000 Accepted
Notes: CMIN/DF = 4.316; GFI = 0.961; CFI = 0.962; NFI = 0.952; IFI = 0.963 and RMSEA = 0.052

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Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad
Table 6 Direct, indirect and total effect
Uniqueness
Variables Indirect Direct
Brand-celebrity congruency 0 0.325
Brand-consumer congruency 0 0.048
Uniqueness 0 0
Reputation 0 0
ascribed to the fact that although the brand characteristics are
consistent with the consumer, but different consumers may
have a different perception of brand uniqueness. However, this
congruence pairing has a significant influence on brand
reputation. This reflects that the consumer perceives a brand to
be reputed if it is congruent to his or her personality. The high
coefficient value of the brand-celebrity congruency with brand
uniqueness and brand reputation supported the relationships.
Thus, reflecting that the consumer perceives those brands as
unique and reputed ones that use celebrities whose personalities
are congruent to that of the brands endorsed. Hence, the results
reflect a considerable influence of brand-consumer personality
congruency and brand-celebrity personality congruency on a
brand reputation that further has a positive impact on the
consumer purchase intention. Similar results are reflected for
brand-celebrity personality congruency and brand uniqueness.
Theoretical implications
The current research offers significant theoretical implications.
The finding of the research extends the work of Aaker (1997),
Bhattacharya and Sen (2003), Carlson et al. (2009) and Kleine
et al. (1995) in the areas of consumer, celebrity and brand
identification and their impact on consumer spending and
purchase intention. The study is based on the “social identity
theory” and the “meaning transfer model” (McCracken,
1989). From the literature review and two theories, a series of
hypotheses were developed and tested.
The research contributed to the existing stream of knowledge
on celebrity endorsement by extending the discussion with
personality-based congruence. The study deciphered on two
aspects of identification, i.e. brand-consumer personality
congruence and brand-celebrity congruence. This would help
marketers to identify the best suitable celebrity who would well
connect with the brand and help marketers strategize and
address consumer buying intentions. The available literature
has positively endorsed the influence of a celebrity endorser on
the consumer’s buying intentions.
This research strengthens recent studies in the area of social
identification in reference to company-consumer identification
(Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003), endorser identification (Carlson
and Donavan, 2013), team identification (Carlson et al., 2009;
Madrigal and Chen, 2008) and athlete identification (Carlson
and Donavan, 2013). We found the significance of brand-
consumer personality congruence on brand reputation. Thus,
brand identification with consumer personality is important in
establishing a positive perception about the brand image in the
mindset of the consumers. Consumers relate with the brand
they feel connected with (Belk, 1988). The study has also
postulated the favourable relationship between brand
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 38 · Number 3 · 2021 · 251–261
Reputation Purchase intention
Total Indirect Direct Total Indirect Direct Total
0.325 0 0.168 0.168 0.09 0 0.09
0.048 0 0.564 0.564 0.161 0 0.161
0 0 0 0 0 0.125 0.125
0 0 0 0 0 0.297 0.297
personality and consumer personality congruence and brand
uniqueness. Conspicuously, the results of this study have
revealed an insignificant influence of brand personality-
consumer personality identification on brand uniqueness. This
is antithesis to the findings of Carlson et al. (2009) and Carlson
and Donavan (2013), which show that personality has a
significant influence on the brand’s uniqueness or
distinctiveness. Further investigation of this relationship in the
future may add a new dimension to the identification context.
Further, the study revealed that brand personality-celebrity
personality congruence plays a significant role in creating a
positive brand reputation and brand uniqueness. Thus, brand-
celebrity identification contributes to brand reputation and
uniqueness. This, in turn, leads to generating purchase
intention. This study result is in sync with the findings of Kwon
and Armstrong (2002), which posited that congruence has a
favourable impact on spontaneous sports-related purchases.
Also, Aaker (1997) recommended that a brand personality
generally augments the consumer’s identification with the
brand. The study, therefore, strengthens the role of brand-
celebrity identification in building brand reputation and
uniqueness in the mind of the consumer. The consumer is
ready to spend when he develops a positive image of the brand
and understands that the brand has some unique elements
(Carlson et al., 2009; Carlson and Donavan, 2013). The
findings of this research, thus, reinforce these findings and
show a positive impact of brand reputation and brand
uniqueness on consumer purchase intentions.
Managerial implications
Brand communication managers always face a dilemma in
choosing a celebrity to endorse a brand. They understand that
celebrities influence consumers in a positive way and help them
in developing a positive attitude towards a brand. The biggest
challenge these managers face is how to make maximum use of
their advertising penny and how to get maximum returns in
terms of market share and consumer mind share. Personality
has been an important factor wherein certain studies have been
conducted in the recent past. Considering the constructs from
available literature, the present study has endeavoured to
decipher the impact of brand personality and its antecedents on
consumers purchase intentions. The study focused on the
identification aspects of the brand, consumer and celebrity.
There have been few studies focusing on the influence of brand
personality and endorser identification on consumer buying
behaviour. The brand personality aspects, in terms of
identification or congruency with consumer personality and
celebrity personality, have not been deciphered yet. Hence, the
current study bridges the gaps that subsist in endorsement
257
 Personality congruency
Nilesh Arora, Sanjeev Prashar, Sai Vijay Tata and Chandan Parsad
literature. The results of this study decode some important
academic and operational implications, and further strengthen
the literature on endorsement, specifically in the Indian context.
Our results suggest that the marketers must focus on the
personality construct as this significantly affects the consumer’s
buying intentions (Azoulay and Kapferer, 2003; Braunstein and
Ross, 2010). The consumer today sees brands as individuals and
tries to connect with the brand. The current study deciphers that
brand personality-celebrity personality congruency has a positive
influence on the brand’s reputation. Marketers, therefore, must
look for an endorser who matches with the personality of the
brand being endorsed. This will facilitate the consumers to get
connected and feel identified with the brand. Any brand using a
celebrity whose personality does not match with the brand being
endorsed may lose in terms of consumer attention towards the
brand. Also, the brand personality-celebrity personality
congruency helps in developing a brand uniqueness in the
consumer mind. A consumer finds the brand unique and
distinctive if there is a strong identification between the personality
of the celebrity endorser and the brand endorsed by him. Thus,
brand managers must investigate the brand personality and
celebrity personality congruence to develop a positive perception
of brand image and brand uniqueness in the consumers’ minds.
Another standpoint in the study focused on the relationship
between brand personality and consumer personality
congruency. The results showed that the congruency between
the brand personality and consumer personality has a positive
influence on brand reputation. Thus, upon feeling connected
with the brand and finding the brand matching his personality,
consumer deciphers a positive image of the brand. Marketers
must, therefore, attempt to identify the right set of consumers,
understand their personality traits and accordingly create a
positioning strategy for the brand, building a match between
two personalities. This would help them pull consumers
towards the brand and create a better brand reputation in their
minds. Contrary to this, the congruence between consumer
personality and brand personality does not influence the
brand’s uniqueness. Thus, this finding of the current study
offers an opportunity for further exploration of this relationship
to add a new dimension to the identification context.
The other two hypotheses were also supported in our study.
Brand reputation and uniqueness positively influence the
consumers’ buying intentions. Brand managers must,
therefore, constantly look into building brand reputation and
uniqueness in the eyes of consumers. Celebrities have a very
valuable role in building brand reputation and distinctiveness.
The consumer feels connected with a celebrity whose
personality is in congruence with the brand, and this creates a
favourable reputation of the brand in the consumer’s mindset.
Also, the user perceives the brand as unique, and thus, creates a
favourable purchase intention. Thus, personality congruence is
the key to a positive brand image and its uniqueness, which
further can translate into the purchase intention.
Limitations and future scope of the study
The current study investigated the personality congruence with
a single brand and a single celebrity. It would be interesting to
explore the personality congruency effects with multiple
endorsers and multi-category of products or services
258
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Volume 38 · Number 3 · 2021 · 251–261
simultaneously. This research offers food for thought for further
studies to use this model and to take different facets of brand
personality for a different category of products. The results
across categories may vary, and thus, invite further research.
The relationship between the brand-consumer and brand-
celebrity personality congruency and brand reputation and
uniqueness was chiefly exploratory. Important paths between
these constructs in our resultant model may be consumer
segment specific. Further, the study did not cover the third
dimension to personality congruency, which is consumer and
celebrity match. It would be noteworthy to explore this
relationship and its impact on consumer buying intention.
Another limitation of this research relates to the theory of
personality traits (Big Five or Meta-Theoretic Model of
Motivation Model). The study has not used these models for
measuring the consumer’s personality traits. The link between
these personality traits and that of brand’s personality would give
better insights in understanding consumer buying behaviour. As
an extension to this research, future studies can be carried out by
incorporating personality trait theories and linking it with a
brand personality theory. Also, the present study did not
consider cultural aspects in this research. As a culture can have a
significant influence on how consumers view a particular brand,
future studies can extend the present research, by undertaking a
cross-cultural (cross-country) study to examine the impact of
culture on brand-consumer congruency.
Celebrity gender influence could be another area wherein
future research can focus on personality congruence effects.
Gender congruity can be another topic that may add a new
dimension to celebrity-brand personality congruency and its
influence on purchase intentions and consumer attitude
towards the brand. As this research focuses upon a single
celebrity and brand, the generalizability of our results to other
contexts demands further examination. The current model
framework may be used as a structure for mounting added
research studies, which can further discover consumer
associations with brands in several geographical contexts. With
insight into the consumer psychology of what makes consumers
identify with a brand, brand managers may be able to get the
right celebrity to endorse the brand and augment the brand
experience.
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About the authors
Dr Nilesh Arora is presently working as Professor at
Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab in the Department of
Marketing and his research interest includes – Celebrity
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Endorsement. He has published research papers in the journal
of repute and presented papers in National and International
conferences.
Dr Sanjeev Prashar is a Professor at the Indian Institute
of Management Raipur India in the area of Marketing
Management. Prior to this, he worked with the Institute of
Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, as a Professor
in the area of Marketing Management. His areas of interest are
Impulse Buying, Online Buying, Mall Selection, Rural
Marketing, International Marketing/Exports Management
and Marketing of Services. He has published research papers/
Case studies in various journals such as Richard Ivey School of
Business, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, IGI Publishing
Limited, Inderscience Publishers, Palgrave Macmillan and Journal
of Retailing and Consumer.
Dr Sai Vijay Tata is presently working as an Assistant
Professor, at the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, in the
department of Marketing. His research interest includes – online
consumer behaviour, online consumer reviews, consumer
buying behaviour for new and innovative products, customer
relationship marketing and impulse buying behaviour. He has
published research papers in various journals such as Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Global Information
Management, Journal of Internet Commerce, Pacific Asia Journal of
the Association for Information Systems, International Journal of
Strategic Decision Sciences and Journal of International Consumer
Marketing. Sai Vijay Tata is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: tsaivijay@gmail.com
Dr Chandan Parsad is presently working as an Assistant
Professor at Rajagiri Business School Kochi, in the
department of Marketing and his research interest includes –
Retailing, Impulse Buying, Rural marketing and
Micromarketing.
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