Connecting With Celebrities: How Consumers Appropriate Celebrity Meanings for a Sense of Belonging
研究发现，高归属需求消费者更依赖名人代言来构建自我概念，并通过与名人的准社会关系增强自我-品牌联结，而低归属需求消费者则更看重名人形象与品牌形象的匹配。
We propose that consumers appropriate brand symbolism that comes from celebrity endorsements to construct and communicate their self-concepts. We also argue that consumers with high need to belong (NTB) look to celebrities to a greater extent than those who have lower needs to belong, because high-NTB consumers are more likely to look to celebrities for cues about which brands may aid these consumers' attempts to meet their affiliation needs. High-NTB consumers are also prone to develop one-sided (parasocial) relationships with celebrities, and these parasocial relationships mediate the celebrity endorsement effect on self–brand connections. Three studies support these proposed relationships. Furthermore, the third study also manipulates the degree to which the celebrity's image matches that of the brand being advertised, revealing that a symbolic match between the celebrity image and brand image is important for consumers who do not form parasocial relationships with celebrities (i.e., low-NTB consumers).