204 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. The relationship of social media celebrities’ attributes and online consumer behaviour towards Malaysian purchase intention Wong Chee Hoo1+ Suriana Ramli2 Ng Chee Pung3 Mamoon Allan4 Syed Far Abid Hossain5 1,3Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Malaysia. 1Email: cheehoo.wong@newinti.edu.my 3Email: cheepung.ng@newinti.edu.my 2Faculty of Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. 2Email: surianaramli@uitm.edu.my 4The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. 4Email: mamoon1073@yahoo.com 5International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 5Email: syed.farabid@bracu.ac.bd (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 15 August 2023 Revised: 20 November 2023 Accepted: 7 February 2024 Published: 1 March 2024 Keywords Attractiveness Consumer behaviour Informativeness Malaysia Purchase intention Social media celebrities Trustworthiness. The goal of this study is to investigate the impact that online celebrities had and still have on Malaysian customers' intents and purchasing behaviours. The use and gratification theory, the source credib ility model and the source attractiveness model are the three theoretical frameworks that form the foundation of this study. These models provide the foundation for this research. 384 respondents who are older than 18 and use social media provided answers to the questionnaire which takes the form of an online survey. SPSS software (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used for the data analysis and regression analysis was chosen as the method to use in order to establish the significance of hypotheses based on the data collected in order to determine whether or not the data collected supported the hypotheses. This study found that in order for social media celebrities to successfully influence consumers' intentions to make a purchase through the internet, they need to demonstrate that they are reliable, appealing and knowledgeable. In the context of Malaysia, these are the characteristics that are particularly important in determining whether or not a customer will make a purchase over the internet. Contribution/Originality: It is important for social media celebrities to possess certain qualities in order to effectively influence purchase intentions on the web. These include being trustwo rthy, attractive and informative in their role. The significant attributes that influence consumer online purchase intention in the context of Malaysia. 1. INTRODUCTION Social media has become an indispensable part of modern people's l ives in the age of Internet ubiquity (Atika, Sumarwan, & Tinaprilla, 2019). According to data from the Malaysian Social Media Statistics Report, Malaysia had 28 million social media users in January 2021. Social media users are equivalent to 86% of Malaysia's total population (Kemp, 2021). Malaysia's social media user increased by 2 million (+7.7%) between 2020 and 2021. Online celebrities have grown in popularity as a result of the prevalence of social media. These online celebrities interact with users and fans on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube and other social media platforms (Wielki, 2020). Online celebrity promotion has been found to be the most economical and successful advertising strategy in Humanities and Social Sciences Letters 2024 Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 204-217 ISSN(e): 2312-4318 ISSN(p): 2312-5659 DOI: 10.18488/73.v12i2.3663 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0691-4463 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4201-0122 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0729-1456 mailto:cheehoo.wong@newinti.edu.my mailto:cheepung.ng@newinti.edu.my mailto:surianaramli@uitm.edu.my mailto:mamoon1073@yahoo.com mailto:syed.farabid@bracu.ac.bd https://www.doi.org/10.18488/73.v12i2.3663 Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 205 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. comparison to other methods in recent years (Lokithasan, Simon, Jasmin, & Othman, 2019). They became the product's advocates by creating an abundance of keywords on the internet (Lim, Radzol, Cheah, & Wong, 2017). Online celebrities will use social media to communicate product information and promotions to their followers. Furthermore, they frequently use social media to keep their followers and customers updated on the latest news and interactions (Wielki, 2020). Online celebrities provide more information about products to consumers than the company's own advertisements. Consumer perceptions of products are greatly influenced by online celebrities. Online celebrities will encourage favourable relationships with consumer purchase intentions since social media information can more effectively impact consumer intents for purchasing (Yosra, Awobamise, & Aderibigbe, 2020). Purchase intentions can be generated by consumers' similarity of self-concept to online celebrities (Atika et al., 2019). The goal of this study is to better understand the impact of onl ine celebrities on consumer purchase intentions through social media. It also uses source credibil ity, source attractiveness and other theories to explain how online celebrities influence consumer purchase intentions through social media. Businesses and customers can gain important information by recognizing the impact of online celebrities through social media which can help them create new sales techniques that will influence positive and significant decisions (Yosra et al., 2020). The evolution of the internet has played a significant role in the emergence of "online celebrities." Nowadays, online celebrities are being followed on social media by followers because of their entertaining and humorous v ideos which have the potential to depress users. Wilbur and Dior Lynn have run their YouTube channel which always creates prank video content to make people laugh. Furthermore, social media users enjoy adhering to celebrities on the internet who provide them with a lot of precise data. Furthermore, onl ine celebrities have a significant influence on consumers' purchase intentions on social media with trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, familiarity, and knowledge performing as independent variables and purchase intention acting as a dependent variable. These effects are measured using source credibil ity and source attractiveness models. The research objective of this study is to examine the factors that influence consumer purchase intention among online celebrities in Malaysia. The goal of this research is to investigate the influence of online celebrities on Malaysian consumer behaviour and purchase intentions. The source credibility model, the source attractiveness model, and the uses and gratification theory all support this study. These characteristics are important in influencing consumer online purchase intentions in Malaysia. The objectives of the research are given below: 1. To examine the relationship between the trustworthiness of onl ine celebrities and consumer purchase inattention. 2. To examine the relationship between the expertise of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. 3. To examine the relationship between the attractiveness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. 4. To examine the relationship between the familiarity of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. 5. To examine the relationship between online celebrities ‘information about products or services and consumers’ purchase intentions. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW The uses and gratif ication theory, the source credibility model and the source attractiveness model serve as the foundational theories for this study. Chun, Lim, Tan, and Teh (2018) said that "the element of an onl ine celebrity's proof of valid assertions" is called expertise and the "assertion that an online celebrity considers the most effective and valid for the recip ient" is called trustworthiness. Online celebrities will spread information on social media and have a positive impact on those who rece ive it. The expertise, attractiveness and credibility of online celebrities are all evaluated particularly in the advertising process on social media (Abdullah et al., 2020). An online celebrity's Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 206 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. essential fundamental in the source-attractiveness model is potential. Attractiveness includes similarity, familiarity and likability in order to persuade a recipient (Chun et al., 2018). Both models were used to assess the impact of online celebrities on consumer purchase intentions. The theory of uses and gratification aims to understand and explain the needs that motivate online celebrities' use of social media. It also encourages users of social media to engage in certain behaviours by using them to meet their needs such as recognizing the positive and negative consequences of their actions (Kircaburun, Alhabash, Tosuntaş, & Griffiths, 2018). Furthermore, the gratifications that users anticipate from a medium might be considered "needs" or "motives" in the context of usage and satisfaction theory. According to this theory, onl ine celebrities have the ability to influence consumers' purchase decisions since they are involved on social media. The most important and sustainable features such as relevance are found in the principles of uses and pleasure theory which is a broad framework for studying online celebrities and consumer social media experiences. 2.1. Trustworthiness Trustworthiness can refer to plausibility, honesty, integrity and expertise as well as the online celebrities' knowledge, experience or skills (Abdullah et al., 2020). Intimate and reliable relationships will be fostered with viewers' curiosity being stimulated by the subjects selected by virtual celebrities. According to Pashaei (2020), consumers and online celebrities who are similar to one another are more trustworthy because people tend to trust those who are similar to them. Social media platforms can result in client loyalty because it is obvious that online personalities are reliable. Furthermore, reputable internet celebrities have positive persuasive power due to their open statements about products on social media platforms. As a result, online celebrities' perceived trustworthiness tends to imply greater acceptance of the marketed content (Nordstrom & Pannula, 2020). Online celebrities trustworthiness can influence consumer perceptions and attract potential audiences on social media. 2.2. Expertise According to Mccullock and Perrault (2020), an individual's perceived ability to deliver precise and comprehensive information is a key factor in their level of knowledge. Expertise refers to the extent to which an online celebrity is regarded as a reliable source of information (Li & Cai, 2019) and is generally associated with an online celebrity's knowledge, experience, or skills in a particular field (Benedic & Granjon, 2017; Li & Yin, 2018; Malik & Qureshi, 2016). Each source credibility metric is made up of five adjectives. The following ad jectives adapted from previous research, comprise the expertise dimension: expert, experienced, knowledgeable, qualified and skilled (Benedic & Granjon, 2017). Product recall increases when online celebrities have product knowledge. (Li & Cai, 2019). As a result, online celebrities with expertise and skills are more l ikely than those with less expertise to persuade consumers (Gauns, Pillai, Kamat, Chen, & Chang, 2018). Furthermore, online celebrities' product expertise is regarded as a skill as is the efficacy stated in advertisements (Davis, 2017). According to Li and Cai (2019), the level of expertise of online celebrities will determine their effectiveness. Internet celebrities will be more effective if they have a higher level of competence. 2.3. Attractiveness The physical attractiveness of online celebrities has been shown to increase advertisement acceptability. Attractiveness refers to celebrity characteristics that are appealing to customers (Ertugan & Mupindu, 2019). The degree to which someone's face makes other people feel good about them is known as their physical attractive ness. Customers' products selections are more strongly influenced by visually appealing internet celebrities. Online celebrities who are not attractive are less convincing than attractive online celebrities. Attractive influencers can persuade social media users to follow what they are saying and attract customers like them (Ertugan & Mupindu, Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 207 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 2019). Furthermore, the attractiveness of online celebrities has increased social acceptance and captured the attention of social media users. This demonstrates that attractive online celebrities have a strong influence on persuasion which increases advertising effectiveness. The attractiveness of onl ine celebrities determines the effectiveness of advertising. Positive outcomes will be obtained through social media advertising due to the attractiveness of online celebrities. 2.4. Familiarity Familiarity is defined as a person's famil iarity with the source as a result of media exposure and it can also refer to emotional react ions and contact with online celebrities (Cuomo, Foroudi, Tortora, Hussain, & Melewar, 2019). The effectiveness and acceptance of message delivery will be influenced by personal familiarity with the source (Ha & Lam, 2017). When consumers are familiar with the source, they have less need for external information and when they are unfamiliar with the source, they have more need for external information. People will like an online celebrity more if they see or hear more about them. This is called the "pure exposure effect. " (Hoekman & Bosmans, 2010). Online celebrities typically interact with consumers through social media which can increase their understanding of and famil iarity with them. Consumers who are familiar with the online celebrity will have a positive attitude and confidence in the advertisements and products that the celebrity endorses. When customers are unfamiliar with an onl ine celebrity, their attitude and trust in the celebrity suffer (Cuomo et al., 2019). Consumers' familiarity with the online celebrity will help them remember the advertisement recognized by the celebrity and leave a lasting impression. As a result, consumer famil iarity with online celebrities has a posit ive impact on the attitude and confidence of online celebrity endorsements (Hoekman & Bosmans, 2010). 2.5. Informativeness The information available on social media platforms such as blogs, discussion boards and social network ing sites has significantly altered how people and businesses communicate with one another. A large proportion of the global population is constantly exposed to one or more aspects of social media. Furthermore, motivation to seek information from social media is positively related to perceptions of online celebrities' informativeness (Noguti & Waller, 2020). There is now a new global market system that is not restricted by time or location due to the growth of online celebrities and information (Vijay, Prashar, & Parsad, 2017). Consumers' ability to identify useful online product reviews through the traditional "useful voting" function is frequently hampered by information overload. Thus, effective identification of useful reviews becomes especially important (Sun, Han, & Feng, 2019). The most powerful influence on consumers' attitudes towards a brand's social media use is effectiveness followed by usefulness and finally irritation. 2.6. Purchase Intention Purchase intent measures how likely a customer is to buy a product or brand in the near future. A purchasing intention is the desire to buy something now or in the future (Ertugan & Mupindu, 2019). Purchase intent is also a predictor of actual purchase behaviour which is used to assess customer behaviour. Consumer purchase intent increases when promotional offers such as coupons for specif ic products are available (Onu, Nwaulune, Adegbola, & Kelechi, 2019). This demonstrates that when consumers' favourite products have promotional offers, their purchase intention increases. The market's advertising elements will influence people's purchasing intentions. Furthermore, watching online celebrity live broadcasts or videos on social media generates purchase intentions. Some factors that influence consumer purchase intent include packaging, product value, free gifts and so on. Online celebrities are used as a marketing tool to influence consumers' attitudes towards purchase intentions and product evaluations on social media. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 208 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. According to a recent study by Santanagopalan and Krishnaraj (2023), the reliability of the information has a greater influence on consumer purchase intentions. According to a study conducted by Untari and Satria (2022), the eating atmosphere variable and the quality of the food both affect the likelihood of buying again . Mohan and Kinslin (2022) discovered that purchasing intention is related to light emitting diode (LED) and lamp purchase behaviour. Another study also found a significant relationship between the intention and purchasing behaviour of green appliances (Teoh, Khor, & Wider, 2022). 2.7. Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework clearly demonstrated the relationship between independent and dependent variables (such as trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, familiarity and effectiveness) and purchase intention. Five hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5) concerning online celebrities may influence the purchase intention of social media users. According to Figure 1, the framework demonstrated that five factors influence consumer purchase intentions. Figure 1. Conceptual framework. 2.8. Hypotheses Development 2.8.1. Purchase Intention and Trustworthiness The effect of online celebrities on consumer purchase intentions is heavily influenced by trustworthiness (Nordstrom & Pannula, 2020). Trustworthiness among online celebrities may influence decision-making (Pashaei, 2020). It means that online celebrities can effectively influence consumers' purchase intentions on social media by leveraging their own integrity. Customers are more inclined to make a purchase when they believe the internet celebrity is sincere about the promoted good or service (Ahmad, Idris, Alias, Tuong, & Amit, 2020). Online celebrities with higher levels of trustworthiness are perceived to have a greater influence on their audie nces' purchasing intentions (Nordstrom & Pannula, 2020). H1: There is a significant relationship between online celebrity trustworthiness and consumer purchase intent. 2.8.2. Expertise and Purchase Intention According to Adam and Hussain (2017), product purchases are more likely to occur when a well-known, credible and knowledgeable person promotes or sells the product. According to Lisichkova and Othman (2017), consumer purchase intent will increase as long as onl ine celebrities demonstrate knowledge of the product they are promoting by prov iding objectives, detailed reviews and living proof of using the product as well as a consistent pattern of repeated use of the product. Online celebrities have the ability to influence customer purchasing decisions Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 209 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. due to their expertise indicating a relationship between online celebrities and consumer buy intents (Ahmad et al., 2020; Lisichkova & Othman, 2017). H2: There is a strong relationship between online celebrities' expertise and whether or not someone intends to buy something. 2.8.3. Attractiveness and Purchase Intention Attractiveness is one of the most important factors influencing consumers' attitudes towards brands and purchase intentions (Onu et al., 2019). It is common for attractive online celebrities to use advertising as a marketing tool to effectively promote things on social media resulting in consumer purchase intentions. When compared to unattractive online celebrities, attractive online celebrities can increase purchase intent. According to Ertugan and Mupindu (2019), the attractiveness of online celebrities influences consumers' propensity to buy and respect is the most important characteristic of celebrity appeal. According to Ahmad et al. (2020), attractive Instagram celebrities appear to be important in reaching and capturing Malaysian consumers' purchase intentions. H3: There is a significant relationship between the attractiveness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. 2.8.4. Familiarity and Purchase Intention Consumers are more likely to accept and trust familiar sources. They also evaluate familiar information in a more positive and optimistic manner (Surjaatmadja & Purnawan, 2018). When consumers are deciding whether to purchase a product, familiarity with the product and influencers will influence their final decision (Osei-Frimpong, Donkor, & Owusu-Frimpong, 2019). It has been discovered that consumers' famil iarity with the brand or the online celebrity influences their purchase intent. Customers are more incl ined to buy a product because they perceive there is less risk when they are more knowledgeable about a specific brand or celebrity. Customers who are famil iar with a brand or an onl ine celebrity are more likely to buy the product or items that the celebrity promotes because consumers are attracted to well-known companies and individuals (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019). Furthermore, consumers who are familiar with the brand are more likely to have a more p ositive attitude and willingness to purchase products (Surjaatmadja & Purnawan, 2018). H4: There is a significant relationship between the familiarity of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. 2.8.5. Informativeness and Purchase Intention Perceived knowledge in both samples had an indirect effect on customer satisfaction but did not immediately affect customers' desire to buy (Aluri, Slevitch, & Larzelere, 2016). According to the information adoption model, consumers evaluate the information's value depending on the expertise and reliability of the source. Therefore, word-of-mouth (eWOM) from a member of one's close circle has greater persuasive power than word-of-mouth from marketers (Mishra & Satish, 2016). We found that consumers' desire to buy onl ine is influenced by their level of fan page involvement through channels including product research, platform familiarity and social proof. In addition, we found that viewers' perceptions of the content's informativeness, quality and online celebrity had a significant role in their decision to subscribe and make a purchase (Park & Lee, 2021). Online celebrities improve the shopping experience and the information that customers receive. Therefore, a person's percept ion of the content's informativeness leads to a cognitive process that boosts purchase intention and openness to sharing personal data with the brand while a person's perception of the content's enjoyment leads to an emotional process that boosts attitude towards the brand. At the same time, there appear to be no detrimental effects of the public's increased invasiveness towards internet celebrities (Smink, Frowijn, van Reijmersdal, van Noort, & Neijens, 2019). H5: There is a significant relationship between the informativeness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 210 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 3. METHODOLOGY This study examines that onl ine celebrities affect social media purchase intent ions. Data on respondents' opinions was collected through Google Form. A quantitative study was used to examine respondents' views on online celebrities' effects on consumer purchasing intentions. This quantifies and analyses variables for quantitative research results (Apuke, 2017). A quantitative research quantifies objectives, variables and hypotheses. Variables are ideas that vary and can occur in many variations while hypotheses are unproven assumptions or statements about how variables interact (Adedoyin, 2020). Data were collected and the statistical analysis was used to confirm theories (Apuke, 2017). This study also uses descriptive research to identify online celebrities' personal variables that influence social media users' purchase habits. The theoretical population is another name for the target population. When researchers generalize their findings, they focus is on this specific population. Adults (18 years and older), both male and female were the study's intended population. The selection of respondents who are 18 years or older was based on their higher frequency of use of social media and their ability to make purchases. The target respondents come from three major ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay and Indians as well as ethnic minorities. Furthermore, respondents we re not required to be Malaysian due to the fact that the study did not focus solely on Malaysian consumers or Malaysian online celebrities. Respondents were required to use one of four social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or YouTube. We use snowball sampling to collect data. Snowball sampling is a type of non-probability sampling in which each respondent is asked to provide information to the next respondent who has a similar profile (Shah et al., 2020). The process of randomly selecting an initial set of respondents is known as snowball sampling. These interviewees were asked to identify others who belonged to the target group of interest after being interviewed or filling out a questionnaire. This entails selecting follow-up interviewees based on the initial interviewee's recommendations or information. In this study, the respondent must introduce a friend or family member over the age of 18 to complete the questionnaire. The goal of this study is to define the relationship between online celebrities and consumers' purchasing intentions using a large sample frame of target audiences which necessitates the collection of a relatively large number of survey responses right away. As a result, we can distribute the questionnaire quickly and save time collecting data. The sample size is the percentage of the population examined to draw conclusions. It simply refers to the number of study participants or observers. The Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) table is used by behavioural and social science researchers to determine sample size (Memon et al., 2020). This table is applicable to any defined population requires no calculations. For a population of 1,000,000 or more, 384 is sufficient (Memon et al., 2020). Statisticians used regression analysis to quantify the relationship between two or more variables. Regression models use nonparametric covariate distribution models and do not model missing data which makes them robust (Zhao, 2021). This study investigates whether purchase intention is determined by the relationship between consumers and onl ine celebrities involving informativeness, source credibility, attractiveness and trustworthiness (Barış, 2018). 4. DATA ANALYSIS 4.1. Descriptive Analysis The survey on social media purchase intentions and online celebrities have 384 respondents. Demographic data (gender, age, race, nationality, highest education, occupational level, monthly income etc.) is used to analyse respondents. In addition, data on whether respondents follow online celebrities follow them on which social media platforms, spend time on social media every day with online celebrit ies, buy a product endorsed by an online celebrity, the kind of advertising content that can attract respondents' attention and the reasons respondents are attracted to online celebrities' reviews are collected for analysis. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 211 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. The data shows 225 (58.6%) male and 159 (41.4%) female respondents. The study shows that 347 (90.4%) 18– 23 years old completed the questionnaire. Additionally, most respondents are 18–23 years old. 27 respondents are (7%) 24-29 year olds and completed the survey. Seven (1.8%) respondents are 30–35 years old. The remaining 3 respondents were aged 36–41 (0.3%), 42–47 (0.3%) and 48+ (0.3%). According to respondents' race, 370 (96.4%) of them are Chinese. There are 11 (2.9%) Malay respondents. One Indian respondent (0.3%) completed the questionnaire. Two minorities (0.5%) completed the questionnaire. Data shows 38 respondents are (9.9%) primary or secondary school graduates. Thus, 144 (37.5%) respondents earned diplomas or advanced diplomas. The highest- ranking respondents were 185 (47.2%) bachelor degree holders. Thirteen (3.4%) respondents had master's or PhD degrees. The professional certificate was the highest education for only four respondents (1%). As for occupational level, 27 (7%) executive respondents completed the questionnaire. Additionally, 8 (2.1%) respondents are professionals. The questionnaire was also completed by 16 (4.2%) managers and supervisors, 19 (1.9%) employees and one housewife (0.3%). The questionnaire showed that 313 (81.5%) students responded. 278 (72.4%) respondents earn less than Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 1,000 per month. The questionnaire also had 58 (15.1%) respondents with incomes between RM1, 001 and RM 2,000. The questionnaire was completed by 24 (6.3%) respondents with incomes between RM 2,001 and RM 3,000. The questionnaire was answered by 12 (3.1%) respondents with incomes between RM 3,001 and RM 4,000 and 12 (3.1%) with incomes above RM 4,000. Findings show that 288 (75%) respondents follow online celebrities' Instagram accounts. Instagram is popular among young people. 54 (14.1%) respondents also follow online celebrities on Facebook. Online celebrities' YouTube channels are subscribed to by 28 (7.3%) respondents. Tiktok celebrities are followed by 14 (3.6%) respondents. Perhaps Malaysia has fewer Tik Tok celebrities. Accordingly, 176 (45.8%) respondents, including online celebrities, spend less than one hour on social media daily. Eighty (20.8%) respondents spend one hour per day on social media. 67 (17.4%) respondents use social media more than two h ours per day. 61 respondents (15.9%) spent two hours on social media. Table 1. Reliability test. Variables Cronbach’s alpha No of items Trustworthiness 0.899 7 Expertise 0.868 5 Attractiveness 0.843 5 Familiarity 0.888 5 Informativeness 0.844 5 Purchase intention 0.870 4 All variables 0.968 31 4.2. Reliability Test In Table 1, we can see that the overall Cronbach's alpha for all the variables is 0.968 which is a very satisfactory result. This is due to the fact that a Cronbach's alpha of greater than 0.7 is considered reliable (Nunnally, 1978). This demonstrates that all variables are valid and trustworthy because their Cronbach's alpha values are above 0.7. Table 2. Model summary. Model R R square Adjusted R square The standard error of the estimate 1 0.860 0.740 0.736 0.42030 Table 2 shows that the variables T, E, A, F and I account for 74% of the variance in PI indicating a score of R2 = 0.740. At the same time, the F-value for this investigation is shown in Table 3. The p-value in this study was less than 0.05 and the F-value was 214.888. This study has significance because it conf irms a key prediction that at Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 212 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. the very bottom, one IV is related to the Dependent Variable (DV). Therefore, the research model is adequate for this investigation. Table 3. Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Model Sum of squares Df Mean square F P-value 1 Regression 189.803 5 37.961 214.888 0.000 Residual 66.775 378 0.177 Total 256.577 383 Table 4. Multiple linear regression. Model Unstandardized coefficients Standardized coefficients T P- value Collinearity statistics B Std. error Beta Tolerance VIF 1 (Constant) -0.313 0.127 -2.457 0.014 Trustworthiness 0.320 0.057 0.292 5.614 0.000 0.254 3.940 Expertise 0.053 0.053 0.049 0.983 0.326 0.276 3.625 Attractiveness 0.053 0.050 0.046 1.074 0.284 0.374 2.674 Familiarity 0.197 0.045 0.193 4.389 0.000 0.358 2.794 Informativeness 0.454 0.056 0.375 8.078 0.000 0.320 3.127 Note: DV= Purchase intention (PI), IV=Trustworthiness (T), Expertise (E), Attractiveness(A), Familiarity(F) and Informativeness(I). Table 4 displays that the IV tolerance value varied between 0.254 and 0.374 while the Variance inflation factor (VIF) varied between 2.674 and 3.625. According to Table 4, we can conclude that hypotheses 1 (T), 4 (F) and 5 (I) are all correct. On the other hand, both H2 (E) and H3 (A) have p-values that are greater than 0.05 so they cannot be supported. In a nutshell, PI is positively related to T, F, and I but unrelated to E and E. Furthermore, parameter estimates can be used to assess the extent to which each IV affects DV. PI= -0.313+0.320 (T) +0.053 (E) +0.053 (A) +0.197 (F) +0.454 (I) Table 5. Hypotheses result summary. Hypotheses Hypotheses testing H1: There is a significant relationship between the trustworthiness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Supported (P<0.05) H2: There is a significant relationship between the expertise of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Not supported (P>0.05) H3: There is a significant relationship between the attractiveness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Not supported (P>0.05) H4: There is a significant relationship between the familiarity of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Supported (P<0.05) H5: There is a significant relationship between the informativeness of online celebrities and consumer purchase intention. Supported (P<0.05) According to Table 5, regression testing prov ides just three verified hypotheses. It supports hypothesis 1 since it demonstrates a strong relationship between an onl ine celebrity's trustworthiness and the possibil ity that a customer would purchase from them. As the p-value for hypothesis 2 is greater than 0.05, it follows that the relationship between the knowledge of internet celebrities and consumers' desire to make a purchase is not statistically signif icant due to the fact that the p-value is less than 0.05. We also know that there is no significant relationship between the popularity of internet superstars and their fans' propensity to make a purchase. The p - value for H4 is less than 0.05, thus we know that this hypothesis is supported by the data. As a result, it's clear that people's exposure to internet superstars has a major impact on their propensity to buy related products. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 213 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Furthermore, as the p-value is less than 0.05, we may conclude that there is a substantial relationship between the informativeness of online celebrities and customer buy intent supporting hypothesis 5. 5. DISCUSSION This study linked online celebrity trustworthiness to social media consumer purchase intention. This study supports the first hypothesis that online celebrities' trustworthiness positively affects social media consumers' purchase intentions. The p-values less than 0.05 indicate significance (Ahmad et al., 2020). The multiple linear regression analysis shows that trustworthiness has a 0.000 p-value supporting it. Pashaei (2020) believed that an online celebrity's trustworthiness affects consumers' purchase intentions on social media because they are a source of electronic word of mouth (eWoM) which has a significant impact on consumer purchase decisions based on trust. Online celebrities can build trust in their products and their followers (Chuah & Wang, 2020). Online celebrities' trustworthiness positively influences social media consumers' purchase intentions. This study hypothesizes that online celebrities' expertise influences social media buyers. Table 4 shows that this research does not support this claim. Online celebrity expertise has a p-value of 0.326 which suggests that online celebrity expertise does not influence social media buyers. Thus, online celebrities' expertise does not affect social media purchase intent. In contrast, research by Li and Cai (2019); Lisichkova and Othman (2017) and Wang, Kao, and Ngamsiriudom (2017 indicated that the competence of online celebrities did not enhance customer purchase intention. According to these researchers, online celebrities can influence purchase decisions due to their expertise (Ahmad et al., 2020; Lisichkova & Othman, 2017). Other studies show no relationship between online celebrity expertise and social media purchase intentions. Online celebrity expertise did not affect consumer purchase intentions in AlFarraj et al. (2021) and Zhang, Ritchie, Mair, and Driml (2018). According to Von Felbert and Breuer (2021), online celebrities' expertise does not affect brand attitudes or purchase intentions. This study found no relationship between online celebrity attractiveness and purchase intent. The multiple regression analysis shows that the p-value of attractiveness is 0.284 which disproves it. The result is supported when the p-value is less than 0.05 but not when it is greater than 0.05 (Ahmad et al., 2020). According to research, attractiveness does not affect consumer purchase intentions (Lim et al., 2017). Lim et al. (2017) believe that online celebrity attractiveness does not strongly influence purchase intention. Thus, online celebrity attractiveness decreases consumer purchase intention. Online celebrities inspire positive sentiments in respondents but their attractiveness did not affect consumer purchase intentions (Lim et al., 2017). The study confirmed the relationship between online celebrity familiarity and consumer purchase intention. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that famil iarity has a 0.000 P-value. A P-value below 0.05 indicates familiarity in this study is statistically signif icant. A P-value of ≤ 0.05 indicates a 5% or less chance of sampling error causing the observed difference (LaMorte, 2019). Customers will benefit more from online celebrity familiarity (Ha & Lam, 2017). Customers' purchase intention increases with celebrity familiarity (Surjaatmadja & Purnawan, 2018). Online celebrities are trusted more when buyers are familiar with them (Cuomo et al., 2019). The result showed that familiarity increases customer purchase intention. Thus, onl ine celebrity informativeness significantly affects consumer purchase intention. Online celebrities positively and signif icantly affect consumers' purchase intentions. Wang and Chen (2021) thought the informational posts made the brand's social media account seem more informative but also conservative and distant from consumers because p-values under 0.05 are significant. It works with businesses and people. 6. CONCLUSION This research shows that onl ine celebrities are a new but effective marketing strategy. Online celebrities can spread political, health and other news. Thus, we have conducted many studies to determine if onl ine celebrities will influence consumer behaviour. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2024, 12(2): 204-217 214 © 2024 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 6.1. Implication This study examines how social media celebrities affect consumer purchase intentions. We used the source credibility model, source attractiveness model and uses and gratification theory (UGT) to better understand how online celebrities affect social media consumers' purchase intentions. Our research fills gaps and improves past research theoretically. We used UGT, the source credib ility model and the source attractiveness model to study how online celebrities affect social media consumer purchase intentions which were not covered in many previous studies. 6.2. Limitations and Recommendations This study had several limitations. Lack of relevant academic research is the first limitation. Social media "celebrities" are new. Online celebrities do not use their acting or songwriting skills to become famous. Online celebrities can be beautiful or handsome, make short videos and upload them to social media pla tforms l ike Instagram and Tik Tok, or be You tubers who make daily video blogs and prank videos. Most researchers have studied celebrity or athlete endorsements not online influencer marketing and consumer impact (online celebrities). The industry now markets onl ine celebrities. This makes it hard to find comparable academic studies for this research. Thus, we recommend that future researchers study online celebrities to better understand what they are and how they affect brand awareness, consumer buying behaviour and intentions. This study clearly demonstrates the impact of online celebrities on their followers' willingness to spend. According to the findings, trustworthiness, familiarity and informativeness are the key factors that positively influence consumer purchase intention. Apart from expertise and attractiveness, online celebrities and consumer purchase intentions have a negative relationship. In addition, the managerial and theoretical implications are investigated. The research limitations were also stated in the study and we made recommendations. Funding: This research is supported by INTI International University, Malaysia (Grant number: T&E3284). Institutional Review Board Statement: The Ethical Committee of the INTI International University, Malaysia has granted approval for this study (Ref. No. INTI/UEC/2023/014). Transparency: The authors state that the manuscript is honest, truthful, and transparent, that no key aspects of the investigation have been omitted, and that any differences from the study as planned have been clarified. This study followed all writing ethics. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study. 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