Does the type of a Third - Party Organization (TPO) endorsement impacts consumer product quality perception and purchase intent?
(R2021-104589)

AUTHORS

Jolanta Tkaczyk, Kozminski University; Aleksandra ?wieboda, Kozminski University; Marcin Awdziej, Kozminski University; Dagmara Plata-Alf, Kozminski University

KEYWORDS

TPO; endorsement; quality

ABSTRACT

A TPO endorsement is an advertisement including a positive evaluation of a product or a service provided by a specific external organization, which is perceived by consumers as independent of an advertiser (Dean & Biswas, 2001). The authors were interested in answering the question how a specific form of a TPO endorsement (scoring, description and a seal) would impact consumers’ interest in advertisement, perceptions of product quality and purchase intent when a known product is endorsed by a known, real TPO. 90 purposely sampled respondents, participating in the experimental study, were randomly assigned to 3 groups of equal size. The study did not confirm the influence of various forms of TPO endorsement on perception of product quality and purchase intent, however the impact of the perceived quality of the product, assessed by the respondents after exposure to one of the advertisements with a TPO endorsement, on the intention to buy was confirmed.