An Adaptation of the Source Credibility Model on Social Influencers: An Abstract

Abstract

Social influencers have developed into an advertising medium whose importance may surpass the one of traditional advertising in near future. Communication through social influencers meets the needs of modern consumers through customization, perceived authenticity and interactivity. Given these benefits, it is crucial for brands to know the success factors of Social Influencer Marketing. So far, major research has been based mainly on digital performance indicators (KPIs) such as (high) number of followers, retweets or page rank. At first glance, these metrics seem to be excellent indicators of the success of a social influencer campaign. However, social influencer campaigns, which have failed despite full compliance with the requirements of these criteria, suggest that there are other relevant indicators, in particular credibility issues. This study will close this gap by examining the extent to which the requirements of the source-credibility model of Hovland et al. are relevant for social influencers. It analyzes to what extent the (1) attractiveness, (2) expertise and (3) trustworthiness of social influencers are relevant to an online social influencer campaign and the impact on brand perception constructs (brand satisfaction, brand image, brand trust) and behavior (purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium). As fashion is the most common field of activity for social influencers, the focus is on an entry-level Brand for luxury fashion. The study focuses on micro-influencers as they are the key priority for fashion brands. The testing of hypotheses is done by Structural Equation Modeling. In total, 288 data sets were employed. The results show that the most important requirement is (3) trustworthiness followed by (1) attractiveness, while the relevance of (2) expertise is surprisingly close to zero. Thus, brands should especially pay attention to the issue that their influencers communicate in a way that is perceived (e.g. not distorted by the influence of third sources.) Based on these partially counter-intuitive outcomes, implications for management and further research are developed.