The purpose of this study is to understand how perceived micro-celebrity-product image congruency and product type affect native advertising effectiveness on Instagram. Additionally, the study aims to understand how advertising skepticism and persuasion knowledge affect the effectiveness of native advertising featuring micro-celebrity.

This study was administered online using a 2 (product type: high self-expressive vs low self-expressive) � 2 (micro-celebrity and product congruity: congruent vs incongruent) between-subjects factorial design to test the hypotheses. A total of 186 participants, all Instagram users living in the USA, were recruited using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). After screening out 14 respondents who were not Instagram users or did not fully answer the questions, a total sample of 172 valid and complete responses were included for hypotheses testing.

The results revealed that when native advertising featured highly self-expressive products and micro-celebrities with good product image fit, consumers had a more positive attitude toward the ad and the brand, higher source credibility and higher electronic word-of-mouth intention. In addition, advertising skepticism was found to moderate the effect of micro-celebrity-product fit on source credibility.

This study is the first to examine the effect of micro-celebrity and product congruence on native advertising effectiveness. Moreover, the study provides a better understanding of the advertising skepticism and its influence on source credibility. It discusses why a micro-celebrity’s image is a critical factor in shaping attitudes toward native advertising. This study contributes to both the native adverting and influencer marketing literature.