“Bend it like Beckham”: the influence of sports celebrities on young adult consumers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how sports celebrities can be perceived as role models and influence young adult consumers' purchase and behavioural intentions. Further, it also seeks to examine whether this influence differs between males and females.

A self‐administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A convenience sample was drawn from students in a large university in Western Australia.

Athlete role model endorsers have a positive influence on young adults' product switching behaviour, complaint behaviour, positive word‐of‐mouth behaviour and brand loyalty. This confirms the assumption that sports celebrities are important socialisation agents and can have significant impact on purchase intentions and behaviours.

This research provides useful insight into the influence of athlete endorsers on young adults and suggests athletes have a positive influence on young adults' behavioural intentions in switching products, generating word‐of‐mouth and establishing brand loyalty. More importantly, this study is a significant step towards providing useful information about how young consumers respond to the use of sports celebrities in advertising.

Previous studies indicate that this potential influence and impact of sports star endorsers would be at its peak amongst the youth market. This paper extends previous studies by focusing on one specific market – young adults in Australia.