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Endorsement marketing has been widely used to generate consumer attention, interest and purchase decisions among targeted audiences. Internet celebrities who become famous on the Internet are dependent on strategic intimacy to appeal to their followers. Our study aims to examine how multiple exposures to Internet celebrity endorsements influence consumers’ click and purchase decisions in the context of influencer marketing.

Based on a unique and representative dataset, the authors first model consumers’ choices for clicks and purchases with two panel fixed-effect logit models linking clicks and purchases with the frequency of exposure to Internet celebrity endorsement. To further control the endogeneity produced by the intercorrelation between the click and purchase models, the authors also adopt the two-stage Heckman probit structure to jointly estimate the two models using Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Robustness checks confirm the effectiveness of the models.

The results suggest that Internet celebrity endorsement plays a significant role in bringing referral traffic to e-commerce sites but is less helpful in affecting conversion to sales. The impact of repetitive Internet celebrity endorsements on consumers’ click decisions is U-shaped, but the role of Internet celebrities as online retailers will “shape-flip” this relationship to a negative linear relation.

Our study is the first to investigate the repetitive exposure effect of Internet celebrity endorsement. The results show a contradictory pattern with a wear-out effect of repetition in the advertising literature. This is the first study to show how the endorsing self, which is a common business model in influencer marketing, moderates the effectiveness of influencer marketing.

This research examines the factors that affect business owner influencers' success in growing their businesses and making them a brand in line with the principles of the cognitive response theory (CRT).

This research examined the perceived uniqueness and originality of the posts on Nusr-et’s Instagram account as external information; information credibility was examined as a cognitive response, and desire was taken as a cognitive response and intention. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used in the analysis of the data.

According to the research findings, perceived uniqueness and originality were found to have positively affected information credibility and cognitive response, while cognitive response factors were also found to have positively affected desire. In addition, cognitive response factors were found to have mediated the effect of external information factors on desire. All these results reveal the significant accuracy of the model developed based on the CRT. In addition, age and gender variables were found to have had moderating roles. Based on the research findings, original suggestions for restaurant enterprises have been presented to help them gain a competitive advantage.

This study has found that the posts shared by business owner influencers have affected their followers in their desire to eat in the promoted restaurants and therefore, entrepreneurs and owners of the food and beverage industry should give importance to the preparation of social media content that could directly affect customers for visit to their restaurants and regularly post such contents in their social media accounts.

This research has been one of the first research papers using a model to reveal the reasons for behavioral intention in the field of hospitality based on the CRT.

Drawing from social comparison theory, this study investigates the factors influencing benign or malicious envy toward influencers and the effects of envy on social media users' choice of endorsed or rival brands.

A sample of 453 social media users was obtained to examine the research model.

Homophily and symbolism positively affect both benign and malicious envy. Credibility affects benign envy positively but malicious envy negatively. Deservingness affects malicious envy negatively but exerts no effect on benign envy. Benign envy has a greater influence on choosing brands endorsed by influencers than it does on choosing rival brands; these effects are more substantial under conditions of high perceived control. By contrast, malicious envy significantly affects the choice of purchasing rival brands; however, this effect is not influenced by perceived control.

This study unveils a key aspect of the endorser–follower relationship by analyzing the effect of envy toward social media influencers on followers' intention to purchase endorsed or rival brands. This study identifies the differential effects of two types of envy on brand choice.

This study aims to provide a holistic review of social media influencers (SMIs) research based on a unique approach of bibliometric analysis and content analysis between 2011 and 2020. The review examines the main influential aspects, themes and research streams to identify research directions for the future.

The sample selection and data collection were done from the Scopus database. The sample dataset was refined based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria to determine the final dataset of 183 articles. The dataset was exported in the BibTeX format and then imported into the BiblioShiny app for bibliometric analysis. The content analysis was done following the theory-context-methodology framework.

The several findings of this study include (1) Co-word analysis of most used keywords; (2) Longitudinal thematic evolution; (3) The focus of the research papers as per the theory-context-methodology review protocol are persuasion knowledge model, fashion and beauty industries, Instagram and content analysis, respectively; and (4) The network analysis of the research studies is known as the co-citation analysis and depicts the intellectual structure in the domain. This analysis resulted in four clusters of the research streams from the literature and two emergent themes (Chen et al., 2010)

In general, the previous reviews in the area are either domain, method or theory-based. Thus, this study aims to complement and extend the existing literature by presenting the overall picture of the SMI research with the help of a unique combined approach and further highlighting the trends and future research directions based on the findings of this study.

The purpose of this study is to propose and test an extended theory of planned behavior model to explain the significance of social media influencers’ credibility, social media usage (SMU) and social media marketing while simultaneously examining females’ intentions to purchase cosmetics online.

An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 386 female consumers of cosmetics, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of SmartPLS version 4.

First, the results indicated that SMU, social media influencers’ credibility and social media marketing significantly and positively impact the theory of planned behavior components, namely, attitude, subjective norms (SNs) and perceived behavioral control (PBC). Second, results confirmed that attitude, SNs and PBC significantly and positively influenced female consumers’ online purchase intentions (OPIs).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine an integrated model that consisted of SMU, social media marketing and social media influencers along with the theory of planned behavior constructs in their proposed research model in the context of cosmetics in India. The study also enriched the body of knowledge about using the PLS-SEM approach to predict OPI for cosmetics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of homophily between trust in social media influencers (SMIs) and credibility of the post in influencer marketing by incorporating the similarity attraction theory (SAT) and analysing the effect of trust in SMIs on online purchase intention and credibility of the post. This study also explored the mediating role of influencers’ credibility of the post between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention.

The data were collected from 417 respondents in Jaipur, India, using an online questionnaire via Google Forms. A convenience sampling technique was employed to collect the data. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses with the help of SmartPLS version 4.

The results exhibit a positive and significant influence of trust in SMIs on credibility of the post and online purchase intention. Also, this study found a positive and significant relationship between credibility of the post and online purchase intention. Additionally, credibility of the post had a positive and significant mediation role in the relationship between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention. In addition, homophily positively moderated the relationship between trust in SMIs and credibility of the post.

The findings of this study can be used by marketing professionals working in the e-commerce industry to ensure their continued in success using the right influencers for their specific target audiences and help them create and implement more effective promotional strategies, increasing brand awareness, announcing sales, using them for creative content and so on.

Until now, there has been no study in the Indian context that has tested the moderation effect of homophily between the trust in SMIs and credibility of the post by incorporating the SAT, according to the researchers’ knowledge. Furthermore, this novel piece of research explored the relationship between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention with credibility of the post as a mediator.

This study attempts to encapsulate the idea of influencer marketing in the food sector and the vital role played by food influencers in shaping the dietary preferences, tastes and decisions of their social media followers and turning them into brand advocates.

An online survey of 383 social media users, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire, was undertaken to validate the proposed research design. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was used to analyze the data and test the relationships between the constructs.

The results confirm the validity and reliability of the research model. The research revealed the positive influence of influencer–follower demographics and attitude congruence on followers’ food choices, which in turn leads to followers’ delight and significantly impacts their brand advocacy. It also depicts how followers’ perceived trust in an influencer mediates the relationship between their similarity with the influencers, their food choices and brand advocacy.

The study proposes a new theoretical framework and empirically tests the effectiveness of influencer marketing in influencing social media users’ food choice behavior and brand advocacy through the medium of followers’ congruence with social media influencers. The findings offer noteworthy theoretical and managerial implications for academicians as well as marketing practitioners.

This study aims to examine the impact of firm-generated content (FGC) on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) influencers, focussing on inclusive marketing strategies and enquires the ability of LGBTQ+ influencers to enhance brand engagement and loyalty within diverse communities.

A quantitative approach was utilized, and data was collected via social media platforms. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to explore the relationships between FGC, influencer content, dimensions of place attachment and brand loyalty.

According to the findings FGC positively influences LGBTQ+ influencers, which in turn affect in a significant way place identity and place social bonding. Both dimensions of place attachment were found to have a positive impact on brand loyalty, which indicate that LGBTQ+ influencers have an important role in enhancing brand engagement through inclusive marketing.

Firms in order to increase their brand loyalty and customer engagement, need to adopt inclusive marketing strategies that resonate with LGBTQ+ communities. In order to do so they need to work with LGBTQ+ influencers that can effectively communicate the brand’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, thus fostering a stronger emotional connection with the brand.

This study introduces a conceptual framework that highlights the mediator role of place attachment in the relationship between influencer marketing and brand loyalty. This research contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of leveraging LGBTQ+ influencers in inclusive marketing campaigns.

This study aims to empirically test how sponsored video customization (i.e. the degree to which a sponsored video is customized for a sponsoring brand) affects video shares differently depending on influencer characteristics (i.e. mega influencer and expert influencer) and brand characteristics (i.e. brand establishment and product involvement).

This study uses a unique real-world data set that combines coded variables (e.g. customization) and objective video performance (e.g. sharing) of 365 sponsored videos to test the hypotheses. A negative binomial model is used to analyze the data set.

This study finds that the effect of video customization on video shares varies across contexts. Video customization positively affects shares if they are made for well-established brands and high-involvement products but negatively influences shares if they are produced by mega and expert influencers.

This study extends the influencer marketing literature by focusing on a new media modality – sponsored video. Drawing on the multiple inference model and the persuasion knowledge theory, this study teases out different conditions under which video customization is more or less likely to foster audience engagement, which both influencers and brands care about. The chosen research setting may limit the generalizability of the findings of this study.

The findings suggest that mega and expert influencers need to consider if their endorsement would backfire on a highly customized video. Brands that aim to engage customers with highly-customized videos should gauge their decision by taking into consideration their years of establishment and product involvement. For video-sharing platforms, especially those that are planning to expand their businesses to include “matching-making services” for brands and influencers, the findings provide theory-based guidance on optimizing such matches.

This paper fulfills an urgent research need to study how brands and influencers should produce sponsored videos to achieve optimal outcomes.

Digital influencers, besides being a personal branding phenomenon, constitute, nowadays, important partners for brands in the digital environment. Despite the benefits for both parties, the brand and the endorser, there is a risk when the individuals or the brand take part in some scandal or questionable activity, which causes a loss of credibility and reputation. The contagious effect of personal or corporate brand crisis with the partners is well reported in the literature. However, there are no studies about such occurrence in the digital environment, considering that the phenomenon of digital influence has some particularities differing from traditional celebrity endorsement. This chapter focuses on the research of the consequences of a change in the credibility of influencers or brands, after the occurrence of a negative situation, and the way in which this change affects the two parties involved, the brand and the influencer. We conducted a netnographic study of the social media pages of three digital influencers and the social media pages of a recognized fast fashion brand recognized in the digital world. We analyzed 1500 social media comments from their audiences and found that influencers suffer from a loss in sympathy and credibility by scandals while crisis communication strategies in corporate brands can prevent such damages. Strategic implications for brand managers and digital influencers managing their endorsements are addressed in the discussion.