to blog or not to blog? an exploratory research about the ...lib.ugent.be › fulltxt › rug01 ›...

UNIVERSITEIT GENT

FACULTEIT ECONOMIE EN BEDRIJFSKUNDE

ACADEMIEJAAR 2014 – 2015

To blog or not to blog?

An exploratory research about the impact

of corporate versus sponsored consumer

luxury fashion blogs on the brand attitude,

product attitude and purchase intention.

Masterproef voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van

Master of Science in de Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen

Laura Barber

onder leiding van

Prof. Liselot Hudders

II

Permission

Ondergetekende verklaart dat de inhoud van deze masterproef mag geraadpleegd en/of gereproduceerd worden, mits bronvermelding. Laura Barber

III

Preface

I would like to thank a few people who helped create this master thesis.

First of all, many thanks to my supervisor, Liselot Hudders, for her advice and efforts in helping me

write this dissertation. She endured my many visits and e-mails, and offered a quick and helpful

response to my questions. I would also like to thank her for giving me the space to come up with my

own subject and ideas, which made the writing and research experience pleasant.

Furthermore, I would like to thank every member of my family and friends for helping me bounce of

some ideas in the process, giving their support and rereading the thesis several times.

Of course, many thanks to the faculty of Economics and Business Administration in providing the

scientific literature, books and knowledge. Because of these, I was able to do a thorough literature

study and write the dissertation, in proper English.

And finally, I am thankful for the respondents who participated in the pretests and experiment, who

gave me the data to work with in the first place.

IV

Inhoud

Permission ............................................................................................................................................................... II

Preface ................................................................................................................................................................... III

List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................... IV

List of tables ............................................................................................................................................................ V

List of figures .......................................................................................................................................................... VI

1. Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 2

3. Theoretical background and Hypothesis development ................................................................................. 4

3.1 Social media and Blogs in a luxury fashion environment ............................................................................ 4

3.2 Effectiveness Corporate and Sponsored Luxury Fashion Blogs ................................................................... 7

3.2.1 Sponsored blog ................................................................................................................................... 8

3.2.2 Corporate blog .................................................................................................................................... 9

3.2.3 Effect Blogs on Brand attitude, Product attitude and Purchase intention ......................................... 9

3.3 The Mediating impact of Source Credibility ............................................................................................. 12

3.4 The Mediating impact of the activation of Advertising Literacy ............................................................... 14

3.5 Use of Advertising Disclosures................................................................................................................... 15

3.6 The Moderating impact of Brand Awareness ............................................................................................ 17

4. Empirical research ........................................................................................................................................ 18

4.1 Overview of the hypotheses ...................................................................................................................... 18

4.2 Methods .................................................................................................................................................... 19

4.2.1 Design ............................................................................................................................................... 19

4.2.2 Stimuli ............................................................................................................................................... 19

4.2.3 Respondents ..................................................................................................................................... 21

4.2.4 Procedure ......................................................................................................................................... 22

4.2.5 Measures .......................................................................................................................................... 24

4.3 Results ....................................................................................................................................................... 27

4.3.1 Manipulation check .......................................................................................................................... 27

4.3.2 Testing the hypotheses ..................................................................................................................... 28

5. Discussion and conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 46

5.1 Discussion of the results ............................................................................................................................ 46

5.2 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 47

6. Theoretical and managerial implications ..................................................................................................... 48

7. Limitations and further research .................................................................................................................. 49

References ........................................................................................................................................................... VIII

IV

List of abbreviations

eWOM electronic Word of Mouth

UGC User-Generated-Content

ROPO Research Online Purchase Offline

PR Public Relations

PSI Para-Social Interaction

SponsoredPlus Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure

SponsoredMinus Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure

Corporate Corporate Blog

V

List of tables

Table 1. Respondents per blog condition 21

Table 2. Correlation table 28

Table 3. One Sample T-test SponsoredMinus vs Corporate 29

Table 4. One Sample T-test SponsoredPlus vs Corporate 30

Table 5. One Sample T-test SponsoredPlus vs SponsoredMinus 30

Table 6. Mediation analysis of Credibility 33

Table 7. Mediation analysis of Advertising literacy (AdverLi1) 36



Table 10. Covariates analysis: interaction effect 42

Table 11. One-way ANOVA vs Multivariate ANCOVA 43

Table 12. Covariate Involvement 43

Table 13. Direct effect Blog type on covariates 43

Table 14. Moderation Blog12 44



VI

List of figures

Figure 1. Research design 23

Figure 2. Effects on Brand attitude, Product attitude, Purchase Intention 31

Figure 3. Mediation analysis: Blog type on Credibility 32

Figure 4. Mediation analysis: Blog type on Advertising Literacy 35

VII

List of attachments

Attachment 1. Stimuli Bijlage 1.1

Attachment 2. Research questionnaire Bijlage 2.1

1

1. Abstract

Blogs worden alsmaar meer aanzien als een nuttige tool in de marketing strategie. Heel wat recente

studies onderzoeken het gebruik, de karakteristieken en de effectiviteit van blogs. De research naar

gesponsorde en bedrijfsblogs zijn daarin echter ondervertegenwoordigd. Daarnaast ligt weinig focus op

de mode industrie, hoewel het een grote hoeveelheid bloggers telt. Het doel van deze studie is

analyseren of deze verschillende types blogs (gesponsorde blogs met of zonder bekendmaking van de

sponsoring, en bedrijfsblog) de merkattitude, productattitude en aankoopintentie beïnvloeden. Verder

wordt ook de impact van credibiliteit en de activatie van reclamewijsheid op de relatie tussen de blog

types en effectiviteit onderzocht. Als laatste wordt ook de modererende invloed van naamsbekendheid

(gekend/niet gekend) bestudeerd.

In het onderzoek wordt een between-subjects design gebruikt met drie blog types als condities. De

resultaten uit de enquête, bevraagd over 95 respondenten, indiceren enkel een marginaal significant

verschil tussen gesponsorde blogs zonder bekendmaking van de sponsoring en de bedrijfsblog op

merkattitude en aankoopintentie. Tussen de gesponsorde blog met bekendmaking van sponsoring en de

bedrijfsblog blijkt enkel een marginaal significant verschil in product attitude, maar in de verkeerde

richting ten opzichte van de hypothese. In de vergelijking van de twee gesponsorde blogs komt geen

enkele afhankelijke variabele naar voor als significant. Hoewel uit de uitkomst van het onderzoek geen

sluitende conclusie kan getrokken worden, kan men eruit opmaken dat de drie type blogs een

interessante online aanvulling kunnen zijn binnen een consistente marketing strategie van een luxe

merk. Bedrijven kunnen daarbij zowel blogs sponsoren, als zelf een blog creëren, met bijna dezelfde

resultaten. De analyse toont geen mediërend effect van credibiliteit of reclamewijsheid, wat mogelijks

verantwoord kan worden door de grote gelijkenis tussen de blog types. Ook de moderator

naamsbekendheid blijkt geen invloed te hebben; een mogelijk verklaring hiervoor is het gebrek aan

hoofdeffect tussen de blog types en merkattitude, productattitude en aankoopintentie.

2

2. Introduction

The luxury fashion industry encountered several obstacles in light of the economic crisis of 2008 (Mohr,

2013). Plummeting sales (Gereffi and Frederick, 2010) and the necessity of a significant ROI of marketing

decisions, made radical changes in the strategy crucial to attract customers (Fisher, 2009). Another

challenge was the entry of many new luxury fashion labels. To overcome all of these challenges, offering

superior service using different communication tools became necessary. (Jiyoung Kim, and Ko, 2010) All

the while, the target audience still had to receive the luxury service they were accustomed to. The

solution was a compelling and straightforward communication to persuade its customers into buying:

social media. (Chow, 2013)

Integrating social media as an extension of the marketing mix (Samuel-Camps, and Haldan-Jones, 2013)

not only provides the potential of acquiring new customers, but also the retention of the existing ones

(Jiyoung Kim, and Ko, 2010). To both, building a strong brand is essential. Contriving a successful social

media campaign should enable consumers to develop a profounder connection to the brand. More

important, the message should be consistent with the other marketing channels (Chow, 2013). Aside

from creating a strong brand, relating to the customer should be a priority. In that particular scenario,

the use of social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. acquires more and more

importance, mainly because of their ability to increase the electronic-Word Of Mouth (eWOM) among

luxury brands (Mohr, 2013). Pioneers in the field of social media in the fashion industry are the brands

Louis Vuitton and Burberry: from airing their fashion shows in real-time to everyone interested (Jiyoung

Kim, and Ko, 2010), to assigning 60 percent of their marketing resources to online communication

instruments (Heine, 2014). Proving social media makes a valid tool in marketing, Mikalef, Giannakos,

and Patelli (2012) saw that it already changes the consumers’ actions by influencing the research

behavior online.

Linked to social media, is the concept of user-generated content, which translates into people sharing

information and their opinions about products and brands online to anyone interested. Reviews, videos,

and blogs are only a few examples of the massive amount of UGC platforms (Krumm, Davies, and

Narayanaswami, 2008). In response to the free expression of opinions, UGC has seen an increase in

popularity. Therefore, offering a counterweight to the great amount of opinions in the corporate

environment is necessary. All the while, the image of both the company as well as its brand and

products is strengthened (Zhang, Craciun and Shin, 2008). In various different industries, the

blogosphere is already embedded in the DNA of many companies (Colliander, and Dahlén, 2011).

http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?ID=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960&q=sponsored+blogs&CID=A93546&PUB=JAR&ID=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960&MasterContentRef=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960#Colliander

http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?ID=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960&q=sponsored+blogs&CID=A93546&PUB=JAR&ID=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960&MasterContentRef=e2bec4ba-460d-4be0-803a-c8107d6ac960#Dahln

3

Nonetheless, many companies are critical towards the platform because of its unruly nature (Huang, et

al., 2007).

The writers, whose opinion is valued and trusted by its followers, can be described as “fashionable

friends” (Colliander, and Dahlen, 2011, p.314). Therefore, the credibility of the blogger is an important

and delicate concept (Huang, Chou, and Lin, 2008). Nevertheless, as Colliander and Dahlen (2011) found,

online magazines are less effective in comparison to the content of a blog. Possibly because of the

significant effect credibility and image has on consumer’s acceptance of the message content

(Colliander, and Dahlen, 2011).

Since fashion blogs are a phenomenon of the latest years, research has yet to discuss the larger

proportion of its potential. Nonetheless, there is research covering the difference between the content

of a consumer fashion blog and a sponsored blog by Kulmala, Mesiranta and Tuominen (2013). Besides

that, an article by Manafy (2010) concluded that the adopting the social media has become necessary in

order to survive as a brand, as it has a large impact on consumers. Therefore, eWOM needs to be

boosted, through restituting consumers with free products and services, among others (Ryu and Feick,

2007). Factoring in blogger credibility, the advertising message is, therefore, found to be best circulated

by bloggers to reach the target audience (Steyn et al., 2009).

When discussing sponsored content, the inclusion of an advertising disclosure needs to be considered.

In notifying the reader of the persuasive intent, their awareness of a product is affected, but also the

attitude towards the brand and product alters. (Russell, 2002) Furthermore, an interaction effect can

arise from their use in a sponsored blog, and can influence the activation of advertising literacy. The

latter enables the control of persuasion efforts, but simultaneously affects the attitude unfavorably

(Boerman, van Reijmersdal, and Neijens, 2012). This could result in corporate blogs, an online

information channel, where content about the company is posted for consumers by the organization

(Ahuja, and Medury, 2010), becoming a more profitable channel to communicate.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Previous research undertaken in relation to social

media and blogs are examined, with a further exploration of corporate and sponsored blogs, and their

relation to the concepts of brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. Afterwards, the

experiment for this research is fully explained. Finally, the results are interpreted and conclusions and

future directions are provided. The central research question of this dissertation is:

“What is the impact on the brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention of corporate blogs

in comparison to sponsored blogs?”

4

3. Theoretical background and

Hypothesis development

3.1 Social media and Blogs in a luxury fashion environment

UGC and other ways of interconnecting through social media, have gained attention in recent years.

Because of its increased popularity and usage, social media has become essential in the business

environment application, to influence consumer’s researching as well as buying behavior. (Rehmani, and

Khan, 2011, Peterson, R.A., Balasubramanian, S., Bronnenberg, B.J., 1997)

In the management of luxury brands, social media is intensively used to reach customers (Reyneke, Pitt,

and Berthon, 2011). Beer and Burrows (2007) even characterize the “Web 2.0” as a collaborative, direct

and UGC driven environment. Derived from these characteristics, consumers consider the social media

as a credible source of information. With the surge of this new channel, luxury brands have gained a

new platform on which they can provide meaningful information. Through a thought-out social media

platform, the reputation of the brand can be strengthened, which ultimately leads to a better

competitive advantage. (Heil, Lehmann, Stremersch, 2010) And although there are a lot of positive

aspects, maintaining the integrity of the brand needs to be put forward when applying UGC and social

media (Van Laer and de Ruyter, 2010).

All the while, consumers discovered the opportunity to build a online community, on Facebook, Twitter,

etc, which actively contributes, in comparison to traditional media (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002). In the

research by Dellarocas, Zhang and Awad (2007) about motion pictures, eWOM shows a lot of potential

in terms of predicting box office sales as a useful metric, proving social media can be more than a

marketing tool. When making a thought out, informed buying decision, the experiences and opinion of

peers are taken increasingly more into account (Lee, Park, and Han, 2008). Consequently, reviews have

developed a twofold function for consumers: “providing information and recommendations” (Lu, Chang,

and Chang, 2014), which is especially accurate for hedonic products (Smith, Menon, and Sivakumar,

2005). As a result, there has been an uprising of researching a product online, before purchasing it

offline (ROPO) (Heil, et al., 2010).

5

Another advantage of the integration of the new media, is its ability to reach consumers at various

phases of the purchasing process (Samuel-Camps, and Haldan-Jones, 2013). For instance, to

communicate the brand’s image and story, to raise awareness among customers. In response, the

behavior of the luxury customers has altered too, for instance the consumption of media using smart

phones and tablets. (Mohr, 2013) As a result, in 2009, social media usage saw an extreme growth

(Mohr, 2013), which pushed luxury brands to fully adopting the tool in its digital marketing strategy.

Many of them have become leaders in the field, which is necessary to remain relevant to the ever-

changing social media landscape, making it part of their daily communication. Considered as the

absolute leader in social media use, Burberry’s brand affinity has risen ever since the use of digital

campaigns, while simultaneously attaining an increase of 39,8% in profits in 2011. (Phan, Thomas, and

Heine, 2011). It is fair to say, eWOM has sparked the interest of both the corporate environment as well

as the consumers. An effect of this is, is the evolution in type of guests of Mercedes Benz’s Fashion

Week in New York. Before the surge of the blogosphere, the invitees consisted of the elite in the fashion

industry, now many of them are fashion bloggers. (Mohr, 2013)

With the proliferation in the use of social media, Mangold and Faulds (2009) found that new

instruments and tactics to connect with customers originated. In the study, they discuss its substantial

influence on consumer behavior, which has made the integration into the advertising mix essential.

However, the authors note that brands’ managers still require the necessary experience and confidence.

Nonetheless, Mangold and Faulds (2009) found that social media’s dual purpose in a corporate setting

has been proven to be advantageous, both as communication platform toward its customers, but also in

allowing the interaction between customers. That interaction leads to the concept of UGC, but also to

the problem for companies of how to profit from that interaction. The authors propose various ways of

coping with the uncertainty, that comes with the platform, such as “offering a networking platform,

providing exclusivity, providing information, using blogs”, etc. (Mangold, and Faulds, 2009)

An important concept attached to UGC is eWOM. It can be described as “any positive or negative

statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made

available to a multitude of people and institutions via the internet” (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, p.39).

Steffes and Burgee (2009) found various elements in which eWOM dissimilar from the traditional WOM:

the sender and receiver “are separated by both space and time”, trust is harder to create since there is

no ability to assessment of the source’s credibility possible (Steffes and Burgee, 2009), and a great

amount of people can exchange opinions within the same conversation (Dellarocas, 2003).

Nevertheless, the exchange of information online between consumers has been facilitated by

transmitters of eWOM, like blogs (Xiaofen, and Yiling, 2009), thus changing the communication from an

6

one-to-one to an interactive system. In comparison to the traditional WOM, eWOM is “directed to

multiple individuals, available to other consumers for an indefinite period of time, and anonymous”

(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, p. 39). A popular use of social media is the opportunity for consumers to

research products before purchase (Doh, and Hwang, 2009), hence the reason why it earns its place as

the “3rd most trusted advertising method”, according to the Nelson Research Company. For that reason,

the consumer communities have been getting attention from both the academic and corporate world,

because of the potential knowledge consumers’ opinions contains about the market (Xiaofen, and Yiling,

2009).

Blogs, the abbreviation of web logs, “personal journals on the internet arranged in reverse chronological

sequence that facilitate interactive computer mediated communication through text, images, and

audio/video objects” (Huang, et al., 2007), which facilitates the discussing of opinions, providing

information, etc. (7 things you should know about Blogs, 2005). Making the customer more affiliated to

with the company, blogs can influence that relation by various ways, ranging from obtaining information

to posting reviews after purchase (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). This creates an opportunity for

companies to tap into previously unused, unreachable resources, like an interactive community (Kaplan

and Haenlein, 2010). In that regard, using blogs in a business environment serves multiple purposes:

“guerilla marketing” (Lyons, 2005), ambush competition (Barbaro, 2006), building a relationship with

customers, uncovering trends, etc (Kirkpatrick, and Ryan, 2005). Several other advantages have

originated for companies, such as “research, environmental scanning, and issue management”, next to

being low-cost and having a large reach. Nonetheless, although to a lesser extent, research proves there

to be a few downsides, for instance the “exaggerated significance attached to blogging”, as well as the

“blogger’s credibility and status”. (Kent, 2008) A good example of why consumers need to be critical, is

the Australian health blogger Belle Gibson. She lied about having multiple cancers, and self-treating

these through diet and alternative medicine, deceiving her many followers (Davey, 2015).

In comparison to traditional media, blogs have the ability to post regular updates involving a subject,

which undoubtedly affects social media’s effectiveness (Mohr, 2013). Besides that, Mohr (2013) also

describes the fact that, the opportunity of sharing opinions among peers increases the alluring practice

of social media. The author therefore identifies today’s “influencers” as popular bloggers in the luxury

industry, in comparison to the previous decennia, where the elite magazine editors held that title.

According to Mohr (2013), besides spreading relevant information, like every other media platform,

having a strong personal opinion ensures the bloggers of their success. For the industry, the increasing

popularity of fashion blogs offers both the potential of an information source, as well as a new

communication channel (Chih, Wang, Hsu, and Huang, 2013).

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811107001610#bib30


7

Apart from bloggers’ influence, their success is determined by the increasing popularity of investigating

a product before actually buying it. Making a purchasing decision is, therefore, to an ever greater extent

influenced by opinions of peers in the blogosphere. (Cox, Martinez, and Quinlan, 2008) Consumers

keenly explore the multitude of opinions of more well-informed consumers (Flynn, Goldsmith and

Eastman, 1996). Therefore, bloggers can also be described as powerful influencers, and being called

“opinion leaders” (Shoham, and Ruvio, 2008, p. 280). This creates an opportunity for companies to tap

unto that influence ((Hsu, Huang, Ko, and Wang, 2014) as an instrument to persuade (Kent, 2008). With

the accumulation of that power, many companies deem popular bloggers the reporter 2.0 (Mohr, 2013).

Besides their unique opinion that attracts consumers, these influencers are very tech savvy. As a result,

their voice attains an even wider reach by using various other online media platforms. (Shoham, and

Ruvio, 2008) Several bloggers have even made blogging their profession, for instance the Belgian

fashionista Tiany Kiriloff.

3.2 Effectiveness Corporate and Sponsored Luxury Fashion Blogs

The ever-growing influence of bloggers, pushes marketers to tap that resource. As a result, sponsored

blogs have increased in importance, partially because of their superior level of credibility in comparison

to marketer-generated content. (Kulmala, Mesiranta, and Tuominen, 2013)

Especially in the fashion industry, blogs exercise great influence on its followers, as an source for

information on new trends (Cheung, Lee, and Rabjohn, 2008). Although in lesser extent, blogs in general

have been studied, but contrary to their increasing importance, little on the fashion side exists to this

day. Nevertheless, the research of Johnson and Kaye (2004) found several functionalities of blogs in

“creating trends, sharing news and opinion, and spreading information”. Blogs’ ability to “build or

break” a brand (Owen and Humphrey, 2009, p. 3), next to having little bias (Gruen, Osmonbekov and

Czaplewski, 2006) shows its importance beside its influence on readers. Linked to para-social

interaction of blogs, Colliander and Dahlen’s (2011) research confirms the positive effect of blogs on

attitudes and buying decisions.

The illusion of having a genuine relationship, bearing resemblance to a relation in reality (Rosaen, and

Dibble, 2008), with a media figure is called the Para-Social Interaction (PSI) (Horton, and Wohl 1956).

Followers will identify themselves with the blogger, and respect them, among other aspects. As a result,

readers start to experience it as a social relationship, instead of a virtual one. (Auter, and Palmgreen,

8

2000) Developing that feeling can be accounted for by the fact that the virtual relation starts to

resemble a real one, since they have similar characteristics: it provides friendship (Hays, 1984), both are

out of free will (Wright, 1978), and there needs to be an attraction on a social level (Rubin, and McHugh,

1987). The reader engages in a relation because the traits of the source are comparable to one’s self

(Turner, 1993). As hypothesized in the research of Colliander and Dahlen (2011), PSI is significantly

higher for blog readers than for the traditional media audience, such as magazines. Resulting in brand

attitude and purchase intention being higher after exposing the brand and product on the blog, in

general the promotional effectiveness increased.

Given the higher effect than traditional media, two types of blogs can be used for marketing purposes: a

corporate blog or a sponsored consumer blog (Kulmala, Mesiranta, and Tuominen, 2013; Lee, and Koo,

2012). Both are used for research purposes to identify trends (Rickman, and Cosenza, 2007), as well as

to reach potential customers (Corcoran, 2010).

3.2.1 Sponsored blog

In this dissertation, sponsored content is defined as, based on the definition of brand placement by

Karrh (1998): the integrating of brands or products in a message from the blogger with the purpose of

advertising, like blogs, in exchange for compensation from the sponsor (van Reijmersdal, Neijens, and

Smit, 2009). Thus, in influencing a blog post as a company, the practice can be considered advertising

(Forrest, and Cao, 2010). However, in doing so, companies should take into account the personal style of

the source; products send should match this style. For companies, a thorough examination is necessary

to ensure a match between the brand or product and the blogger (Kulmala, Mesiranta, and Tuominen,

2013)

Commonly used for the expansion of a customer base (Verlegh, Pruyn, and Peters, 2003), is the concept

of member-get-member programs (MGM programs) (Chan, Lin, and Bodhi, 2014). The program

stimulates existing customers into convincing others through word-of-mouth to buy a product and

become a customer. The deal for the existing consumer is often sweetened by the offering of benefits

for both parties, which resembles the companies sponsoring a fashion blog. (Verlegh, Pruyn, and Peters,

2003) In recent years, eWOM has become another channel for the practice, resulting in “long-term

relationships“ (Chan, Lin, and Bodhi, 2014). For companies, sponsored blogs offer the opportunity to

informally address the target group (Porter, Sweetser, and Chung, 2009). In this dissertation, sponsoring

bloggers to endorse products or brands receive direct-monetary benefits (Corcoran, 2010), without

9

actually trying the product. However, paying bloggers may be detrimental to the blogger’s credibility

(Petty, and Andrews, 2008). Nevertheless, with regard to attitudes towards the blog, research by Lee

and Koo (2012) has shown there to be no influence of any benefits, like promotions or reductions.

3.2.2 Corporate blog

A corporate blog can be defined as a blog that is approved by the company, a platform where they can

publish and manage content, to face the issue regarding the control of a blog head on (Lee, Hwang, and

Lee, 2006). The adoption of the blogosphere in companies has already brought forth options ranging

from CEO’s blogging, marketing blogs, to employee blogs (Wright, 2006). These can have various goals;

for instance the diffusion of information about the company, or identifying complications within the

market. Above all, the blog is a tool that can adapt to the personal needs of customers, and offers an

opportunity to directly communicate with. (Cho, and Huh, 2010)

It can be conceptualized as an online storage of information where content is posted for consumer

consumption. The corporate blog can be an answer to consumers researching products online before

buying, or making them aware of current promotion, next to voicing the opinion of the company in

arguments. (Ahuja, and Medury, 2010) Tasked with the responsibility of attracting traffic to the blog and

posting relevant content, the bloggers within the corporate blogosphere are not necessarily the

spokesperson or CEO’s, but do have a close relation to the company. Effectively fulfilling their

assignment, the corporate blog has the potential to be an effective communication channel and

reinforce the relation with the customers. (Cho, and Huh, 2010) Simultaneously, the company benefits

from a positive image, when positive brand awareness is created (Sheth, Parvatiyar, 1995), thus

enhancing the brand recall (Esch, Langner, Schmitt, and Geus, 2006) when making a purchase decision

(Brengman and Karimov, 2012).

3.2.3 Effect Blogs on Brand attitude, Product attitude and Purchase intention

in comparison to traditional methods of advertising, the research of Trusov, Bucklin, and Pauwels (2009)

showed eWOM’s potential to positively influence behavior, increasing the growth of followers on social

media with “longer carryover effects”.

10

3.2.3.1 Brand and product attitude

Perceptions and experience with a product or brand, result in consumers forming a attitude.

Simultaneously, it is also a highly correlated to behavior, like purchase intention. In other words, by

using promotions, the consumers becomes more familiar, altering his or her perception, and ultimately

influencing the willingness to buy. (Shimp, 2010)

As an extension to the already massive amount of platforms for eWOM (Ahmed et al., 2009), blogging

has proven itself as a influencer of consumers’ evaluations and attitudes (Laczniak, DeCarlo, and

Ramaswami, 2001). For instance, in the research of Chevalier and Mayzlin (2006) the influence of

positive and negative online book rating reviews on book sales were analyzed, of which the authors

described a positive relation. On the other hand, Lee and Youn (2009) showed there to be influence of

the opinions’ extremity and direction (positive or negative) on the extent to which the attitude was

positive. They found negative reviews to weigh through more than positive reviews, resulting in

negative reviews easily negating the increase in attitude after a positive review. (Lee, and Youn, 2009)

Nevertheless, the research by Ballantine and Yeung (2015) confirms the impact of a positive review of a

product on both brand attitude and purchase intention. Other research by Jalilvand and Samiei (2012)

shows the same results, assuming that brand attitude is affected by brand awareness and brand image.

3.2.3.2 Purchase intention

Purchase intention is described as “the consumer’s possibility of purchasing in the future” (Kim, and Ko,

2012, p. 167) . According to Kim and Ko (2012), the concept is a manifestation of attitudes, making social

media an useful “two-way communication” tool in identifying the customers’ behavior and attitudes.

Prior to making buying decisions, many consumers already value the opinions about products of others

in online communities (Mikalef, Giannakos, and Pateli, 2012; Chih, Wang, Hsu, and Huang, 2013). Before

actually purchasing, the intention is provoked (Zeithaml, Berry, Parasuraman, 1996), which is a valuable

concept in the prediction of purchases for companies and researchers (Kim, and Ko, 2012). Aside from

attitudes, the brand’s image, an aggregation of experiences and encounters by customers with the

brand (Keller, 1993), impacts the potential purchasing behavior (Wu, Yeh and Hsiao, 2010).

11

The study of Rehmani and Khan (2011) researched the influence of social media on mobile phone

customers in Pakistan. The authors found that UGC and eWOM had a significant impact on the purchase

intention. Because of the concepts’ ability to obtain relevant information and assess the quality of

products, consumers’ intentions alter. (Rehmani, and Khan, 2011) Tseng, Kuo, and Chen (2014)

confirmed that relation; the authors even found a larger effect of eWOM in comparison to traditional

ads.

In 2008, a study analyzed the effects of social media on the purchase behavior of consumers. DEI

Worldwide found that 49% of the questioned consumers made decisions based on information from

Facebook, Twitter, etc. After buying, 60% declared to have reviewed the product online for others to

read. 45% also claimed to have actively sought the advice of peers, using eWOM channels. Fast forward

to 2015, this amount will have likely increased. Anticipating to the opportunity of influencing attitudes

and purchase intention using UGC, marketers consider sponsored messages a valid tool (Lu, Chang, and

Chang, 2014).

With the knowledge about brand attitude, product attitude and purchase intention, the size of effects

on the subject can be hypothesized. The following hypothesis is proposed:

H1: The brand attitude, product attitude and purchase intention towards a sponsored luxury fashion

blogs is more positive than towards corporate luxury fashion blogs.

12

3.3 The Mediating impact of Source Credibility

As a new way of relating to the public, blogs are considered more interactive and spontaneous (Scott,

2007). In order for consumers to accept statements made by bloggers, a relation has to be build where

the reader relies on and trusts the opinion of the writer (Moorman, Deshpande, and Zaltman, 1993). To

which extent the trust stretches depends on the evaluation of the blog (Doyle, Heslop, Ramirez, and

Cray, 2012), for instance the integrity (Lee and Turban, 2001). As a result, in recent years online

consumers have begun to regard blogs a highly credible medium (Bickart, and Schindler, 2001), which

affects behavioral intention (Casaló, Flavian, and Guinaliu, 2008).

Without knowledge about the source, the reputation can significantly impact to which extent the

consumer is influenced and persuaded. From the notoriety of a company, consumers often deduce the

credibility of a source. (Flanagin, and Metzger, 2008) Having a good relation with the reader enables the

blogger to develop a connection, once established, it smoothens the ability to positively affect behavior

(Hung, and Li, 2007). Closely related is the source credibility theory, which states that the more credible

the source, the more persuasive the message (Ohanian 1991). Nevertheless, due to eWOM’s lack of

editorial process , it is often criticized. (Wischnowski, 2011) Regardless whether the blog is sponsored or

not, bloggers are considered independent from any corporate influence, therefore readers perceive

them as highly credible (Chu, and Kamal, 2008). As a result, Nabi and Hendrinks (2003) found that

consumers often adopt the opinion when making a buying decision, if they consider the source credible.

Another study by Ladhari and Michaud (2015) showed that in the hotel industry, the reviews generated

on Facebook by other customers influenced others’ booking intentions, making them increasingly more

trustworthy towards the comments.

Wanting to influence behavior online, Hsiao, Lin, Lu, and Yu (2010) found that “perceived ability,

perceived benevolence/integrity, perceived critical mass, and trust in a website” are essential in creating

trust between the blogger and follower. Covering the subject, is the source credibility model (Ohanian,

1991). The model incorporates various key elements, such as expertise, trustworthiness (Baker, and

Churchill, 1977) and the information quality of the blog (Rubin, and Liddy, 2006), among others. Forman,

Ghose, and Wiesenfeld (2008) also found the amount of self-disclosure and the blogger’s profile to have

repercussions on the perceived credibility. The authors also discuss the fact that readers, who deem

themselves similar to the source, are more likely to accept information (Forman, Ghose, and Wiesenfeld,

2008). On the other hand, other researchers have claimed the influence of the trustworthiness of

previous information about a certain subject, the grammar used in the blog post and the authority of a

13

source as the more important aspects of credibility (Rieh and Danielson, 2007; Stavrositu ,and Sundar,

2008; Chesney, and Su, 2009).

Nevertheless, to be deemed a trustworthy source, bloggers’ most important asset is meaningful

information, and being truthful (Chu and Kamal, 2008). For businesses, the credibility of the source is

essential for a beneficial advertisement, when collaborating with popular blogs (Huang, et al., 2007) In

this scenario, increasing the acceptance of a message can be raised by increasing the credibility of the

source, through its ability to provide relevant information for instance (Doyle, Heslop, Ramirez, and

Cray, 2012). However, influencing the blogs’ traits incorrectly, can cause the source to appear biased. In

other words, the blogger’s credibility is a fragile concept, losing the consumer’s trust may result in

rejecting the message (Lee, and Koo, 2012). An essential factor is the blogger’s profile, which possesses

the ability to limit scrutinizing the blog, leading to more trust on behalf of the reader. (Petty, Priester,

and Brinol 2002)

Without trust, impacting consumers’ decision making process will become more difficult, as well as to

which extent the provided information is accepted (Luo and Zhong, 2015). Furthermore, the research by

Cheung, Lee, and Rabjohn (2009) has also shown recommendations are more likely to be adopted when

the source is perceived credible. In this regard, an early study confirms the claim that high credibility

results in high persuasion by a message, and vice versa (Grewal, Gotlieb, and Marmorstein, 1994).

Results illustrate that the higher the trust in a source, the more likely a positive brand attitude will be

created (Wu, and Wang 2011), and a positive purchase intention will arise (Fan, and Miao, 2012).

It can be hypothesized that:

H2: As a mediating variable, the credibility of the source influences the relation between the blog type

and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.


14

3.4 The Mediating impact of the activation of Advertising Literacy

Advertising literacy is “the ability to recognize, evaluate and understand advertisements and other

commercial messages” (Malmelin, 2010, p. 130). Becoming more literate entails developing a broader

skill set to ward off persuasion attempts (Potter, 2014).

Potter (2014) defines, the general variant, media literacy in three components: personal locus,

knowledge structures, and skills, all essential to extend the set of perceptions on the media. Personal

locus gives the consumer the ability to decide what is processed and what is disregarded. The person’s

competence in using the personal locus, results in controlling the media. The second skill, enables

consumers to decide which information is relevant. Known as the knowledge structure, the receiver of

the message will seep through and transform the relevant information into practical knowledge. And

finally, to process the data and compose the knowledge structures, skills are necessary to excerpt the

media and shape them sets of information. (Potter, 2014)

In general, media literacy is the knowledge that comes from years of encountering advertising and

developing ability to control them, which results in a frequently used skill set (Eagle, 2007). Closely akin

to the concept of advertising literacy is the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM). According to Friestad

and Wright (1994) the experienced the consumer, the more knowledge to see through the intentions

and ploy of marketers (Friestad, and Wright, 1994).

Consumers noticing the purpose of the marketer will use their advertising literacy, much like a filter

(Rozendaal, Buijzen and Valkenburg, 2009). Called the activation of advertising literacy, it results in the

receiver of the message becoming suspicious towards the marketer. The activation enables the

consumer to act against the manipulations, and is called ‘cognitive defense’. (Brucks, Armstrong,

Goldberg, 1988) The ability to critically approaching advertising, is facilitated by the possession of that

essential knowledge of advertising to protect themselves from the effects (Friestad and Wright, 1994).

The following hypothesis is proposed:

H3: As a mediating variable, the activation of advertising literacy influences the relation between the

blog type and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

15

3.5 Use of Advertising Disclosures

A possible activator of the advertising literacy is an advertising disclosure. It is used in sponsored

content to ensure the consumers is aware of marketers trying to persuade them (Woods, 2008).

Sponsored content without the inclusion of a disclosure, can be deemed as covert marketing, a

reasoning that applies to sponsored blogs (Campbell, Mohr, and Verlegh, 2012). Characterized by its

sole purpose of convincing consumers, many consider the source biased as a result (Zhu, and Tan, 2007;

Forrest, and Cao, 2010). As a result, sponsored messages being called out for being are common (Cain,

2011) In response, many countries draw up laws. In the EU, a new law was developed which orders

sponsored content to be disclosed, although it is not mentioned how bloggers should notify their

readers explicitly (Boerman, 2014; Meindersma, 2012). Other countries, like the US, have already passed

laws to avoid the allegations of consumer deception (Rotfeld, 2008).

In the research of Campbell, Mohr, and Verlegh (2013), the timing of sponsorship disclosures are

analyzed, proving that they do induce a change in persuasion, although depending on the timing of the

statement. It seems that, revealing the disclosure prior to the message leads to the modification of

recall, however, the attitude remains the same. On the other hand, exposing the disclosure after the

message alters the impact on both recall and attitude towards the message, and ultimately the product.

In conclusion, the use of an advertising disclosure does indeed affect consumers’ awareness and

attitude towards the brand. (Campbell, Mohr, and Verlegh, 2013) On the other hand, a study by Wood

and Quinn (2003) found the opposite, instead of a deterioration in the consumers attitude towards the

brand, the brand was emphasized. The results show a rise in brand awareness, regardless of when the

exposure takes place (Wood & Quinn, 2003). Other research by Boerman, van Reijmersdal and Neijens

(2012) only found a significant impact on brand memory. However, most researchers agree that when

the readers are made aware about the intention to persuade via sponsorship, they become more critical

and the judgment alters to a more negative view of the brand.

In the research of Boerman, van Reijmersdal and Neijens (2012), the concept of the Persuasion

Knowledge model, thought out by Wright in 1985, can be used to discuss and explain the concept of

persuasive intent of sponsored content, advertising disclosures, and the activation of advertising

literacy. The model offers an explanation of how people obtain knowledge about persuasion and use

knowledge to protect themselves from persuasion attempts. The concepts raises the importance of

awareness of persuasion attempts prior to the activation of the persuasion knowledge. When

consumers are knowledgeable about the attempt, they can apply their insights, acquired over a lifetime,

to control to which extent he or she is influenced (Friestad, and Wright, 1994). Earlier research, even

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057740812001337#bb0285

16

suggests a resistance towards the message when the persuasion attempt is noticeable (Hass, and Grady,

1975), which tends to result in the attitude being less favorable (Campbell, Mohr, and Verlegh, 2007).

Ultimately, the receiver of the message may also deem the marketer as disingenuous (Carlson, Bearden,

Hardesty, 2007).

However, the research by Lee (2010) concluded that the including a disclosure, to warn the reader of

persuasion attempt, leads to the activation of advertising literacy, which has a diminishing effect on the

brand attitude, product attitude and purchase intention. A study by Wentzel, Tomczak, and Herrmann

(2010) defines narrative or manipulative ads and expository ads. In the first type, the message is

communicated as a story, which leads to readers engaging in narrative thinking. However, the effect is

curbed by the extent to which the manipulative motives of the marketer are apparent. (Deighton,

Romer, & McQueen, 1989), much like sponsored blogs. Thus, the processing leads to the difference in

the two types lies in the processing, the latter requires a analytical method (Adaval & Wyer, 1998). It is

hypothesized that a narrative ad will be assessed more advantageously than a expository ad, which

consists of mostly facts.

However, against expectations, the research shows that expository ads are assessed as more effective in

comparison to narrative ads, due to the fact that the attempt of manipulating is perceivable to the

consumer. Both ads are therefore analyzed more analytically, because the reader becomes more

guarded against the marketer’s tactics. (Wentzel, Tomczak, and Herrman, 2010)

This leads to the following hypothesis:

H4: The inclusion of advertising disclosures activates the reader’s advertising literacy, resulting in:

a) higher effectiveness in product attitude, brand attitude and lower purchase intention of

corporate blogs, in comparison to sponsored blogs with advertising disclosure.

b) higher effectiveness in product attitude, brand attitude and lower purchase intention of

sponsored blogs without advertising disclosure, in comparison to sponsored blogs with

advertising disclosure.

17

3.6 The Moderating impact of Brand Awareness

The concept of brand awareness refers to whether consumers can recognize or recall the brand,

whether or not they know the brand (Keller, 2009). Hutter et al. (2013) found, in their research about

the impact of social media, that when consumers interconnect with the a company’s social media, for

instance a Facebook fanpage, brand awareness increases.

As hypothesized in the research of Ha (2014), high brand awareness of a reliable source leads to

consumers deeming the media trustworthy. For consumers, brand awareness is deemed as a heuristic

cue to make purchasing decisions. In the mindset that, the more acclaimed the brand is, the more

reliable. (Macdonald, and Sharpe, 2000) In the research of Smith and Wheeler (2002), high brand

awareness resulted in the conviction of the good nature of the brand, and even advocating on their

behalf towards other consumers.

Next to that, Homburg, Klarmann, and Schmitt (2010) found that optimizing brand awareness,

significantly improved the company’s performance, therefore making it an interesting concept for the

corporate setting. The link brand awareness to market performance can be provided using the theory of

information economics. In the theory, brand awareness is composed of two functional structures. Its

first function is diminishing information costs, serving as a heuristic cue. Secondly, consumer prefer

brands that have a good image, which results in brand awareness’ ability to reduce risk when making

the buying decision. (Erdem & Swait, 1998)

Studies also show a increase in brand attitude resulting from the extent to which the brand is renowned,

which indirectly implies a high brand awareness (Laroche, Kim, and Zhou, 1996). The research of Hoyer

and Brown (1990) confirmed that substantial influence of brand awareness on decision processes of

consumers. Another study, by Ho, et al. (2014), even shows brand awareness as a significant moderator

between the blog type and its effectiveness.

This leads to the following hypothesis:

H5: As a moderator, high brand awareness leads to more positive brand attitude, product attitude,

and purchase intention for both sponsored and corporate blogs.

18

4. Empirical research

The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the impact of sponsored versus corporate luxury fashion blogs,

with or without the use of advertising disclosures, on brand attitude, product attitude and purchase

intention. Using a between subjects factorial design, the different blogs were used and manipulated as

independent variable.

4.1 Overview of the hypotheses

H1: The brand attitude, product attitude and purchase intention towards a sponsored luxury fashion

blogs is more positive than towards corporate luxury fashion blogs.

H2: As a mediating variable, the credibility of the source influences the relation between the blog type

and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

H3: As a mediating variable, the activation of advertising literacy influences the relation between the

blog type and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

H4: The inclusion of advertising disclosures activates the reader’s advertising literacy, resulting in:

a) higher effectiveness in product attitude, brand attitude and lower purchase intention of

corporate blogs, in comparison to sponsored blogs with advertising disclosure.

b) higher effectiveness in product attitude, brand attitude and lower purchase intention of

sponsored blogs without advertising disclosure, in comparison to sponsored blogs with

advertising disclosure.

H5: As a moderator, high brand awareness leads to more positive brand attitude, product attitude, and

purchase intention for both sponsored and corporate blogs.

19

4.2 Methods

4.2.1 Design

To test the hypotheses, an experimental research was conducted, using a three conditions between

subjects design. These three conditions enable the comparison between the Sponsored Blog with

Advertising Disclosure, the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure, and the Corporate blog. The

respondents in the survey were randomly assigned the various conditions to assess the effect on the

dependent variables: brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. Also the Credibility and

Advertising literacy was included in the research as mediating variables.

4.2.2 Stimuli

4.2.2.1 Material

The three conditions: the Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure (SponsoredPlus), the Sponsored

Blog without Advertising Disclosure (SponsoredMinus), and the Corporate Blog (Corporate), each

consisted of the same blog post about a leather jacket by Balmain, but a different profile and blog title,

based on the type of blog. One of the sponsored blogs also has an advertising disclosure, as a red

banner inserted in the blog post, serving as moderating variable. (addendum attachment 1)

4.2.2.2 Pretest 1

Beforehand, a pretest was conducted to analyze whether the respondents were able to distinguish the

different conditions and saw the advertising disclosure. Next to that, the respondents had to consider

the brand and product as luxurious., using a 7-point Likert scale with 3 items (luxurious, exclusiveness,

and inexpensiveness).

A within-subjects design was used, questioning the respondents on each type of blog. The three blogs

were to be read and looked at thoroughly. Afterwards, they were asked by whom the blog was written,

whether they saw an advertising disclosure, and whether they considered the leather jacket by Balmain

luxurious.

20

The pretest was conducted on 30 respondents, a random collection of fellow students, friends, and

family, using the survey program Qualtrics. After filtering on the basis of a small amount of time spent

filling out the survey and not completing the survey, 15 respondents remained. 73% of them were

women and 30% were men, within the age range of 19-43. (averageage = 23)

The recognition of the source was tested computing the frequencies. The results show that 80% of the

people was able to distinguish the source for the Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure, 80% for

the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure and 87% for the Corporate blog 87%. In other words,

a large proportion of the respondents was able to recognize the source.

The advertising disclosure was analyzed using the same method. However, the manipulation on the

advertising disclosure in the Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure did not work as only 33% of the

respondents indicated that they saw the disclosure.

The luxuriousness scale is first tested for its internal consistency, after which the variables for Luxury are

tested to determine whether the brand was considered luxurious, using an One-Sample T-test. The

rating of Luxury is analyzed using a 7 Point Likert Scale, ranging from ‘Do not agree at all’ and ‘Agree

completely’ when asked whether the respondent considered the product luxurious, exclusive, and

inexpensive. The data is tested on the newly computed variable ‘Luxury’, consisting of the three

variables. The mean ‘Luxury score (M=6.067, SD=.82) was lower than the proposed test value of 4, a

statistically significant mean difference of 2.067, t(14)=9.78, p=.00. In conclusion, the respondents did

consider the product luxurious.

The analysis shows that the respondents were able to distinguish the writers in the Blogs. However, the

advertising disclosure has to be manipulated and pretested again. The respondent did consider Balmain

a luxury brand.

21

4.2.2.3 Pretest 2

In the second pretest, a similar group of respondents was targeted. 23 filled out the questionnaire, of

which 15 completed the survey within a realistic time frame. 82% of the respondents were women, 18%

were men, within the age range of 19 to 50. (averageage = 25)

The layout of the pretest was exactly the same as the first one, the question was too, only the stimulus

had changed into a more noticeable disclosure, using a red banner. Again, the respondents were asked

whether they saw the Advertising Disclosure.

Using the frequencies again, the results show that 87% of the respondents, who read the article with the

Advertising Disclosure, noticed it. Concluding that by making the advertising disclosure bigger and

brighter in the sponsored blog, readers noticed it easier.

4.2.3 Respondents

The respondents required for the research had to be in the target group of Balmain, people interested in

luxury fashion. Therefore, respondents were sought after in streets renowned for selling luxury brands

like the Vlaanderenstraat, (Ghent), Lange Kruisstraat (Ghent), and the Leopoldstraat (Antwerp), but also

at the stock sale of A.F. Vandevorst. Furthermore, popular (online) magazines (Elle, Belmodo, Glamour,

etc), and bloggers (Afterdrk, Emma Gelaude, Tiany Kiriloff, Chapter Friday, etc) were contacted for their

help.

In total, 147 answered the questions. However, before analyzing the results, a data clean-up was done.

Afterwards only 95 were kept in the analysis after checking the responses for realistic fill-out time

frames, wrong answers on the control question (Indicate ‘Neutral’), and incompletion. Most of the

respondents had a degree from a university, 68% of them were women, 32% were men, of which

ranging between the ages of 18 and 57. (averageage = 25) Per condition a minimum of 30 respondents

had to be reached to have a reliable outcome. The table shows that this requirement was fulfilled.

Table 1. Respondents per blog condition

Sponsored Blog with

Advertising Disclosure

Sponsored Blog without

Advertising Disclosure

Corporate Blog

N= 31 N= 34 N= 30

22

4.2.4 Procedure

4.2.4.1 The survey

The research focuses on the three stimuli: corporate, sponsored without, and sponsored luxury fashion

blog with advertising disclosure; the blog posts write about a leather jacket by Balmain. Here the effect

of these blog posts on the attitude towards the brand, the product, and the purchase intention will be

researched.

At the start of the survey, an introduction explained the respondents what the research was about, how

much they would be spending filling out the questions, and assured them of their anonymity. They were

asked to read the blog post thoroughly and look at the profile and overall layout in detail. Afterwards,

every respondent got to see one randomly chosen blog.

The first questions covers the attitude towards the brand Balmain, using 7 Point Semantic differential

with 5 items. Afterwards, the respondents are questioned about their attitude towards the leather

jacket, using two attitude scales: a 7 point Likert scale with 5 items and 7 point Semantic differential

with 4 items.

The purchase intention is questioned using three questions, each 7 point Semantic differentials of how

likely they would buy the brand and product . To analyze the advertising literacy, three scales were

used. Two were 7 Point Likert scale with 7 items and 3 items and the other a 7 Point Semantic

differential with 1 item. The second mediator, credibility, was questioned using a 7 Point Semantic

differential with 6 items.

Thereafter, the manipulations were checked where the reader was asked by whom the blog was written

and whether they saw a advertising disclosure, followed by the question whether they considered the

product luxurious. Followed by the control variables of whether the respondent read blogs, whether

they followed fashion trends -both measured on a 7 Point Semantic differential- and whether they were

familiar with the brand Balmain, using a yes/no question.

Towards the end of the survey, they were asked about their highest attained diploma, age and gender.

These socio-demographics enable the research to describe the respondents accurately.

The complete survey can be found in the addendum under attachment 2.

23

4.2.4.2 The research design

The design for the researched can be depicted as below. The experimental design is a between-subjects

design. However, the moderating variable Advertising Disclosure cannot be applied to the corporate

blog. Therefore, the research only analyzes three conditions in a between-subjects design. To have a

reliable outcome, a minimum of 90 respondents had to complete the questionnaire properly, within a

certain timeframe.

As mentioned previously, one variable is used to analyze the research question; the variable ‘Blogs’ has

three types (Blog types): Sponsored without Advertising Disclosure (SponsoredMinus), Sponsored with

Advertising Disclosure (SponsoredPlus), and Corporate (Corporate). The choice to use a non-existing

blog lies in the fact that an existing source might induce bias. For the luxury brand, Balmain was chosen,

since it already has the notoriety of being luxurious, but does not provoke extreme emotions as with the

brand Louis Vuitton, or Chanel. The blog was made using the online service by Google: Blogger.

Figure 1. Research design

Luxury fashion blogs:Sponsored vs

Corporate

Brand attitude, product attitude, and

purchase intention

Brand awarenessAdvertising disclosure

Source Credibility

Activation advertising

literacyH3A H3B

H2BH2A

H1

H5 H4

24

4.2.5 Measures

4.2.5.1 Brand attitude

To analyze whether the brand attitude varied according to the viewed type of blog, the Brand attitude

scale by Spears and Surendra (2004) (α=.90), a 7-point Semantic Differential scale was used. Here, the

respondents were asked what their attitude towards Balmain was for the following items: ‘bad-good’,

‘unpleasant-pleasant’, ‘unfavorable-favorable’, ‘disagreeable-agreeable’, and ‘dislike-like’.

4.2.5.2 Product attitude

The product attitude was measured using a Product attitude scale by Adams and Geuens (2007) (α=.91),

a 7-point Likert scale. The respondents were asked to indicate to which extent the statements applied

to them (‘completely disagree’ to ‘completely agree’): ‘I like this product.’, ‘This product is not useful to

me.’, ‘This product leaves a good impression on me.’, ‘This product means nothing to me.’, ‘I like to wear

this product.’.

4.2.5.3 Purchase intention

Researching the differences in Purchase intention was done using the 7-Point Semantic Differential scale

(Definitely not purchasing – Definitely purchasing) by Bone and Ellen (1992) (α=.91). The following items

are included: ‘What is the probability that you will purchase Balmain?’, ‘What is the likelihood of you

purchasing Balmain the next time you buy a leather jacket?’, and ‘The next time I buy a leather jacket, I

will buy Balmain.’.

4.2.5.4 Involvement

For the variable Involvement, the measurement was done on a 7-Point Semantic Differential scale by

Chebat, Charlebois en Gélinas-Chebat (2001) (α=.90). The items on the scale are the following:

‘unimportant-important’, ‘irrelevant-relevant’, ‘meaningless-meaningful’, and ‘unnecessary-necessary’.

25

4.2.5.5 Reader

The control variables ‘Reader’, whether or not the respondent read fashion blogs, is measured in a

covariates analysis on a 7-Point Likert scale: ‘never-often’.

4.2.5.6 Follower

The control variables ‘Follower, whether or not the respondent follows fashion trends, is measured in a

covariates analysis on a 7-Point Semantic Differential scale: ‘never-often’.

4.2.5.7 Credibility

The variable ‘Credibility’ measures to which extent the respondents consider the blogger a credible

source. The 7-Point Semantic Differential scale by Berlo, D. K., Lemert, J. B., & Mertz, R. J. (1969) (α=.81)

was used, and has the following items: ‘untrustworthy-trustworthy’, ‘not open-minded-open-minded’,

bad-good’, ‘not expert-expert’, ‘inexperienced-experienced’, ‘untrained-trained’.

4.2.5.8 Advertising literacy

To measure whether the type of blog and advertising disclosure activate advertising literacy, three

questions were used, each on a 7-Point Likert scale.

In the first one by Campbell (1995) (α=.75), the respondents had to answer to which extent they agreed

or disagreed to following statements: ‘The way this ad tries to persuade people seems acceptable to

me;’ ‘The advertiser tried to manipulate the audience in ways that I don’t like;’ ‘I was annoyed by this ad

because the advertiser seemed to be trying to inappropriately manage or control the consumer

audience;’ ‘I don’t mind this ad; the advertiser tried to be persuasive without being excessively

manipulative’ (reverse coding); ‘This ad was fair in what was said and shown’ (reverse coding); ‘I think

that this advertisement is unfair/fair’.

26

The second scale by Boush, Friestad, Rose (1994), had one item: ‘When this blog describes the leather

jacket, how hard is the advertiser trying to persuade the consumer into buying?’. The respondents have

to give an answer ranging from ‘not hard at all-very hard’.

The third by Wei, Fisher, Main (2008) and Tessitore, Geuens (2013) (α=.76) had three items to answer

ranging from ‘completely disagree’ to ‘completely agree’: ‘The brand Balmain was mentioned because it

had paid to be mentioned’, ‘While I was reading the blog, it was immediately clear to me that Balmain

wanted to influence reader’s buying behavior’, ‘Before reading, I was aware that a brand had paid to be

mentioned’.

4.2.5.9 Brand awareness

As a moderating variable, the variable Brand Awareness (Did you know Balmain before taking the

survey?) is a dichotomous variable (0= yes, 1=no). The moderation analysis, using a Linear Regression in

combination with the PROCESS macro by Hayes, was performed.

27

4.3 Results

4.3.1 Manipulation check

The frequencies were computed to check whether the manipulations of the Sponsored Blog With

Advertising Disclosure, the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure, the Corporate Blog, and the

Advertising Disclosure were successful. The results show that of the respondents who saw the

respective Blog, 81% recognized the Blog as written by a consumer when reading the Sponsored Blog

with Advertising Disclosure, 82% for the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure, and 77% for the

Corporate Blog.

To measure to which extent the respondents saw the advertising disclosure, new variables were

computed for each blog condition. Again, the frequencies were computed to analyze whether the

majority of the respondents noticed the disclosure, when the Advertising Disclosure was indeed

included. The output shows that of the respondents who read the Sponsored Blog with Advertising

Disclosure, 84% was able to notice the disclosure. Of the respondents who read the blog posts without

the disclosure, 5,9% answered they saw a disclosure in the Sponsored Blog without Advertising

Disclosure and 0% for the Corporate Blog. Concluding that only the respondents who should have

indicated they saw a disclosure, were in a large proportion.

An One-Sample T test was used to check the manipulations for the luxuriousness. Again, a variable

‘Luxury’ was computed from the variables luxury, exclusiveness, and inexpensive (reversed). The mean

‘Luxury score (M=6.091, SD=.82) was lower than the proposed test value of 4, a statistically significant

mean difference of 2.091, t(94)=24.99, p=.00. One can conclude that the respondents consider Balmain

a luxurious brand.

28

4.3.2 Testing the hypotheses

4.3.2.1 Main effects

First, it was analyzed how the Blog type affected the Brand attitude, Product attitude and Purchase

intention, with the mediating variable

Hypothesis 1 assumes that Sponsored Blogs without Advertising Disclosure (SponsoredMinus) are more

effective in terms of creating a positive brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention, in

comparison to Corporate luxury fashion Blogs (Corporate). Hypotheses 4, however, states that the

inclusion of an advertising disclosure will activate the advertising literacy, resulting in Sponsored Blogs

being less effective than Corporate Blogs. To measure both hypotheses, a new variable (Blogs) was

computed which incorporates every Blog type (0=SponsoredPlus, 1=SponsoredMinus, 2=Corporate).

The correlation table shows significant positive correlations between the dependent variables Brand

attitude, Product attitude, and Purchase intention. For instance, Product attitude will increase when the

Brand attitude increases (r=.50, p<.001)

Table 2. Correlation table

Brand attitude Product attitude Purchase intention

Brand attitude 1 r=.50, p<.001 r=.52, p<.001

Product attitude r=.50, p<.001 1 r=.28, p=.006

Purchase intention r=.52, p<.001 r=.28, p=.006 1

An One-Way ANOVA analysis was performed with all three independent variables on the dependent

variables brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. The results show no significant

difference in brand attitude (F(2, 92)=1.99, p=.14), product attitude (F(2, 92)= 1.71, p=.19), or purchase

intention (F(2, 92)=1.46, p=.24).

Although the One-Way ANOVA shows no significant differences, the hypotheses 1 and 4 call for an

Independent T-test for a two-by-two analysis. The analysis compares the effects of the Sponsored

without Advertising Disclosure with the Corporate Blog, and the Sponsored Blog with Advertising

Disclosure with the Corporate Blog, using the newly computed variables Blog12, Blog02 and Blog01.

29

For hypothesis 1 (Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure > Corporate Blog, using variable

Blog12), the results show a marginal significant difference in brand attitude (t(62)=1.95, p=.056)

between Sponsored Blogs without Advertising Disclosure (M=5.34) and Corporate Blogs (M=4.89).

There’s also a marginal significant difference in purchase intention (t(61.391)=1.80, p=.077) between

Sponsored Blogs without Advertising Disclosure (M=3.3137) and Corporate Blogs (M=2.7333). However,

for the product attitude (t(62)=1.39, p=.17) , there is no significant difference between Sponsored Blogs

without Advertising Disclosure (M=5.51) and Corporate Blogs (M=5.0933). In conclusion, hypothesis 1

can only be accepted partially.

Table 3. One Sample T-test SponsoredMinus vs Corporate

Blogs12 Mean Standard Deviations T(df) P

Brand attitude MSponsoredMinus=5.34

MCorporate=4.89

SDSponsoredMinus=.91

SDCorporate=.92

t(62)=1.95 . 056

Product attitude MSponsoredMinus=5.51

MCorporate=5.093

SDSponsoredMinus=1.16

SDCorporate=1.24

t(62)=1.39 .17

Purchase intention MSponsoredMinus=3.31

MCorporate=2.73


SDCorporate=1.14

t(61.391)=1.80 .077

For hypothesis 4.a (Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure < Corporate Blog, using Blog02), the

results show no significant difference in brand attitude (t(59)=1.021, p=.31) between Sponsored Blogs

with Advertising Disclosure (M=5.15) and Corporate Blogs (M=4.89). There is also no significant

difference in purchase intention (t(54.947)=1.22, p=.23) between Sponsored Blogs without Advertising

Disclosure (M=3.16) and Corporate Blogs (M=2.73). However, for the product attitude (t(59)=1.92,

p=.059), there is a marginal significant difference between Sponsored Blogs without Advertising

Disclosure (M=5.67) and Corporate Blogs (M=5.093), but in the opposite direction as the hypothesis

proposes: Sponsored Blogs with Advertising Disclosure > Corporate Blog.

30

Table 4. One Sample T-test SponsoredPlus vs Corporate

Blog02 Mean Standard Deviations T(df) P

Brand

attitude

MSponsoredPlus=5.15

MCorporate=4.89

SDSponsoredPlus=1.070

SDCorporate=.92

t(59)=1.021 .31

Product

attitude

MSponsoredPlus=5.67

MCorporate=5.093


SDCorporate=1.24

t(59)=1.92 .059

Purchase

intention

MSponsoredPlus=3.16

MCorporate=2.73


SDCorporate=1.40

t(54.947)=1.22 .23

For hypothesis 4.b (Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure < Sponsored Blog without Advertising

Disclosure, using Blog01), the results show no significant difference in neither one of the dependent

variables: brand attitude (t(59.30)=-.75, p=.45); product attitude (t(62.90)=.57, p=.57); purchase

intention (t(61.05)=-.41, p=.69).

Table 5. One Sample T-test SponsoredPlus vs SponsoredMinus

Blog02 Mean Standard Deviations T(df) P

Brand

attitude

MSponsoredPlus=4.15

MSponsoredMinus=5.34


SDSponsoredMinus=.91

t(59.30)=-.75 .45

Product

attitude

MSponsoredPlus=5.67

MSponsoredMinus =5.51



t(62.90)=.57 .57

Purchase

intention

MSponsoredPlus=3.16

MSponsoredMinus =3.31



t(61.05)=-.41 .69

In conclusion, hypothesis 4, both part a and b, is rejected.

31

Although not all the effects are significant, it can be relevant to plot the means as follows:

Figure 2. Effects on Brand attitude, Product attitude, Purchase Intention

SponsoredPlus SponsoredMinus

Corporate

SponsoredPlusSponsoredMinus

Corporate

SponsoredPlus SponsoredMinus

Corporate

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

5,5

6

De

pe

ne

nt

vari

able

s

Blog Type

Main effects

Product Attitude

Brand Attitude

Purchase Intention

In conclusion:

- Brand attitude: Corporate < SponsoredPlus < SponsoredMinus

- Product attitude: Corporate < SponsoredMinus < SponsoredPlus

- Purchase intention: Corporate < SponsoredPlus < SponsoredMinus

32

4.3.2.2 Indirect effects: mediation effects

To analyze hypothesis 2 and 3, the PROCESS macro by Hayes (2014) with model 4 was used. The analysis

allows to check for indirect effects of Credibility and the Activation of Advertising Literacy on brand

attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

- Hypothesis 2: As a mediating variable, the credibility of the source influences the relation

between the blog type and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

Hypothesis 2 assumes that credibility has a mediating effect on the relation between the Blog type and

the dependent variables. Since the output is quite extensive, only the model with Blog types Sponsored

Blog without Advertising Literacy and Corporate Blog as independent variable (Blog12), Brand attitude

as dependent variable and Credibility as a mediator will be elaborated. The results for all the Blog types

and dependent variables and a general conclusion on the mediation analysis will be provided below.

For the variable ‘Blog12’ (the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure vs the Corporate blog), the

results show no significant effect on the Credibility, t(62)=-4.45, p=.65. The total model proves that the

direct effect of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude was almost significant (t(61)=-1.93,p=.058).

The Credibility did have a significant positive effect on the Brand attitude (t(61)=3.87, p=.0003).

Although there is a marginal significant main effect, the variable cannot be accepted as a mediator,

because the bootstrapped confidence interval includes 0 (-,2579 - 1571). However, as a predictor for the

Brand attitude the Credibility can be accepted. The effect of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude,

with the mediation of Credibility, also showed a marginally significant difference (t(62)=-1.95, p=.056).

Nevertheless, hypothesis 2 is already partially rejected, pending the final conclusion below.

Figure 3. Mediation analysis: Blog type on Credibility

33

Table 6. Mediation analysis of Credibility

Blog12

Brand Attitude Product attitude Purchase intention

a Blog12 on Credibility t(62)=-4.45, p=.65 t(62)=-.45, p=.65 t(62)=-.45, p=.65

c' Blog12 on dependent variable t(61)=-1.93,p=.058 t(61)=-1.32, p=.19 t(61)=-1.70, p=.094

b Credibility on dependent variable t(61)=3.87, p=.0003 t(61)=1.35, p=.18 t(61)=2.32, p=.024

Total effect Blog12 on dependent variable t(62)=-1.95, p=.056 t(62)=-1.39, p=.17 t(62)=-1.77, p=.081

Confidence interval -,2579 ,1571 -,2100 ,0636 -,2534 ,1412

Blog02


a Blog02 on Credibility t(59)=-.068, p=.95 t(59)=-.068, p=.95 t(59)=-.068, p=.95





Blog01


a Blog01 on Credibility t(63)=.36, p=.72 t(63)=.36, p=.72 t(63)=.36, p=.72

c' Blog01 on dependent variable t(62)=.68,p=.050 t(62)=-.69, p=.49 t(62)=.30, p=.77


Total effect Blog01 on dependent variable t(63)=.76, p=.45 t(63)=-.57, p=.57 t(63)=.41, p=.68


In conclusion, for the variables for Blog type, there are no significant effects on the Credibility (p >.05).

The direct effect of the Blog type variables on the dependent variables was never significant (p >.05),

although at times marginally significant, for instance of ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude, and ‘Blog02’ on

Product attitude.

The Credibility did have a significant positive effect on the dependent variables (p >.05), except in the

case for the variables Blog12 and Blog02 on the Product attitude. Therefore, Credibility is a predictor for

the dependent variables, except for the two cases stated above. However, Credibility cannot be

34

accepted as mediator, because there are no significant main effects and the bootstrapped confidence

intervals include 0.

The total effect of the variables Blog type on the dependent variables, with the mediation of Credibility,

showed no significant difference (p >.05), except for the cases of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude

and Purchase intention, and ‘Blog02’ on Product attitude, which showed to be marginally significant.

Nevertheless, hypothesis 2 is now fully rejected.

35

- Hypothesis 3: As a mediating variable, the activation of advertising literacy influences the

relation between the blog type and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention.

Hypothesis 3 states that the activation of advertising literacy will influence the relation between the

Blog type and the dependent variables. Again, the output is rather extensive. Therefore, the model with

the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Literacy vs Corporate Blog as independent variable (Blog12),

the Brand attitude as dependent variable, and Advertising literacy (AdverLi1) will be elaborated. The

complete table of results can be found below, as well as the general conclusion.

For the variable ‘Blog12’ (the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure vs the Corporate blog), the

results show no significant effect on the Advertising literacy, t(62)=-1.40, p=.17. The total model proves

that the direct effect of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude was not significant (t(59)=-1.17,p=.25).

The Advertising literacy did have a significant positive effect on the Brand attitude (t(59)=4.17, p=.0001).

However, the variable cannot be accepted as a mediator, since the main effect was not significant and

the bootstrapped confidence interval includes 0 (-,5557 ,0586). However, as a predictor for the Brand

attitude the Credibility can be accepted. The effect of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude, with the

mediation of Credibility, also showed a marginally significant difference (t(62)=-1.95, p=.056). Therefore,

hypothesis 3 is already partially rejected, pending the overall conclusion below.

Figure 4. Mediation analysis: Blog type on Advertising Literacy

36

Table 7. Mediation analysis of Advertising literacy (AdverLi1)

Blog12


a Blog12 on AdverLi1 t(62)=-1.40, p=.17 t(62)=-1.40, p=.17 t(62)=-1.40, p=.17

c' Blog12 on dependent variable t(59)=-1.17,p=.25 t(59)=-.45, p=.66 t(59)=-1.65, p=.10

b AdverLi1 on dependent variable t(59)=4.17, p=.0001 t(59)=3.65, p=.0006 t(59)=.78, p=.44



Blog02


a Blog02 on AdverLi1 t(59)=-1.023, p=.31 t(59)=-1.023, p=.31 t(59)=-1.023, p=.31


b AdverLi1 on dependent variable t(56)=4.097, p=.0001 t(56)=2.47, p=.017 t(56)=.82, p=.36



Blog01


a Blog01 on AdverLi1 t(63)=.34, p=74 t(63)=.34, p.74 t(63)=.34, p=74

c' Blog01 on dependent variable t(60)=.83, p=.41 t(60)=-.61, p=.54 t(60)=.48, p=.64

b AdverLi1 on dependent variable t(60)=6.17, p=.00 t(60)=2.37, p=.021 t(60)=1.29, p=.20



In conclusion, for the variables for Blog type, there are no significant effects on ‘AdverLi1’ (p >.05). The

direct effect of the Blog type variables on the dependent variables also was never significant (p >.05),

except in the case of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Purchase intention a marginal significant difference was

found.

‘AdverLi1’ did have a significant positive effect on the dependent variables (p >.05), except in any of the

cases for Purchase intention. Therefore, ‘AdverLi1’ is a predictor for the dependent variables, except for

the case stated above. Nevertheless, ‘AdverLi1’ cannot be accepted as mediator, because there are no

significant main effects and the bootstrapped confidence intervals include 0.

37

The total effect of the variables of Blog type on the dependent variables, with the mediation of

‘AdverLi1’, showed no significant difference (p >.05), with the exception of ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude

and Purchase intention, and ‘Blog02’ on Product attitude. Nevertheless, hypothesis 3 is partially

rejected.

38


Blog12


a Blog12 on AdverLi2 t(62)=1.31, p=.19 t(62)=1.31, p=.19 t(62)=1.31, p=.19


b AdverLi2 on dependent variable t(59)=.28, p=.78 t(59)=-.20, p=.84 t(59)=.75, p=.46



Blog02


a Blog02 on AdverLi2 t(59)=.55, p=.58 t(59)=.55, p=.58 t(59)=.55, p=.58


b AdverLi2 on dependent variable t(56)=.39, p=.70 t(56)=.54, p=.59 t(596)=.93, p=.36



Blog01


a Blog01 on AdverLi2 t(63)=-.67, p=51 t(63)=-.67, p=.51 t(63)=-.67, p=.51


b AdverLi2 on dependent variable t(60)=1.20, p=.23 t(60)=1.47, p=.15 t(60)=1.86, p=.067



Again, for the variables for Blog type, there are no significant effects on ‘AdverLi2’ (p >.05). The direct

effect of the Blog type variables on the dependent variables also was never significant (p >.05), except in

the case of the variable ‘Blog12’ on Purchase intention a marginal significant difference was found.

‘AdverLi2’ had no significant effect on the dependent variables (p >.05), except in the case for the

variable ‘Blog01’ on the Purchase intention. Therefore, ‘AdverLi1’ is only a predictor in the case stated

above. Therefore, ‘AdverLi1’ cannot be accepted as mediator, because there are no significant main

effects and the bootstrapped confidence intervals include 0.

39

The total effect of the variables of Blog type on the dependent variables, with the mediation of

‘AdverLi1’, showed no significant difference (p >.05), with the exception of ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude

and Purchase intention, and ‘Blog02’ on Product attitude. Nevertheless, hypothesis 3 is again partially

rejected.

40


Blog12


a Blog12 on AdverLi3 t(62)=1.74, p=.087 t(62)=1.74, p=.087 t(62)=1.74, p=.087


b AdverLi3 on dependent variable t(59)=-1.17, p=.25 t(59)=-1.69, p=.097 t(59)=.034, p=.97



Blog02


a Blog02 on AdverLi3 t(59)=.82, p=.42 t(59)=.82, p=.42 t(59)=.82, p=.42


b AdverLi3 on dependent variable t(58)=.39, p=.70 t(56)=-.44, p=.66 t(56)=.052, p=.96



Blog01


a Blog01 on AdverLi3 t(63)=-.68, p=.50 t(63)=-.68, p=.50 t(63)=-.68, p=.50


b AdverLi3 on dependent variable t(60)=.40, p=.69 t(60)=-.64, p=.52 t(60)=-.51, p=.61



Finally, there is a significant effect of the variable ‘Blog12’ on ‘AdverLi3’ for all of the dependent

variables, but for none of the other independent variables. The direct effect of the Blog type variables

on the dependent variables also was never significant (p >.05), with exception to the case of ‘Blog12’ for

the Purchase intention where a marginal significance was found.

‘AdverLi3’ did not have a significant positive effect on the dependent variables (p >.05), except in the

case for the variable ‘Blog12’ on the Product attitude. Therefore, AdverLi3 is only a predictor in the case

stated above. Nevertheless, Advertising literacy cannot be accepted as mediator, because there are no

significant main effects and the bootstrapped confidence intervals include 0.

41

The total effect of the variables on Blog type on the dependent variables, with the mediation of

Advertising literacy, showed no significant difference (p >.05), except for ‘Blog12’ on Brand attitude and

Purchase intention, and ‘Blog02’ on Product attitude.

In conclusion, with regards to the previous, hypothesis 3 is fully rejected. There was no mediating effect

of any of the variables for Advertising literacy.

42

4.3.2.3 Covariates analysis

To discover whether the cohesion between the independent variables and dependent variables, is

influenced by covariates, is tested using an Multivariate ANCOVA analysis. To have a complete model of

the reality, the mediators Credibility and Advertising literacy are included. In the survey the potential

covariates were questioned in the form of whether they read fashion blogs (variable Reader), whether

they follow fashion trends (variable Follower), and how involved they are with the product

(Involvement). These were all included for a complete analysis.

First, the interaction effect of the potential covariates and the Blog type are analyzed. The null

hypothesis states that there is no interaction effect. The results show that none of the interaction

variables is significant, except for a marginal significance in the interaction between Blog type and

Reader for Product attitude, and Blog type and Follower for Brand attitude. In other words, there is

marginally significant interaction effect of the cases stated above. The results can be summarized as

follows:

Table 10. Covariates analysis: interaction effect


Blog type x Reader P = .75 P = .068 P = .33

Blog type x Follower P = .054 P = .49 P = .45

Blog type x Involvement P = .31 P = .67 P = .28

Blog type x Reader x Follower x Involvement P = .30 P = .28 P = .84

The ANCOVA analysis checks whether the variable Blog type have a statistical significant difference in

means of the dependent variables once the model is controlled for covariates. For the main effect, the

One-way ANOVA already showed no significant effect of the Blog type on any of the dependent

variables. However, the ANCOVA analysis shows that the model becomes significant for the dependent

variable Product attitude (p = .021) and marginally significant for Brand attitude (p= .082). In that case,

there is a statistically significant difference between the adjusted means for Product attitude and Brand

attitude when including the covariates.

43

Table 11. One-way ANOVA vs Multivariate ANCOVA


One-way ANOVA P = .19 P = .14 P = .24

Multivariate ANCOVA P = .082 P = .021 P = .19

The results show that none of the covariates are significant, except for the Involvement, which can

account for 12% of the variability in the Brand attitude and 39% in the Product attitude. The p and

partial eta squared values for the covariates can be summarized as follows:

Table 12. Covariate Involvement


Reader P= 1.0, Eta sq = .00 P=.44, Eta sq=.007 P=.91, Eta sq=.00

Follower P=.89, Eta sq=.00 P=.45, Eta sq=.007 P=.39, Eta sq=008

Involvement P=.001, Eta sq=.12 P=.00, Eta sq=.39 P=.016, Eta sq=.063

In conclusion, including the covariate Involvement in the model results in the decrease of the P value for

Product attitude and Brand attitude, making the relation between the Blog type and those dependent

variables significant. The main effect has changed with the inclusion of Involvement.

Additionally, the effect of the Blog types was analyzed on the covariates, as if they were dependent

variables. However, the results show no statistically significant effect, which can be summarized as

follows:

Table 13. Direct effect Blog type on covariates

Reader P=.76

Follower P=.54

Involvement P=.49

44

4.3.2.4 Interaction effect: moderation

To test the interaction effect between the Blog type and whether the respondent knew the brand

Balmain (Brand Awareness) before taking the survey. Hypothesis 5 states that Brand awareness has a

moderating effect on the relation between the Blog types and the dependent variables Brand attitude,

Product attitude, and Purchase intention, which is tested using the PROCESS macro by Hayes. In the

model the variables ‘Blog12’, ‘Blog02’, and ‘Blog01 were used as independent variables, the Brand

attitude, Product attitude, and Purchase intention as dependent variables, and the Brand awareness as

moderator.

First the variable ‘Blog12’’ was used to test the moderation effect on the model with the Blog types

Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure vs Corporate Blog. The results can be summarized as

follows:

Table 14. Moderation Blog12

Blog12


Predictor Blog12 F(3, 60)= -1.97, p=.054 F(3, 60)=-1.59, p=.12 F(3, 60)=-1.79, p=.079

Predictor Brand Awareness F(3, 60)= -1.77, p=.083 F(3, 60)=-3.12, p=.0028 F(3, 60)= -1.52, p=.13

Interaction Blog12 x Brand Awareness F(3, 60)=.74, p=.46 F(3, 60)=.87, p=.39 F(3, 60)= .12, p=.90

Overall model F(3, 60)= 2.026, p=.12 F(3, 60)=6.58, p=.0006 F(3, 60)=1.38, p=.26

The variable ‘Blog12’ only had a significant effect on the model for Brand attitude and Purchase

intention. Brand awareness was only significant for Brand attitude and Product attitude. In other words,

only in these cases were they a reliable predictor for the dependent variable. The overall model was

only significant for Product attitude, which had a explanatory power of 22%. However, since the

interaction effect was not significant in any case, one can conclude that Brand awareness has no

moderating effect. In other words, hypothesis 5 is already partially rejected.

45

With the variable ‘Blog02’ in the analysis, the moderation effect was analyzed for the Sponsored Blog

with Advertising Disclosure vs Corporate Blog. The results can be presented as follows:

Blog02


Predictor Blog02 F(3, 57)= -.88, p=.38 F(3, 57)= -1.70, p=.094 F(3, 57)= -1.080, p=.28

Predictor Brand Awareness F(3, 57)=-1.53, p=.13 F(3, 57)=-2.21, p=.031 F(3, 57)=-1.70, p=.095

Interaction Blog02 x Brand Awareness F(3, 57)= .71, p=.48 F(3, 57)= .30, p=.77 F(3, 57)=.41, p=.68

Overall model F(3, 57)= 1.14, p=.34 F(3, 57)= 3.28, p=.027 F(3, 57)=1.17, p=.33

The variable ‘Blog12’ and Brand awareness only had a significant effect on the model for Product

attitude.In other words, only in these cases were they a reliable predictor for the dependent variable.

The overall model was also only significant for Product attitude, which had a explanatory power of 17%.

However, the interaction effect was not significant for Product attitude, nor for in any other case.

Therefore, no moderation effect of Brand awareness is found on the relation between Blog02 and the

dependent variables. Again, hypothesis 5 is already partially rejected.

Finally, Brand awareness is also analyzed for its potential moderating effect between the two Sponsored

Blogs, using the variable ‘Blog01’. Again, the results can be found below:

Blog01


Predictor Blog01 F(3, 61)=1.021, p=.31 F(3, 61)= -.088, p=.93 F(3, 61)=.62, p=.54

Predictor Brand Awareness F(3, 61)= -2.39, p=.02 F(3, 61)= -3.49, p=.0009 F(3, 61)=-1.82, p=.073

Interaction Blog01 x Brand Awareness F(3, 61)= .092, p=.93 F(3, 61)= -.55, p=.58 F(3, 61)=.30, p=.76

Overall model F(3, 61)=2.069, p=.11 F(3, 61)= 4.70, p=.0051 F(3, 61)=1.18, p=.32

Here, the variable ‘Blog12’ has no significant effect on either one of the dependent variables. Brand

awareness, on the other hand, does, on all of them. Thus, only Brand awareness is a reliable predictor

for all the dependent variables. Again, the overall model was also only significant for Product attitude,

which had a explanatory power of 25%. However, the interaction effect was not significant for any of

the dependent variables. Again, there is no moderation effect of Brand awareness. With regard to the

previous conclusions, hypothesis 5 is fully rejected.

46

5. Discussion and conclusion

In this dissertation, the influence of Blogs types on the effectiveness of advertising in a blog post was

analyzed. Whether there is an impact on brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention was

researched. In order to study these effects, three conditions were compared: a Sponsored Blog with

Advertising Disclosure, a Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure, and a Corporate Blog.

5.1 Discussion of the results

First, the main effect was analyzed to check the influence of the Blog types on the brand attitude,

Product attitude, and Purchase intention. Research shows that eWOM originating from a peer, results in

more positive brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention (Lee, and Koo, 2012). This theory

was partially confirmed in this dissertation. Brand attitude and purchase intention were marginally

significantly different for the comparison between the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure

and the Corporate Blog, resulting in higher effectiveness for the Sponsored Blog without Advertising

Disclosure. However, the product attitude was not significantly different between the two types. When

including an advertising disclosure in the Sponsored Blog, there was only a marginal significant

difference for the product attitude, in comparison to the Corporate Blog. In the analysis between the

two sponsored blogs, there were no significant dependent variables. Concluding that there is no

significant difference between them in relation to the dependent variables.

Secondly, a mediation analysis was applied to the variables of Credibility and Advertising Literacy for

their effect on the relation between the Blog types and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase

intention.

Research about credibility shows that the extent to which a reader trusts the blogger, influences their

attitude towards the blog, blogger, and content (Ohanian 1991; Petty and Cacioppo 1986). Hung and Li

(2007) described the relation between a reader and a blogger, which can positively affect purchase

intention. However, in the results, there is no proof for the mediating effect of credibility. As mentioned

above, there were no significant effects of the Blog types on Crediblity. Since the confidence interval

included 0 each time, the conclusion was drawn that Credibility had no mediating effect. Besides that,

the average credibility of the Blog type is 4.62, which is between ‘Neutral’ and ‘Rather agree’.

47

Advertising Literacy was analyzed using three scales, which resulted in three variables: AdverLi1,

AdverLi2, and AdverLi3. According to the research of Friestad and Wright (1994), the activation of

advertising literacy would more likely occur when readers are being made aware of the advertising

intentions. Therefore, when including an advertising disclosure, the effects of the Blog type Sponsored

Blog should decrease. However, in the analysis there was no indication of a mediation, for none of the

Advertising Literacy variables, because their confidence intervals included 0 each time. On the other

hand, it is not surprising, since the activation of advertising literacy was not significantly different for the

different Blog types.

A covariate analysis was applied to three potential covariates: Reader, Follower, and Involvement. This

analysis showed that Involvement was the only covariate that had a significant overshadowing effect on

the relation between the Blog type and the Product attitude and a marginally significant effect on the

Brand attitude. The outcome of this analysis is consistent with the Elaboration Likelihood Model. ELM

states that high product involvement results in better attitudes. (Petty, JT Cacioppo, 1986) The results

validate this theory, since the covariate Involvement was significant for Product attitude and Brand

attitude.

Finally, the variable ‘Brand Awareness’ was initially integrated as a control variable in the survey.

Nevertheless, because of its possible influence, a moderation analysis was performed to measure

whether or not the reader knew Balmain before the survey, affected the relation between the Blog

types and brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. Research by Laroche, Kim and Zhou

(1996) about brand awareness shows that familiarity with a brand, results in a more positive attitude

towards a brand. The results, however, in the analysis show no moderation for any of the independent

variables, since the interaction variables are not significant in any case. In conclusion, the results only

show a marginal significant difference between the Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure and

Corporate Blog in brand attitude and purchase intention. Between the Sponsored Blog with Advertising

Disclosure and Corporate Blog, there is a marginal significant effect in product attitude. However, this

effect was the opposite direction of which the hypothesis stated. Between the two Sponsored Blogs no

significant effect was found.

5.2 Conclusion

The research of Lee and Youn (2009) also found no higher significant effectiveness of a independent

source in comparison to content of a company. As an explanation, the authors proposed that the

respondents saw through the intentions of the independent source. The lack of a significant main effect,

https://scholar.google.be/citations?user=y4MYDxQAAAAJ&hl=nl&oi=sra

https://scholar.google.be/citations?user=xmzAolEAAAAJ&hl=nl&oi=sra

48

in this dissertation, may be also attributed to the fact that there was a large similarity between the types

of Blogs, and non existence of a significant difference in credibility between the Blog types. This means

for the three conditions, especially between the two sponsored blogs, the effectiveness is almost

identical.

The inexistence of a moderating effect of Brand Awareness is probably connected to the fact that there

is almost no significant difference between the brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention

for the different Blog types.

Both the mediation for both Credibility as well as Advertising literacy were not significant. Feedback

from the blogger No Glitter No Glory might give a possible explanation for the insignificance of

Credibility. Because the respondents knew the blog was in the context of a dissertation, they knew that

the stimuli Blogs were fictive. Therefore, the mean Credibility also probably suffered. The fact that the

Advertising literacy had no mediating effect can be ascribed to the fact that readers recognized all blogs,

even those without advertising disclosure, to be sponsored. The blog post might also be too focused on

the product, which may be of putting for the reader.

6. Theoretical and managerial

implications

In terms of a theoretical implication, the graph does indicate that sponsored blogs were more effective

in comparison to the corporate blogs. However, since there was no significant difference, no conclusions

should be drawn.

However, for the business environment, one can conclude that integrating either one of the blogs, in the

online marketing strategy, will be beneficial. Companies can both invest in sponsoring bloggers, or start

a blog themselves, with practically the same results.

49

7. Limitations and further research

None of the hypotheses led to proving their respective theories. However, there are limitations to this

research, which impacted the outcome.

First of all, although the data collection was done using respondents that were interested in (luxury)

fashion, people who worked in fashion, bloggers, etc., the results did not reflect the hypothesized

effects. A possible explanation might be that the respondents were not exactly the target group. Many

of them were chosen based on their appearance (fashionable) and their location (luxury shopping

street), but might not exactly have been the target market for the product. Future research should try to

gather respondents known to buy luxury clothing, like Balmain.

Secondly, the blogs’ credibility had to be created artificially, through a profile. In reality, readers’ trust

towards a blog is based on previous experience, and a long time relationship with the blogger as a

follower. The blogs also do not have an archive of previous blog posts. In the case the reader saw the

blog for the first time, he or she might want to do some research about the blogger’s authenticity, style,

collaborations, etc. In this research, that was not possible, which restrained the ability to trust the blog.

Next to that, a lot of respondents probably noticed that the blog was fictitious, keeping in mind it was

for research purposes. In that case, they would have had to feign their attitudes and intentions, which

also led to subjective responses. A possible solution to these problems is a collaboration with a existing,

credible, and known blogger. Nevertheless, in that type of research, the researchers should take the

attitude towards the blogger into account, which would also lead to distortions in the results.

Thirdly, the data was checked for realistic fill-out time frames, the expectation for the respondents to

read the blog post thoroughly, examine the layout carefully, and read the profile of the blogger, might

have been to extensive. The blog post was rather long, which might have caused respondents to give up,

and start the survey before looking at the blog in detail. In further research, this problem might also

occur, which is why the collection of respondents is of great importance. The respondents need to be

entertained, their attention needs to be captured with something they are interested in. Therefore,

familiarizing with the people who will be surveyed is essential to picking the right respondents.

A final suggestion for further research is the integration of other independent variables such as: the

amount of arguments and the amount of personal-disclosure. Next to that, another approach would be

the collaboration between the company, blogger, and researcher, in the shape of a pilot study and

comparison of a corporate blog of the company, and sponsored blog of the blogger.

VIII

References

7 things you should know about… Blogs [PDF] (2005). Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7006.pdf Adaval, R., & Wyer, R. S. (1998). The role of narratives in consumer information processing. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 7(3), 207-245. Ahmed, Z. U., Johnson, J. P., Pei Ling, C., Wai Fang, T., & Kah Hui, A. (2002). Country-of-origin and brand effects on consumers' evaluations of cruise lines. International Marketing Review, 19(3), 279-302. Ahuja, V., and Medury, Y. (2010). Corporate blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17, 91-105. Auter, P.J., Palmgreen, P. (2000). Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: The audience‐persona interaction scale, 17(1), 79-89 Baker, M. J., & Churchill Jr, G. A. (1977). The impact of physically attractive models on advertising evaluations. Journal of Marketing research, 538-555. Bagozzi, R.P., and Dholakia, U.M. (2002). Intentional social action in virtual communities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(2), 2–21 Ballantine, P. , Yeung, C.A. (2015). The effects of review valence in organic versus sponsored blog sites on perceived credibility, brand attitude, and behavioural intentions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33(4). Barbaro, M. (2006, March 7). Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in its public relations campaign. New York Times, Business/Financial Desk, Late Edition—Final, Section C, p. 1, Col. 2. Beer, D., and Burrows, R. (2007). Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations. Sociological Research Online, 12(5) Bickart, B., & Schindler, R. M. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of interactive marketing, 15(3), 31-40. Boerman, S.C ., van Reijmersdal, E.A. , and Neijens, P.C. (2012). Sponsorship disclosure: effects of duration on persuasion knowledge and brand responses. Journal of Communication, 62(6), 1047-1064. Boerman, S.C. (2014). “This program contains product placement”: Effects of sponsorship disclosure on television viewers’ responses. Brengman, M. and Karimov, F.P. (2012). The effect of web communities on consumers' initial trust in B2C e-commerce web sites. Management Research Review, 35(9), 791-817. Brucks, M., Armstrong, G.M., Goldberg, M.E. (1988) Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(4), 471-482 Cain, R. M. (2011). Embedded advertising on television: Disclosure, deception and free speech rights. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 30(2), 226–238

7 things you should know about… Blogs [PDF] (2005). Retrieved from

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7006.pdf

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

IX

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7006.pdf Ahmed, Z. U., Johnson, J. P., Pei Ling, C., Wai Fang, T., & Kah Hui, A. (2002). Country-of-origin and brand effects on consumers' evaluations of cruise lines. International Marketing Review, 19(3), 279-302. Ahuja, V., and Medury, Y. (2010). Corporate blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17, 91-105. Auter, P.J., Palmgreen, P. (2000). Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: The audience‐persona interaction scale, 17(1), 79-89 Bagozzi, R.P., and Dholakia, U.M. (2002). Intentional social action in virtual communities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(2), 2–21 Ballantine, P. , Yeung, C.A. (2015). The effects of review valence in organic versus sponsored blog sites on perceived credibility, brand attitude, and behavioural intentions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33(4). Barbaro, M. (2006, March 7). Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in its public relations campaign. New York Times, Business/Financial Desk, Late Edition—Final, Section C, p. 1, Col. 2. Beer, D., and Burrows, R. (2007). Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations. Sociological Research Online, 12(5) Bickart, B., & Schindler, R. M. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of interactive marketing, 15(3), 31-40. Boerman, S.C ., van Reijmersdal, E.A. , and Neijens, P.C. (2012). Sponsorship disclosure: effects of duration on persuasion knowledge and brand responses. Journal of Communication, 62(6), 1047-1064. Boerman, S.C. (2014). “This program contains product placement”: Effects of sponsorship disclosure on television viewers’ responses. Brengman, M. and Karimov, F.P. (2012). The effect of web communities on consumers' initial trust in B2C e-commerce web sites. Management Research Review, 35(9), 791-817. Brucks, M., Armstrong, G.M., Goldberg, M.E. (1988) Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(4), 471-482 Cain, R. M. (2011). Embedded advertising on television: Disclosure, deception and free speech rights. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 30(2), 226–238 7 things you should know about… Blogs [PDF] (2005). Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7006.pdf

Ahmed, Z. U., Johnson, J. P., Pei Ling, C., Wai Fang, T., & Kah Hui, A. (2002). Country-of-origin and brand


http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x


X

effects on consumers' evaluations of cruise lines. International Marketing Review, 19(3), 279-302. Ahuja, V., and Medury, Y. (2010). Corporate blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17, 91-105. Auter, P.J., Palmgreen, P. (2000). Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: The audience‐persona interaction scale, 17(1), 79-89 Bagozzi, R.P., and Dholakia, U.M. (2002). Intentional social action in virtual communities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(2), 2–21 Ballantine, P. , Yeung, C.A. (2015). The effects of review valence in organic versus sponsored blog sites on perceived credibility, brand attitude, and behavioural intentions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33(4). Barbaro, M. (2006, March 7). Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in its public relations campaign. New York Times, Business/Financial Desk, Late Edition—Final, Section C, p. 1, Col. 2. Beer, D., and Burrows, R. (2007). Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations. Sociological Research Online, 12(5) Bickart, B., & Schindler, R. M. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of interactive marketing, 15(3), 31-40. Boerman, S.C ., van Reijmersdal, E.A. , and Neijens, P.C. (2012). Sponsorship disclosure: effects of duration on persuasion knowledge and brand responses. Journal of Communication, 62(6), 1047-1064. Boerman, S.C. (2014). “This program contains product placement”: Effects of sponsorship disclosure on television viewers’ responses. Brengman, M. and Karimov, F.P. (2012). The effect of web communities on consumers' initial trust in B2C e-commerce web sites. Management Research Review, 35(9), 791-817. Brucks, M., Armstrong, G.M., Goldberg, M.E. (1988) Children's Use of Cognitive Defenses Against Television Advertising: A Cognitive Response Approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(4), 471-482 Cain, R. M. (2011). Embedded advertising on television: Disclosure, deception and free speech rights. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 30(2), 226–238

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01677.x

XI

Campbell, M. C., Mohr, G. S., & Verlegh, P. W. J. (2007). Effects of product placement and sponsorship disclosure: A flexible correction approach. In International Conference on Research in Advertising, Lisbon, Portugal. Campbell, M. C., Mohr, G., & Verlegh, P. W. (2012). Can disclosures lead consumers to resist covert persuasion? The important roles of disclosure timing and type of response. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Forthcoming. Chicago Campbell, M.C., Mohr, G.S., and Verlegh, P.W.J. (2013). Can disclosures lead consumers to resist covert persuasion? The important roles of disclosure timing and type of response. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(4), 483-495. Carlson, J. P., Bearden,W. O., & Hardesty, D. M. (2007). Influences on what consumers know and what they think they know regarding marketer pricing tactics. Psychology & Marketing, 24, 117–142. Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C. and Guinalíu, M. (2008) “Promoting Consumer's Participation in Virtual Brand Communities: A New Paradigm in Branding Strategy”, Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(1), 19-36 Chan, S., Lin, T., and Bodhi, P. (2014). Exploring the persuasive effect of member-get-member referral programs. Social Behavior and Personality, 42(6), 891-902. Chesney, T., & Su, D. K. (2010). The impact of anonymity on weblog credibility. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68(10), 710-718 Cheung, C. M., Lee, M. K., & Rabjohn, N. (2008). The impact of electronic word-of-mouth: The adoption of online opinions in online customer communities. Internet Research, 18(3), 229-247 Cheung, M. Y., Chuan, L., Choon Ling, S., & and Huaping, C. (2009). Credibility of Electronic Word-of-Mouth: Informational and normative determinants of on-line consumer recommendations. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 13. Chevalier, J.A., and Mayzlin, D. (2006) The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3), 345-354. Chih, W., Wang, K., Hsu, L., and Huang, S. (2013). Investigating Electronic Word-of-Mouth Effects on Online Discussion Forums: The Role of Perceived Positive Electronic Word-of-Mouth Review Credibility. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(9) Cho, S., and Huh, J.(2010). Content analysis of corporate blogs as a relationship management tool. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 15(1), 30 – 48 . Chow, L.L. (2013). How luxury brands are taking to social media. Retrieved from http://www.warc.com/Content/Documents/A99046_How_luxury_brands_are_taking_to_social_media_insights_from_Asia.content?PUB=EVENT-REPORTS&CID=A99046&ID=2f9eb233-54ff-4b1d-8c10-d31f1055ecac&q=How+luxury+brands+are+taking+to+social+media.&qr= Chu, S. C., & Kamal, S. (2008). The effect of perceived blogger credibility and argument quality on message elaboration and brand attitudes: An exploratory study. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8(2),

26-37.

XII

Chu, S.C., Kamal, S. (2008). The effect of perceived blogger credibility and argument quality on message elaboration and brand attitudes: an exploratory study. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8(2), 26‐37. Colliander, J., and Dahlen, M. (2011). Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of Social Media Weighing the Publicity Effectiveness Of Blogsversus Online Magazines. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1). Corcoran, S. P. (2010). Can Teachers Be Evaluated by Their Students' Test Scores? Should They Be? The Use of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness in Policy and Practice. Education Policy for Action Series. Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University (NJ1). Cox, J.L., Martinez, E.R. and Quinlan, K.B. (2008), “Blogs and the corporation: managing the risk, reaping the benefits”, Journal of Business Strategy, 29(3), 4‐12. Davey, (30 April 2015). 'None of it’s true': wellness blogger Belle Gibson admits she never had cancer. The Guardian. Retrieved via http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mega-blogger-belle-gibson-casts-doubt-on-her-own-cancer-claims/story-e6frg8zx-1227255933051). Dei Worldwide (2008). The Impact of Social Media on Purchasing Behavior. Volume One: Initial Findings United States 2008 Deighton, J., Romer, D., & McQueen, J. (1989). Using drama to persuade.Journal of Consumer research,

335-343.

Dellarocas, C., Zhang, X. M., & Awad, N. F. (2007). Exploring the value of online product reviews in forecasting sales: The case of motion pictures.Journal of Interactive marketing, 21(4), 23-45.

Doh, S., and Hwang, J. (2009). How Consumers Evaluate eWOM (Electronic Word-of-Mouth) Messages. Cyberpshychology & Behavior, 12(2). Doyle, J., Heslop, L., Ramirez, A., and Cray, D. (2012). Trust intentions in readers of blogs. Management Research Review, 35(9), 837 – 856. Eagle, L. (2007). Commercial media literacy: what does it do, to whom—and does it matter?. Journal of Advertising, 36(2), 101-110.

Erdem, T., & Swait, J. (1998). Brand equity as a signaling phenomenon.Journal of consumer

Psychology, 7(2), 131-157.

Esch, F. R., Langner, T., Schmitt, B. H., & Geus, P. (2006). Are brands forever? How brand knowledge and relationships affect current and future purchases. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 1(2), 98-

105.

Fan, Y. W., & Miao, Y. F. (2012). Effect of electronic word-of-mouth on consumer purchase intention: The perspective of gender differences.International Journal of Electronic BusinessManagement, 10(3),

175.

Fisher, T. (2009). ROI in social media: A look at the arguments. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 16, 189–195.

XIII

Flynn, L. R., Goldsmith, R. E., & Eastman, J. K. (1996). Opinion leaders and opinion seekers: Two new measurement scales. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(2), 137-147.

Forman, C., Ghose, A., & Wiesenfeld, B. (2008). Examining the relationship between reviews and sales: The role of reviewer identity disclosure in electronic markets. Information Systems Research, 19(3), 291-

313.

Forrest, E., & Cao, Y. (2010). Opinions, recommendations and endorsements: The new regulatory framework for social media. Journal of Business and Policy Research, 5(2), 88–99. Friestad, M., and Wright, P. (1994). The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How People Cope with Persuasion Attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1-31. Gereffi, G., & Frederick, S. (2010). The global apparel value chain, trade and the crisis: challenges and opportunities for developing countries. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series. Greenberg, S., Yaari, E., and Bar‐Ilan, J. (2013). Perceived credibility of blogs on the internet – the influence of age on the extent of criticism. Aslib Proceedings, 65(1), 4-18. Grewal, D., Gotlieb, J., & Marmorstein, H. (1994). The moderating effects of message framing and source credibility on the price-perceived risk relationship.Journal of consumer research, 145-153.

Gruen, T.W., Osmonbekov, T., Czaplewski, A.J. (2006). eWOM: The impact of customer-to-customer online know-how exchange on customer value and loyalty. Journal of Business Research Volume 59(4), 449–456 Guoqing, G. (2003). “Marketing study reasonable argument (second edition),” Beijing: Chinese People’s University Press, 86.

Ha, H. Y. (2004). Factors influencing consumer perceptions of brand trust online. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 13(5), 329-342.

Hays, R.B. (1984). The development and maintenance of friendship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1, 75-98. Heil, O., Lehmann, D., & Stremersch, S. (2010). Marketing competition in the 21st century. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27(2), 161-163. Heine, C. (2014). Luxury Brands Are Still Casting a Leery Eye Toward Social Media Apple, Rolex and Monocle love their exclusive appeal, but to what end? Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/luxury-brands-are-still-casting-leery-eye-toward-social-media-161155 Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G., & Gremler, D. D. (2004). Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?. Journal of interactive marketing, 18(1), 38-52.

Ho, C.H., Chiu, K.H., Chen, H., and Papazafeiropoulou, A. (2015). Can internet blogs be used as an effective advertising tool? The role of product blog type and brand awareness. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(3), 346 – 362.

XIV

Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., and Schmitt, J. (2010). Brand awareness in business markets: When is it related to firm performance? International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27, 201-212. Horton, D., and Wohl, R.R. (1956). Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 19(3). Hoyer, W. D., & Brown, S. P. (1990). Effects of brand awareness on choice for a common, repeat-purchase product. Journal of consumer research, 141-148. Hsiao, K. L., Chuan-Chuan Lin, J., Wang, X. Y., Lu, H. P., & Yu, H. (2010). Antecedents and consequences of trust in online product recommendations: An empirical study in social shopping. Online Information

Review, 34(6), 935-953.

Hsu, C., Huang, H., Ko, C., and Wang, S. (2014). Basing bloggers' power on readers' satisfaction and loyalty. Online Information Review, 38(1), 78 – 94. Huang C, Shen Y, Lin H and Chang S (2007) Bloggers’ motivations and behaviors: A model. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(4), 472–484. Huang, L., Chou, Y. , and Lin, C. (2008). The Influence of Reading Motives on the Responses after Reading Blogs. Cyberpsychology & Behavior 11(3). Hung, K. H., and Li, S. Y. (2007). The Influence of eWOM on Virtual Consumer Communities: Social Capital, Consumer Learning, and Behavioral Outcomes. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(4), 485. Hutter, K., Hautz, J., Dennhardt, S., and Füller, J. (2013). The impact of user interactions in social media on brand awareness and purchase intention: the case of MINI on Facebook. Journal of Product & Brand Management, . 22(5/6), 342 – 351. Jalilvand, M., and Samiei, N. (2012). The effect of electronic word of mouth on brand image and purchase intention: An empirical study in the automobile industry in Iran. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(4), 460 – 476. Jin, S. (2012).The potential of social media for luxury brand management. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), 687 – 699. Jiyoung Kim, A., and Ko, E. (2010). Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship and Purchase Intention. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1(3), 164-171. Kaplan, A.M., Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social

Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68 Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. the Journal

of Marketing, 1-22.

Keller, K. L. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of Marketing Communications, 15(2–3), 139–155. Kent, M. (2008). Critical analysis of blogging in public relations. Public Relations Review, 34(1), 32-40.

XV

Kim, B. H., Pasadeos, Y., & Barban, A. (2001). On the deceptive effectiveness of labeled and unlabeled advertorial formats. Mass Communication & Society, 4(3), 265-281.

Kim, J. A. , and Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Fashion Marketing and Consumption of Luxury Brands, 65(10), 1480–1486. Kim, J., and J. Morris. 2007. The power of affective response and cognitive structure in product-trial attitude formation. Journal of Advertising, 36(1), 95–106 Kirkpatrick, D., Roth, D., & Ryan, O. (2005). Why there’s no escaping the blog.Fortune, 151(1), 44-50.

Kozinets, R. V. (2006). Click to connect: netnography and tribal advertising.JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING

RESEARCH-NEW YORK-, 46(3), 279.

Krumm, J., Davies, N., Narayanaswami, C. (2008). User-generated content. Pervasive Computing Kulmala, M., Mesiranta, N., and Tuominen, P. (2013). Organic and amplified eWOM in consumer fashion blogs. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 17(1), 20 – 37. Kumar, V., Petersen, J., & Leone, R. (2010). Driving profitability by encouraging customer referrals: Who, when, and how. Journal of Marketing, 74, 1-17. Laczniak, R. N., DeCarlo, T. E., & Ramaswami, S. N. (2001). Consumers’ responses to negative word-of-mouth communication: An attribution theory perspective. Journal of consumer Psychology, 11(1), 57-

73.

Ladhari, R., and Michaud, M. (2015). eWOM effects on hotel booking intentions, attitudes, trust, and website perceptions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 46, 36-45. Laroche, M., Kim, C., Zhou, L. (1996). Brand familiarity and confidence as determinants of purchase intention: An empirical test in a multiple brand context. Journal of Business Research, 37(2), 115–120 Lee, K. T., and Koo, D. M. (2012). Effects of attribute and valence of e-WOM on message adoption: Moderating roles of subjective knowledge and regulatory focus. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 1974–1984. Lee, M. K., & Turban, E. (2001). A trust model for consumer internet shopping.International Journal of

electronic commerce, 6(1), 75-91.

Lee, M., & Youn, S. (2009). Electronic word of mouth: How eWOM platforms influence consumer product judgment. International Journal of Advertising, 28(3), 473–499. Lee, S., T. Hwang and H. H. Lee: 2006, ‘Corporate Blogging Strategies of the Fortune 500 Companies’, Management Decision, 44(3), 316–334. Lee, S.Y. (2010). Ad-induced affect: The effects of and prior brand attitude: The effects of forewarning, affect intensity, and prior brand attitude. Journal of Marketing Communications, 16(4), 225-237. Lin, Y. C. (2013). Evaluation of co-branded hotels in the Taiwanese market: The role of brand familiarity and brand fit. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(3), 346–364.

XVI

Lu, L.C., Chang, W.P., and Chang, H.H. (2014). Consumer attitudes toward blogger’s sponsored recommendations and purchase intention: The effect of sponsorship type, product type, and brand awareness. Computers in Human Behavior, 34, 258-266. Luo, Q., & Zhong, D. (2015). Using social network analysis to explain communication characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites. Tourism Management, 46, 274-282.

Macdonald, E. K., & Sharp, B. M. (2000). Brand awareness effects on consumer decision making for a common, repeat purchase product:: A replication. Journal of business research, 48(1), 5-15.

Malmelin, N. (2010). What is advertising literacy? Exploring the dimensions of advertising literacy. Journal of Visual Literacy, 29(2), 129. Manafy, M. (2010). The old news and the good news: Engaging the digital native in the value of news. EContent, 33(1), 30-34.

Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365.

McCroskey, J.C, McCain, T. A. (1974) The measurement of interpersonal attraction. Speech Monographs ume 41(3), 1974 Meindersma, C. (2012). Eerlijke blog of reclame? Retrieved from https://www.charlotteslaw.nl/2012/10/eerlijke-blog-of-reclame Mikalef, P., Giannakos, M., and Pateli, A. (2012). Shopping and Word-of-Mouth Intentions on Social Media. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 8(1), 17-34. Mohr, I. (2013). The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 15(2). Moorman, C., Deshpande, R., & Zaltman, G. (1993). Factors affecting trust in market research relationships. the Journal of Marketing, 81-101.

Nabi, R. L., & Hendriks, A. (2003). The persuasive effect of host and audience reaction shots in television talk shows. Journal of Communication, 53(3), 527-543. Ohanian, R. (1991). The impact of celebrity spokespersons' perceived image on consumers' intention to purchase. Journal of advertising Research.

Owen, R., & Humphrey, P. (2009). The structure of online marketing communication channels. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 2, 54-62. Park, B., Ahn, S., & Kim, H. (2010). Blogging: mediating impacts of flow on motivational behavior. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 4(1), 6-29. Peterson, R. A., Balasubramanian, S., & Bronnenberg, B. J. (1997). Exploring the implications of the Internet for consumer marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 25(4), 329

https://www.charlotteslaw.nl/2012/10/eerlijke-blog-of-reclame

XVII

Petty, R. D., & Andrews, J. C. (2008). Covert marketing unmasked: A legal and regulatory guide for practices that mask marketing messages. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 27(1), 7-18.

Petty, R. E., Priester, J. R., & Brinol, P. (2002). Mass media attitude change: Implications of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Media effects: Advances in theory and research, 2, 155-198.

Petty, R.E., Cacioppo, J.T. (1986). The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion. Advances in experimental social psychology, 19, 123-205 Phan, M., Thomas, R., Heine, K. (2011). Social Media and Luxury Brand Management: The Case of Burberry. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing: Bridging Fashion and Marketing, 2(4), 213-222 Porter, L., Sweetser, K,, Chung, D. (2009) "The blogosphere and public relations: Investigating practitioners' roles and blog use", Journal of Communication Management, 13(3), 250 – 267 Potter, W.J. (2014). Chapter 1: Why increase media literacy. Media literacy (2-14). SAGE Publications. Racherla, P., Friske, W. (2012). Perceived ‘usefulness’ of online consumer reviews: An exploratory Investigation across three services categories. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 11(6), 548–559 Rehmani, M., & Khan, M. I. (2011). The impact of E-media on customer purchase intention. International

journal of advanced computer science and applications, 2(3).

Reyneke, M., Pitt, L., & Berthon, P. R. (2011). Luxury wine brand visibility in social media: an exploratory study. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 23(1), 21-35.

Rickman, T.A., and Cosenza, R. (2007). The changing digital dynamics of multichannel marketing: The feasibility of the weblog: text mining approach for fast fashion trending. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 11(4), 604 – 621. Rieh, S. Y., & Danielson, D. R. (2007). Credibility: A multidisciplinary framework. Annual review of

information science and technology, 41(1), 307-364.

Rosaen, S.F., and Dibble, J.L. (2008) Investigating the Relationships Among Child's Age, Parasocial Interactions, and the Social Realism of Favorite Television Characters. Communication Research Reports 25(2), 145-154 Rotfeld, H. J. (2008). The stealth influence of covert marketing and much ado about what may be nothing. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 27(1), 63–68. Rozendaal, E., Buijzen, and M., Valkenburg, P. (2009). Do children's cognitive advertising defenses reduce their desire for advertised products? Communication,. 34(3), 287–303. Rubin, V.L., Liddy, E.D. (2006). Assessing Credibility of Weblogs. AAAI Spring Symposium: Computational Approaches to Analyzing Weblogs, 187-190. Rubin, R.B., and McHugh, M.P. (1987). Development of parasocial interaction relationships. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, (1), 279-292.

Ryu, G., and Feick, L. (2007) A Penny for Your Thoughts: Referral Reward Programs and Referral

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260108602142/pdf?md5=f7a75f8bce881674ea11da1bc8eb16a1&pid=1-s2.0-S0065260108602142-main.pdf&_valck=1

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260108602142/pdf?md5=f7a75f8bce881674ea11da1bc8eb16a1&pid=1-s2.0-S0065260108602142-main.pdf&_valck=1

XVIII

Likelihood. Journal of Marketing: January 2007, 71(1)84-94. Samuel-Camps, E., and Haldan-Jones, M. (2013). Luxury brand marketing: The seamless consumer journey. 28/03/2015, Retrieved via: http://www.warc.com/Content/Documents/A100568_Luxury_brand_marketing_The_seamless_consumer_journey.content?PUB=ADMAP&CID=A100568&ID=d011f6f3-b961-4ff9-abd3-704074bf9538&q=Luxury+brand+marketing%3a+The+seamless+consumer+journey&qr= Scott, D. M. (2007). The new rules of marketing and PR: how to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing and online media to reach buyers directly. Sheth, J. N., & Parvatiyar, A. (1995). The evolution of relationship marketing.International Business Review, 4(4), 397-418. Shimp, T. A. (2010). Integrated Marketing Communication in Adver-tising and Promotion 8e. International Edition. Shoham, A., and Ruvio, A. (2008). Opinion leaders and followers: a replication and extension. Psychology and Marketing, 25(3).

Smith, D., Menon, S., and Sivakumar, K. (2005). Online peer and editorial recommendations, trust, and choice in virtual markets. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 19(3), 15-37. Smith, S., & Wheeler, J. (2002). Managing the customer experience: Turning customers into advocates.

Pearson Education.

Solomon, M. R. (2009). Consumer behavior: in fashion. Stavrositu, C., & Sundar, S. S. (2008). If Internet credibility is so iffy, why the heavy use? The relationship between medium use and credibility.CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(1), 65-68.

Steffes, E. M., & Burgee, L. E. (2009). Social ties and online word of mouth.Internet Research, 19(1), 42-

59.

Steyn, P., Salehi-Sangari, E., Pitt, L., Parent, M., Berthon, P. (2010). The Social Media Release as a public relations tool: Intentions to use among B2B bloggers. Public Relations Review, 36(1), 87–89 Trusov, M., Bucklin, R., and Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of word‐of‐mouth versus traditional marketing: Finding from an Internet social networking site. Journal of Marketing, 73, 90‐102. Tseng, Chi-Hsing, Hsin-Chih Kuo, Jan-Ming Chen (2014). “Do Types of Virtual Community Matter for the Effects of Online Advertisement and Electronic Word of Mouth?” Marketing Review, 11(1), 29-50, Spring, 2014. Turner, J.R. (1993). Interpersonal and psychological predictors of parasocial interaction with different television performers. Communication Quarterly, 41, 443–453. Van Laer, T., & De Ruyter, K. (2010). In stories we trust: How narrative apologies provide cover for competitive vulnerability after integrity-violating blog posts. International Journal of Research in

Marketing, 27(2), 164-174.

Van Reijmersdal, E., Neijens, P., & Smit, E. G. (2009). A new branch of advertising: Reviewing factors that influence reactions to product placement.Journal of advertising research, 49(4), 429-449.

XIX

Verlegh, P.W.J ., Pruyn, A.Th.H., and Peters, K.A. (2003). Turning Shoppers Into Sellers: Two Experiments on Member-Get-Member Campaigns. Advances in Consumer Research, 30. Wei, P. S., & Lu, H. P. (2013). An examination of the celebrity endorsements and online customer reviews influence female consumers’ shopping behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 193–201 Wentzel, D., Tomczak, T., and Herrman, A. (2010). The Moderating Effect of Manipulative Intent and Cognitive Resources on the Evaluation of Narrative Ads. Psychology and Marketing, 27(5), 510-530. Wischnowski, B. J. (2011). Bloggers with Shields: Reconciling the Blogosphere's Intrinsic Editorial Process with Traditional Concepts of Media Accountability. Iowa L. Rev., 97, 327. Wood, W., & Quinn, J. M. (2003). Forewarned and forearmed? Two meta-analysis syntheses of forewarnings of influence appeals. Psychological Bulletin, 129(1), 119.

Woods, L. (2008). The consumer and advertising regulation in the television without frontiers and audiovisual media services directives. Journal of Consumer Policy, 31, 63–77. Wright, J. (2006) Blog Marketing: The Revolutionary New Way to Increase Sales, Build Your Brand, and Get Exceptional Results. The McGraw-Hill Companies. Wu, P. C., Yeh, G. Y. Y., & Hsiao, C. R. (2011). The effect of store image and service quality on brand image and purchase intention for private label brands. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 19(1), 30-39. Wu, P., and Wang, Y. (2011). The influences of electronic word‐of‐mouth message appeal and message source credibility on brand attitude. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 23(4), 448 – 472. Wright, P.H. (1978). Toward a theory of friendship based on a conception of self. Human Communication Research, 4, 196-207. Xiaofen, J., and Yiling, Z. (2009). The Impacts of Online Word-of-mouth on Consumer’s Buying Intention on Apparel: An Empirical Study. International Symposium on Web Information Systems and Applications, 24-28. Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. the Journal of Marketing, 31-46.

Zhang, J. Q., Craciun, G., & Shin, D. (2010). When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews. Journal of Business Research, 63(12), 1336-1341.

Zhu, J. Y., & Tan, B. C. (2007). Effectiveness of blog advertising: Impact of communicator expertise, advertising intent, and product involvement. In Proceedings of the 28th annual international conference on information systems, Montreal, Canada, 121.

Bijlage 1.1

Addendum

Attachment 1. Stimuli

- Blogpost:

The Leather Jacket of Your Dreams

Since the brand's revival in 2011 by Olivier Rousteing, Balmain has been receiving more and more

attention from fashion magazines, runways, celebrities, and influencers in the industry, because of its

retro looks and new orientation towards the finer aspects of French couture.

For the spring collection of 2015, we see a lot of monochrome, see-through looks. A futuristic influence,

as seen in several other high-end, also takes the stage, while creating elegant and smart looks. Next to

elegant, boyish silhouettes for the ladies, and smart colorful pieces for the men, there are of course the

recurring pieces like the to-die-for leather jacket. As a true staple piece, known for its timelessness and

quality, the jacket is both for men and women a must have in your closet.

Several different styles are brought into the pallet, with both classic, punk, short, and longer styles,

offering a jacket for every taste. Whether you like to wear it with biker boots to toughin’ up your look,

or wear it on a skirt or suit, with heels or oxfords for a more classy ensemble, the biker jacket will have a

prominent place in your outfits. Because of its versatile nature, you can wear it during those warmer

spring days, or chilly summer nights, or in general with every single item in your closet you already own.

Price Balmain biker jacket (Farfetch): € 2945 – 3480

- Anna-Lucy Aime Le Luxe Profile :

Anna-Lucy, 26 years old, studied Marketing, and started working in fashion soon after as a stylist. Since

2012, she is a Belgian based online influential, trendwatcher and blogger. Above all, she is a fashion

lover, dedicated to providing premium and unique content on a international platform, and spreading

the broad range of knowledge she has acquired over the years.

http://www.farfetch.com/be/shopping/women/balmain/items.aspx?q=balmain#ps=1&pv=60&oby=5

Bijlage 1.2

- Balmain Aime Le Luxe Profile :

Balmain is a haute couture fashion house founded by Pierre Balmain. Since its establishment in 1964,

Balmain has dressed various celebrities, stars, and other influentials, and remains a respected name in

the fashion industry until this very day. With the writing of the blog, Balmain enters a new era of

connecting, engaging and communicating with the customer, all the while maintaining its position as

luxury fashion brand.

The Blogs appear in the following order:

- Sponsored Blog without Advertising Disclosure

- Sponsored Blog with Advertising Disclosure

- Corporate Blog

Bijlage 1.3

Bijlage 1.4

Bijlage 1.5

Bijlage 2.1

Attachment 2. Research questionnaire

Bijlage 2.2

Bijlage 2.3

Bijlage 2.4

Bijlage 2.5

Bijlage 2.6

Bijlage 2.7