Effect of e-WOM and celebrity endorsement on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers

The general purpose of this research is to measure the effect of celebrity use of eWOM and brands that affect the purchasing behavior of sports consumers. In this context, Purchasing Behavior was developed and the eWOM and Celebrity Usage Scale was adapted in this research. Within the scope of Information Acceptance Model, Resource Model and Planned Behavior Theory, three models have been put forward to reveal the research purpose. In order to reveal the model hypotheses, sports consumers who are social media users and have purchased sports products through online shopping at least once were selected as the research group. In the research method, validity and reliability tests were carried out for the scale development and adaptation study. The models created to test the main purpose of the research were tested with Structural Equation Modeling. As a result of Structural Equation Modeling, it was concluded that eWOM information quality and information reliability positively affect information usefulness in Modal A. eWOM knowledge creation also positively affects eWOM knowledge adoption. In addition, it has been revealed in the findings that eWOM knowledge adoption affects the purchasing behavior of consumers. In addition, the indirect effect of information usefulness and information adoption was determined between eWOM information quality and information reliability and online purchasing behavior. Celebrity attractiveness and celebrity credibility were found to have an effect on online purchasing behavior in Model B, whereas celebrity expertise did not. In Model C, it was concluded that eWOM information affects consumers' attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. In addition, it has been determined that there is an indirect effect of attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms between eWOM information and online purchasing behavior. As a result, the quality, reliability and usefulness of the information consumers encounter on online platforms cause them to adopt information about products or services, and then exhibit online purchasing behavior. While the attractiveness and reliability of celebrities are seen as important factors affecting consumers' online purchasing of sports products, the effect of celebrity expertise was found to be ineffective within the scope of this research. While the results reveal that eWOM information affects PDT antecedents, it has been observed that these antecedents also lead consumers to buy online sports products.