Be Influential! Exploring Characteristic of a Macro Influencer
and its Relation to Purchase Intentions: The case of Kim
Kardashian
Master’s Thesis
Supervisor: Marieke L. Fransen
Markéta Němcová
11825634
Date: 31
stof January, 2020
Master Communication Science – Persuasive Communication
Graduate School of Communication
Abstract
Social media influencers play nowadays more and more important role in the marketing mix, often being the first ones to introduce products and brands to their followers. This study aims to investigate the extent of particular influencer variables and their relation to follower’s buying intention. To be precise, we investigate how are perceived credibility, likeability, and attractiveness of the influencer, along with parasocial interaction between the influencer and a follower, and persuasion knowledge of the follower related to the making of a purchase decision, thus forming a purchase intention.
Current research on influencer marketing is often focused more on the broader term itself and what exactly influencer marketing on social media entails. However, this study is shifting the focus more on the example of one particular influencer, Kim Kardashian. An online survey was administered to help answer the research question.
The findings confirm that parasocial interaction, credibility, and attractiveness are significantly related to the purchase intention of a follower. Persuasion knowledge shows no evidence of relation to purchase intention. Furthermore, it was found in an exploratory analysis that whether or not one is a follower of Kim Kardashian plays a role in how influencer marketing strategy should be formed. This research contributes to existing research on influencer marketing and aims to inform marketing professionals on the importance of the relationship between the influencer and a follower.
Key words: Influencer marketing, Influencer, Credibility, Likeability, Attractiveness, Parasocial nteraction, Purchase intention, Persuasion knowledge, Kim Kardashian
Introduction
Marketing and advertising on social media is considered a hot topic in the marketing field for the past few years. Mostly because of its many benefits and the fact that it is providing marketing professionals with a new, creative, interactive and very often cheaper way to reach their audiences compared to more traditional ways of marketing communication (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). Social media are by online Cambridge dictionary defined as “forms of media that allow people to communicate and share information using the internet or mobile phones” (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Since social networking platforms allow the building of strong relationships with consumers, they are now considered a hybrid component of integrated marketing communications (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). One of the fastest-growing fields of social media marketing is Influencer marketing (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a social media influencer is defined as a person compensated by a company or a brand to show, describe or explain their products or services on their personal social media accounts while encouraging their followers to buy them (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
However, when speaking of influencer marketing, there is no widely accepted definition in academia. Nevertheless, the most common definition of influencer marketing says it is marketing on social media that focuses on using influencers to drive a brand’s message to the larger market. These influencers, in collaboration with brands, are being paid for their service either in cash or by bartering free products or services to spread the message (Tapinfluence, 2017). Instagram-based influencer marketing is an especially important and growing field, mostly due to its ability to reach vast segments of people and to provide fast, yet easily targeted access to consumers for a lower cost compared to traditional advertising (Evans, Phua, Lim, & Jun, 2017).
The communication from an influencer is often perceived as more natural, which leads to credibility higher than traditional forms of advertising and makes the influencer’s message more persuasive as its receivers often do not realize they are being persuaded (Carr & Hayes, 2014). An experimental study by Chu and Kamal (2008) found that the trustworthiness of a source of the message accounted for more influence on participants’ attitudes and behaviors than did the content of the actual message. Influencer’s credibility impacts followers’ attitudes so significantly because, unlike corporate profiles, personal Instagram profiles are assumed to be free of bias, resulting in greater attitude change, reinforcement, and action on behalf of potential consumers (Chu & Kamal, 2008). However, due to the broad reach and persuasive
potential of influencers, they are now being sought out by companies and PR firms attempting to develop relationships or to influence purchase decisions of its consumers, turning their once personal profiles into one big advertisement (Jarvis, 2006).
With all the different types of social media, different types of influencers emerged as well. Bloggers (such as Chiara Ferragni), vloggers and YouTubers (like Casey Neistat), social media stars (like Huda Kattan), reality TV stars (such as Kylie Jenner), micro and nano-influencers, activists (Greta Thunberg) and of course mainstream celebrities (e.g. Will Smith), just to name a few (Grin, 2019).
Sometimes, those different types overlap, making it harder to categorize. One example of a macro influencer that falls into multiple categories of an influencer is Kim Kardashian. She quickly transformed her notoriety as a reality TV star into a strong business brand, while being the pioneer among celebrities when it comes to using social media. Her ability to create intimate relationships with fans and followers using the combination of broadcasting various aspects of her life every week on a TV show and showing a behind-the-scenes of her life on Instagram has made her and her entire family known worldwide of which she is aware, stating: “The show is the reason we have the brands. The show started it all [...] It’s our best commercial” (Goudreau, 2010).
Many factors determine whether using influencer marketing will be successful or not. When it comes to the persuasion of an audience in general, the way the source of the communication is perceived may have a serious impact. Among especially fundamental characteristics in persuasion are credibility and attractiveness, which are related to compliance, internalization, and identification (Kelman, 1958).
This study will focus more in detail on already narrowed target audience and what impact selected influencer variables (e.g. influencer’s perceived credibility, likeability, and attractiveness) and follower variables (e.g. persuasion knowledge and parasocial relationship with the influencer) have on consumer outcome variable (in this case purchase intention) in case of an Instagram users using Kim Kardashian as an example.
By showcasing bits and pieces of her private life, Kim Kardashian contributes to shaping opinions about her. Likeability is defined as followers’ affection for the sources’ appearance or persona (McCracken, 1989), attractiveness as the possession of qualities or features that arouse interest and source credibility as a characteristic that influences individuals’ perception of the persuasiveness of the influencer (Metzger et.al., 2003). Horton and Wohl define a parasocial relationship as the perceived relationship one has with a celebrity or other public figure, when
Though, the concept cannot be directly applied to Instagram, as that is not strictly a form of one-way communication, it stands to reason that forms of parasocial relationships and interactions are likely developing among followers and Instagram influencers (Nielsen, 2012). In addition to that, when it comes to the process of persuasion, persuasion knowledge is an important factor as well. Persuasion knowledge refers to theories about persuasion and includes beliefs about the motives and strategies of marketers and also ways of coping with such persuasion attempts (Ham, Nelson & Das, 2015).
All of those features share one common goal when it comes to their use in influencer marketing strategy – to influence the purchase intentions of a potential customer. Purchase intentions are defined as an individual’s conscious plan to make an effort to purchase a brand. Whereas attitudes are summary evaluations, intentions represent the motivation of the person to carry out a certain behavior, in this case a purchase (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993).
Despite the growing trend of influencer marketing, little research has been conducted to understand the complex mechanism of how social media influencers actually influence their audiences. Not much investigation has been done to understand the traits that allow influencers to gain the influence over their audience. Therefore, the primary aim of this research is to look at the influencer marketing from a different perspective. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by focusing on one specific and successful influencer instead of focusing broadly on the phenomenon of influencer marketing as a whole. By doing so, it aims to guide marketing professionals to better understand what crucial steps the development of influencer marketing strategy should consist of and how to design social media strategies properly. Thus, the following research question is formulated:
To what extent are the influencer’s perceived credibility, likeability, social and physical attractiveness, parasocial interaction between the influencer and a follower and the follower’s persuasion knowledge related to the follower’s buying intention of products advertised by the influencer?
Theoretical Framework
Social media & Influencer marketing
Social media are defined as a web-based conversational media among groups of people who meet online to communicate with each other, to share information or knowledge in a form
of videos, audios, written words or pictures (Safko & Brake, 2009). Social media are a more interactive, immediate source of communication compared to traditional forms of media. This permits social media users to find more intimate information about the celebrities/influencers through social media and because the information comes straight from the source, making it more credible (Sparks, 2010). Besides, social media transform consumers from passive participants into much more active creators (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013) and by doing so, social media are shifting some of the power over brands directly to the consumer. Accordingly, traditional one-way communication has been reconstructed into multidimensional two-way peer-to-peer communication (Berthon, Pitt, & Campbell, 2008), in this case, often described as Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM). EWOM refers to any product information communicated by potential consumers via the Internet (Hennin-Thurau et al., 2004). The range of additional data eWOM provides for very low costs can then be used to further optimize future campaigns to reach even better-targeted audiences, ultimately boosting influencer marketing effectiveness (Glucksman, 2017).
According to Nielsen, 92 % of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising (Whitler, 2014). Therefore, influencer marketing on social media is essentially a form of eWOM on social media platforms, and consumers are much more likely to positively perceive and react to a message that comes from a source, often perceived as a friend, over a sponsored post that comes from a company. Previous research found out that forms of native advertising such as influencer marketing can be very effective (Allsop, Bassett, & Hoskins, 2007), as consumers perceive their recommendations as more sincere than traditional advertising (Johnson & Kaye, 2004). Native advertising refers to the use of paid ads that match the look, feel and function of the media format in which they appear, often social media feeds. Unlike other forms of online ads, native advertising does not look like advertising. Therefore, it is no surprise that native advertising on social media through influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular amongst brands exactly for this reason. Nevertheless, skepticism among consumers is rising, mostly due to influencers’ overexposure of native ads and lack of proper disclosure of paid sponsorships. Making the viewers confused and not knowing what is a sincere recommendation and what is branded content (Cain, 2011).
Purchase Intention
Consumers have to make countless decisions every day and thereby have to cope with information overload, which the use of social media has only magnified. Purchase decision is
marketplace, brands are often the common facilitator and offer reassurance as they connect current and future decisions to experiences, satisfactions, and knowledge (Kapferer, 2008). Purchase intention then refers to the mental stage in the decision-making process where the consumer has developed an actual willingness to act toward an object or brand (Shah et. al., 2012). Purchase intention is usually related to the behavior, perceptions, and attitudes of consumers and it is the primary goal of marketing communication activities to form a purchase intention among the consumers towards the advertised product or an ad (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). It may be changed under the influence of price, perceived quality or value (Gogoi, 2013). Thanks to social media, traditional one-way communication in marketing has been transformed into a multi-dimensional word-of-mouth communication reality (Berthon, Pitt & Campbell, 2008).People rely more than ever on their personal networks when making purchase decisions (Takac, Hinz & Spann, 2011). And because the personal networks are nowadays present mostly online, a lot of the purchase decision process happens online on social media as well (Wang, Zhao & Wang, 2015). Many studies have examined the impact of social media on purchase intentions and found that interactions on social media positively impact the purchase intention (Huang, 2012; Hutter et. al., 2013; Richard & Guppy, 2014).
However, more contributing factors play a role in the purchase decision-making process. Such factors include the perceived credibility of the influencer, but also the likeability and attractiveness of the social media influencer (i.e. the source of the message), the parasocial interaction with the influencer and the levels of persuasion knowledge of the follower. The influencers and the way they are perceived have an impact on the persuasion of the followers. Two fundamental characteristics of persuasion by influencers are their credibility and attractiveness. Credibility is related to the perceived quality of the communication by the follower (Kelman, 1958). Typically, if the source (an influencer) is considered being trustworthy, an expert and attractive, they can influence the attitude and behavior of their followers, including purchase intention (Ohanian, 1990; Gunawan & Huarng, 2015). Similarly, attractiveness and likeability have been found to change the attitudes of the audience (Sharma, 1990). Additionally, the more attractive and likeable influencer is more likely to be persuasive than the less attractive one. Plus, extensive social media users frequently identify with influencers they follow, form parasocial interaction, and borrow certain aspects of their lifestyle, in order to look like them. That aspect has lead online influencers to launch fashion trends and brands, making the impact of the influencer even greater and transformed it from a
form of entertainment to a tool useful for marketing and sales professionals (Peter & Olson, 2004; McCracken, 1989). All of which will be explored more below.
Credibility
Credibility is defined as the degree of reliability and trustworthiness of the source of the message (Rogers & Bhowmik, 1970). In other words, it is the degree to which a follower finds the source of the message, in the case of this study Kim Kardashian, trustworthy, reliable and believable. Some of the main factors of credibility are expertise, knowledge, and experience in the given domain held by the source of the message (McCroskey & Teven, 1999). Especially on Instagram, the number of followers was found to be positively related to the credibility of the source (De Veirman et. al., 2017). More importantly, credibility affects the content on social media people choose to ignore or consume, also referred to as a selective exposure (Johnson & Kaye, 2013). Due to the information overload consumers are facing every single day, social media users tend to favor information that reinforces their pre-existing views while avoiding contradictory information in which the perceived credibility of the source plays an important role.
Wathen and Burkell (2002) found in their research that source credibility affects information credibility. In other words, people are more likely to believe a message if the message comes from a credible source rather than by a less credible one (Wathen & Burkell, 2002). For example, according to this, Kim Kardashian may be perceived as someone who understands make-up and fashion very well, therefore the product she promotes has to be very good in the eyes of the consumer as well, otherwise, she would not promote it. Hence, her promoting something will probably have a positive effect on consumers’ purchase intention since the message will be perceived as credible. Another study found, that nowadays consumers prefer to trust content generated by other users and consider it more credible and honest, rather than one produced by the brand (Jonas, 2010). Hence, if an Instagram post elicits a friendly and unbiased environment susceptible to eWOM, the follower will be more relaxed and will likely accept the information about the product or brand in the post. The core strength of eWOM lies in the fact that its sources are considered credible. In other words, if a follower has a significant interest in the life of a certain celebrity, their opinion or the opinion of fellow followers are often an important influence upon the forming of purchase intention (Bearden, Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989; Ohanian, 1990).
To conclude, the perceived credibility of the source is to a certain degree expected to be a determinant for the effectiveness of eWOM on consumers’ purchase intentions (Reichelt et al., 2014; Erkan & Evans, 2016; Hoeks, 2016).
H1: The influencer’s perceived credibility is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
Likeability
This study positions likeability as the degree of friendliness and approachability of the influencer in the eyes of followers (DeSarbo & Harshman, 1985; Giffin, 1967). In the context of social media, the more followers an influencer has, the more popular an influencer is, because all these people choose to follow to see the influencer’s updates. That is often used as a cue to assess one’s popularity, and popular users are perceived as more attractive, extravert, trustworthy, approachable and generally likeable (Jin and Phua, 2014; Utz, 2010; Graham, 2014; De Veirman, Cauberghe & Hudders, 2017). Therefore, it seems logical that an influencer with a high number of followers will be perceived as more likeable, simply because she is perceived as more popular. These higher perceptions of popularity then lead people to assign more opinion leadership to the influencer. Those values also serve as an indicator of the quality of the content by the influencer (Heijnen et. al., 2013).
For example, as of January 2020, Kim Kardashian had 158 million Instagram followers, making her account one of the most followed on the platform and thus, one of the most popular people on the platform. According to previous research, likeability is among the most influential attributes when it comes to delivering a message by an influencer (Moore, Yang & Kim, 2018).
A study by McGuire (1985) serves as a reasoning behind influencer marketing. He found that when people like the influencer (i.e. the source of the message), they will also like the brand behind the message (McGuire, 1985). The endorsement by an influencer will then have a positive effect on consumers’ behavior and their purchase intention (Belch & Belch, 2001).
H2: Perceived likeability of the influencer by her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
Attractiveness
Social and physical attractiveness is connected to the likeability of the influencer. Influencers who are perceived as attractive have the power to change the attitude of their followers and such attractiveness can be a strong peripheral cue in their future decision making (Sharma, 1990). Followers often feel similar or would like to be similar to influencers and to create a positive relationship with them, which often leads to borrowing some aspects of their personalities and lifestyle approach by the followers (Boon, 2001).
According to Sharma (1990), attractive influencers can change the attitudes of their followers. When two influencers use the same arguments in their message, the influencer one perceives as more attractive is more likely to influence his or her audience than the less appealing one (Sharma, 1990; Chaiken, 1979). Thus, making the perceived attractiveness a strong peripheral cue in the decision-making process.
The desired similarity to the influencer and attractiveness of the influencer often go hand in hand when a follower sees an Instagram post. One study argues, that for one person to be attracted to another, a feeling of similarity must exist (Sokolova & Kefi, 2019). Therefore, women may be more attracted to influencers when they feel they share some sort of similarity with the influencer or even more so if they want to be similar to them. The social cognitive theory then suggests that people are more easily influenced by social figures that are perceived to be similar to them (Bandura, 2009). According to this theory, most external influences affect behavior not directly but through cognitive processes. In addition to that, Brock (1965) found attractiveness to be a persuasion facilitating factor, especially if the perceived attractiveness of the source of the message is relevant to the message itself (Brock, 1965; Sokolova & Kefi, 2019).
Previous marketing studies have used social cognitive theory to understand consumer consumption behavior through socialization agents such as celebrities. For example, Makgosa (2010) discovered that social cognitive theory can convincingly explain the impact of celebrities on consumption behaviors. Aligned with this revelation, the social cognitive theory is proposed as a foundation in understanding social media influencers as they represent a new type of an endorser, similar to the classic way of celebrity endorsement, and who can shape audience attitudes and decision-making process through the use of social media (Makgosa, 2010). Therefore, social cognitive theory, in this case, assumes that an individual’s purchase intention to purchase is highly influenced by the followers' attitude towards social media influencers and how attractive they are in the eyes of the follower.
H3: Perceived social and physical attractiveness of the influencer by her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
Parasocial interaction
As mentioned before, in the late 1950s, Horton and Wohl developed the concept of parasocial interaction (PSI), which is defined as a pseudo-intimate relationship between the audience and media personalities (Lim & Kim, 2011). When considering such connection from a marketing point of view, one can say there are two key elements for it to be successful. Firstly, it has to be perceived as open communication between the personality/influencer and the followers of such influencer. Secondly, perceived interactivity, signaled by indications of responsiveness and listening, needs to be present (Labrecque, 2014). These characteristics also happen to be the key components of building brand trust, particularly on social media (DiStaso & Bortree, 2012).
Parasocial interaction defines a relationship between an influencer and a follower with the illusion of intimacy as with “offline“ interpersonal relationships (Dibble et. al., 2015). It is a self-established form of relationship, occurring more with women who express the desire to have a similar appearance and perceived social and physical attractiveness as the influencer they follow (Greenwood et. al., 2008). A study conducted in China found that parasocial interaction is positively related to purchase intention and influenced by empathy and the level of self-esteem of the follower (Hwang & Zhang, 2018). Women with low self-esteem are more inclined to assume the opinion of others in their seeking for social acceptance and approval. On the contrary, highly confident people are more eligible to develop counterarguments or tend to further search for information before forming a final opinion (Rhodes & Wood, 1992).
In a study by Perse (1990), it is stated that parasocial interaction is a key factor in the enjoyment experienced by media users. Media users with a high level of PSI relationships with media figures may be more emotionally involved in the interaction and thus may feel that the interaction is pleasing and enjoyable (Perse, 1990). By doing so, their intensive parasocial interaction often influences their purchase intentions resulting in impulse buying, as mentioned in studies by Kropp (2006), Wells and colleagues (2011) or Xiang and colleagues (2016) (Kropp, 2006; Wells et. al, 2011; Xiang, Zheng, Lee & Zhao, 2016). They found that social media users are indeed likely to form PSI relationships on image-sharing social media platforms (such as Instagram) with others who are not contacted in real life yet feel like their real friends. By doing so, they get emotionally aroused and become more likely to develop a purchase intention.
H4: Parasocial interaction between the influencer and her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
Persuasion knowledge
There is not an extensive body of research on persuasion knowledge connected to social media advertising and if so, it is focused mostly on children and the cognitive development of persuasion knowledge (Tutaj & van Reijmersdal, 2012). However, the broader theoretical concept of persuasion knowledge is related to the question to what extent people understand advertising and more specifically the persuasive nature of advertising. The main assumption being that persuasion knowledge helps to cope with the persuasive message and its persuasiveness depends on whether or not one wants to be persuaded. The Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) by Friestad and Wright (1994) is based on such an assumption. Consumers use their persuasion knowledge in order to cope with advertising persuasion attempts, and thus in their overall understanding and attitude formation of the advertised product or brand (Friestad & Wright, 1994). In other words, the PKM explains how consumers’ persuasion knowledge influences their responses to persuasion attempts in ads, campaigns, or sales promotion, and how it helps them to cope with those persuasion attempts. Friestad and Wright (1994) also argue that consumers process information in nonpersuasive settings differently than in persuasive settings.
Applied to the field of influencer marketing, Wei, Fischer, and Main (2008) did a study on covert marketing. Covert marketing refers to a form of marketing where advertisers fail to publicly acknowledge their investment at the point of the presentation. Which is a reality for a lot of influencer marketing campaigns, in which the post lacks a disclosure. They found that the activation of consumers’ persuasion knowledge, by disclosing it is an ad, has negative effects on their evaluations of embedded brands (Wei, Fischer & Main, 2008; Matthes & Naderer, 2016). However, due to the increasing popularity of influencer marketing, according to the Federal Trade Commission, each sponsored post now has to be disclosed by law.
Another study by Shin and Cho (2014) found that persuasion knowledge negatively affects purchase intentions (Shin & Cho, 2014). Similarly, more recent studies confirmed previous findings that consumers' persuasion knowledge activated by advertising disclosure on social media decreases their eWOM and purchase intentions. Hence, consumers who have high levels of persuasive knowledge take notice of persuasive intentions and tactics and therefore
buy less (Lee & Faber, 2007; Van Reijmersdal et al., 2016; Boerman et. al., 2017). Thus, the following hypothesis is formed.
H5: Follower’s perception and knowledge of the persuasive intent of the message will be negatively related to the purchase intentions regarding the product in the post.
Conceptual framework
Method
Research design
In order to answer the research question, a quantitative research method was used, in the form of an online survey. We were interested in the extent to which the influencer’s perceived credibility, the likeability of an influencer, the influencer’s attractiveness, parasocial interaction between the influencer and her follower and the follower’s persuasion knowledge relate to the follower’s buying intention of products advertised by such influencer.
The survey was conducted using Qualtrics software and distributed during the period between 23rd of December, 2019 to 7th of January, 2020.
Sample
A convenient sampling strategy was used and participants were reached by the researcher via social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. This form of
Perceived credibility Likeability of the influencer Perceived attractiveness Parasocial interaction Purchase intention Social Physical Persuasion knowledge
nonprobability sampling focuses on data gathering based on proximity to the researcher, availability and the willingness to participate in the research (Etikan, 2016). It is important to mention that a snowballing effect took place as the researcher asked some of the participants to further distribute the survey. No compensation for participation was offered and the minimum age for participation was 18, all younger respondents were not allowed to participate.
The survey was administered within a population of female users of Instagram in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands who are interested in beauty and fashion content, to measure the variables. The motivation to focus on women is based on the sector studied in this research, in which females are a privileged target audience (Goodrich, 2013).
In total, 210 respondents started the survey and 204 completed the survey. However, not all of those who completed the survey answered all of the questions or they stated they are male, thus the analyses were done on the sample of 181 respondents (N=181). On average, participants were 29 years of age and the majority of respondents (35.3%) hold a Master’s degree with more than a half (59 %)being currently employed. The sample was international, as respondents resided in 18countries, however, 67 % of them resided in the Czech Republic (N = 139)which is also the researcher’s home country.
Procedure Actual Survey
Data gathering took place during the last two weeks of 2019 and the first week of 2020. At the beginning of the questionnaire, an informed consent form was presented to the participants, together with a brief description of the aim of the research as a “set of questions concerning your beliefs and opinions about posts on Instagram“. After the participants agreed to participate, the survey took approximately 10 minutes to fill in.
Firstly, participants were asked basic demographic questions such as their gender, age, level of education and a country of residence. In case a participant selected “male“ as their gender, they were sent to the end of the survey as the decision was taken to focus the research only on females. Secondly, two Yes/No questions regarding the use of Instagram and the following of influencers on Instagram were asked. After, participants were shown a photo of an Instagram grid of Kim Kardashian with a brief introduction of who she is and asked whether they are familiar with her and whether they follow her. Even though 78 % of the respondents said they are familiar with Kim Kardashian, only 17 % of them follow her on Instagram. Then,
variables in the research. A post by Kim Kardashian from the 4th of December, 2019 was used.
In the photo, one can see Kim posing in a three-piece white lounge set with a caption stating: “OMG I’ve been dying to share this with you guys… it’s probably the most exciting @skims launch yet!!! [...] Sign up for the waitlist to be the first to know when we launch at SKIMS.COM” (see Appendix I.).
Finally, after completion of the survey, they were debriefed, informed once again that all the data collected is confidential and that their responses were recorded.
Measures
To measure the independent and dependent variables, adapted versions of existing scales were used. Before the hypothesis testing, Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the multiple-item scales of the independent variables of interest (credibility, likeability, attractiveness, parasocial relationship). Cronbach’s alpha of more than .80 is considered high, in general, the alphas should not fall below .6 to be acceptable, according to the standards of social science (Carmines & Zeller, 1979). Thus, alpha values between .80 and 1.00 indicate high reliability (Berman, 2002). All the reliability values can be found in Table 1. below.
Credibility was measured on a 6-item, 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly agree, 7= strongly disagree) adapted from Ohanian (1990). Sample items for Credibility are “I find this influencer reliable“, “I find this influencer trustworthy“ (see Appendix I for all the items).
Likeability was measured on a 5-item, 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly agree, 7= strongly disagree) adapted from Reysen (2005). Sample items for Likeability are “I find this influencer friendly“, “I find this influencer approachable“.
Attractiveness was measured as two separate forms of attractiveness: physical, referring to the physical features of the influencer and social, referring to the social attributes such as intelligence or professionality. Physical attractiveness was measured on a 4-item 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree), sample items are “I find this influencer elegant.“, “I find this influencer charming.“. Social attractiveness was measured on a 5-item 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree), sample items are “I find this influencer intelligent“, “I find this influencer professional“. Scales were adapted from Kahle & Homer (1985), Ohanian (1990) and Till & Busler (1998). The two scales were used to construct a mean scale variable Attractiveness.
Parasocial interaction was measured on an 8-item 7-points Likert scale (1= strongly agree, 7= strongly disagree) adapted from Bocarnea & Brown (2007). The reliability of the scale was moderate (see Table 1.). However, after removing the items “I feel like I have very little understanding of Kim Kardashian as a person“ and “I do not have any feelings towards Kim Kardashian“, the reliability of the scale increased. Other sample items are “Kim Kardashian’s posts make me feel as if I am with someone I know well“, “I feel that I understand the emotions Kim Kardashian feels based on the content she shares“.
Persuasion knowledge was measured as a 7-item multiple response question “The reason a brand is mentioned in the Instagram post above is to (select all that apply):“ adapted from research by Boerman, van Reijmersdaal, Rozendaal & Dima (2018). The answer options respondents could choose from were “entertain“, “inform“, “get attention“, “make followers remember the brand“, “make followers think positively about the brand“, “make followers want the brand“, “sell“. The most selected option (N=155) was “sell“ as a reason a brand was mentioned in the Instagram post. Item “sell“ was therefore used as an indicator of whether respondents have a high level of persuasion knowledge later in the data analysis. Since almost everyone in the sample understood that the influencer intends to sell the product mentioned in the post, there was too little variance for the researcher to be able to test H5.
Purchase intention was measured on a 5-item 7- point Likert scales (1= strongly agree, 7= strongly disagree) adapted from Dodds, Monroe & Grewal (1991) and Spears & Singh (2004). Sample items are “It is likely that I will buy the products promoted by Kim on Instagram“, “I am willing to buy the products promoted by Kim on Instagram“.
Table 1. Reliability Analysis
Influencer Variables Mean Standard deviation Cronbach’s Alpha
Credibility 4.68 8.03 0.76
Likeability 4.70 6.13 0.88
Physical Attractiveness 3.37 5.01 0.81
Social Attractiveness 4.69 5.11 0.77
Parasocial Interaction (PI) 4.92 7.33 0.68
Parasocial Interaction (PI when deleted) 5.50 6.70 0.83
Demographic variables
Data analysis began by assessing the frequencies of the demographics variables, in order to know more about the sample. In this research, five demographic variables were measured: age, occupation (Employed, Student, Employed student, Homemaker, Unemployed, Retired, Unable to work), level of education (Elementary school, High school diploma, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, Doctoral degree), country of residence and gender (male/female/prefer not to say).
Participants in this study were on average 29 years of age (M=29), out of which 67 % of respondents were from the Czech Republic (N=139). The second biggest group of respondents came from the Netherlands, 11 % (N=23). The majority of respondents held a Master’s degree (N=74) which is 35 % of the whole sample and 59 % of respondents stated they are employed when asked about their current occupation (N=123).
Gender and use of Instagram were used as filter questions. In addition to that, respondents were asked “Are you familiar with the influencer presented?“ referring to Kim Kardashian to which 78 % answered Yes (N=162, M=1.10, Sd=0.31). However, to the follow-up question “Do you follow the influencer?“ only 17 % answered Yes (N=35, M=1.81, Sd=0.40).
Data Analysis
To test all the hypotheses, the data were analyzed by using SPSS 24.0 for MacOS. An alpha level of .05 was required for significance in all data analyses. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of multi-items indexes (as seen in Table 1.). The statistical procedure used to test the hypotheses was multiple linear regression. The next chapter is the result chapter. Data analysis and tests of hypotheses of this study are presented.
Results
This study aims to add more insight into the current understanding of the effect of selected principles used in influencer marketing. Particularly, this study seeks to support previous research indicating that perceived credibility of an influencer, her likeability, attractiveness and the parasocial relationship developed between the follower and the influencer are positively related to the purchase intentions of the follower. Also, it wished to explore whether persuasion knowledge is negatively related to the purchase intentions of the follower,
based on the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad & Wright, 1994). However, there was too little variance to be able to test that. Hence, the following hypotheses were tested in this study:
H1: The influencer’s perceived credibility is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
H2: Perceived likeability of the influencer by her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
H3: Perceived social and physical attractiveness of the influencer by her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
H4: Parasocial interaction between the influencer and her follower is positively related to the follower’s purchase intention regarding a product featured in the post.
Hypothesis testing
To test the hypothesis, multiple regression analyses were conducted. At first, the possibility of stepwise linear regression was explored. However, after entering all the demographics variables in the first step of the stepwise analysis, the researcher found that all of the demographics were excluded from the model, not contributing to the test. Therefore, a different approach was taken. Independent variables credibility, likeability, attractiveness, and parasocial interaction were entered along with the dependent variable purchase intention in two analyses. First, analysis was done on all the responses given. Second, analysis was done only on responses of the respondents who stated that they follow Kim Kardashian, to explore whether there is a difference between those two groups. The results of the analyses are shown in Table 2. and Table 3. below.
Analysis 1.
When looking at all the respondents, both those who are following and not following Kim Kardashian on Instagram were entered into the analysis. The results indicate that there was a positive moderate relation between credibility and purchase intention r(179)=0.43, p< .001. The regression analysis indicated that the credibility measure accounted for 18% of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.18, R2Adjusted =.176, F(1,179) = 39.37, p<.001.
Therefore, H1 is supported.
p<.001, meaning the more likeable is the influencer correlates with higher purchase intention for her followers. The analysis indicated that the likeability measure accounted for 27 % of the variance in purchase intention of the follower, R2 =.27, R2Adjusted =.266, F(1,179)=66.32, p<.001.
Thus, confirming H2.
As for the influence of attractiveness on purchase intentions, attractiveness and purchase intention were found to be positively correlated r(179)=0.61, p<.001. Therefore, the more the influencer is perceived as credible the higher the purchase intention follower has. The analysis indicated that the attractiveness measure accounted for 37 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.37, R2Adjusted=.36, F(1,179)=104.1, p<.001. Therefore, H3 is
confirmed.
Among all the female respondents in this study, parasocial interaction with the influencer and the purchase intention of her followers were positively correlated, r(170) = 0.68, p<.001. The analysis indicated that the likeability measure accounted for 46 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.46, R2Adjusted=.456, F(1,179)=151.83,
p< .001.Therefore, the results show a significant path for H4.
Results of the multiple linear regression with all independent variables entered into the analysis indicated that there was a collective significant effect between credibility, likeability, attractiveness, parasocial interaction and purchase intention, R2=.52, R2Adjusted=.50,
F(5,175)=37.40, p< .001. With regard to the R2, the model explains 52 % of the variance of
purchase intention, which is considered satisfactory in social sciences (Chin, 1998).
The individual predictors were examined further and indicated that parasocial interaction (b=.48, t=6.55, p<.001) and attractiveness (b=-.28, t = 3.32, p=.001) were significant predictors in the model as a whole. Even though in the case of attractiveness, the path is negative rather than positive (b=−.28), highlighting that in the model, attractiveness is negatively related to purchase intention.
Analysis 2.
In the second analysis, only answers from respondents who are following Kim Kardashian were taken into account while conducting multiple linear regression. The results indicate that there was a positive correlation between the credibility and purchase intention, r(33) = 0.79, p<.001. The regression analysis indicated that the credibility measure accounted for 63 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.63, R2Adjusted=.619,
As for likeability, a positive correlation between likeability of an influencer and purchase intention was found, r(33)=.59, p<.001. The regression analysis indicated that the likeability measure accounted for 35 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.35, R2Adjusted=.326, F(1,33)=17.48, p<.001. Thus, supporting H2.
When controlling for the influence of attractiveness of purchase intention, a significant correlation was found r(33)=.73, p<.001. The regression analysis indicated that the attractiveness measure accounted for 53 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.53, R2Adjusted=.515, F(1,33)=37.06, p < .001. Therefore, H3 is still supported.
Among the female respondents in this study following Kim Kardashian, parasocial interaction with the influencer and the purchase intention of her followers were positively correlated, r(33) =.77, p<.001. The analysis indicated that the parasocial interaction measure accounted for 59 % of the variance in the purchase intention of the follower, R2=.59,
R2Adjusted=.576, F(1,33)=47.13, p< .001.Therefore, the results show a significant path for H4.
Results of the multiple linear regression with responses only from respondents following the Instagram of Kim Kardashian with all independent variables entered into the analysis indicated that there was a collective significant effect between credibility, likeability, attractiveness, parasocial interaction and purchase intention, R2=.72, R2Adjusted=.69,
F(4,30)=19.17, p<.001. Hence, the model explains 72 % of the variance of purchase intention. The individual predictors were examined further and indicated that in this case, parasocial interaction (b=.48, t=2.44, p<.05) and credibility (b=.51, t=2.83, p<.05) were significant predictors in the model as a whole.
Table 2. Pearson Correlation Matrix
Influencer Variable Purchase Intention - Step 1. Purchase Intention - Step 2.
Credibility .43** .79** Likeability .52** .59** Attractiveness .61** .73** Parasocial interaction .68** .77** Note. NS1 = 181 NS2 = 35 **Significant at p<.001 level
Table 1. Regression models to predict Purchase Intention Purchase Intention Analysis 1. Analysis 2. b b Credibility -.009 .509* Likeability .481** -.316 Attractiveness -0.275** .186 Parasocial interaction .019 .476* R2 .52 .72 F 37.40 19.17 Note. ** Significant at p <.001. *Significant at p<.05 level (N1 = 181; N2 = 35) Conclusion
Nowadays, brands are shifting their focus more and more towards various forms of digital communication, mostly because of its cost-effectiveness and the ability to measure almost every aspect of the process, which makes it easier for brands to find out what works and what does not. This study tried to find the extent to which selected influencer traits impact the purchase intentions of Instagram followers, using Kim Kardashian as an example of a successful macro influencer. Specifically, we tried to see to which extent are the credibility of the influencer, her likeability, attractiveness, parasocial interaction between the influencer and a follower related to the purchase intention of the follower. We found that especially parasocial interaction and credibility of the influencer impact the purchase intention of her followers. Such findings are in line with the findings of a study by the Paris School of Business (2019) who found strong impact of credibility and parasocial interaction on purchase intention, with credibility scoring slightly higher (Sokolova & Kefi, 2019).Specifically, parasocial interaction shows a strong impact in both steps of the analysis, including all the respondents (N=181) and only those, who are actual followers of Kim Kardashian (N=35). Suggesting that followers who are parasocially attached to the influencer are more likely to develop a strong purchase intention than followers less attached.
When it comes to other indicators, there are differences between the two steps of the analysis. Analysis done on a global sample highlights a surprisingly strong negative impact on
the attractiveness on purchase intentions and a positive impact of parasocial interaction on purchase intention. Parallel to our findings, a study from the late 1990s also argued, that attractiveness is not a powerful attribute to form purchase intention due to a substantially weak logical link between an attractive endorser and desired purchase intention (Till & Busler, 1998). Another explanation of this result could lie in the complexity and subjectivity of what is attractive. Is it the body, the face, the hair, the personality or something else?
Analysis done only on the followers presents a strong positive impact of the credibility and positive impact of parasocial interaction on purchase intention. Thus, confirming findings by Xiang and colleagues (2016) who found a positive impact of parasocial interaction on purchase intention and findings by Hoeks (2016) who confirmed that source credibility has a positive impact on forming purchase intention.
Such results suggest, that influencer marketing professionals should take a different approach when their goal is to make people interested enough in order for them to star following vs. when their aim is to keep the followers interested so that they continue to follow the particular influencer.
According to our results, when one is already a follower of an influencer, shared values represented via developed parasocial interaction and the credibility of an influencer are more important than the attractiveness of such influencer, which can affect your campaign negatively. That is surprising, considering that Kim Kardashian built her personal brand on being associated with attractiveness and beauty related products such as make-up or fashion. On the other hand, it does make sense that to keep followers interested in the content of an influencer, other qualities than just their looks seem to have more of an impact, as stated by Bradley Hoos, an influencer marketing specialist (Hoos, 2019).
Implications for practice
Given the fact that influencer marketing is quickly developing, the results of this study could serve as a base for brand managers, social media managers and influencers alike to help them establish their communication strategies accordingly. All parties need to understand the persuasive cues they can use for their benefit and develop a balanced communication strategy. Brands need to understand mostly where the line between control and creativity is when it comes to the content presented by the influencer. Influencers, on the other hand, should not focus only on the growth of their following. They can learn how to incorporate more persuasive techniques related to parasocial interaction when creating the content and by doing so caring
As parasocial interaction, credibility and attractiveness are significantly related to purchase intention, one may say followers who find the influencer trustworthy and have developed a parasocial relationship are more likely to purchase the featured products or brands. Looking at the example of Kim Kardashian, she seems to have found the perfect balance between sharing behind the scenes of her life and persuasive content. In other words, being open and authentic as an influencer has a strong potential to boost the effectiveness and persuasiveness of the content.
Discussion
Despite not being able to test all of the hypotheses proposed, there is still room left that can be used to infer generalizability with regards to this study. This last chapter focuses on the limitations of this study as well as recommendations for future research.
First, one needs to look at the sample size that was used in this study (N1=181; N2=35), which especially for the second analysis was very small, thus making it difficult for further generalization. Additionally, not only is the sample on the smaller side, a convenience sampling strategy was used, making it not a truly random sample. Such sample relies on participants who are within the proximity of the researcher and who show a willingness to participate (Etikan, 2016). Moreover, a snowballing effect took place, because the researcher asked participants to distribute the survey further, within their social circle. Such snowballing may pose a threat to the internal validity of the research as it is not possible for the researcher to know how much or what information about the study was passed on to the participants from someone who has already participated in the survey.
A second possible limitation of this study is that a survey format was used. As with all types of research, one can always find limitations to particular methods. Those mainly include survey fatigue in our case: higher non-response participants due to the lack of attention which in turn can cause a threat to external validity (Bryman, 2016).
From a theoretical point of view, this study suggests a need for further studies regarding already long-existing concepts of credibility, likeability, attractiveness, parasocial interaction, and persuasion knowledge and their conceptualization regarding online influencers on Instagram. It could be interesting to explore more the effect parasocial interaction and credibility have on purchase intention when used as mediators rather than independent variables.
Unfortunately, we were not able to test whether persuasion knowledge is related to purchase intention probably for several reasons. Firstly, the concept of persuasion knowledge has not been studied enough regarding adults, previous research has focused more on the development of persuasion knowledge among children (Tutaj & van Reijmersdal, 2012) providing not enough of a theoretical base for our research. Secondly, due to the lack of research on the topic, the operationalization used in this study might have not been optimal for this study. A multiple response question was used which may have caused respondents to not think about the options they are selecting making the scale not reliable.
The study also has some limitations related to the specific focus on a female audience located in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. It does not provide the researcher with an option to explore whether there is a difference when it comes to gender. Another aspect that could have possibly been restrictive for the generalization is the fact that the majority of the respondents come from a background in marketing communication or related fields. Therefore, their levels of persuasion knowledge may differ from the general public.
Last but not least, given the fact that the majority of the respondents were from the Czech Republic, the language the study was conducted in may have played a role as well. Even though English is spoken in the Czech Republic, due to historical reasons, it is spoken mostly by the younger generation or people with higher education. Which makes finding respondents representative of the general population more difficult and the results less generalizable.
When it comes to the possibilities of future research, respondents in this study have been exposed to only one example of content on Instagram. It would be interesting to conclude a wider comparison of different types of posts or different influencers on the social media platform. Additionally, Instagram is a very visually focused medium, thus it would be interesting to explore other social media platforms, such as YouTube or TikTok. According to various marketing experts, video alongside augmented reality is the future of content on social media and one of the key trends for 2020 (Peterson, 2020).
When studying influencers posting video content, the concept of attractiveness could be broadened by exploring their facial expression or voice which may play a role in how followers perceive also the credibility of the influencer, how likeable he or she seems and the effect those characteristics have on the forming of parasocial interaction. Hence, in order to explore differently the concepts a lot of which have a foundation in psychology, qualitative or mixed research design methods, such as content analysis could be used, to provide more in-depth
Lastly, the motivation to access the Internet may have had an impact on this study. In real life, the participants would encounter the post presented to them on social media, whereas in this study they were presented with it in a completely different context. When browsing social media, some users might see the post while searching for a specific piece of information (information seeking), otherwise referred to as cognitive motivation. Other users may be on social media for entertainment when seeing the post, referred to as affective motivation (Price, Elaine & Maria, 2005). Both motivations could result in a different perspective one has on the post seen and the effect these motivations have could also be explored in further research.
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