Purpose Celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms (such as Twitter or Weibo) has become a widely adopted marketing practice. Compared to its counterpart on traditional mass media, celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms has some unique characteristics. For example, the endorsement information is usually more implicit and the endorsers tend to use different tactics so as to maximize the impact on their followers. However, these new practices have not been thoroughly investigated and the underlying mechanism by which the endorsers influence potential information receivers is not well understood. Anchored on the theory of parasocial interaction borrowed from the mass communication literature, this paper aims to reveal the underlying mechanism of celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms. More specifically, it examines the relationship between the intensity of microbloggers’ various celebrity-following activities and endorsement effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach The authors designed and conducted a Web-based survey containing scales for all focal constructs and demographic and control variables. Through online and offline campus advertisement, undergraduate and graduates students who have used microblogging for at least three months were recruited. Findings First of all, the survey results show that the intensity of users’ celebrity-following activities on microblogging platforms has a positive effect on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. Second, the positive effect of the intensity of microbloggers’ celebrity-following activities on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is mediated by the perceived parasocial interaction with the endorsers. Research limitations/implications Firstly, most respondents of the survey are university students. Second, because of the intrinsic disadvantage of the survey method, the causal relationship between constructs cannot be examined directly. Last, parasocial interaction/relationship is a complex theoretical construct whose influence is unveiled partially in this research. Practical implications First, this study found that the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms are largely affected by celebrity-followers’ online involvement. Second, this study revealed that celebrity-following activities that help enhance followers’ perceptions of parasocial interactions are particularly beneficial for endorsement effectiveness. Last, the exploratory analysis further revealed that followers’ perceptions of ingenuousness and companionship are two key sub-dimensions of parasocial interaction. Originality/value First, the authors verified the positive relationship between information receiver’s involvement and the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in the context of microblogging platforms. Second, this study found that parasocial interaction fully mediates the relationship between celebrity-following intensity and endorsement effectiveness. Last, through an exploratory factor analysis, the authors further decomposed the construct of parasocial interaction into three sub-dimensions, namely, ingenuousness, empathy and companionship.

中文翻译：

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名人跟进活动对微博平台代言有效性的影响

目的在微博平台（例如Twitter或微博）上认可名人已成为一种广泛采用的营销惯例。与传统大众媒体相比，微博平台上的名人代言具有一些独特的特征。例如，背书信息通常更隐含，背书人倾向于使用不同的策略，以最大程度地提高对他们的追随者的影响。但是，尚未对这些新做法进行彻底调查，并且对背书人影响潜在信息接收者的潜在机制还没有很好的了解。借鉴大众传播文学中的超社会互动理论，本文旨在揭示微博平台上名人代言的潜在机制。进一步来说，它检查了微博主的各种名人追踪活动的强度与认可效果之间的关系。设计/方法/方法作者设计并进行了基于Web的调查，其中包含所有重点结构以及人口统计和控制变量的标度。通过在线和离线校园广告，招募了使用微博至少三个月的本科生和研究生。调查结果首先，调查结果表明，用户在微博平台上进行名人跟踪活动的强度对名人代言的有效性产生积极影响。第二，微博主的名人跟踪活动强度对名人代言有效性的积极影响是通过与代言人的感知超社会互动来介导的。研究的局限性/意义首先，大多数受访者是大学生。其次，由于调查方法的固有缺点，因此无法直接检查构造之间的因果关系。最后，超社会互动/关系是一个复杂的理论结构，其影响在本研究中得到了部分揭示。实际意义首先，这项研究发现，名人在微博平台上代言的有效性很大程度上受到名人追随者在线参与的影响。第二，这项研究表明，有助于加深追随者对超社会互动的理解的名人跟随活动对于认可效果特别有益。最后，探索性分析进一步表明，追随者对独创性和陪伴性的感知是超社会互动的两个关键子维度。原创性/价值首先，作者在微博平台的背景下验证了信息接收者的参与与名人代言有效性之间的积极关系。其次，这项研究发现，超社会互动完全介导了名人追随强度与认可效果之间的关系。最后，通过探索性因素分析，作者进一步将超社会互动的结构分解为三个子维度，即