The effect of selfie promotion and celebrity endorsed advertisement on decision-making processes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of two promotional methods, namely, celebrity endorsed advertisement and selfie promotion, on customers’ decision-making processes using the AISAS model. Design/methodology/approach A within-subject experimental design was used to observe how young adults in Malaysia would respond to two promotional methods about a new seafood restaurant. A total of 180 responses were collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were assessed and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The results show that while celebrity endorsed advertisement remains relevant to customer’s decision-making processes, the effect of selfie promotion is comparable to celebrity endorsement. The sequential mediation for both models is found to be significant, but the AISAS model with selfie promotion produces better in-sample prediction (model selection criteria) and out-of-sample prediction (PLSpredict) compared to celebrity endorsed advertisement, thus suggesting its better representation to reality. Research limitations/implications Despite being limited to young adults in Malaysia and a particular product, the study is essential to understanding the effect of celebrity endorsed advertisement and selfie promotion on decision-making processes. Practical implications The study provides insights into how business organisations could exploit the advancement of communication technology to encourage selfie behaviour to promote their products in an innovative and competitive manner. Originality/value The assessment of the effect of celebrity endorsed advertisement and selfie promotion on decision-making processes using PLSpredict and model selection criteria articulates the relevance of selfie as a promotional tool. It also provides an alternative technique for conducting model comparison research.