How can Instagram help to reach the UN Sustainable
Development Goals?
Master Dissertation by Margret Heibl
DDM MSc Advanced International Business Management & Marketing Student No. University of Groningen S3631516
Student No. Newcastle University Business School B9016063
Supervisors:
Dr. Bartjan Pennink Dr. Jonathan Sapsed
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I want to express my gratitude to my supervisors Dr. Bartjan Pennink of the University of Groningen and Dr. Jonathan Sapsed of the Newcastle University Business School. The comments and feedback were always quick and useful when I was facing difficulties during the process of writing. The remarks contributed significantly to the learning process of this master thesis.
But most of all, I thank my sister and my best friends to be there for me in the last months while writing this thesis. I am especially grateful for all the bottles of wine that had to be opened due to a crisis on my side caused by this paper. I thank my mum, my grandparents and my cousine to constantly believe in the fact that I somehow will finish my studies, even though I sometimes could not believe in it. It was a tough time and I can ensure to all those people above, I will never do it again.
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2 ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENT 3 List of Appendices 4 List of Tables 4 List of Figures 5 List of Abbreviations 6 INTRODUCTION 7 1.1 Problem Discussion 8 1.2. Purpose 8 1.3. Research Question 8PART I: LITERATURE REVIEW 9
1.1. The Power of Social Media 9
1.2. Instagram 11
1.3. The creation of Influencer 12
2.3. Influencer Marketing 13
1.3.1. The authentic Influencer 15
1.3.3. Demographic Reach 16
1.4. Hashtivism 18
2.1. UN Sustainable Development Goals 20
2.2. From MDGs to SDGs 20
2.2. Goal Number 12 & 14 22
2.2.1. Responsible Consumption and Production 23
2.2.2. Fast Fashion 24
2.2.3. Life Below Water 26
2.3. SDG - World Ranking 27
Part II: METHODOLOGY 30
3. Methodological approach 30
3.2. Survey Structure 32
3.3. Analysis & Participants 34
3.4. Ethical Considerations 35
4.2. Authenticity 38
4.3. Sustainable Role on Instagram 42
4.3. Fast Fashion & Goal Number 12 43
4.5. Life below water & Goal number 14 46
4.6. Incentives & Remuneration 49
Part III: Findings 50
5.1. Key Findings 50
5.1.1. How authentic are Influencer? 50
5.1.2. How do Influencers see their role regarding sustainability, do they believe
Instagram can help in this issue? 50
5.1.3. What is the understanding of Fast Fashion? 50
5.1.4. Plastic Reduction 51
5.1.5. Does it need monetary incentives? 51
5.2. Implications 51
5.2.1. Theoretical Implications 51
5.2.2. Practical, Managerial and Societal Implications 52
5.3. Discussion & Conclusion 52
References: 54
APPENDIX 60
List of Appendices
Appendix A: Survey Matrix (Open-End Questions) 57
Appendix B: Coding Process Matrix 58
List of Tables
Table 1: Differences between MDGs and SDGs (UNDP, 2017) 18
List of Figures
Figure 1: Rise of Instagram’s Revenue Share (Source: Statista 2019) 8
Figure 2: Influencer Marketing before Social Media 9
Figure 3: Categories of Influencer (Source: Mediakix.com) 11
Figure 4: Potential Age Reach of an Influencer (Gläsemann & Lau, 2019) 13
Figure 5: The Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2017) 17
Figure 6: The Sustainable Development Goals (UNDP, 2017) 17
Figure 7: SDG Index Rank 2018 24
Figure 8: Research Design Thesis 25
Figure 9: Relationship between RQ and Survey 29
Figure 10: Question 4 - Number of Followers 33
Figure 11: Question 9 - Professional content and personal beliefs 37
Figure 12: Question 10 - Sustainable Awareness 37
Figure 13: Question 11 - Instagram community 38
Figure 14: Question 13 - Role of Fast Fashion 39
Figure 15: Question 14 - Amount of samples 40
Figure 16: Question 15 - Use of Fashion samples 41
Figure 17: Question 17 - Plastic Pollution 43
List of Abbreviations
EPA Environmental Protection AgencyEU European Union
e-WOM electronic Word of Mouth Gen Z Generation Z
MDG Millennium Development Goals
RQ Research Question
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SI Social Influencer
SQ Sub question
SDSN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
UN United Nations
US United States of America
WCED World Commission on Environment and Development
INTRODUCTION
In a study in 2017 it was revealed that teenager spend a total of nine hours daily online. Within these hours, 30% are spent on Social Media platforms, like for example Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. This percentage equals 2.7 hours a day (Asano, 2018). Driven by this fact, more and more businesses use these platforms as a marketing tool to reach their audience. In general, Social Media is available to everyone with a working internet connection. Consequently, the world is online, which makes it easier to reach more people in different countries. Caused by this high intercultural connection and the possibility to reach a wide range of people through one post on Social Media, more and more businesses use Social Media to promote their products or services. Essential in this marketing process are the power of Influencers. A Social Media Influencer is “a state of being famous to a niche group of people” (Marwick, 2013, in Abidin & Ots, 2016, p.3).
Two years before the above mentioned study was published, the United Nations (UN) put the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as an agenda for sustainable change to be achieved by 2030, is in place. As a result, countries worldwide started to rethink legal and social standards to create sustainable change towards the SDGs. Nevertheless, the underlying problem is that the majority of countries fail to make sufficient commitment to reach the UN SDGs. Although there is numerous literature about the UN agenda, it lacks the interlinkage with Social Media platforms, “but success will not be possible without social activism that mobilizes stakeholders and change norms to enable the SDG transformation” (Geus & Sachs, 2019 p.2).
1.1 Problem Discussion
After reviewing the available and published research within the field of Influencer Marketing, a gap of research was identified: although, there is various literature on Social Media or the SDGs, the possible impact and effect of Social Media platforms to promote sustainable change is yet unexplored. This thesis aims to show how the reach of Social Media can be used for sustainable marketing strategies and to connect with the young generation.
Through the last 10 years, internet and Social Media platforms gained importance, the way in which people communicate with each other and companies with their customers has changed enormously. Consequently, virtual relationships became normal and are used for business models or marketing strategies. The rise of the phenomenon “Social Media Influencer” over the last years let to a shift within the social media platforms and created a business model available for everyone. With the usage of profiles and their underlying follower base, companies use their reach to promote their products. This development is subject of divergent opinions. On the one side, this marketing tool is a fast way to promote the product within a wide range, but on the other side, it is often used for fast fashion product placements and unsustainable purchasing choices.
Due to the absence of research on the above indicated field of Social Media influence and reaching the SDGs, the thesis concentrates on the further investigation and exploration of the possible impact of this influence.
1.2. Purpose
The purpose of the thesis is to analyse to what extent Instagram can be used as a platform for sustainable change towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, the analysis points out how far Influencer are informed about specific SDGs and if they show willingness to use their professional profiles to promote sustainable change to a wider audience.
1.3. Research Question
Based on the Research Question (RQ) are the following sub-questions (SQ), that outline the areas of interest that are meant to answer the underlying question of the thesis.
Sub-questions:
SQ1: How authentic are Influencers?
SQ2: How do Influencers see their role and impact regarding sustainability? SQ3: How do Influencers define and understand Fast Fashion?
SQ4: Can Influencers on Instagram help to promote plastic reduction. If so, how?
SQ5: Do Influencers require monetary incentives to promote sustainability goals?
PART I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. The Power of Social Media
In principal, research stats that the consumption of products is based on the human desire to express meaning and to create an identity. This desire is based on the wish to have an individual identity expressed by, for example, fashion. Nevertheless, this individuality still needs to fit within the social norms (Thompson & Haytko, 1997; Murray, 2002). In a different aspect, Kotler et al. (2016, p.179) define the consumer’s purchasing behaviour as “the study of how individuals, groups, and organisations elect, buy and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.” To link these drives for self-identification and expression, the authors identified three factors that impact the buying behaviour: There are “cultural” factors, like a person’s desire and behaviour, and consumer’s “personal” factors, like age, income or the current stage in the life cycle. The third factor, described as “social” factor refers to the effect of family, reference groups and social roles on the purchasing behaviour. Especially the reference groups can be equaled with the “opinion leaders” of Influencer Marketing, as described in detail later.
Mary Douglas implied that the preferences of the individual are formed dynamically throughout the interaction between people. Additionally, “decisions made in the household and the supermarket about consumption cannot be viewed as technically neutral events – they are inextricably linked with values and social meaning and are signifiers of cultural allegiance and social relationships.” (Douglas and Isherwood 1996, p.57).
Simultaneously, the way of how advertising gets perceived on Social Media platforms changed fundamentally. The author Joel Backaler distinguishes in his book “Digital Influence” (2018) the idioms “Influencer Marketing” and “Interruption Marketing”. The latter describes advertising that pops up on your screen and interrupts your reading or watching of a video on your device. People mostly get annoyed by it, mute it and in the end ignore it. The message of the advertisement does not stick with the viewer (Backaler, 2018). However, the first form describes a situation where a person gets attracted by the products an Influencer shows or has on Social Media. How the bound between and Influencer and a follower can be so strong that behavioural change can happen will be described in the following chapters.
Social Media platform in which Influencers can spread their message to their follower base. Being one of the most prominent platforms at the moment it seems appropriate to choose Instagram as a starting point for this type of research.
1.2. Instagram
The number of globally active users of this mobile photography application is 3.3 billion, which equals a penetration of 42%. Only in 2018, the platform gained nearly 1 million users. The app was launched in 2010 by Systrom and Krieger and soon after that, it was reported as the “fastest growing media among mobile-savvy users” (Aw Yeong, 2013, in Abidin, 2015, p.6). This innovation on the Social Media market, was acquired by Facebook two years after the launch for one billion dollars.
Figure 1: Rise of Instagram’s Revenue Share (Source: Statista 2019)
This high ad revenue is caused by the fact that businesses prefer having their ad collaborations on this platform. Brands can reach a bigger range of people with using the app as advertising platform, directly or indirectly through Influencer marketing. In 2019, more than 60% of the active users on Instagram stated that they discovered new innovations and products through the app (Aslam, 2019).
1.3. The creation of Influencer
print media got replaced by Social Media and nowadays every person has the potential to become a testimonial for a brand quick and “out of home” (Mechem, 2018). Using non-famous people to promote a product creates a level of identification. People see themselves in the person who advertises it and therefore can relate to it more. In the past print medias influenced the prospective buyers by showing a stiff picture.
Figure 2: Influencer Marketing before Social Media (Mechem, 2018)
Nowadays, print media is replaced by social media and the stiff picture of the past is now an Instagram post or story. The relatable people like a Marlboro Man or Nancy Green, can now be everyone, who invests a lot of time in their profile on Social Media channels.
2.3. Influencer Marketing
are promoting” (Pritchett, 2018). The researcher Aslam (2019) revealed that Instagram Influencers can earn up to $100,000 for a single sponsored post. One post or story uploaded on Instagram has the potential to reach 802 million people around the globe simultaneously, without any personal connection between the sender and the receiver. Pehlivana et al. (2015) describe this form of marketing as “stealth” as it “purposefully influence audiences without the audiences being aware of these activities” (Charry, 2017, p.7). Moreover, the conversion rate on Social Media Influencer generated content is 4.8% higher than through other advertising strategies on the platform. A conversion rate can be defined as “the percentage of users who take a desired action. The archetypical example of conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who buy something on the site” (Nielsen, 2013).
In general, an Instagram post can be a personalized form of promotion for a brand or company, which gets posted by an “opinion leader”. Keller et al. (2016) define this form of leader as “a person who offers informal advice or information about a specific product or product category, such as which of several brands is best or how a specific product may be used.” There are furthermore different stages of influencers, for example Nano-, Micro-, Mid-Tier- or even Mega-Influencer. The distinction between them is the range of people they can reach with a post, which is determined by their number of followers.
Figure 3: Categories of Influencer (Source: Mediakix.com)
amongst the most common” (Pritchett, 2018), meaning that the term Influencer is not centered on one social media platform, but spread between different mediums. One advantage of Instagram is the new form of relationship that can be built between the brand, the Influencer and the possible buyer. The influencer has the option to interact with the followers instantly and directly. Especially when an Influencer advertises a product for a brand or service, the followers can speak up and share their opinions or experiences with the product by sending the Influencer a message directly. Resulting out of it is a new form of Word-of-Mouth (WOM), the electronic WOM (e-WOM), which can be described “as any positive of negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Henning-Thurau et. al.: 2004, p. 40). Additionally, there is a shift in the participation of the customer’s behavior from a negative, to an active position (Henning-Thurau et al.: 2013, p. 239).
1.3.1. The authentic Influencer
reason why followers and potential buyers believe in the product reviews of Influencer. “Modern consumers overwhelmed by media and visual content on a daily basis, are forced to identify the sources they can trust.” Moreover, personalization plays an important role for the surveyed, with “66% of respondents citing a need for an Influencer’s content to be relevant to their unique interests”. There is a difference in perception between men and women: While 44% of the female respondents need to see the product/ service being used in order to trust the influencer, 41% of men are only focused on the told “expertise” (Connolly, 2018).
But as Influencer Marketing is a popular profession, how much do the personal beliefs of the Influencer align with the advertised products on their channel? Savignac et al. (2012) started to investigate how the blogger’s authenticity can change under commercial pressure. Unfortunately, the analysis solely focuses on self-presentation without putting in context the communication about brands, products and collaborations (Audrezet et. al, 2017, p.509).
Audrezet et al. (2017) use this research to define a new form of authenticity as there are two particular differences in expressing authenticity under increasing commercial pressure: “1) expressing inner self and being passionate even when involved in a collaboration; 2) proving what is said, reflects the truth about the partnership, the influencer or the products promoted” (Audrezet et al, 2017, p.509). Based on this, the authors define two strategies: the passionate authenticity and the informational one. Implied by these strategies is the question: whom to trust? The head of content at the marketing agency Influencer Intelligence Sarah Penny said in an interview that super- influencer with millions of followers cannot be authentic. “They worked with so many brands they cannot be authentic” (Elmhirst, 2019). Other persons of the industry, as stated in the article, are seeing this topic completely different. “I’d be pretty confident in saying that you’d probably get better value from spending lots of money on a super-influencer than a little money on a micro-super-influencer” (ibid).
1.3.3. Demographic Reach
Pamela Reif was named the “most famous fitness and lifestyle Influencer of Germany” by the Forbes Magazine in September 2019, where she also was the cover girl. With her young age she created an imperium on her own with the help of Instagram (Gläsemann & Lau, 2019). Pamela Reif’s insightful portrait is an example about how people can be reached through Instagram. In the table below, the age of her followers is visualized.
Figure 4: Potential Age Reach of an Influencer (Gläsemann & Lau, 2019)
Moreover, Aslam (2019) statistically shows that 31% of the Instagram users are between the age of 18 and 24, and 32% of them are between 25 and 34 years old. Therefore, using Instagram as a marketing tool for the SDGs, can lead to a creation of awareness within the Generation Z (Gen Z) and Millennials. This strategy benefits from an understanding of the generations.
Millennials were born between 1981 and 1995 and they account for one quarter of the world’s population (Nusair et al., 2013). This generation was the first to be born into a more technological focused environment, consequently they were the first to get in touch with Social Media. Caused by the simple access and availability of online platform, new communication channels arose and the communication itself changed enormously. Information was spread with a higher speed and influenced the generation to use different tools to interact with each, while simultaneously building up their social availability on platforms (Bolton et al., 2013). Initiated through that, e-WOM was created, which caused this generation, like Gen Z, to focus more on the opinion of others (Shamhuyenhanzvae et al., 2016).
To sum up, it is important is to emphasize the differences between Gen Z and the Millennials, through which marketers can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience and influence their purchasing process.
1.4. Hashtivism
The usage of Social Media platforms to create awareness is a well-known tool. With the advancing technology, activism has reached a new era, called “Social Media Activism”, “Hashtag Activism”, or short “Hashtivism” (Blanco Ramírez & Metcalfe, 2017)
A hashtag is defined as a type of metadata tag, that is used on Social Media platforms to allow users to find specific messages or posts easily. When posting a picture or writing a post on Instagram, the users underline those with different hashtags. This can have several advantages: While searching for a specific topic, or campaigns, as explained later, one can click on the hashtag and it shows all the related posts. Moreover, if you want to create awareness for a subject, a hashtag can help - together with the help of other people - to spread the message. Finally, considering the Influencer, hashtags are crucial to create a higher presence on those platforms, as they help to attract new followers. (ibid)
2.1. UN Sustainable Development Goals
More than 40 years ago, various governments from different areas of the world came together in Stockholm, Sweden for the “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment”. In 1987, the UN published the Brundtland Report about environment and development. This report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) stated that “humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland et al., 1987, p.15).
2.2. From MDGs to SDGs
The SDGs, were launched and adapted on the 25 September 2015, by all 193 UN member states. These are the outcome of a process where over eight million people discussed and framed out the issues that matter most for them with a focus on communities and the planet. This framework was created through a long process of community consultation, where three hundred issues were noted, that resulted in 17 goals (Brundtland et al., 1987).
Figure 5: The Millennium Development Goals
“Unlike their predecessors, the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs are not aimed solely at ending poverty; indeed, the ambition is they will apply universally to all nations” (Assembly, 2015, p.2). In different words, research argues that they are a more robust data set that creates an opportunity to understand the impact of the individual, the organizations, the countries and the communities within the framework. The world leaders came together in the UN headquarter in New York to adopt 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Underneath those are a deeply interconnected set of 169 targets and 232 indicators. Moreover, the goals create a commitment for the governments to deeply focus on the 5 P’s - Prosperity, People, Planet, Peace and Partnership (Assembly, 2015).
Figure 6: The Sustainable Development Goals
169 targets create a big picture with a high level of interconnection between the different sectors and areas. The private sector was the first globally to sign this agenda. Moreover, there are large multilateral organizations that recognized that this framework is the future (Sachs, 2012, p.2208).
The profound difference is that the SDGs seek to precisely link the social, economic and environmental aspect to the defined goals. Consequently, one challenge is to “ensure that the short-term achievement of improved human well-being does not occur at the cost of undermining well-being in the long term” (Stafford-Smith et al., 2017, p.912). Table 1 gives an overview about the main differences of the MDGs and SDGs.
MDGs SDGs
GENERAL FOCUS Developing Countries Global: Domestic and International
INDICATOR COVERAGE 8/21/60 17/169/230
LEVEL OF DISAGGREGATION
National Leave no one behind
FINANCING Largely bilateral Financing Domestic and local resources, new financial sources and models
Table 1: Differences between MDG’s and SDG’s (Source: UNDP, 2017)
2.2. Goal Number 12 & 14
2.2.1. Responsible Consumption and Production
The twelfth goal of the SDGs focuses on the sustainable and respectful dealing with the environment when it comes to consumption and production. So far, the UN warns that “if the global population reaches 9.6 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets will be required to sustain current lifestyle” (UNDP, 2017, p. 23).
The Report of the WCED stated that the current generation ruins available resources without thinking about the consequences. “They draw too heavily, too quickly, on already overdrawn environmental resource accounts to be affordable far into the future without bankrupting those accounts. They may show profit on the balance sheets of our generation, but our children will inherit the losses. We borrow environmental capital from future generations with no intention or prospect of repaying.” (Brundtland et al., 1987, p.14). Caused by the SDGs the term “sustainable consumption” became a subject with too many different interpretations. The Norwegian Ministry of Environment (1994) explained that “Sustainable consumption is the use of goods and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle” (Norwegian Ministry of Environment (1994), in OECD (2002), p. 9).
2.2.2. Fast Fashion
“The textile industry today is the second largest polluter of clean water after agriculture, and many fashion companies exploit textile workers in developing countries.” (UN, 2018) The following chapter focuses on these two parts of Fast Fashion: What it does to the environment and how it exploits people.
In general, the various underlying targets of Goal 12 aim to reduce the amount of waste by implementing eco-friendly production methods, as the goal generates a global commitment to a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, looking at the consumption patterns nowadays the opposite is the case, as the trend of “Fast Fashion” gets more and more popular. The Cambridge Dictionary explains that Fast Fashion, or disposable fashion, refers to clothes that were inexpensive in their production and were sold by mass-market retailers to respond to the constantly changing fashion trends (Cambridge Dictionary, 2016).
In the last decades, the fashion industry grew enormously and still causes a huge damage to the environment. An EU report in 2019 stated that 2000 there were two collections per year, this has increased to five by 2011. Throughout the years, clothes became a disposable good. For example, the chain Zara produces up to 24 collections per year, which is an increase of over 100% within 19 years (Tucker, 2019). The New York Times added that this increase in clothing does not come to last. Yves Saint Laurant said “Fashion fades, style is eternal” but with the industry changing the collections multiple times a year the fashion becomes disposable. “More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85% of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay” (Thomas, 2019).
More collections each year mean more production chains, which leads to more required energy and more manpower. Both of these requirements have an negative impact on the environment. Firstly, according to the Report of Global Fashion, in 2015 the industry was “responsible for 1,715 million tons of CO2 emission” (UN, 2015). Furthermore, the fashion industry produces more than one billion of garments each year. Moreover, the UN published that the industry needs more energy than the shipping industry and aviation together. Additionally, besides the carbon emission and the released microplastic, the fast fashion industry is extremely water intensive. The Guardian reports that the “average water footprint for a kilo of cotton (equivalent to pair of jeans and a shirt) is 10,000-20,000 litters. India and Pakistan are major suppliers of cotton to the UK, but both countries suffer from high levels of water scarcity” (Tucker, 2019). These numbers show how damaging this industry is. The Huffpost advised that “extending the life of clothes by nine extra months of active use would reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20-30 % per garment” (Siegle, 2019). Companies competing in this field want to be forefront in offering their customers the latest trends to a low price. Achieving this goal within this short time range is only possible, when the overall production time within the production cycle is as short as possible (Cachon & Swinney, 2011; Kim et al., 2013). What can be defined as a new trend is highly influenced by media, influencer and celebrities (ibid). With a short lifecyle and the permanent information about new trends, consumers get stimulated continuously by the Fast Fashion companies, which results in a more impulsive buying behaviour. These impulsive purchases in connection with the low-price results in low quality and more frequent buys (Kim et. al., 2013; Joung, 2014). Disposable fashion does not only stress the environment, but also the suppliers to keep up with the insatiable need for new fashion. Therefore, in order to keep up with the pace, suppliers as well as producers are pressured to shorten the production cycle (ibid).
2.2.3. Life Below Water
Produce a pair of jeans requires 7.000 litres of water which equals the amount of water a person drinks over the course of five to six years. Moving from sustainable consumption and production to Goal number 14 of the SDGs “Life below Water”, shows that the SDGs are interlinked with each other. The quality of the ocean and the marine resources are crucial for the livelihood of millions of people and cannot be an isolated issue.
In general, Goal 14 aims “to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” (UN, 2018). The underlying targets concentrate on preventing and reducing marine pollution, as well as the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems and the regulation of fishing (ibid). 71 % of the Earth's surface is covered with water, which make them essential for the planet’s liveability. One focus of the Goal number 14 is also the overall temperature of the ocean, as this influences the quality of the rainwater and drinking water. Overall, three billion people are dependent on good marine life. Moreover, caused by human actions, as stated above, the ocean can absorb 30 % of all carbon dioxide (UNDP, 2017). In total, the ocean contains 200,000 identified species, which is not a final number as there are still undiscovered ones. This number consistently decreases as 30% of marine habitats have been destroyed by humans so far. Furthermore, 30% of the world’s fish stock is over-exploited (ibid). So far, 24% of all coral reefs worldwide are in immediate risk of collapse, whereas 20% have already been destroyed changelessly (WWF, 2017). As the different goals are affiliated with each other, the increase of marine well-being can help to reduce poverty. The Ocean gives low-income families access to healthy food and it can be used as a source of income. Furthermore, clean oceans and beaches attracts tourism in less developed countries which creates employment, as discussed in the SDG Number 8 (UN, 2018).
2.3. SDG - World Ranking
The Sustainable Development Report 2019 shows up to date metrics to visualize the performance of the different countries in achieving the SDGs. Unfortunately, the report states that “even the richest countries are far from meeting all goals. Meeting the 17 SDGs and the underlying 169 targets will require deep transformation in every country” (Geus & Sachs, 2019, p.1). Moreover, the report clarifies that market forces alone will not achieve the goals, but direct transformation will. Transformation is meant to promote the public, develop technologies and ensure suitable governance mechanisms. (Geus & Sachs, 2019). The authors explain that in total six transformations are needed to create change, which need to underpin two cross-cutting principles: The government and the humanity. The latter, as it is one of the main focuses of this thesis, is described as the effort to reduce environmental footprints by “promoting circularity in material flows and the decoupling of environmental resource use and pollution from human well-being” (Geus & Sachs, 2019, p.14). The principle of the SDGs is to “leave no one behind” and so the six areas of transformation concentrate on that (Geus & Sachs, 2019).
The six areas are:
1) Education, Gender & In-equality 2) Health, Well-being and Demography
3) Energy De-carbonization and Sustainable Industry 4) Sustainable Food, Land, Water and Oceans
5) Sustainable Cities and Communities
6) Harnessing the digital Revolution for Sustainable Development - If managed well, digitalization and modern communication platforms can be used to create an enormous contribution towards all of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Network (SDSN) on an index to calculate how the different countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This Index is a theoretical metric to qualitatively identify the scores of the countries (Geus & Sachs, 2019).
To sum up the literature review of this thesis, the following graph visualizes the researched parts of interest, before presenting the results of the conducted survey. The most suitable research design (Veal & Darcy, 2014) that aligns the research gap, with the objectives of the study (Saunders, et al., 2016), whilst highlighting analysis procedures and expected contributions, is visualized and summarized in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Research Design Thesis
Research Design Research Problem
UN Development Goals are not met and the role of influencer marketing in this context is under explored
Research Purpose
Show the willingness of Influencers to use their profile to promote the UN Sustainability Goals to a wider audience
Research Question
How can Instagram help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Research Methodology
Qualitative, Inductive Approach Online Survey
Data Analysis Method
Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) Open Coding
Expected Outcomes
Theoretical Contribution: enhance the understanding of Influencer Marketing as a tool to promote sustainability
Part II: METHODOLOGY
The research design and methods used to collect the data required for this thesis are highlighted in this section. After describing and justifying the research design, the survey design is illustrated before data analysis techniques and ethical considerations are introduced.
3. Methodological approach
One of the most frequently given reasons to choose a qualitative research method rather than quantitative methods is to explore areas not yet thoroughly researched, and to explore how meanings are formed and transformed (Corbin, et al., 2015). Given that the current literature lacks an interlinkage between the key topics of this research, namely the UN Sustainable Development Goals on the one side and Social Media Influence literature on the other, a qualitative research approach was chosen to address the emerged research question. The qualitative method was selected in combination with an inductive approach to generate theory rather than to test it (Gasson, 2003). Based on the previously highlighted gap in the literature, the introduced purpose of this thesis, and that all research projects require a question(s) to guide the inquire the following main research question was established for this study:
RQ: How can Instagram help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
To complement the main research questions the succeeding sub-questions (SQs) are proposed to enhance the holistic understanding of the topic:
SQ1: How authentic are influencers?
SQ2: How do Influencers see their role and impact regarding sustainability? SQ3: How do Influencers define and understand Fast Fashion?
SQ4: Can Influencers on instagram help to promote plastic reduction, if so, how?
In order to generate qualitative primary data, initially, semi-structured interviews were chosen as the most appropriate method in order to gain a detailed insight into the participants‘ perspective. Over the period of two months, 167 Instagram profiles have been identified as relevant for this research project and the respective individuals were asked to participate in this study. Profiles were classified as „relevant“ if they met the following criteria: Over 1000 followers, over 18 years of age, and previously collaborated with a brand. Further, profiles were identified as relevant through various key term searches. First, the most successful Influencer by country were identified and then their profiles were scanned for words such as „sustainability “, „low waste“, and „consciousness“. At the end of this initial sampling process a list with 167 Instagram profiles emerged.
However, none of the contacted Influencers agreed to participate in a semi-structured interview and multiple individuals indicated that they would be more likely to engage in an online survey. This observation is in line with the argument put forward by Evans and Mathur (2005), who reason that the way we conduct research and analyse data has changed in recent years, mainly due to the development and availability of information technology. Paired with the increasing popularity of online research, the inclusion of online survey methods in research methodology books (see Dillmann, 2007) and academic journal publications, it was justified to explore the utilizability of online-surveys for this project.
That surveys might have a greater possibility to lack a deep level of detail when compared to other qualitative methods such as interviews, has been carefully considered in this proposed method shift. Nevertheless, the advantage of a higher sample size, a higher response rate and lower costs outweigh the disadvantages in the case of this research (Saunders et al., 2016). Moreover, to answer the previously highlighted research question online surveys can be considered a sufficient means of data collection.
3.2. Survey Structure
The questionnaire starts with four closed-ended questions (Q2-Q5) to get an overview of the person and to see if the requirements are fulfilled. In Q1 the survey indicates that the participants need to be 18 years old, have above 1,000 followers and have collaborated with a brand in the past. This section concentrates on the background of the person’s Instagram page. Q2 focuses on the country they are currently residing. The following three questions ask the participant to state their Instagram name, so it can be controlled if the given data regarding the number of followers and the brand collaborations are valid.
The subsequent part concentrates on the authenticity of the Influencer. The open question number 6 asks about the theme/ subject of the Influencer’s professional profile, followed by the invitation to clarify how the Instagram page reflects the participant’s personal beliefs (Q7). With this gain of information about the person, Q8 concentrates on the reflection of the personal believes while advertising a brand’s product. At the end of this section a slider was added to get a visualization of the relation between the personal and the professional beliefs.
One sub-question concentrates on examining if Instagram can be used for a sustainable cause, which aligns with survey question 10 and 11. Firstly, it was asked if the participant has created awareness of sustainability in the past and if yes, what kind of message he spread with it. Secondly, a slider was added for the participant to indicate to what extent the Instagram community has the power to create sustainable change (Q11), as it is important to see if the Influencer sees themselves in an active role within this subject.
As in the section before, there is a short definition of the goal 14 followed by an open question to indicate what possible ways the participants see to create awareness for ocean and marine life on the Social Media platform (Q16). The following survey question (Q17) is an awareness question, where the contributor of the survey has to guess how much of the listed items (for example: plastic bags, straws, bottles, etc.) end in the ocean. The final question should visualise how the participant feels after seeing the real numbers (Q18).
The end of the questionnaire concentrates on the incentives (Q19). The person was asked what kind of remuneration or incentive is needed to create awareness on these topics on their profile.
Figure 9: Relationship between Survey and Research Question/ Topics of Interest
3.3. Analysis & Participants
The participants in this research study were chosen based on the created content on their Instagram profile. Broadly, one can distinguish the Influencer through their number of followers. While some profiles have an enormous follower-base, other focus more on a niche and have a narrower range of audience but a similar status of popularity within those. In a niche, the count of followers is usually not very high, but more selected, which makes their influence stronger on the individual (Steimer, 2017). Nevertheless, when searching for the Influencers to support the awareness of the brand, several elements need to be considered: Having a lot of followers does not indicate popularity, as there are numerous profiles that pay for followers or get followed by fake profiles. Therefore, the focus should be on the engagement rate or authority rate of the influencers (Woods, 2016). This research concentrates on Influencers with more than 1,000 followers, who are over 18 years old and have already collaborated with a brand, as a research of the underlying authority and engagement rate is beyond the given time resources.
The participants were chosen after their willingness to participate, when meeting the above defined requirements. As explained above, the methodological approach was changed throughout the research. At the beginning the response rate was 2.85%, at the second attempted and due to time famine, 185 people were contacted within three weeks. In total 32 people clicked on the link, which is a response rate of 17.297%. Nevertheless, in total only 21 of those participants finished the survey and filled in every question, which generated significant data and results in a completion rate of 11.35%.
For the analysis of the accumulated data two tools were used. As the survey had in total 19 question with nine open-ended questions and ten closed-ended questions, the analysis was separated in two parts. For the analysis of the collected primary data with the ten closed questions a quantitative approach was used. Those questions included single choice questions and slider questions, where participants had to rank their answer or indicate certain percentages and got analysed with the internal provided tool “Qualtrics”.
purpose of this approach is to identify similar themes and patterns within the various responses of the participant (Saunders et al., 2016). Essential in this part of the analysis is the usage of “coding”. Thereby, during the thematic analysis important variables of the collected data get conceded and encoded (Boyatzis, 1998). For this part, the qualitative analysis software, called “NVivo” was used. This tool enables to count word frequencies and find the key words in context. Consequently, patterns can be identified across the various and different answers of the participants.
3.4. Ethical Considerations
The research for this master thesis meets all ethical standards and policies of the University of Groningen and the Newcastle University Business School. All participants have given their consent in the first question of the survey that they accept the conditions of the study. Only if the participants agreed with the first question, which aligned with the double degree thesis handbook, and answered it with “I accept” they were included in the study. Furthermore, in advance it was ensured that no vulnerable group, for example elderlies or people under 18 years old, participate. All collected data is documented and will be made available for the academic supervisors for possible inspection upon request.
4. Findings
As mentioned in the Methodology the answers of the survey can be divided into five parts (background, authenticity, sustainability of Instagram, goal number 12 and 14, incentives) which focus on different areas of the research. Consequently, this chapter is parted in five subchapters to correspond with the parts of the questionnaire.
4.1. Background information of the participating party
The first section of the survey concentrates on requirements, that needed to be fulfilled to take part in this survey, to ensure to generate valuable data. After confirmed acceptance of the study’s conditions in Q1 the participants were asked to state their Instagram name (Q3). Furthermore, question 5 or the questionnaire concentrates on the cooperation with a brand or company. As this question is part of the pre-defined requirements, the collected answers of the participants is 100% yes (Q5).
Q2: In which country do you reside?
Defining in what country the participant lives helps to identify if the country’s participation in the SDGs can be aligned with the effort of the inhabitants. The SDG Index shows cumulated which countries strive to achieve the UN Agenda 2030. With opposing the effort of the Influencers based on their country of residence to the SDG Index, it is possible to see a pattern between the effort of the country to reach the SDGs and the knowledge and incentive of its inhabitants. The table below shows the ranking of the SDG Index, the score of the country and the number of participants.
RANK COUNTRY SCORE RESIDENCE OF
13 Canada 76.8 1
20 Australia 74.5 1
25 US 72.7 5
30 Spain 72.2 2
Total 21
Table 2: SDG Index and residential country of participants (Q2)
It can be stated that all participants that agreed to take part in the survey can be categorised in a country of residence with a high SDG Index score, as all of them were under the top 30. The assumption was that a the rank of the residential country of the participants can reveal if the sustainable attitude of them can be linked with the score on the SDG Index. Additionally, it would have been interesting to see if there are significant differences of the perception of the UN SDGs between ranks. Unfortunately, caused by the small participation and finishing ratio of the study the data is not conclusive enough to see pattern or to confirm the assumption.
Q4: How many followers do you have
No participant has under 1,000 followers, which indicated that the underlying data is meeting the requirements. Furthermore, 52.38% count between 1,000 and 10,000 followers and can therefore be identified as “Nano Influencer”. Moreover, 42.86% have above 10,000 but under 50,000 followers, which classifies them to be a “Micro Influencer”, and 4.67% of the participants are an “Mid-Tier Influencer” on Instagram, due to the 50,000 and more followers.
To sum up, the majority of the participants can be classified as Nano-, or Micro-Influencer.
4.2. Authenticity
The second section concentrates on the authenticity of the professional profile. The open-end questions of this part was analyzed with the qualitative tool “NVivo”. The results show the encoded answers and the response patterns that where researched.
Q6: As an Influencer, your power is your voice: What message is the most important you want to spread with your community?
The majority of profiles that took part in the study are already interested in creating sustainable change through their Instagram profile. The messages included low-waste living, the cooperation with communities and tips on how to make sustainable changes in the daily life.
“There is power in communities working together and there are alternatives that do not harm the environment” (P 4).
Only one person concentrated on sport and nutrition, and only one participant used his profile for cooking inspiration. There were several answers concentrating on the empowerment of women and the power of confidence. All answers of the open-end questions can be seen in Appendix B.
Q7: To what extent does your Instagram page reflect your personal beliefs? In total, the received answers on this question were very similar. The majority of the participants stated that their page reflects their personal beliefs.
The Influencers indicated several times that they want to stay true to their followers and “to be realistic about the difficulties” (P.5).
Only 14% of the participants answered that the alignment between those two areas is under 100%. Not all of them believe that they are adding enough value to their page and indicate that it could be used more for presenting the personal beliefs and ethics. Surprisingly, this question led to a reaction where one Influencer stated that certain topics won’t be discussed on their Instagram profile.
“I do not talk about religion and politics, so my readers don’t really know my beliefs and opinions on this topic” (P. 14)
By going through the different answers, it seemed like Influencers have a certain fear of difficult subjects that could cause room for discussion. “I don’t discuss religious beliefs much on my page” (P 12). Although the majority said that their personal and professional page align when it comes to beliefs and ethics, the reaction of the participants added a new component to the research of Influencer’s authenticity.
Q8: When you are collaborating with a brand/ company, how far are your personal beliefs reflected in the created content?
The answers can be divided equally, whereas 48% of the participants stated “Fully reflected” with their answers, while 52% agree that their content aligns partly with their own beliefs.
“I always chose companies that fit my values and beliefs.” (P16)
products they believe in (P 20). One participant wishes for a higher involvement in the creation of the content for the brand, which gives room to imply that Influencer want to be taken as serious business partner and not only as a marketing channel (P17).
“Sometimes my personal voice is edited by the company, but the theme is still the same.” (P10).
A different side shows the quote above. The power of the company moves back into focus as they can change the messages of the Influencer by editing their post. The “personal voice” can therefore be externally shaped. The “nature of the product” can also be important in this part (P.1). Although the participant stays close to herself, the product can modify these believes. For future research it would be interesting to know to what extent a product and the implied status symbol of it can change the power structures between the company and the Influencer.
“Around 50% - I still need to make a living - so time to time I advertise stuff I do not need/ want but want others to buy” (P19).
One participant showed another aspect on this subject. Instagram when used as a full-time job can be difficult to start with. At the beginning it may be impossible to say no to certain brands in order to “make a living”. This answer shows the struggle that Influencers can face with brand collaborations. There is a conflict between the authenticity of the professional page and the monetary need of the collaboration. Moreover, the second part of the answers “I do not need but want other to buy” disrupts the picture of the Influencer-Follower Relationship. As a consequence, the choice of Influencer for sustainable awareness creation is extremely important, as this subject should not be an “Instagram Trend” but a platform used to create a high connected community to share knowledge and create sustainable change.
Q9: Please indicate for the two options to what extent the content you create is aligned with your personal beliefs. 0% = not aligned at all; 100% = completely aligned with personal beliefs
personal and the private content align throughout the participants. The standard deviation is 12.01% and can be counted as neither too high nor too little. Therefore, it can be implied that there is not a great spread of values away from the mean.
Figure 11: Question 9 - Professional content and personal beliefs
4.3. Sustainable Role on Instagram
Q10: Did you ever create awareness on your profile about sustainability? If yes, what kind of message did you spread?
Figure 12: Question 10 - Sustainable Awareness
Q11: Please indicate below to what extend the Instagram Community could create sustainable change (0-100%)
Figure 13: Question 11 - Instagram community
As seen in the table above the answers for question 11 are enormously deviate. Nine participants indicated above 90%, while the other ranked the power of the Instagram community below that, with a minimum of 30%. The mean of the analysis is 77.62 % which can be used for a positive assumption but the standard deviation of 20.62% is very high. For the total count of 21 surveys a standard deviation of nearly 21% means that is a relatively large spread of values from the mean. As a result, it can be implied that there is huge difference in the perception of the the sustainable component of the platform.
4.3. Fast Fashion & Goal Number 12
This section of the survey is the first one to concentrate on the UN Sustainable Goals. The participants were not selected by their knowledge about the UN Agenda 2030, neither were they informed if all goals will be part of the survey, or only selected ones.
Q12: Goal Number 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals is: "Responsible consumption and production. Achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that we urgently reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources" (UN, 2019). Given the statement above, what is your understanding of "Fast Fashion"? How would you define it?
majority of answered can be summarized under the umbrella term “short lifecycle” and “poor working conditions”. Beside these, the key words “cheap” and “bad quality” were named numerous times.
“We have a throwaway society being forced fed the idea that we “need” a product or “must have” by the massive fast fashion industry” (P 18).
Q13: Role of Fast Fashion in professional life
Figure 14: Question 13 - Role of Fast Fashion
The participants were asked what role the prior defined term “Fast Fashion” means in their professional life. The majority of 61.90% stated that it does not at all interfere with their professional work on Instagram. On the opposite site 4.76%, which equals one Influencer, said that it plays a big part on their profile. If the answers “a great deal”, “a lot” and “a moderate amount” are summarized, it indicates that only four persons of the asked Influencers have a steady and high contact with Fast Fashion samples.
Q14: Amount of samples
Development Goals number 12, 28.57% would like to get more samples (= the sum of “far too little”, “moderately too little”, “slightly too little”). Although, more than half of the participants seemed satisfied with the samples, as 61.90% indicated that they do not get too much nor too little of them. No one answered that the number of samples is too much for them. Only, 4.76% said it is moderately too much and 4.76% stated that it is slightly too much. In sum 9.52% of the participants have the feeling of receiving too much samples, which is only one third of those who stated that they get too little samples.
Figure 15: Question 14 - Amount of samples
Q15: If you are receiving numerous Fast Fashion samples, please describe how you use and/or dispose them?
The expectation of responses for this question were not met. The idea behind question 15 was to clarify how fashion samples create an extreme form of waste.
Unfortunately, the majority of participants, as seen in Figure 15, stated that they do not receive any samples. There was also a clear antipathy for this subject.
Figure 16: Question 15 - Use of Fashion Samples
Looking at figure 15 and 16 the difference between the both can be seen as a disagreement within the answers. The slider in question 14 shows that the participants receive neither too much nor too little samples, while the next question reveals that the majority states to not receive any samples. The results of both questions are comparable but do not align. In total 14.28% stated in the previous question to receive too much samples, while Figure 16 visualizes the opposite.
4.5. Life below water & Goal number 14
This section of the survey focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals number 14 and the topic of plastic pollution in the ocean. As the majority of people is not aware about the impact the daily waste has on the marine environment, this section implied an estimate question (Q17).
Linking this with your professional site, what do you think are possible ways to create awareness for sustainable use of the ocean and marine life on Instagram? This questions aims to see how the Influencer classify their possible power of awareness creation when it comes to SDG 14.
“If there are daily lifestyle choices people can be making to make sustainable use of our oceans and marine resources, Instagram could be used as a platform to communicate these.”
The answers were of a positive nature and the majority said that it is important to show the reality with using Instagram posts and stories to inspire action. Moreover, the promotion of charities, especially beach clean-up charities, was mentioned often. Again, the role of businesses was discussed with this question. The Influencer wanted a company to reach out to them and if their philosophies would align they would work hard to inspire change. Even, the phenomenon “Hashtivism” was addressed. Moreover, 19%, which equals four Influencer, said that with the promotion of a lifestyle change the awareness can be created.
Q17: Please indicate on the sliders below how many of these items end in the ocean every year!
Figure 17: Question 17 - Plastic Pollution
The graphic above generated from Qualtrics shows the mean of the collected answers. Every year 1 billion plastic cups, 180 billion plastic straws, 600 million plastic bottles and 1 trillion plastic bags end up in the marine environment. The answers above show that the participants underestimated the generated waste. Only the category “plastic straws” was overestimated, as the correct number is 119.76 points above the real count.
Q18: The correct numbers & feeling
Figure 18: Question 18 - Participant’s reaction
4.6. Incentives & Remuneration
The last section of the questionnaire concentrated on the remuneration, that should be granted in order to create awareness for these topics. The participants were asked to answer an open-ended question (Q19).
Q19: What kind of remuneration or incentive would you appreciate for creating awareness of sustainable change on your professional profile?
Although the idea of the last question was to indicate if the influencer would like monetary incentives rather than doing it without it.
First and foremost, there were four categories of incentives that were indicated: Money, free products, the gaining of followers and the internal motivation. In total four participants stated that they would like monetary remuneration for their posts and stories. “Payment in money not products. I refuse a lot of advertising and collaborations. [...] This area is vastly underpaid as a ‘influencer’” (P5)
Part III: Findings
5.1. Key Findings
The research of this study is driven by the following question: How can Instagram help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Throughout the study and with the help of the sub-areas of interest the analysis showed that Instagram has the ability to help reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through the power of Influencer Marketing a wide range of individuals can be reached, whereas the authenticity of those can be crucial.
5.1.1. How authentic are Influencer?
The Influencer answered several questions to clarify their level of authenticity. To compare their personal beliefs with their professional profiles was in focus hereby. The majority of answers showed that the profiles show a high level of authenticity as the created content of their page aligns with their ethnical believe system.
5.1.2. How do Influencers see their role regarding sustainability, do they
believe Instagram can help in this issue?
To summarize, the participants may believe that Instagram can play a role in sustainable change, but this perception is not common practice. Although the answers showed that the majority of asked Influencer already used their profile to advertise more sustainable solutions, question 11 revealed that there is not the overall believe that Instagram can help to change sustainably.
5.1.3. What is the understanding of Fast Fashion?
antipathy for fast fashion. Having this anger and understanding of the problem can be a useful source to create a movement against the fast fashion subject and therefore help the SDG 12. Nevertheless, when looking at the questions regarding “free samples” the answers were not align able between questions. As stated above, the participants said that they receive too little samples in one question, while stating two questions later that they refuse free samples. This could be caused through a mis-interpretation of the term “free sample” or due to another reason, either way the sample size of this survey was too small to analyse this point further in deep.
5.1.4. Plastic Reduction
The participants tend to like the visualization of plastic as an environmental problem. Many answers showed, that they include photos of plastic damaged beaches, for example, in their stories or posts. A high tendency towards “beach clean-up” companies can be seen. To sum up, the participants showed a pro active attempt to change sustainability. They want to show the reality, while promoting the change.
5.1.5. Does it need monetary incentives?
The Key Finding of the last sub-question was clearly that there is no need for monetary incentives. In contrast, the Influencer stated that this should not be a form of motivation for this cause. Additionally, the wish to be taken more seriously was mentioned multiple times. The Influencer want to be seen as Business people for the amount of time, expertise and passion they put in their posts and stories.
5.2. Implications
5.2.1. Theoretical Implications
5.2.2. Practical, Managerial and Societal Implications
From an innovative point of view, it appears important to start incorporating Influencer as a marketing tool for SDGs. Managers of innovative and sustainable firms might want to enlarge their understanding of this subject to ensure a proper handling and to avoid negative marketing. For societal implications the subject provides a positive association with the SDGs through actively showing change by opinion leaders.
5.3. Discussion & Conclusion
Initially stated, no research is without limitations. The emphasis of this thesis is on the role of Instagram and Influencers in the UNs attempt to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Further Research may want to look at other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube to either confirm or negate the findings of this project. In this context scholars may want to further elaborate on the appropriateness of digital marketing in general when attempting to raise awareness for sustainability with other target groups. This research therefore can be considered a starting point for research in the field.
After analyzing the answers, attached in Appendix B, some points of discussion arose in this study. Question number 2 tried to link the participant’s residence to the SDG Index. The idea was to show that if the country is ranked high in the SDG Index, one can assume that the population of this country is more aware of the climate crisis and sustainability. However, this linkage can only be made with a certain limitation, as the survey was conducted online. In order to take part in this research, the thesis implicates that the participant has access to internet and a good technological infrastructure. Which means that this survey was only available to “richer countries”, while the SDGs guidelines should be seen globally.
Every form of Influencer is interesting in this study, but to create sustainable change a wider range of different people need to be analysed.
Moreover, the study concentrated coincidentally only on Micro- and Nano-Influencer, while for future research, it would be interesting to ask especially macro-influencer. This insight could show in depth how far Influencer Marketing can be used to spread a message and if “more famous” Influencer would agree to advertise sustainable solutions without remuneration.
Finally, the fact that the participants showed a dislike over certain topics can be a disadvantage for the linkage of SDG with Instagram. The answers showed a certain fear of confrontation. One problem is the exclusion of certain subjects on the profiles. With fearing confrontation caused by religion and politics, it is uncertain how Instagram profiles will involve themselves.
