The role of trustworthiness in social media influencer advertising: Investigating users’ appreciation of advertising transparency and its effects

Abstract

When social media influencers (SMIs) post sponsored content, it should be recognizable as such. However, there is no European Union-wide legislation governing sponsorship transparency, and monitoring practices differ significantly across member states. In Romania, where we conducted our study, such regulations are only just emerging, and there are weak monitoring policies regarding advertising disclosure on SMI branded posts. In this study, we examined how two different types of advertising disclosure commonly used on Instagram are likely to affect consumers’ behavioral outcomes, such as purchase intention and intention toward the SMI, mediated by the activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge (CPK), via negative affect and the trustworthiness of the SMI. We conducted a three-level between-subjects online experiment (N=248), manipulating the absence versus the presence of advertising, which came in one of two types, brand-unspecific (#ad, #sponsoredpost) and brand-specific (paid partnership with [brand]). Considering the mediation path via the trustworthiness of the SMI, findings suggest that the paid partnership disclosure had positive outcomes for purchase intention and intention toward the SMI.

Effects of finance knowledge influencer qualities on investment willingness and the moderation of followers' risk tolerance

“…The influencers' trustworthiness based on their practical experiences reinforces their followers' willingness to invest. The results of this study correspond to the effects of source characteristics in social media influencers' context, such as attractiveness (Sakib et al, 2020), expertise (Trivedi & Sama, 2020), and trustworthiness (Balaban et al, 2022). We also found the importance of these three source characteristics in finance knowledge influencers' advice for consumers' investment behavior.…”

The Effect of Social Media Influencer Characteristics on Purchase Intention on Beauty Products in Indonesia

“…Attractiveness does not significantly affect Attitude towards Influencer, it concludes that H5 is unaccepted. Other studies state that non-physical attractiveness variables of influencers have a more substantial influence on consumer attitudes toward influencers (Argyris et al, 2021;Balaban, Mucundorfeanu, et al, 2022;Rungtrakulchai & Setthapat, 2021). These results are supported by the Social Comparison Theory by Leon Festinger (1994), that consumers tend to compare themselves with influencers they follow (Festinger, 1994).…”

Implementing SDGs in the English language classroom

“…By covering the topic of conformity, students learn to think critically rather than being mere followers of social media influencers being impacted by influencers sponsored ads, which are not always easily identifiable (Balaban, Mucundorfeanu, & Naderer, 2022). After watching short videos and reading articles on conformity, and after discussions, students are then engaged in Kahoot Quizzes where they are reminded about critical thinking (verify-verify-verify) and significant vocabulary words.…”