Role of social media influencer toward environmental involvement and green buying behavior

Abstract

Sustainability and green purchase behavior are attracting a lot of attention from both researchers as well as marketers. This transition can be attributed to the growing environmental awareness and knowledge among people. Considering this as opportunity marketers are using different platforms to promote environmentally friendly products. One such way is through social media influencers; marketers promote their products through social media influencers with a huge following. However, the current study attempts to examine how individual characteristics of influencers promoting sustainable behavior can impact environmental involvement. A convenience sampling method was used to collect data from various social media users. The authors initially sent invitations via different social media channels. A total sample of 683 social media followers was considered. Covariance‐based structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between different variables. Trustworthiness, credibility, and commitment of the social media influencer had a positive impact on the environmental involvement of the followers. Expertise, similarity and familiarity had an insignificant effect. The environmental involvement positively affects environmental knowledge and green purchase attitude of the followers which in turn impact their green buying behavior. The study has multiple practical and managerial implications; the results reveal which influencer characteristics can induce environmental involvement in their followers and which characteristics are not impactful. Further, the study focuses on how inter‐relationships of influencer characteristics, environmental involvement, environmental knowledge, and attitude can push people toward green purchase behavior.