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This paper aims to elucidate instances whereby celebrity endorsements by social media influencers (SMIs) embedded within online consumption communities are perceived as transgressive by their fellow community members. In doing so, this study provides insights into the new challenges and considerations that such community contexts present for celebrity endorsement.

The research team conducted a longitudinal, netnographic study of the YouTube beauty community, involving an initial phase of netnographic immersion followed by an investigative netnography that examined community members’ response to celebrity endorsements by 12 SMIs within the community.

This study identifies five recurring celebrity endorsement transgressions, each violating an established moral responsibility within the community. The paper explores how community members attribute responsibility for transgressive endorsements and identifies consequences for both the SMI and the endorsed brand.

This study focused on a single consumption community, developing a deep understanding of the distinct moral responsibilities that shape the reception of celebrity endorsements within this context.

The paper presents managerial recommendations that will aid both SMIs and brands in implementing celebrity endorsements that avoid communal perceptions of transgression.

The analysis extends prior study on celebrity endorsement by SMIs by explaining when and why SMI endorsements are likely to be perceived as transgressive by the community and providing new insights into community member responses to transgressive SMI endorsements. It also extends wider theories of celebrity endorsement by highlighting the influence of consumption community contexts upon endorsement reception and examining consumer responses to celebrity endorsements perceived as transgressive in and of themselves.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dilemma that is based on a decision to disclose or not to disclose social shopping rewards (SSRs), in an effort to enhance the effectiveness of social shopping. To protect consumers and guide marketers, emergent forms of online commerce on social media platforms warrant closer examination. One such form is social shopping, which combines social media and online shopping. To motivate word of mouth (WOM) through social signs of approval or endorsement of brands, marketers have typically relied on social shopping rewards (SSRs). It is not typical, however, for the reason behind the social endorsement to be disclosed, leaving the branded message open to multiple interpretations.

The dilemma of SSR disclosures is presented in a marketing and public policy analysis, drawing from findings from the WOM literature on disclosure, incentives, source credibility and on social media Disclosure Guidelines by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Based on this analysis and on an extension of the Dual Credibility Model, a conceptual model is proposed that shows how disclosure works through source credibility to produce positive social shopping outcomes.

In addition to the conceptual model, recommendations are made for marketing research, practice and public policy. Of significance are proposed SSR Disclosure Guidelines that extend FTC and WOMMA guidelines for best practices in disclosures in social media.

This paper represents pioneering research on the disclosure of SSRs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the type of disclosure used by social media influencers on consumer evaluations of influencer transparency, product performance expectations and how those factors ultimately influence purchase intentions.

An experiment was conducted with 321 participants recruited from MTurk to test a moderated serial-mediation model.

The results indicate that when consumers become cognizant that an influencer’s branded promotional post may have been motivated by an underlying financial relationship, they evaluate the influencer as significantly less transparent if a more ambiguous disclosure is used relative to a clearer disclosure. Transparency perceptions of the influencer impact consumers’ perceptions of product efficacy as well as purchase intentions.

Social media influencers are rapidly emerging as a popular marketing tool for brand managers, but consumer response to this form of promotion is not well understood. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how the type of endorsement disclosure used by a social media influencer impacts consumer perception of influencer transparency, product efficacy and purchase intentions. Further, this research demonstrates the applicability of the persuasion knowledge model in the domain of influencer marketing.

The emergence of social media has brought the influencer marketing landscape to an unprecedented level, where many ordinary people are turning into social media influencers. The study aims to construct and validate a model to yield strategic insights on the relevance of content curation, influencer–fans interaction and parasocial relationships development in fostering favorable endorsement outcomes (i.e. purchase intention).

The present study analyzes data from a survey of 411 consumers using partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to understand the net and combined effects of content attributes, interaction strategies and parasocial relationships on purchase intention.

PLS-SEM results reveal that content attributes (i.e. prestige and expertise) and interaction strategies (i.e. interactivity and self-disclosure) positively influence parasocial relationships, and in turn, lead to high purchase intention. Findings from fsQCA indicate six solutions with different combinations of content attributes, interaction strategies and parasocial relationships that sufficiently explain high purchase intention.

The present study demonstrates the roles of content attributes and interaction strategies in engendering parasocial relationship and the endorsement outcome (i.e. purchase intention) from both linear and non-linear (complexity) perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to examine how “homefluencers” sponsored posts on millennial consumers' purchase intention in the international marketing sphere can be impacted in the new normal by drawing on source credibility, parasocial interaction (PSI) and persuasion knowledge model (PKM) theory.

This research applies structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis as the data analysis method using non-probability purposive sampling of a total of 217 local millennial Instagram and Facebook users, who have followed homefluencers sponsored posts in fashion-beauty, yoga-fitness and food sectors.

Based on hypothesis testing, advertising recognition strongly mediates purchase intention with the indirect effects of expertise and trustworthiness than attractiveness.

This research extends the international marketing literature on source credibility, PSI, PKM and purchase intention theory in the new normal by proposing “Homefluencer's Endorsement Model for Purchase Intention” (HEMPI). Specifically, the mediating role of ad recognition of homefluencers sponsorship disclosure (#paidad, #sponsored), positively affects “change-of-persuasion meaning” on Instagram and Facebook, where research is rare.

This research provides valuable suggestions for global brand owners, consumers and authorities of Instagram and Facebook to consider post-COVID consumer behavior highlighting homefluencers sponsored collaboration.

The authors have contributed to the use of the source credibility model and PSI to identify the antecedents in determining how the homefluencer's effective sponsorship disclosure can positively activate ad recognition on millennial consumers' purchase intention in a crisis period from an international standpoint with the practical implications in post-COVID.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a change to a US policy about product testimonials affected bloggers and to understand bloggers’ perceptions of the organization-blogger relationship (OBR).

This study utilizes a survey (n=173) with closed and open-ended questions, and both quantitative and qualitative data are analyzed.

Bloggers’ decisions to accept compensation for a review may influence how much control they feel they have over the OBR. Qualitative data indicate that even as bloggers seek access to products to review, they prefer to maintain editorial control over the review process.

The study extends the transparency literature in public relations and relationship management theory by exploring the relationship between bloggers and public relations professionals through the lens of a disclosure policy.

Recommendations are offered for public relations professionals in how to maintain transparent relationships with bloggers.

Qualitative data reveal concern among bloggers about efforts to persuade them and what they should disclose; this may impact the trust that consumers have in reviews at blogs.

The study demonstrates the effects of review behaviors on the OBR and offers an organic explanation of how this relationship evolves. This is important as consumers are increasingly consulting blogs for product information. This issue also has relevance to public relations professionals, who are encouraged to broach the issue of transparency with bloggers.

This study deployed a bibliometric analysis of 604 academic articles on celebrity endorsement collected from the Scopus database from January 1960 to August 2021 (the first published article dated back to 1976). This study integrated three bibliometric analyses: timeline visualization, co-citation cluster analysis, and historical direct citation analysis. This study conducted a qualitative review to further examine the obtained quantitative results.

This study reviewed the existing research on the celebrity endorsement domain. Based on a bibliometric review of existing literature, this study aimed to provide main theoretical roots and research trajectories and propose new research avenues concerning the theory, context, characteristics, and research methodologies adopted within the marketing discipline.

The findings revealed that the existing relevant research focused on celebrity endorsement in different periods. The main theoretical roots and research trajectories identified were developed under the influence of primary articles from co-citation analysis and historical direct citation.

Based on the quantitative bibliometric analysis and a qualitative literature review, this study has provided a comprehensive overview of the current stage of this domain. The study also has underscored an abundance of celebrity endorsement literature and revealed the research topics that require further investigations to theoretically and empirically advance the understanding of celebrity endorsement.

Some topics were recommended for further research within the theory, context, characteristics, and methodology aspects. Some practical examples and suggestions are also given in the study.

This study proposed a bibliometric overview of celebrity endorsement in the marketing discipline, especially based on timeline visualization, co-citation cluster analysis, and historical direct citation analysis. Furthermore, this study offered a research agenda for further studies in the marketing discipline.

This paper aims to explore how parasocial relationships with Korean celebrity endorsers on social media result in brand credibility and loyalty.

The participants were identified through a purposive sampling approach, and they were composed of consumers who purchased Korean-celebrity-endorsed products and services of a telecommunications company. The hypothesized relationships were gauged using a predictive approach as a research design via partial least squares (PLS) path modeling.

The findings show that all hypothesized relationships are supported. In particular, social media interaction was found to have a substantial, positive and significant effect on self-disclosure. Moreover, self-disclosure has a considerably significant and direct effect on parasocial relationships and was found to indirectly affect the link between social media interactions and parasocial relationships. The results further reveal that social media interactions and parasocial relationships predict source trustworthiness, leading to brand credibility and loyalty.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present undertaking is the only study that examined how parasocial relationships on social media are built when foreign celebrities, in this case, the well-known Korean popular group BTS, endorse telecommunications products and services.

La presente investigación explora cómo las relaciones parasociales con celebridades coreanas en las redes sociales generan credibilidad de marca y lealtad.

Los participantes se identificaron mediante un muestreo intencional y estaban compuestos por consumidores que compraban productos y servicios de una empresa de telecomunicaciones avalados por famosos coreanos. Las relaciones hipotetizadas se midieron utilizando un enfoque predictivo como diseño de investigación mediante un modelo de mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS).

Los resultados muestran que todas las relaciones hipotetizadas se confirman. En particular, la interacción con los medios sociales tiene un efecto sustancial, positivo y significativo en la autodivulgación. Además, la autodivulgación tiene un efecto considerablemente significativo y directo en las relaciones parasociales y se descubrió que afecta indirectamente al vínculo entre las interacciones en los medios sociales y las relaciones parasociales. Los resultados revelan además que las interacciones en los medios sociales y las relaciones parasociales predicen la fiabilidad de la fuente, lo que conduce a la credibilidad de la marca y a la lealtad.

El presente trabajo es el único estudio que examina cómo se construyen las relaciones parasociales en los medios sociales cuando celebridades extranjeras, en este caso, el conocido grupo popular coreano BTS, promocionan productos y servicios de telecomunicaciones.

本研究探讨了在社交媒体上与韩国名人的寄生关系如何建立品牌可信度和忠诚度。

通过目的性抽样确定参与者, 包括购买韩国名人代言的电信公司产品和服务的消费者。研究设计使用偏最小二乘法（PLS）模型对假设关系进行预测测量。

研究结果表明, 所有假设关系都得到了证实。特别是, 社交媒体互动对自我披露具有实质性的、积极的和显著的影响。此外, 自我披露对寄生关系也有明显的直接影响, 并被发现间接影响社交媒体互动与寄生关系之间的联系。研究结果进一步揭示了社会化媒体互动和寄生关系能够预测来源的可信度, 从而提高品牌可信度和忠诚度。

研究结果表明, 所有假设的关系都得到了证实。特别是, 社交媒体互动对自我披露具有实质性的、积极的和显著的影响。此外, 自我披露对寄生关系也有明显的直接影响, 并被发现间接影响社交媒体互动和寄生关系之间的联系。研究结果进一步揭示了社会化媒体互动和寄生关系能够预测来源的可信度, 从而提高品牌可信度和忠诚度。

本文是唯一一篇研究外国名人在社交媒体上推广电信产品和服务时如何建立寄生社会关系的研究。

This study aims to reveal the knowledge structure of social media influencer marketing literature by performing science mapping analysis through a state-of-the-art bibliometric approach to determine the current and future trends. Social media influencer marketing is one of the most effective approaches to presenting a brand and offering value to consumers via social media.

This study evaluates the knowledge structure to uncover the emerging trends and future predictions in social media influencer marketing through bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis. In total, 917 journal publications were retrieved from the Web of Science database and analyzed using VOSviewer software.

The central theme in social media influencer marketing reflects digital engagement between influencers and followers and communication between influencers and followers. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

This study unleashes the knowledge structure according to the fundamental literature of social media influencer marketing and the underlying themes related to the phenomenon.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the presentation medium of corporate social and environmental web site disclosure has an impact on user trust in such disclosure, and to examine the effect of media richness on user perception about corporate social and environmental responsibility.

The paper's methodology is a three‐by‐two between‐subjects design experiment, manipulating presentation medium and industry type. Participants viewed social and environmental web site disclosures and completed and communicated their perceptions of trust and the experimental companies' corporate social responsibility.

The presentation medium richness of social and environmental web site disclosures is positively associated with: trusting intentions, but not trusting beliefs, of web site users; and user perception of corporate social and environmental responsibility.

As with all controlled experiments, the research design focused on internal validity to maintain control over the task design, manipulation, and measurement of variables. While this required trade‐offs with external validity, the task was designed based on real‐world scenarios to maintain high levels of external validity within the experimental setting.

The paper provides evidence that corporations could use enhanced web‐based technology to potentially mislead users regarding their performance in the social domain.

The paper extends the visual disclosure literature by examining the richness of the image/visual media, and investigates whether user perceptions are impacted by the variations in its richness.