Cultural Micro-foundations of Celebrity Endorsement: A Behavioral Strategy Perspective from Nigeria's Multicultural Telecommunications Market

Celebrity endorsement is a prominent promotional strategy in Nigeria's telecommunications industry, but the cultural mechanisms proposed to explain its effectiveness require direct testing. This study documents associations between favorable endorsement perceptions and four brand evaluations (perceived competitiveness, popularity, profitability, and customer acceptance) in a Lagos sample and develops cultural propositions for subsequent testing. Integrating the meaning transfer model, source credibility and attractiveness models, parasocial interaction theory, Hofstede's cultural dimensions, and the elaboration likelihood model within a behavioral strategy perspective, the study proposes a culturally contingent endorsement–evaluation framework. Survey data from 234 respondents (180 subscribers and 54 marketing and customer-service staff) of MTN, Globacom, and Airtel in Lagos were analyzed using chi-square tests, Spearman's rank-order correlation, and ordinal logistic regression controlling for respondent type, age, and operator. Favorable endorsement perceptions were positively and significantly associated with all four evaluations. Reported odds ratios were 1.62 for competitiveness (95% CI [1.23, 2.13]), 1.57 for acceptance (95% CI [1.19, 2.07]), 1.46 for popularity, and 1.35 for perceived profitability (95% CI [1.03, 1.77]). These estimates do not identify symbolic meaning transfer, institutional trust substitution, or parasocial bonding as the mechanisms responsible, nor establish firm-level competitive advantage. Respondents' cultural values, identities, institutional trust, and parasocial bonds were not measured; national indices describe context rather than individual orientations, and Lagos's diversity does not establish the sample's cultural composition. The urban, non-probabilistic design further limits generalization and causal inference. The contribution combines context-specific associational evidence with explicitly theoretical cultural propositions. Ethnocultural endorsement intelligence is proposed as a candidate organizational capability, not a demonstrated finding, and culturally resonant campaigns are recommended for comparative testing rather than presumed superiority

Celebrity endorsement; cultural micro-foundations; ethnocultural matching; behavioral strategy; Nigerian telecommunications

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