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Influencers' intimate self-disclosure and its impact on consumers' self-brand connections: scale development, validation, and application

Fernanda Polli Leite (Business School, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil)
Paulo de Paula Baptista (Business School, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil)

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing

ISSN: 2040-7122

Article publication date: 21 September 2021

Issue publication date: 12 July 2022

2667

Abstract

Purpose

This study develops and validates a scale to measure social media influencers' intimate self-disclosure (SMIs' ISD), by accessing consumer perceptions of the intimacy levels of SMIs' self-disclosure. The authors further evaluate the extent to which SMIs' ISD fosters consumers' self-brand connections via consumer-SMI parasocial relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The scale was developed through item generation, purification, and validation. First, items were generated from existing scales and revised based on feedback provided by experts. The items were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using an online survey with 433 participants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the predictive power of SMIs' ISD on parasocial relationships and self-brand connections.

Findings

The results suggest that the perceived SMIs' ISD is a unidimensional construct. As proposed, SMIs' ISD enhances consumer-brand connections through the underlying mechanism of consumers' sense of being in a parasocial relationship with an SMI.

Originality/value

This study advances self-disclosure and influencer marketing literature by addressing the lack of measures on SMIs' ISD from a consumer perspective and the scarcity of empirical understanding of how brands can profit from SMIs' capabilities to make intimate self-disclosure. Based on the literature review, this study is the first to empirically consider factual, emotional, and cognitive intimacy to develop scale and demonstrate the importance of SMIs' ISD in developing consumers' self-brand connections.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the research support accorded by the Brazilian Government Agency Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

Citation

Leite, F.P. and Baptista, P.d.P. (2022), "Influencers' intimate self-disclosure and its impact on consumers' self-brand connections: scale development, validation, and application", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 420-437. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-05-2020-0111

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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