Social media influencers as endorsers to promote travel destinations: an application of self-congruence theory to the Chinese Generation Y

TLDR

Online social networks have fostered the rise of social media influencers, and celebrity endorsement is widely used in tourism marketing. The study applies self‑congruity theory to assess how alignment between SMIs and potential tourists influences endorsement effectiveness. The authors evaluate endorsement effectiveness by measuring congruence between SMIs and consumers, and between SMIs and destinations, using self‑congruity theory. SMI endorser‑consumer and endorser‑destination congruence both boost destination visit intentions, suggesting marketers should match SMIs with aligned destination images and target markets.

Abstract

The prevalence of online social networks has given rise to the emergence of social media influencers (SMIs), so-called “Internet celebrities”. Celebrity endorsement, which can be an effective marketing strategy, is also popular in the tourism field. This study uses self-congruity theory, which originally refers to the congruence between consumers and brands or products, to the congruence between endorsers and potential tourists to evaluate endorsement effectiveness. Results indicate that SMI endorser–consumer congruence positively contributes to visit intentions toward the endorsed destinations as does endorser–destination congruence. Tourism marketers are advised to use SMIs when the destination images and target markets align.