In recent years, the continuous increase in the population of Nigeria, especially the youthful population who are characterized by innovative and dynamic needs, necessitates business firms to adopt opposite programmes and strategies to meet the needs of this segment of the market. Therefore, this study examined the influence of celebrity endorsement and digital marketing on youth purchasing decisions. The study utilized primary sources to gather the required data, and a sample size of 397 people, consisting of youths between the age of 15-35 years residing in Ikorodu L.G.A. was selected from the study’s population. Pearson moment correlation was used to test the formulated hypotheses, and the data was analyzed through the aid of SPSS version 23. The study finding revealed that source trustworthiness influences youth purchasing decisions more than social media engagement. More so, online reachability influences youth purchasing decisions than source alignment and that digital campaign has more effect on the youth purchasing decisions than source attractiveness. It was concluded that digital marketing has more effect on youth purchasing decisions compared to celebrity endorsement. It was recommended that organizations with youthful target audiences adopt more digital marketing strategies as it influenced youth purchasing decisions than a celebrity endorsement.

Keywords: Celebrity endorsement, digital marketing, trustworthiness, online reachability, source alignment.

En los últimos años, el aumento continuo de la población de Nigeria, especialmente la población joven que se caracteriza por necesidades innovadoras y dinámicas, exige que las empresas comerciales adopten programas y estrategias opuestos para satisfacer las necesidades de este segmento del mercado. Por lo tanto, este estudio examinó la influencia del respaldo de celebridades y el marketing digital en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes. El estudio utilizó fuentes primarias para recopilar los datos requeridos y un tamaño de muestra de 397 personas, que consta de jóvenes de entre 15 y 35 años que residen en Ikorodu L.G.A. fue seleccionado de la población de estudio. Se utilizó la correlación del momento de Pearson para probar las hipótesis formuladas, y los datos se analizaron con la ayuda de la versión 23 de SPSS. El hallazgo del estudio reveló que la confiabilidad de la fuente influye en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes más que la participación en las redes sociales. Más aún, la accesibilidad en línea influye en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes que la alineación de la fuente y esa campaña digital tiene más efecto en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes que el atractivo de la fuente. Se concluyó que el marketing digital tiene más efecto en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes en comparación con el respaldo de las celebridades. Se recomendó que las organizaciones con audiencias objetivo jóvenes adopten más estrategias de marketing digital, ya que influye en las decisiones de compra de los jóvenes que el respaldo de una celebridad.

Palabras clave: Respaldo de celebridades, marketing digital, confiabilidad, accesibilidad en línea, alineación de origen.

Marketing promotions are the careful combination of promotion instruments that a company utilizes to persuade customers of its worth and create customer connections in the target market (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011).The promotion instruments consist of a wide range of advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct-marketing tactics that the company employs to persuade its target market of the worth of its products (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012). In modern times, the cyber space has unlocked doors for businesses to exploit implausible digital marketing opportunities by leveraging numerous digital marketing platforms. Digital marketing is meant to reach the target audience or communicate offerings, attract new customers, increase customer base, and boost their firms’ Return on Investment (ROI) (Al-Azzam, & Al-Mizeed, 2021). The digital marketing technique is gradually supplanting the traditional marketing methods in the evolution of marketplaces and technologies which are highly competitive with the usage of the internet (Alnsour et al., 2018). Digital marketing encompasses a large portion of the global market and includes business strategies that employ digital technologies to cut costs and expand enterprises globally (Rafiq & Malik, 2018). Furthermore, it has a greater potential to grow businesses, especially when it is optimally utilised in the organisational marketing communication process (Alzyoud, 2018).

Thus, most businesses now use digital marketing alongside other marketing strategies such as celebrity endorsement to achieve their corporate objectives. Celebrity endorsement is a beneficial technique for boosting products’ awareness and perception in the minds of target customers (Martey & Frempong, 2014; Samar & Samreen, 2015). According to Yeboah et al (2013), celebrity endorsements are not only efficient in capturing the attention of customers to buy products but also for building a long-lasting memory in the minds of target consumers as well as influencing them to buy the product again. More so, Amaoteng and Poku (2013) observed that the content in a celebrity-endorsed advertisement is seen to be accurate since most customers believe that celebrities would not want to be associated with “false products”. Celebrities are seen as role models and opinion leaders by today’s youth because of their social status. The youth tend to imitate these superstars’ lifestyles, such as how they dress, speak, and even behave, all these plays significant role in their purchasing process (Okorie et al., 2012).

The youth constitute more than half of the Nigerian population, which is a huge market for any business to exploit (United Nations, 2021). This fact accounts for why many businesses have focused on the youth market in Nigeria in the recent past. Youth marketing is a popular concept in the marketing field used in describing activities to reach young people within the age range of 13 to 35 years (anonymous). This group is typically broken down into smaller segments depending on their age, including teenagers, teenagers, college students, and young adults aged 23-34 (Kudo, 2016).The young population browses the internet more than any other age category in Nigeria (Cibon, 2015).The large population of Nigerian youth uses various digital platforms to make their purchasing decisions.

Arising from the above, a number companies adopt digital marketing strategy and the services of celebrities to influence the behaviour of their target audience in Nigeria. Although, the practice of using celebrity endorsement and digital marketing to target the youth market has existed for a long time. Many researchers have done extensive researches on the effect of celebrity endorse menton youth marketing. For instance, Nyarko et al. (2015) claimed that celebrity endorsement significantly influences the choice of brands when making purchasing decisions among Ghanaian youths. Also, Mallik and Rao (2017) discovered that digital marketing impacted on youth buying behaviour because digital marketing was found to have driven their purchase decisions. However, the review of extant literature revealed there is paucity of studies that have compared the influence of celebrity endorsement and digital marketing on youth marketing in Nigeria and by extension Lagos state. The concern of this study is to ascertain which of these promotional tools is more likely to help an organisation achieve its objective when communicating its marketing activities to its target market especially the youth population. Thus, the contemporary study is conducted to compare the influence of two promotional strategies on youth purchasing decisions and ascertain the most effective between the two strategies when targeting the youth market in Ikorodu Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State.

Research Questions

The study seeks to provide an answer to the following research questions:

i. To what extent does source trustworthiness influence youths’ purchase decisions rather than social media engagement in the Ikorodu Local Government Area?

ii. How does source alignment influence youths’ purchase decision of a product rather than online reachability in the Ikorodu Local Government Area?

iii. How does source attractiveness work better than the brand’s digital campaign in influencing youths’ purchase decisions in the Ikorodu Local Government Area?

The contemporary study seeks to achieve the following specific objectives:

i. Determine the extent to which source trustworthiness influences youths’ purchase decision than brand’s social media engagement in Ikorodu Local Government Area;

ii. Ascertain how to source alignment influences youths’ purchase decisions thanbrand’s online reachability in Ikorodu Local Government Area; and

iii. Examine the extent to which source attractiveness works better than the brand’s digital campaign in influencing youths’ purchase decisions in the Ikorodu Local Government Area.

Research Hypotheses

Ho1: Source trustworthiness does not significantly affect youth purchase decisions than brand’s social media engagement in Ikorodu Local Government Area.

Ho2: Source alignment does not significantly affect youth purchase decisions other than the brand’s online reachability in Ikorodu Local Government Area.

Ho3: Source attractiveness does not work better than the brand’s digital campaign in influencing youths’ purchase decisions in the Ikorodu Local Government Area.

Literature Review

Concept of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing has become increasingly important in Nigeria, especially in the current era. As a result, marketers employ this new type of marketing approach to increase their product sales. In addition, the evolution of digital marketing has altered how brands and enterprises use digital technology and platforms for marketing purposes (Rai, 2018). As a result, as digital media are increasingly incorporated into daily marketing programmes and tactics and the digital marketing efforts are getting more prevalent and effectiveness as individuals are increasingly using digital gadgets instead of going to physical stores (Mahalaxmi & Ranjith, 2016). Digital marketing is described as the process of transacting information, goods, and services over the internet or through a computer (Rao & Ratnamadhuri, 2018).

Furthermore, it is an electronic communication channel that marketers utilise to sustain their goods and services in the marketplace(Rai, 2018). Sawicki (2016) defined digital marketing as the exploitation of digital technologies, which are used to create channels or platforms to reach prospects and customers to achieve the aim of establishments to meet their emerging needs. Digital marketing provides opportunities for marketing professionals to reach their target audience by utilising multiple means such as email marketing, online advertising, social media marketing, and mobile marketing, among many others, which achieve marketing objectives.

Attributes of Digital Marketing

Companies focus on innovations existing in the environment they operate in to gain a competitive advantage, and one of the ways they do this is through digital marketing. Veleva and Tsvetanova (2021) identified eight (8) attributes peculiar to digital marketing, among which are; bridging border barriers and restrictions in organisational marketing activities; provision of solution-driven products to meet consumers needs and wants timely; facilitating customer segmentation and targeting; high degree of personalisation of advertising messages, etc. In addition, Sawicki (2016) identified six features of engaging in marketing activities through the use of the digital process as:

i. Ubiquitous connectivity: the 21st century is dominated by individuals, especially the young age, who are comfortable with vibrant and happy usage of different digital devices to satisfy their desires. Among such devices are laptops, digital wristwatches, Smartphones, smart televisions concurrently. Hence, organisations utilise their activities through a survey to collect data (demographic and geographic).

ii. Engagement: this involves interaction between the marketing messages and the target market. Digital media create the platform for integration and personal engagement between individuals for a given campaign (Benkler, 2006). The level of engagement created by this medium can be measured by using some neuromarketing techniques, which is aimed at measuring the role and effect of marketing activities on the human brain, which is achieved through the use of neurobiological tools (Pradeep, 2010).

iii. User-generated content: digital marketing enables organisations to create content connected with the organisation marketing programs. This makes the target audience feel a sense of belonging since the content is directed to them. The contents created to various mediums enable customers to effectively and efficiently decode the marketing communication targeted. Most organisations create content through various platforms, but the most common one is using the organisation’s existing template.

iv. Personalisation: this is another feature of digital marketing as it makes it easy to collect and assess data from a different class of customers, e.g., with the help of Internet, it makes it possible for the development of different applications that meet individual needs, this assists in creating personalised communications, additionally based on personal preferences.

v. Artificial environment: this involves the availability of applications that introduce their users into the virtual space. The virtual environment does participate in exchanges through real-life experiences. A huddled focus accompanies the developing physical state of the completed task. The increased use of virtual reality in digital marketing argues for a total concentration on the transmitted information (Hairong et al 2009).

Concept of Celebrity Endorsement

The term ‘celebrity’ is a popular concept among consumers, and it means an individual who does not need an introduction because they are known to the public to have succeeded in their chosen careers. Some of the public choose their role models due to the success recorded or achieved (Omorodion & Osifo, 2019). A celebrity is someone who is widely known and liked by the public. They use these characteristics to promote products and services (Mahira, 2012). A celebrity is someone who usually does not require an introduction. He is well-known because he receives regular media and public attention and is often in the news (Anmol & Javeed, 2014). Celebrity involvement in advertisements can help boost a brand’s credibility and recall. It can also improve a person’s likability and recall (Pornpitakpan, 2004; Pringle & Binet, 2005; Roy, 2006). A celebrity endorsement can be explained in various ways. It can be used to promote a person’s image, credibility, and celebrity attributes. Celebrity is an individual who has gained public recognition. The process of organisations accepting or employing the service of such celebrities to participate in promotional activities is known as celebrity endorsement. Celebrities are individuals who enjoy public recognition due to distinct attributes or achievements from their chosen career, making it easy to gain the attraction and trust of the public and influence consumers’ decisions (Silvera & Austad, 2004). Celebrity endorsement includethe following celebrities who have endorsed their respective brands; Olamide for Itel Mobile, Afeez Ayetoro (Saka) for MTN, Stella Darnasus for Delta soap, Sunday Olise for Western Union Money transfer, Banky W for Etisalat, Peter Edochie, Jide Kosoko, and Saint Obi for Boska pain reliever. Also, Kanu Nwankwo leads the way, featuring in multi-category endorsements from Peak Milk to Pepsi soft drink, to USAID/NACA anti-AIDS campaign among a long list of other notable brands. Iya Rainbow for Airtel NG, Eniola Badmus for 9mobile, among many others.

Companies need to be informed that the perception of consumers as regards celebrities varies, and this is based on different attributes the celebrities possess. In a situation where a professional or expert celebrity promotes an organisation, consumers tend to believe because of the trust they have in the expertise of the celebrity. Moreover, the celebrity should mostly be accepted by the targeted markets and share similar goals and areas of interest. Combining these attributes further boosts the fitness between the celebrity and the organisations, which has an impact in making the celebrity endorsement a success.

Khatri (2006) identified some reasons why organisations use a celebrity in their marketing promotional programmes, among which are:

i. Testimonial: this happens in a situation where the celebrity has personally used a product and got satisfied and decides to attest to the utility created from the consumption of such products. Then, the celebrity may give a testimonial citing its benefits. For instance, Davido endorses Tecno Spark 4 by testifying the product’s quality as it forms a part of his consumption basket.

ii. Endorsement: Most celebrities use their names to endorse products or services that they may or may not be qualified to endorse. For instance, many of them have used the names of prominent individuals to endorse products and services.

iii. Actor: this is a situation where a celebrity is employed to act a role in introducing the products to the target maker even though such celebrity had not used the products before or endorsed it and such celebrity got paid for the act.

iv. Spokesperson: this involves employing acelebrity and being charged with representing an organisation or its brands for a period in various promotional activities but in print media and on televisions, and personal appearances (Schiffman & Kanuk,1997). The reason organisations enjoy the use of celebrities as their spokesperson is to leverage their public recognition and acceptance, which can be used to the organisation’s advantage by increasing the organisation’s awareness and influencing consumers decisions (Solomon, 2002).

However, organisations adopting celebrity endorsement pay attention to the celebrity and the organisation or its products and the consumers they serve in the market and get them integrated. Soderlund (2003) compared the utilisation of celebrity endorsement in the long run and short run. He argued that engaging in celebrity endorsement is not profitable in the long run, especially if it does not maintain relevance with the target markets (consumers). This has posed a challenge to organisations as the organisation’s life span cannot be determined and the level of loyalty gained from their customers.

Factors that Influence the Choice of Celebrity Endorsement

The following are some of the factors that organisations consider before the final decision on the choice of celebrity to use in the promotional process. They are coined from the source models (source credibility and the source attractiveness model) (Erdogan, 1999). They are as follows:

i. Credibility: Celebrity endorsements are usually linked to the products or services that they promote. This ensures that the people who endorse the goods or services are experts in their field (Belch & Belch, 2009).

ii. Trustworthiness: this has to do with some special attributes such as honesty, integrity and believability, which a celebrity must possess, and their large fans base know them for it (Erdogan, 1999). Organisations try to find celebrities widely seen by their large fans based on certain attributes (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). This factor is the most significant factor, especially when considering the source credibility and influences credibility, but likeability is seen as a major feature of trust.

iii. Attractiveness: this is beyond the physical look of the celebrity. Rather, it involves some special attributes that make them get the public’s attention (McGuire, 2013; Singer, 2007). The customer’s attraction to a celebrity may result in the public being attracted to brands the celebrity is attached with. Consumers tend to attribute favourable tags to celebrities of their choice, especially those they are fun of, which may influence their purchasing decisions (Singer, 2007). The justification for this is that consumers find celebrities attracted because they respect them and hold them in high prestige courtesy of their achievements in their chosen area.

iv. Similarity: According to Shimp & Andrews (2013), celebrity likeness is the degree to which the celebrity an organisation employed in the marketing promotion activities attributes meet that of target markets. This can be based on a number of attributes such as demographic factors, social and other attributes. It is often believed that consumers tend to prefer celebrities who share similar attributes.

v. Expertise: the qualifications of celebrities are among the crucial factor when it comes to marketing promotion (Belch & Belch, 2009). The major reason for this is that a celebrity who is an expert will not want to be attributed with any activities that can negatively impact their carrier compared with celebrities who engaged in the act to get money.

Theoretical Review

Reference Group Theory

The reference group theory was propounded by Herbert (1942). The theory correctly linked celebrity endorsement features and consumer purchase behaviour. According to the paradigm, a fictional person or organisation is thought to significantly impact another, assessment, motivations, and behaviour (Whan Park & Parker Lessig, 1977). It claims that consumers have a propensity to seek brands or products certified as having affirmative legitimacy by a third party. According to this theory, most consumers see celebrities as extremely trustworthy sources of validation. They seek to look for information whenever they need to make purchasing decisions related to brands the celebrities are attached with.

Furthermore, this theory asserts that in a purchasing circumstance, consumers require a particular level of celebrity likeness; because the absence of this may put the consumers at high risk of not getting the actual products needed to solve their problems, resulting in dissatisfaction. This is even common practice, especially when a repeat purchase is being made (Whan Park & Parker Lessig, 1977). Consumers seeking accord, especially when making their purchasing decisions, may need to base their decision on the utilitarian influence of the celebrity (McGuire, 2013). This is not just achievable without the customers seeking a bond with a skilled individual or group of individuals with who they share a similar or common interest when making decisions. This may occur by the customers making decisions based on the products they see the celebrities used or those prescribed by a reference group who are seen as experts. Customers desire to be known with individuals with outstanding records rather than those with bad records. This can be achievable by creating and maintaining a positive self-image in their chosen profession (Whan Park & Parker Lessig, 1977). In other words, customers see celebrities as exemplary personalities they can imitate, which may result in them expecting some consistency in supporting a product or brand.

Technological Acceptance Model

Fred Davis developed this model in 1986 to predict the acceptability of an information system that shows how consumers accept and use information technology (Ekwueme & Akagwu, 2017). This theory is an advancement of technological determinism theory. This model suggests that the acceptability of an information system is a function of the supposed level of usefulness and suppose ease of use of the innovation introduced. TAM assumed that the adoption and usage of any innovation is a function of the behavioural intention of its users. While looking at it from the other perspective, the users’ behavioural intention is determined by the person’s attitude towards using the system and by the perception of its utility (Schiffman et al 2008). There are other factors the consumers will put into consideration before accepting or rejecting digital marketing. Those factors include; inability to access the internet due to the non-usage of phones with the facilities and poor internet connection, trust issues, delivery time of the ordered products, and payment channels problems. This model is of high importance to this study because it explains why the internet, being a recent development in the technology of communication, is adopted and used by consumers in their purchasing activities and also for engaging in various marketing communications activities (Ekwueme & Akagwu, 2017). The major factors responsible for the usage of digital marketing platforms by consumers are the points mentioned above: the perceived usefulness and ease of use it offers; nevertheless, trust plays a major factor in its adoption and usefulness by consumers. The contemporary study is founded on reference group theory, and the justification for the theory is based on the fact that a fictional person or organisation is thought to have a significant impact on another, assessment, motivations, and behaviuor of a person (Whan Park & Parker Lessig, 1977).

Empirical Review

Mustapha, Issa & Bello (2021) examined celebrities’ credibility on consumers’ perception and attitude with a keen interest in Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin Metropolis. The study adopted a descriptive research design, and a multi-stage sampling technique was utilised to select the sample. A questionnaire research instrument was utilised in collecting data from 273 samples. Regression analysis was used to analyse the collected data, and it was revealed that celebrity’s credibility has a significant impact on consumers’ perception of Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin metropolis. Also, it was further shown that celebrity endorsement influence consumers’ attitude towards Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin metropolis. This study concludes that celebrity’ credibility influence consumers’ perception and attitude of Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin metropolis. Mallik and Rao (2017) examined the impact of digital marketing on youths buying behaviour pattern with special reference to the big bazaar in Udupi. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect data from 250 respondents through convenience sampling. The weighted mean score and percentage method served as analytical tools. It was revealed that digital and social media are now becoming the new barometer to gauge the popularity of a campaign before it is released on mass media. To keep up with consumers’ digital advances, retailers are becoming savvier in implementing strategies and programs via smartphones, tablets and other digital venues. The work of Duffett (2015) explored the influence of behavioural attitudes towards the most popular social medium in the world, Facebook, amongst Millennials in South Africa. The study aimed to determine how Facebook as the most popular social medium amongst Millennials in South Africa affect their behavioural perspectives. A self- administered structured questionnaire was to collect data from askers in South Africa and a generalised linear model was used to analyse the data. The study’s results authenticated that advertising on Facebook has a positive influence on the behavioural stations (intention-to- purchase and purchase) of Millennials who live in South Africa. The study of Lombo et al (2014) aimed to investigate the impact of celebrity endorsement on youth consumer purchase decisions with a keen interest in Adidas products in Manado. A causal research design was adopted, and copies of the questionnaire were administered to 100 consumers of Adidas products. A multiple regression model approach was used to analyse the data. It was discovered that celebrity source attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise have a significant influence on youth consumer purchase decision of product in Manado. Also, it was revealed that celebrity attractiveness and expertise significantly influence youth consumer purchase decisions and that celebrity attractiveness has more effect on youth consumer purchase decisions than source credibility.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A quantitative research design was adopted in the conduct of this study. The study target population comprises any youth residing in Ikorodu Local Government Area (LGA) between the ages of 15-35 who possess internet-enabled mobile phones and are conversant with celebrity endorsements. A stratified sampling technique was utilised to arrive at the sample population. The choice of Stratified sampling technique was borne out of the desire to have effective sample representation from the six Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) which constitute Ikorodu LGA. These LCDAs are Ikorodu North, Ikorodu West, Ikorodu central, Ijede, Imota and Igbogbo. This study used Godden (2004) formula for the infinite population to sample 397 respondents between the ages of 15-34 years and residing in Ikorodu LGA, Lagos State, Nigeria. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to elicit data from the study’s target population, and this was coded and analysed with the aid of SPSS Version 23. The Pearson Moment Correlation was used as an analytical instrument to test the earlier formulated hypotheses.

RESULTS

The rate of response for this study is good because 364 usable copies of the questionnaire were returned out of 397 that were administered. This implies 91.7 % of respondents were used for analysis in this study.

Figure 1

Gender of respondents

Source: Researchers’ Survey, 2021

Figure 2

Age of respondents

Source: Researchers’ Survey, 2021

Figure 3

Educational level of respondents

Source: Researchers’ Survey, 2021

Figure 4

Marital Status of respondents

Source: Researchers’ Survey, 2021

Figure 5

Marital Status of respondents

Source: Researchers’ Survey, 2021

The figures above represents the demographic characteristics (gender, age, levels, marital status, and LCDA) of the respondents. The table shows that the male respondents accounted for about 60.2 % (219) while the female respondents accounted for 39.8 % (145). Also, the table above shows that 29.4 % of the respondents were in the age bracket 15-20 years, followed by the age bracket 21-40 years with 40.1 % respondents. Respondents with age bracket 27-30 years accounted for 17.6 %, and age bracket between 31-35 years accounted for 12.9 %. The implication is that the bulk of the respondents are still in their prime age, which is usually characterised as energetic, curious, and active when making decisions that allow them to explore new things. Furthermore, table 4.2.1 indicates that 35.7 % of the respondents are still in school, and the remaining 64.3 % belong graduate category. This implies that the sampled size is well educated, making it easy for them to easily read and understand the questions and respond adequately, which further strengthens the study’s validity. Also, 65.9 % of the respondents are single, and the remaining 34.1 % are married. The respondents belong to different local council development areas where 29.4 %, 10.7%, and 22.8 % of the respondents belong to Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, Imota LCDA, and Ijede LCDA, respectively. 21.4 % of the respondents belong to Ikorodu Central, 4.7 % belong to Ikorodu West, and 11.0 % belong to Ikorodu North LCDA in Lagos State. The implication is that the respondents are selected from various departments or specialisations at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels of the school.

Test of hypotheses

Ho: Source trustworthiness does not significantly affect youth purchasing decisions other than brand’s social media engagementin Ikorodu LGA.

Table 1

Correlation Matrix

The analysis above indicates that both trustworthiness and social media engagement have a significant effect on youth purchasing decisions. Also, the correlation coefficient of 0.724 of trustworthiness reveals a strong positive relationship between trustworthiness and purchasing decision compared with social media engagement (0.640), which has a moderate positive relationship with youth purchase influence. As shown in table 2, since the correlation significance of .001 is less than the alpha level of .01, hence the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternate hypothesis which state that source trustworthiness has a significant effect on youth purchasing decision than brand’s social media engagement in Ikorodu LGA is therefore accepted.

Hypothesis II

Ho2: Source alignment does not significantly affect youth purchasing decisions other than online reachability in Ikorodu LGA.

Table 2

Correlations

The analysis above indicates that both source alignment and online reachability have a significant effect on youth purchasing decisions. Also, the correlation coefficient of 0.132 of source alignment reveals a low positive relationship between source alignment and youth purchase compared with online reachability (0.687), which has a moderate positive relationship with youth purchase influence. As shown in table 3, since the correlation significance of .001 is less than the alpha level of .01, the null hypothesis is rejected. The alternate hypothesis states that online reachability significantly affects the youth purchasing decision, than source alignment in Ikorodu LGAis accepted.

Ho3:Source attractiveness does not work better than a brand’s digital campaign in influencing youths’ purchasing decisions in Ikorodu LGA.

Table 3

Correlation Matrix

The table above presents the correlation analysis for hypothesis 3, which depicts the relationship between Source attractiveness and digital campaign coverage in influencing youths’ purchasing decisions. This indicates that digital campaign and source attractiveness has significant effect on influencing youth purchasing decision. Also, the correlation coefficient of 0.687 of digital campaign reveals that there is a strong positive relationship between digital campaign and youth purchase influence compared with source attractiveness which has a moderate positive relationship with youth purchase. As shown in the table above, since the correlation significance of .001 is less than the alpha level of .01, hence the null hypothesis is accepted which states that source attractiveness does not work better than digital campaign coverage in influencing youths’ purchasing decisions in Ikorodu LGA and the alternate hypothesis is therefore rejected.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

In achieving the aim of this study, three objectives were raised, and three hypotheses were subjected to testing. It was speculated from the first hypothesis that source trustworthiness does not significantly affect the youth purchasing decision than brand’s social media engagement in Ikorodu LGA. The test of this hypothesis revealed that source trustworthiness affected youth purchasing decisions (with R=0.724 compared with social media engagement which has (R=0.640). The finding is in accord with the study of Daset al (2017) which investigated the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in print and social media advertisements on consumers’ buying behaviour (students) and found that consumers tend to trust social media advertisements presented by celebrities.

The second hypothesis predicted that source alignment with brand or product does not significantly affect youth purchasing decision than brand’s online reachability in Ikorodu LGA. The result of test of this hypothesis revealed that online reachability affected the youth purchasing decision than source alignment with brand or product with (R=0.687) compared with source alignment with brand or product (R=0.132). The findings of this study agree with the finding of the study of Duffett (2015) which examined the influence of behavioural attitudes towards the most popular social medium amongst South Africa Millennial and discovered that advertising on Facebook has a positive influence on the behavioural attitudes (intention-to-purchase and purchase) of Millennial in South Africa.

Similarly, the third hypothesis predicted that source attractiveness does not work better than a brand’s digital campaign in influencing youths’ purchasing decision in Ikorodu LGA. The result from the test of this hypothesis shows that digital marketing works better in influencing youths’ purchasing decisions than source attractiveness with brand’s digital campaign having (R=0.687) compared with source attractiveness with (R=0.525). The result of this study disagrees with that of Lombo et al (2014), which aimed to investigate the effect of celebrity endorsement on youth purchasing decisions with interest in Adidas products in Manado. It was discovered that celebrity source attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, have a significant influence on youth consumer purchase decision of product in Manado. Also, it was revealed that celebrity attractiveness and expertise significantly influence youth consumer purchase decisions and that celebrity attractiveness has more effect on youth consumer purchase decisions than source credibility.

CONCLUSIONS

The study examined the use of celebrity endorsement and digital marketing on youth purchasing decisions. The findings revealed in this study concluded that source trustworthiness influences youth purchase decisions more than social media engagement and that online reachability has a more significant impact on youth purchase decisions than source alignment. It was also concluded that digital campaign has more effect on youth purchasing decisions than source attractiveness.

Recommendations

Based on the above conclusions, the following recommendations were put forward:

i. Management should pay attention to the trustworthiness of the celebrity employed from the customers perspective by carefully selecting the celebrity to be used for marketing promotions as celebrities with high customer trust tend to pull more positive results for the organizations and their products than engaging in social media engagement.

ii. Online reachability needs to be paid attention to by leveraging various digital marketing platforms like social media marketing, email marketing, among many others. This will assist in increasing the reachability of the products, which tend to enhance other promotional activities than engaging in source alignment.

iii. The organization should continue to engage in the digital campaign by leveraging available digital media platforms, especially social media, to increase their online reachability. This affects the purchasing decisions of the youthful population than source attractiveness.

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