The Influence of Corporate Credibility on Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intent

Corporate credibility forms part of the overall reputation of a company. It describes how consumers evaluate the company's honesty and expertise. Along with endorser credibility, it is another type of source credibility that can influence consumer reactions to a company's advertisements and shape their brand attitudes. In this paper, we examine these two sources of credibility and assess their relative impact on three sets of consumer perceptions — their ‘attitude-toward-the-ad,’ ‘attitude-toward-the-brand,’ and ‘purchase intentions.’ The results of two experimental studies indicate that both corporate credibility and endorser credibility had significant impacts on attitude-toward-the-ad, attitude-toward-the-brand, and purchase intentions. However, while corporate credibility had a greater effect on attitude-toward-the-brand, endorser credibility seemed to have a stronger influence on attitude-toward-the-ad. Overall, the findings confirm that corporate credibility plays a key role in influencing consumer reactions to advertisements and brands. © 2000, Palgrave Macmillan.