How Social Media Influencers Foster Relationships with Followers: The Roles of Source Credibility and Fairness in Parasocial Relationship and Product Interest

Yuan, Shupei; Lou, Chen

doi:10.1080/15252019.2020.1769514

Cited by 266 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Evidence was found for relationships between the influencer's perceived attractiveness, homophily, expertise, closeness, likability, and parasocial relationship, along with the entertainment value of content, the informative value of content, the procedural fairness, and the interpersonal fairness of interactions (Lim et al, 2017;Lou and Kim, 2019;Lou and Yuan, 2019;Taillon et al, 2020;Trivedi and Sama, 2020;Yuan and Lou, 2020). Recently, two qualitative studies advanced our understanding of the followers' perceptions of sponsored influencer content.…”

Section: Persuasiveness Of Social Media Influencersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

Rohde

Mau

2021

EJM

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Purpose This study aims to examine the ability of the social influence heuristics framework to capture skillful and creative social media influencer (SMI) marketing in long-form video content on YouTube for influencer-owned brands and products. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical lens was a framework of seven evidence-based social influence heuristics (reciprocity, social proof, consistency, scarcity, liking, authority and unity). For the methodological lens, a qualitative case study approach was applied to a purposeful sample of 6 SMIs and 15 videos on YouTube. Findings The evidence shows that self-promotional influencer marketing in long-form video content is relatable to all seven heuristics and shows signs of high elaboration, innovativeness and skillfulness. Research limitations/implications The study reveals that a heuristic-based account of self-promotional influencer marketing in long-form video content can greatly contribute to the understanding of how various well-established marketing concepts (e.g. source attractivity) might be expressed in real-world communications and behaviors. Based on this improved, in-depth understanding, current research efforts, such as experimental studies using one video with a more or less arbitrary influencer and pre-post measure, are advised to explore research questions via designs that account for the observed subtle and complex nature of real-world influencer marketing in long-form video content. Practical implications This structured account of skillful and creative marketing can be used as educational and instructive material for influencer marketing practitioners to enhance their creativity, for consumers to increase their marketing literacy and for policymakers to rethink policies for influencer marketing. Originality/value Prior research has created a body of knowledge on influencer marketing. However, a conceptual disconnect has hampered the advancement of the field. The social influence heuristics framework is a highly functional conceptual bridge that links the qualitative and quantitative evidence and will advance the understanding of influencer marketing more effectively.

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Section: Persuasiveness Of Social Media Influencersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

Rohde

Mau

2021

EJM

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“…More recently, Sokolova and Kefi (2020) discovered that consumers' attitude homophily toward influencers is crucial to boost their parasocial identification, leading to increased purchase intentions. Yuan and Lou (2020) pointed out that consumers' perceived similarity to influencers and fairness of their interactions with influencers strengthen parasocial identification, which increases their interests in influencer‐promoted products.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To that purpose, all through the lens of parasocial identification with social media influencers (Yuan & Lou, 2020), we designed a study to thoroughly examine Chinese consumers' decision‐making processes that support the construction of trust in and attitude toward branded content (Chu, 2011; Soh et al, 2009). The study was also designed to examine the extent to which consumers' engagement with branded content (Calder et al, 2016) mediates the effects of their parasocial identification on those brand outcomes while, at the same time, being moderated by inferences of manipulative intent (Campbell, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influencer marketing in China: The roles of parasocial identification, consumer engagement, and inferences of manipulative intent

Chen

Lin

Yan

2021

J of Consumer Behaviour

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Considering trends in influencer marketing, this research explores the mechanism by which Chinese consumers develop responses to branded content on social media, especially the key psychological factors that may positively or negatively affect that process. To substantiate the proposed conceptual frameworks, we used data from a nationwide online survey (N = 511) conducted in China. The results revealed that consumers' parasocial identification with social media influencers contributed to their engagement with, trust in, and attitude toward branded content associated with the influencers. Their engagement with branded content also mediated the relationships between parasocial identification and trust in as well as attitude toward such content. Beyond that, inferences of manipulative intent played a significant role in moderating those indirect effects. The findings are interpreted in terms of theoretical and managerial implications.

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“…Beyond doubt, individuals around the world today use social media applications to communicate and exchange information as mass communication channels like the television, newspapers and radio are no longer serving as the dominant place to search for information. Nowadays, people are more dependent on the online personaesocial media influencers (SMIs), for information like lifestyle, food, technology, beauty and so on (Yuan & Lou, 2020). According to research, the social media influencers are known as celebrities and role models among people (Gleason et al, 2017).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Influencers and The Dietary Choices Among University Students

Ahmad

Bruno

2021

MJSSH

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This study investigated the attitude and subjective norms of students on Social Media Influencers (SMIs) towards the behavioural intent on their dietary choices in accordance with the Theory of Reasoned Action. Social media influencers as groups of people have had to some extent constructed a reputation for themselves through applying social media platforms to promote oneself. In completing the study, the final year students in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) were selected as the respondents. The results of the study showed there is a significant relationship between the subjective norms of students on SMIs with the behavioral intent on their dietary choices. Thus, the study concluded that attitude of students towards the SMIs does not affected their daily dietary choices, however, the subjective norms in the students’ life on the SMIs actually makes a difference in their eating habits. Based on the findings of the study, 97.6% of the students believed that they have healthy dietary choices. This study also shows that, 98.8% of the respondents subscribe to social media influencers on their social media accounts. The findings alone indicated that the students’ live are impacted by them. Furthermore, most of them follow the social media influencers on every social media platform: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter. However, Instagram is the most used social media platform to subscribe to them.

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How Social Media Influencers Foster Relationships with Followers: The Roles of Source Credibility and Fairness in Parasocial Relationship and Product Interest

Cited by 266 publications

References 63 publications

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

Influencer marketing in China: The roles of parasocial identification, consumer engagement, and inferences of manipulative intent

Social Media Influencers and The Dietary Choices Among University Students

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