Influence leads intention: How micro-celebrity endorsements and care motivations drive sustainable consumption

The effects of Micro-Celebrity Endorsements (MCE) and three multidimensional Care Motivations [World Care (WC), Self Care (SC), and Ecological Welfare (EW)] on Attitude Towards Sustainable Consumption (ATSC) and Purchase Intention (PI) are investigated in this study. Incorporating MCE as a novel digital stimulus that influences sustainability-oriented behaviors in green consumption, this study enhances theoretical understanding through the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model. Three hundred fifty people participated in the survey by completing a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, and SmartPLS (version 4.1.1.5) was used to test the proposed research model. The results show that MCE significantly enhances WC, SC, and EW, indicating that micro-celebrities play a crucial role in fostering multidimensional caring attitudes among consumers. Furthermore, ATSC is positively and significantly affected by WC, SC, and EW, with EW exerting the most significant influence. ATSC positively influences purchase intention for sustainable products. Taken as a whole, the results indicate that the authenticity and legitimacy of micro-celebrity influencers enhance the impact of both altruistic (world caring, ecological welfare) and self-oriented (self-care) motives on consumers' propensity to purchase sustainably. As a theoretical contribution, the study strengthens the S-O-R framework for sustainability research by including digital endorsement cues as essential stimuli. In reality, this means that to encourage sustainable consumer behavior, marketers need to devise strategies that combine endorsements from real micro-celebrities with messages that emphasize personal well-being and environmental responsibility.