THE MODERATING ROLE OF
EGO-DEPLETION ON THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
INFLUENCER MARKETING AND
BRAND EVALUATION
bySÜREYA GÜNEY
University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business
The moderating role of ego-depletion on the relationship between influencer marketing and brand evaluation
TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Introduction ... 3 2. Literature review ... 4 Product placement ... 4 Ego-depletion ... 5 Persuasion ... 6 3. Conceptual model ... 6 4. Methodology ... 6
Participants and design ... 6
Procedure ... 7 Independent variables ... 7 Dependent variable ... 8 Analysis ... 9 5. Results ... 9 Manipulation check ... 9 Brand evaluation. ... 9 6. General discussion ... 10 7. References ... 13 8. Appendix ... 15 ABSTRACT
The inclusion of branded products on social media, such as Instagram, has become a popular marketing strategy. Marketeers attempt to reach the target group indirectly by paying influencers to promote their brand. However, there has been little academic research on the effectiveness of this new technique. It is even more essential to know, whether and when influencer marketing ultimately influences the persuasion process, by focusing on self-control, which has been found to play a central role in resistance to persuasion. In one experiment, we uncovered that ego-depletion does not moderate the relationship between product placement and brand evaluations, and there is no difference in persuasion between brand-owned content, and content posted by an influencer. We discuss several possible mechanisms that could explain our findings.
Key words: Product placement, Instagram marketing, Social Media Marketing, ego-depletion, influencers
1. INTRODUCTION
Ever since the rise of the ‘attention economy’, wherein communicators compete to gain attention from potential customers in a media-saturated, information-rich world
(Fairchild, 2007), marketeers have attempted to find refreshing new ways to target their audience and create lasting and evolving relationships with them (Khamis, Ang, & Welling, 2017). Brands have moved to newer platforms, such as Instagram which has an active user base of 1 billion (Statista, 2018), to promote their products, increase awareness and
potentially change viewers’ attitude towards the brand. Besides managing a brand profile on Instagram, marketeers have partnered up with so-called influencers to reach a large audience, and through product placements persuade potential customers (Khamis et al., 2017).
Influencers use self-branding on popular social media, in order to gain as many followers as possible (De Veirman, Cauberghe, & Hudders, 2017). Even though 84 per cent of the marketeers is including influencer marketing in their campaigns and the majority perceive it as an effective channel for increasing brand visibility and value (Launchmetrics, 2015), there has been little academic research on the phenomenon of influencer marketing and its
effectiveness.
Previous research has found that comparison of one’s life with that of influencers positively predicts envy towards their life (Chae, 2018), which in turn depletes one’s self-control (Hill, DelPriore, & Vaughan, 2011). Self-self-control is considered as the limited ability or motivation to be devoted to long-term goals, norms and standards rather than respond to impulses from the environment (Vohs & Heatherton, 2000). When one’s ego is depleted, they will be more likely to act in line with a persuasive message from marketeers (Burkley,
Anderson, & Curtis, 2011) for example through product placements.
A series of studies is devoted to the specific factors of influencers affecting the
effectiveness of product placements (such as the impact of number of followers, De Veirman et al., 2017), however, little research has been done surrounding the individual factors and state of mind of viewers while scrolling through their Instagram feed. Moreover, even though the effectiveness of product placement in traditional marketing channels (e.g. television) has been widely researched, its effectiveness in newer platforms such as Instagram has not been studied yet. In the present paper, we aim to fill this gap and research the effectiveness of product placements in influencers’ posts on Instagram and how ego-depletion will play a role in the persuasion process. We aim to contribute to the existing literature in both social
influence this relationship. Through understanding the effect of ego-depletion on persuasion, managers can apply ego-depleting strategies to improve their influencer marketing strategy. In the first part of this paper an overview and integration of the existing literature will be provided. Hereafter the conceptual model and hypotheses will be given, followed by the method of the experiment, the results and finally a discussion of the results.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Influencers, also known as micro-celebrities, attempt to create an authentic self-brand on popular social media to cultivate as much attention as possible (Khamis et al., 2017).
Influencers range from fashion icons, to athletes and from travelers to wealthy people. Their posts are often considered as “catalogs of what many young people dream of having and the lifestyle they dream of living” (Marwick, 2015). As a result, exposure to these posts might lead to upward social comparison and even elicit feelings of envy. Previous research has found that envy depletes one’s limited self-regulatory resources (Hill et al., 2011), the individual thereby becomes vulnerable to persuasive marketing messages (Burkley et al., 2011). Moreover, as viewers are less likely to recognize the persuasive attempt of product placements, it will likely result in involuntary persuasion (Nebenzahl, Jaffe, & Jaffe, 2015). Mere exposure through product placement may unconsciously lead to more favorable brand evaluations (Matthes, Wirth, Schemer, & Kissling, 2011) and in combination with the inability to override the persuasive attempt as a result of ego-depletion, might foster the persuasive effects of brand placements (Janssen, Fransen, Wulff, & Van Reijmersdal, 2016). The variables discussed are presented below:
favorable brand evaluations (Matthes et al., 2011). Viewers of product placement
advertisements may not notice the persuasive attempt, and therefore be more likely to be persuaded (Nebenzahl et al., 2015).
In this study we focus on product placement in popular influencers’ posts, and use the terms product placements and influencer marketing interchangeably.
Ego-depletion. Ego-depletion typically occurs when the self is performing control-demanding tasks, thereby reducing the ability and motivation to engage in effortful
deliberation and control of one’s thoughts and actions (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000). When an individual attempts to change the way one would normally think, feel or behave, for example when one is on a diet and tries to eat healthy and resist unhealthy foods, it requires self-control (Barkley & Wasserstein, 2000). It is needed for a multitude of (mental) activities, from getting up in the morning to running a marathon (Vohs & Heatherton, 2000) and even suppressing envious feelings towards others (Hill et al., 2011). Self-control has been found to play a central role in the resistance to persuasive attempts from brands, meaning when one’s self-control is depleted, they are more susceptible to persuasion when resistance requires effort, and therefore more likely to act in line with the persuasive message (Burkley et al., 2011). As a result of ego-depletion, the self is less able to function properly and instead relies on routines, habits, heuristics and scripts (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), meaning the
individual becomes in a state of ‘mindlessness’ (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016) and depends on their auto-pilot mode of thinking. So after a long day of resisting instant gratification in one domain, one’s self-control is very likely to be depleted, hence less able to exert self-control in other unrelated domains (Vohs & Heatherton, 2000), thereby being more easily influenced by persuasive messages marketeers throw at potential customers.
Persuasion. Persuasion can be operationalized by measuring brand attitude, brand preference and purchase intent (Janssen et al., 2016). Marketeers attempt to make their products or services more attractive to consumers in order to change consumer response positively (improve brand attitude, preference and increase purchase intent) and ultimately increase the likelihood of buying or using that particular product or service (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016). There is no consensus in the existing literature regarding measuring advertising
effectiveness (and thus persuasion), however, in the present research we have decided to focus on brand attitude.
Based on the above, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H1: Product placement in influencers’ posts will positively affect persuasion (brand attitude) as opposed to brand-owned posts.
H2: Individuals will be more persuaded (more positive brand attitude) by product placement if their ego is depleted.
3. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Figure 1: Conceptual Model
4. METHODOLOGY Participants and design
A convenience sample of 139 voluntary participants (60 male, 79 female, Mage=29.72 years, SD=11.56) participated in an online experiment spread through Facebook over a period of two weeks. The age of the respondents varied between 17 and 62 years. The study used a 2 (popular influencer versus brand owned Instagram profile) x 2 (depletion versus no ego-depletion) between-subjects factorial design, and a baseline control condition in which participants solely rated the target product. This to allow ourselves to measure and compare each condition with one another.
Product Placement Persuasion
(Brand attitude)
Procedure
First participants were thanked for participating in the research and a short introduction and explanation about the following steps were provided. The study was introduced as
consisting of two separate, unrelated parts, to reduce suspicion about the relationship between the product placements and measurement of brand attitudes. Hereafter, participants were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions or the control condition.
First, questions regarding the demographics of the participant were asked, in order to match the gender to the right condition (either male or female models in the pictures, further discussed below). Hereafter, the moderator (ego-depletion) was manipulated, followed by the manipulation of the independent variable (product placement). The specific manipulations are discussed below in the next section. After this, the dependent variable (brand attitude) was measured, followed by the manipulation checks (see appendix). Finally, the participants were thanked and debriefed.
Independent variables
Ego-depletion. In the ego-depletion condition, participants were asked to participate in an online Stroop-task as adopted from Dang et. al. , 2017. Stroop test, widely used in
psychology (Glass & Singer, 1972), consists of a series of color names, each of which is printed in incongruent colors. The subject's task, in this version of the test, is to pick the letter of the appropriate color under each color name. For example, if the word "red" is printed in blue, the subject should pick "b" for "blue". This moderately stressful test requires that a subject is alert in order to resolve competition between opposing response tendencies. The font used is Arial, sized 72pt (see appendix). Participants in this condition were exposed to 50 color names, of which 24% was congruent (12 in total) and 76% was incongruent (38 in total). Hereafter, participants were exposed to a series of branded pictures.
Four 7-point Likert scaled items, as adopted from Janssen et al., 2013 measured the extent to which the participant felt depleted during the experiment. participants indicated to what extent they found the task difficult and effortful, how much they needed to control themselves during the task, and how much energy they spent on suppressing automatic responses during the task.
Product placement. Product placement was manipulated by either showing a picture as part of an advertisement on a brand-owned Instagram profile, or showing the same picture as part of an influencer’s profile. The ‘models’ in the pictures are relatively unknown, based on the amount of followers, to avoid increased (dis)liking as an effect of knowing the person, yet seemingly popular through manipulation of the amount of likes and comments. The pictures were shown in random order, containing both product placements/advertisement and unrelated posts in order to reduce suspicion on the purpose of this research. To avoid any gender-related identification effects, the gender of the respondents was matched to the gender of the influencers. The selected posts were not identical, but similar and contained the same brands, amount of likes and comments to replicate the effects as much as possible. The selected pictures were lifestyle-related in order to appeal to a broad audience (see appendix).
Dependent variable
Brand attitude. Lastly, introduced as a separate study, attitude towards multiple brands was measured, containing brands which have been shown in the persuasion part, as well as brands which have not been shown before to reduce suspicion on the interrelationship of the Instagram posts and the attitude measure. In the control condition, participants solely rated the brands.
Attitude towards the brands was measured based on three 5-point Likert scales, as adopted from Matthes et. al. 2007. Respondents were asked whether they found the brands negative/positive, uninteresting/interesting and not attractive/attractive (a=0.816, M=3.09,
SD=0.45). These measures are particularly effective for measuring mere exposure effects.
In order to analyze whether or not the average brand evaluation of men is different from the average brand evaluation of women, an independent samples t-test was performed with gender and average brand evaluation. The independent samples t-test was not significant,
t(137) = -1.16, p = 0.248. The average brand evaluation of men (M = 3.04, SD = 0.50) did not
brand attitude measure. Brands which have been shown before in the Instagram posts are mixed with popular brands, the latter was removed from the data, and was solely meant to distract the respondents from the purpose of this research.
Analysis
After collecting the data, the results had to be analyzed in order to find any main or interaction effects of the factors being researched. To reduce the large quantity of data in a manageable and workable dataset, a correlation analysis was performed and the questions measuring brand attitude were averaged into one.
To find which combination of factors work best in increasing brand attitude, an ANOVA analysis was performed. This allowed us to find whether there is an interaction effect, and ultimately to find the combination of conditions which lead to the highest persuasion.
5. RESULTS
Manipulation check. t-tests showed that participants in the depletion condition who had to finish the Stroop test before being exposed to the Instagram posts considered this task more difficult (M=2.4, SD=1.339), t(112) = -5.31, p<0.001, and effortful (M=3.51,
SD=1.85), t(112) = -7.48, p<0.001, than participants in the no depletion condition who did not
have to perform the test (M= 1.33, SD=0.55; M=1.47, SD = 0.67, respectively). In addition, participants in the depletion condition indicated that they had to put more effort into
suppressing automatic responses (M= 2.94, SD=1.59), t(112) = -5.77, p<0.001, and
controlling themselves during this task (M= 3.51, SD = 2.00), t(112) = -7.01, p<0.001, than participants in the no depletion control condition (M= 1.55, SD = 0.73; M= 1.47, SD = 0.61, respectively). We may thus assume that our self-control manipulation was successful.
advertisement. Neither does ego-depletion have an effect on this role. Both H1 and H2 can be rejected.
In order to compare the control group to those respondents who have been exposed to brands, t-tests were performed. It showed that brand evaluation does not significantly differ between participants who were exposed to pictures (M = 3.12, SD=0.47), t(137)=1.88,
p=0.345, and those in the control condition (M=2.94, SD=0.34). In this experiment, exposure
to branded pictures does not influence brand evaluation.
6. GENERAL DISCUSSION
Earlier research has shown that product placements are generally effective in positively influencing brand attitude and choice (Smit et al., 2009) and result in more favorable brand evaluations (Matthes et al., 2011), as the target audience is less likely to notice the persuasive attempt. Marketeers have started to apply this technique on various social media platforms by stimulating or paying influencers to promote their brand, thereby indirectly targeting the target market (De Veirman et al., 2017). Previous research has found that comparison of one’s life with that of influencers’, which plays a key role in the usage of social media, leads to feelings of envy among viewers (Chae, 2018), which in turn depletes one’s self-control (Hill et al., 2011). In a state of ego-depletion, viewers are unable to override persuasive attempts , hence the effectiveness of Instagram marketing might be fostered (Janssen et al., 2016).
Even though spending on influencer marketing has increased over the years (Launchmetrics, 2015), there has been little academic research on the effectiveness of influencer marketing. From a theoretical as well as practical perspective, it is just, or even more essential to know, whether and when influencer marketing ultimately influences the persuasion process. Therefore, we have conducted an online experiment to increase our understanding of the effects of influencer marketing on viewers’ brand responses.
Importantly, we aimed to shed light on the circumstances under which influencer marketing may affect brand evaluations and/or evoke resistance to the persuasive intent of product placement, by focusing on self-control, which has been found to play a central role in
resistance to persuasion (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that influencer marketing results in less positive brand evaluations when viewers’ self-control is left unaffected. On the contrary, influencer marketing results in more, instead of less
Our studies did not show any significant effects of influencer marketing on brand evaluation, and neither a significant effect of ego-depletion on this relationship. This means that there is no difference in brand evaluation between people who are exposed to brand-owned advertisements and people who are exposed to influencer product placements. Moreover, there is no difference in brand evaluation between depleted and non-depleted participants.
The present work contributes to the literature in several key ways. First, the research findings shed more light on the (in)effectiveness of product placements on newer social media platforms. Secondly, whereas previous work mainly focused on features of the influencer, like number of followers, this study is one of the first to approach influencer marketing from a receiver point of view, taking into account the state of mind in which consumers may be confronted with influencer marketing. Third, by demonstrating that self-control depletion does not moderate influencer marketing, we have uncovered that product placements might not be effective in online environments.
The finding that ego-depletion does not have an effect on the relationship between product placement and brand evaluation is not in line with previous research. This might be explained by the fact that previous research has focused mainly only traditional ways of products
placements, such as television. Moreover, product placements on Instagram have grown significantly over the years, which might have made online viewers more motivated to resist to this marketing strategy, thereby being less persuaded even under levels of low self-control. Another explanation could be that viewers do not pay attention to who is posting the content and might have been unaware whether it was a brand or an influencer. To explore whether this was indeed the case, it is important for future research to check whether participants are aware of the source of the advertisement.
Moreover, our findings have important implications for marketing practice as well. For advertisers, our findings imply that influencer marketing might not be as effective as
marketeers believe it is in terms of brand evaluation, and therefore might be spending money that could be invested in more effective marketing techniques. Marketeers might as well promote the brand on their own Instagram page, having the same effect on persuasion as influencer marketing would. However, it is unknown what the long-term effects of influencer marketing will be, and whether the effectiveness depends on the personal relationship
Future research may profitably explore whether having more information with regards to the influencer (meaning more than just the amount of likes and comments) influences brand evaluations of product placements, thereby strengthening the need of the individual to fill the ‘gap’ between oneself and the influencer. Another point that deserves attention in future research is to test whether brand evaluations depend on the product being subtly presented in the background or blatantly presented and included in the caption. Previous research suggests that under conditions of self-control depletion viewers of a television series respond less favorably to a blatantly placed brand than when self-control was left unaffected (Gillespie, Joireman, & Muehling, 2012), and might be the same case for product placements in
influencer marketing. As in the current research we have only used blatant advertising, future research may further explore this difference. Lastly, in the current research we have not controlled for mood. It might have been that the depletion task negatively affected brand evaluation, hence this mood check should be included in future research. In addition, to further enhance the external validity of our findings, future studies could use a more “natural” simulation of self-control depletion, measuring brand attitudes of products promoted by influencers the individual is already following for a certain amount of time. Moreover, future research could investigate the effects of influencer marketing when viewers engage in media multitasking, as it has become increasingly common to use one medium in conjunction with another, such as checking Instagram on your mobile phone while watching a television series. This form of multitasking may tax your working memory during media use, and the resulting cognitive load and distraction may affect the functioning of a disclosure in a similar way as a state of self-control depletion does (Janssen et al., 2016).
Despite some limitations, the study implies that self-control does not play a crucial role in the effects of brand placements on Instagram. People’s level of cognitive depletion does not determine whether influencer marketing has positive or negative effects on persuasion. The current study is one of the first to examine individual differences in
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8. APPENDIX
The order of the four conditions is as following, the horizontal stripe indicates this step was not shown to participants in this condition. Please note that there are actually five conditions (No manipulation x brand-owned, no manipulation x influencer, manipulation x brand owned, manipulation x influencer and the control condition), for simplifying purposes the different types of product placement manipulations are all under 'Exposure to pictures' divided into 6a until 6d.
No manipulation Manipulation Control condition
1. Introduction 1. Introduction 1. Introduction
2. Demographics 2. Demographics 2. Demographics
- 3. Introduction Stroop task -
- 4. Stroop task: 50 separate tests, 24% congruent, 76% incongruent - 5. Introduction exposure to pictures 5. Introduction exposure to pictures -
Exposure to pictures, either: 6a) Female brand
6b) Male brand 6c) Female influencer 6d) Male influencer
Exposure to pictures, either: 6a) Female brand
6b) Male brand 6c) Female influencer 6d) Male influencer
-
7. Brand evaluation 7. Brand evaluation 7. Brand evaluation 8. Manipulation check 8. Manipulation check
1) Introduction (No manipulation, manipulation, control)
3) Introduction Stroop task (Manipulation)
4) Stroop task (Manipulation)
6) Exposure to pictures (No manipulation and manipulation)
8) Manipulation check (No manipulation and manipulation)
The moderating effect of Ego-Depletion
on the relationship between Influencer
Marketing and Brand Evaluation
lifestyle envy into our lives at a level never
before experienced in human history. Prior to
the advent of the digital age, we were left
envying the Jones’ family living next to us
-but at least we had a few things in common
(such as living in the same neighborhood).
Today’s media age has caused us to envy
lifestyle norms well beyond our incomes by
promoting the lifestyles of the rich and famous
as superior and enviable.”
-
Joshua Becker
2. Dependent variables 3. Conceptual model 4. Research method 5. Results
