Title: Beauty product brand experimentation: how celebrities and reference groups influence South African female Generation Y consumers

Authors: Riané Cherylise Dalziel

Addresses: School of Management Sciences, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Abstract: Consumers are exposed to a wide variety of products and brands because we live in an era characterised by globalisation. As such, consumers are inclined to exert brand experimentation tendencies, especially within the beauty product industry. This paper sought to determine the influence of celebrities and groups on the beauty product brand experimentation tendencies of South African female Generation Y students. Data was collected using a quantitative method, and analysed using SPSS and AMOS. According to the results, female Generation Y students' beauty product brand experimentation is a three-dimensional model including celebrity influence, group influence and brand experimentation. Path analysis signified that both celebrity and group influence have a significant positive and direct influence on female Generation Y students' brand experimentation tendencies. Therefore, brands, especially new brands entering the beauty product market, should make use of consumers' reference groups and celebrities to target these consumers.

Keywords: beauty product; brand experimentation; celebrity influence; female Generation Y; group influence; South Africa.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2024.135220

European Journal of International Management, 2024 Vol.22 No.1, pp.31 - 51

Received: 21 Feb 2020
Accepted: 27 May 2020
Published online: 03 Dec 2023 *

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