Abstract:
Social media has enabled consumers to share their consumption experiences and recommendations via user-generated content. Some content creators who are called “influencers”, have differentiated due to their superior communication skills, perceived credibility, attractiveness, or expertise, attained popularity, and attracted brands as a new marketing communication channel. In addition to the attention of marketing practitioners, influencer marketing has received growing scholar attention; however, academic studies in the area are fragmented and the understanding of factors affecting the success of influencer endorsement and the impact on marketing outcomes is limited. The main contribution of this study is to develop a new construct that we name “influencer image”, whose underlying dimensions are, trustworthiness, authenticity, perceived expertise, physical attractiveness, popularity, and responsiveness; developing and validating a scale to measure it; and proposing a holistic model to predict the impact on brand awareness, brand attitude and purchase intention. After a comprehensive literature review and an exploratory qualitative study, an online survey is used to collect data from 1100 social media users and structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the hypothesized model. The findings demonstrated that influencer image directly contributes to brand awareness and brand attitude and indirectly contributes to purchase intention. The impact of influencer-brand fit on influencer image, brand awareness and brand attitude is positive and significant, and it indirectly contributes to purchase intention. The intensity of social media usage moderated the relationship. Theoretical and practical implications and predictions about the future of influencer marketing are discussed.
