Guest Editors: Charles R. Taylor, Shintaro Okazaki, Chen Lou, and Ayşegül Özsomer
Submission Window: August 1–October 31, 2026
Manuscripts are currently being solicited for an upcoming special issue of the Journal of International Marketing (JIM) dedicated to Global Endorsers (Influencers, Celebrities, and Opinion Leaders) in Marketing.
Background
Globally, expenditure on influencer marketing have exploded, increasing from US$1.2 billion in 2006 to $33 billion in 2025 (Statista 2025). According to a report issued by Allied Market Research (2023), global growth in the influencer market will average 28.6% over the next seven years, making it a $199.6 billion industry. In conjunction with this growth, there has been a high volume of research on influencer marketing that has investigated a wide range of factors related to its effectiveness (Fowler and Thomas 2023; Hudders and Lou 2023). While there have been several studies of social media marketing strategies for global influencers (Kara et al. 2021) and for brands (e.g., Wahid et al. 2023), relatively little academic work has focused on the global and cultural aspects of the influencer phenomenon.
Numerous influencers have massive social media followings, including some who can be regarded as global endorsers, as their appeal cuts across national boundaries. From a marketing standpoint, there are important distinctions between global, regional, and local influencers, yet relatively little is known about influencers who have global followings and what distinguishes them from those who do not. There are also political leaders who can be considered narrowband influencers and global icons (Peres et al. 2020). “Extant research has found that there are “distinct associations attached to global vs. local brands” (Sayin et al. 2024, p. 1) that potentially impact consumer expectations and consumer responses in different contexts, but similar frameworks have not been applied to better understand influencer marketing on a global level.
By the same token, the role of world-famous celebrities as global endorsers is increasingly important in marketing. Global celebrities with the largest number of followers include Cristiano Ronaldo (1.02 billion followers), Selena Gomez (683.9 million followers), and Justin Bieber (596.3 million followers) (Duarte 2025). Celebrities with large followings are not restricted to the Western world; several Chinese celebrities having large followings (Sun et al. 2022), and Korean pop acts such as BTS have fandoms that extend beyond their home country market. While there is much literature on factors associated with celebrity endorsement success, our knowledge is limited to a local context (e.g., Bergkvist and Zhou 2016). Few studies have focused on global campaigns using celebrities whose appeal transcends national boundaries (e.g., Shah, Olya, and Monkhouse 2023), on celebrities in emerging markets (e.g., Roy et al. 2019) or on cultural nuances and celebrities (Winterich, Gangwar, and Grewal 2018).
Opinion leaders are another group of global endorsers. They are consumers with higher expertise and/or willingness to spend effort to understand products and propagate their recommendations to other consumers (Kuksov and Liao 2019). Opinion leaders differ from influencers because they do not necessarily hold positions of power and/or prestige, and they may not have vast number of followers. Yet, compared with the literature on influencers and celebrities, research on the role of opinion leaders in international marketing and global branding is far less developed.
Collectively, global influencers, celebrities, and opinion leaders can be viewed as global endorsers in international marketing. There is a need for studies from the branding, consumer, and firm perspectives in terms of evaluation of and reaction to global endorsers. From a branding perspective, concepts of global brands (Özsomer, Batra, and Steenkamp 2024), perceived brand globalness (Liu et al. 2021), and self-identification with global consumer culture (Cleveland and Laroche 2006)—among others—may help unpack multiple questions: What leads to global endorsers’ cross-border audience? What attributes associated with these endorsers lead to higher effectiveness (with some consumer groups) and, ultimately, whether and how global endorsers can contribute to glocal branding strategy outcomes (Schmidt-Devlin, Özsomer, and Newmeyer 2022)?
From a consumer perspective, global consumer culture theory suggests that there is a sizeable group of consumers, especially those who highly identify with global consumer culture, for whom perceived brand globalness is important in purchase decisions. Yet, antiglobalization forces have called into question the degree to which global brands have an advantage (e.g., Davvetas et al. 2023). As a result, more insight into perceptions of global, regional, and local endorsers and their effectiveness is needed. Some recent studies of brand choice that have conceptualized globalness and localness as a product attribute (Davvetas et al. 2023; Steenkamp 2014) may provide a useful framework for such analyses, in addition to those that have focused on global versus local brand choice (e.g., Xie, Batra, and Peng 2015).
From a firm perspective, the selection, evaluation, and retention of global endorsers is a critical task. Frameworks, decision tools, and road maps that can assist in these processes are needed and are welcome for this special issue. The role of recent developments such as generative AI, deepfakes, large language models, and others are also ripe for investigation.
Topics
We welcome studies that address the topic of global endorsers from the diverse angles explained above, including new developments, theories, models, methods, and frameworks. Single-country and single-study papers will not be considered. Multidisciplinary collaboration between international marketing scholars and scholars from other business disciplines is encouraged. We are also open to a wide variety of methods, including experiments, surveys, qualitative methods, conceptual development, meta-analysis, bibliographic study, and text mining, among others.
Potential research questions that may be addressed include (but are not limited to):
Defining and Understanding the Appeal of Global Endorsers
- Who are global endorsers? How can we define them? What kind of roles do they play in global branding and global brand management?
- How and why do global endorsers attract consumers and influence their behavior?
- What are the effects of global endorsers, both positive and negative (the dark side of global endorsers) on brand reputation, values, and trust?
Global Endorser Effectiveness
- How are global endorsers best employed in global promotional programs?
- How do global endorsers become effective brand ambassadors, icons, etc.?
Global Endorser Scope and Reach
- How do global endorsers navigate across regions/markets in terms of standardization/adaptation/glocalization of their messages, execution, and delivery?
- What types of adaptation are effective, and under which circumstances?
- What kind of relationships do followers build with global endorsers (e.g., parasocial)?
- How does the size of audience, the reach, and the nature of the endorser (global/regional/local) affect these relationships?
- Are there differences in the perceived authenticity of an endorsement for local/global brands based on whether the endorser is global/local?
Trends and Regulatory Factors Affecting Global Endorsement
- Are antiglobalization forces creating more demand for local endorsers in some context?
- What are the institutional (legal, regulatory) issues such as privacy laws (e.g., General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act) that influence the ability to effectively employ global endorsers? What are best and worst institutional settings for global endorsers?
Differences in Endorser Strategy Based on Country or Level of Economic Development
- Are there differences in the way in which endorsers from some markets (e.g., China, the U.S., Germany, Brazil) are portrayed when used globally in comparison to others?
- Are global endorsers perceived differently in emerging versus advanced markets and, if so, should they be used in different ways as part of promotional programs?
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should follow JIM’s manuscript format guidelines. The manuscript length should be no greater than 50 pages, properly formatted and inclusive of title, abstract, keywords, text, references, tables, figures, footnotes, and print appendices (web appendices do not count toward the page limit).
The submission window is August 1, 2026 through October 31, 2026
• Authors should select “Special Issue” as their “Manuscript Type.” Please also note in the cover letter that the submission is for the special issue on Global Endorsers.
• All articles will undergo double-anonymized peer review process.
• Authors will be notified the first round of decision on their manuscript by January 31, 2027.
• The anticipated publication date for the special issue is in late 2027 or early 2028, depending on revision times.
• For additional information regarding the special issue, please contact the guest editors at jimSIglobalEndorsers@gmail.com.
References
Allied Market Research (2023), “Influencer Marketing Market to Reach $199.6 Billion, Globally, by 2032 at 28.6% CAGR: Allied Market Research,” PR Newswire (November 14), https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/influencer-marketing-market-to-reach-199-6-billion-globally-by-2032-at-28-6-cagr-allied-market-research-301987451.html.
Bentley, Kara, Charlene Chu, Cristina Nistor, Ekin Pehlivan, and Taylan Yalcin (2021), “Social Media Engagement for Global Influencers.” Journal of Global Marketing 34 (3), 205–19.
Bergkvist, Lars and Kris Q. Zhou (2016), “Celebrity Endorsements: A Literature Review and Research Agenda.” International Journal of Advertising, 35 (4), 642–63.
Cleveland, Mark and Michel Laroche (2006), “Acculturaton to the Global Consumer Culture: Scale Development and Research Paradigm, Journal of Business Research, 60 (3), 249-259.
Davvetas, Vasileios, Christina Sichtmann, Charalampos (Babis) Saridakis, and Adamantios Diamantopoulos (2023), “The Global/Local Product Attribute: Decomposition, Trivialization, and Price Trade-Offs in Emerging and Developed Markets,” Journal of International Marketing, 31 (3), 19–40.
Duarte, Fabio (2025), “Most Followed Accounts on Social Media (2025),” Exploding Topics (July 8), https://explodingtopics.com/blog/social-media-following.
Fowler, Kendra, and Veronica L. Thomas (2023), “Influencer Marketing: A Scoping Review and a Look Ahead,” Journal of Marketing Management, 39 (11–12), 933–64.
Hudders, Liselot and Chen Lou (2022), “The Rosy World of Influencer Marketing? Its Bright and Dark Sides, and Future Research Recommendations,” International Journal of Advertising, 42 (1), 151–61.
Kuksov, Dmitri, and Chenxi Liao (2019), “Opinion Leaders and Product Variety,” Marketing Science, 38 (5), 812–34.
Liu, Hao, Klaus Schoefer, Fernando Fastoso, and Efstathia Tzemou (2021), “Perceived Brand Globalness/Localness: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Directions for Further Research,” Journal of International Marketing, 29 (1), 77–94.
Özsomer, Ayşegül, Rajeev Batra, and Jan-Benedict EM Steenkamp (2024), “Brands and Branding around the World,” Journal of International Marketing, 32 (3), 1–4.
Peres, Renana, Sunali Talwar, Liav Alter, Michal Elhanan, and Yuval Friedmann (2020), “Narrowband Influencers and Global Icons: Universality and Media Compatibility in the Communication Patterns of Political Leaders Worldwide,” Journal of International Marketing, 28 (1), 48–65.
Roy, Subhadip, Abhijit Guha, Abhijit Biswas, and Druv Grewal (2019), “Celebrity Endorsements in Emerging Markets: Align Endorsers with Brands or with Consumers?” Journal of International Business Studies, 50 (1), 295–317.
Sayin, E., Nilüfer Aydınoğlu, Ayşegül Özsomer, and Zeynep Gürhan-Canlı (2024), “Shifting Standards in Consumer Evaluations of Global and Local Brands After Product-Harm Crises,” Journal of International Marketing, 32 (3), 83–100.
Schmidt-Devlin, Ellen, Ayşegül Özsomer, and Casey E. Newmeyer (2022), “How to Go GloCal: Omni-Brand Orientation Framework,” Journal of International Marketing, 30 (4), 1–20.
Shah, Zarhrah, Hossain Olya, and Lien Le Monkhouse (2023), “Developing Strategies for International Celebrity Branding: A Comparative Analysis Between Western and South Asian Cultures,” International Marketing Review, 40 (1), 102–26.
Statista (2025), “Influencer Marketing Market Size Worldwide from 2015 to 2025,” (accessed February 6, 2025), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/global-influencer-market-size/.
Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E.M. (2014), “How Global Brands Create Firm Value: The 4V Model,” International Marketing Review, 31 (1), 5–29.
Sun, Yan, Rachel Wang, Dongbei Cao, and Rouyi Lee (2022), “Who Are Social Media Influencers for Luxury Fashion Consumption of the Chinese Gen Z? Categorisation and Empirical Examination,” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 26 (4), 603–21.
Wahid, Risqo, Heikki Karjaluoto, Kimmo Taiminen and Diah Isnaini Asiati (2023), “Becoming TikTok Famous: Strategies for Global Brands to Engage Consumers in an Emerging Market,” Journal of International Marketing, 31 (1), 106–23.
Winterich, Karen Page, Manish Gangwar, and Rajdeep Grewal (2018), “When Celebrities Count: Power Distance Beliefs and Celebrity Endorsements,” Journal of Marketing, 82 (3), 70–86.
Xie, Yi, Rajeev Batra, and Siqing Peng (2015), “An Extended Model of Preference Formation Between Global and Local Brands: The Roles of Identity Expressiveness, Trust, and Affect,” Journal of International Marketing, 23 (1), 50–71.
Special Issue Editors
Charles R. Taylor is the Charles R. “Ray” Taylor is the John A. Murphy Professor of Marketing at Villanova University and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Marketing and Consumer Insights. He currently served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Advertising. Taylor has published more than 125 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading marketing and advertising journals in addition to several books and book chapters. Professor Taylor is a Past-President of the President of the American Academy of Advertising. He is the recipient of the Ivan L. Preston Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Advertising Research from the American Academy of Advertising and the Flemming Hansen Award for Outstanding Contribution to Advertising from the European Advertising Academy. His work has also received the Hans B. Thorelli Award from the Journal of International Marketing, two Best Paper Awards from the Journal of Advertising, and the Charles Slater Award. Taylor is also a Senior Contributor to Forbes.com.
Shintaro Okazaki is Chair in Marketing at King’s Business School, King’s College London, UK. He is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Advertising, and currently serve as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. He has published more than 100 articles in leading marketing and advertising journals. Okazaki is a Past-President of the European Advertising Academy. His awards include the Best Paper Award of the Journal of Advertising, Charles R. Goeldner Article of Excellence Award of the Journal of Travel Research, the Best Reviewer Award of the International Journal of Advertising, the Best Researcher Award of the KDD Foundation, and Best Academic of the Year of the Mobile Marketing Association. Before entering academia, he has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, holding a managerial position at a multinational corporation in Tokyo.
Chen Lou is an Associate Professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research focuses on the effects of influencer advertising, social media advertising, content marketing, and cross-cultural advertising, and consumer behavior. She is a recipient of the American Academy of Advertising’s (AAA) Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award, which honors an early-career researcher who has demonstrated excellence in advertising research and education. She also gained the Best Article Awards from the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Interactive Advertising, and Mass Communication and Society as well as other research awards in conferences. She serves as an Associate Editor in the International Journal of Advertising and the Journal of Interactive Advertising.
Aysegül Özsomer is Professor of Marketing at Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye. Her research focuses on global branding, brands from emerging marketing and marketing mix across economic cycles. She has published in top marketing journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, IJRM, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, among others. Her papers have received several awards, such as the S. Tamer Cavusgil Award for the best Journal of International Marketing article in 2023 and 2013, and the Gerald E. Hills Best Paper Award in 2011 for the 10-year impact made to research on entrepreneurial marketing and market orientation. She is the coauthor of the book “The New Emerging Market Multinationals: Four Strategies for Disrupting Markets and Building Brands” published by McGraw-Hill (2012). Currently, she serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of International Marketing.