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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 last several decades have brought about a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of disability (Fougeyrollas & Beauregard, 2001; Williams, 2001). The traditional medical model considers disability to be a characteristic of the person, situated within the body. In the medical model view, disability, or difficulty functioning in major life domains, results from bodily impairments associated with a medical diagnosis or disorder, and a medical intervention or treatment is required to “correct” the problem of the individual. Alternatively, contemporary social models argue that disability is a social construction. In the social model view, disability is created by social policies, stigma and other barriers within the social and physical environment. Changes in attitudes and policies and the removal of barriers are needed to “correct” these environmental problems.

Increasing followers' positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) is a critical means through which social media influencers (SMIs) marketers can increase SMIs' follower count. Studies have reported that authenticity and credibility increase followers' PWOM and have identified the dimensions of authenticity (i.e. originality, naturalness and continuity) and credibility (i.e. attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise). However, the mechanisms underlying the associations among these dimensions are unclear. Drawing from social exchange theory, the authors developed an integrated conceptual model and explored how the dimensions of SMI authenticity affect those of followers' perception of credibility. Moreover, the authors analyzed how followers' perception of credibility affects the followers' PWOM behavior.

The authors collected 463 valid questionnaires from respondents that followed at least one SMI. Additionally, the authors developed a structural equation model for data analysis.

The results revealed that the subdimensions of SMI authenticity have different effects on followers' perception of credibility. An SMI's continuity positively affects followers' perceptions of the SMI's trustworthiness and expertise. The naturalness of an SMI positively affects followers' perception of the SMI's attractiveness but nonsignificantly affects followers' perception of the SMI's trustworthiness. Additionally, an SMI's originality positively affects followers' perception of the SMI's attractiveness but negatively affects followers' perception of the SMI's trustworthiness. Finally, followers' perceptions of an SMI's attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise all positively affect followers' PWOM behavior.

By employing multidimensional constructs, the authors obtained results that provide a comprehensive understanding of the effects of SMI authenticity on the SMI's followers' perception of followers' credibility. These results can be used by SMIs to increase SMIs followers' PWOM by determining which aspects of authenticity and credibility SMIs should develop.

Social media influencers (SMIs) are becoming a powerful force within the marketing and branding landscape, with several leading brands opting to use SMI endorsements for their products and brands. Extant SMI literature has primarily focused on the influence mechanism exerted by SMIs on their followers. Less is known about how followers view their favorite SMIs. This study aims to explore the SMI–follower relationship from the follower’s perspective and examine the underlying attachment mechanism.

First, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the attributes that individuals consider following an SMI and ensure that it is consistent with the literature review. This was followed by a survey-based quantitative study where a structural equation modeling technique was used to test the hypotheses using 508 SMI followers.

Followers find the SMI as a source to fulfill their intrinsic needs, that is, need to escape or self- improvement. The findings of this study suggest that followers attribute glamor, fun and connectedness to the SMIs driven by their need for self-improvement and fun with their need to escape. Finally, these attributions influence the overall perceived image of the SMI in followers' minds.

This study uses qualitative and quantitative approaches to picture SMIs as human brands from a follower's need fulfillment perspective.

This paper aims to describe the comparison of two tools in assessing social marketing campaigns.

Using data collected from the campaign planners of 31 alcohol misuse prevention campaigns, two tools were compared; the Social Marketing Indicator (SMI) and Andreasen’s Benchmark Criteria.

In the case of the benchmarks, 26 per cent of the campaigns fulfilled four or more criteria and no criterion was fulfilled by more than 70 per cent. The main differences between current practices and social marketing are the often-missing segmentation and an explicit exchange. The SMI found a lower degree of resemblance between current practices and social marketing. In this case, the major differences lie in the use of behavioral theory and the absence of an exchange.

The SMI allows a more precise description of an intervention. This represents an advantage, as a campaign’s resemblance to social marketing can be reported by directly pointing out the process steps that make the difference. This is important for understanding the research evidence base in social marketing.

Although the benchmark criteria are based on a conceptual approach, the SMI is built around a core procedure. The SMI can thus help program planners from the onset of a project to make sure they do social marketing as it is defined.

This is the first empirical test comparing a new tool against the well-established, frequently critiqued, Benchmark Criteria, in gauging “social marketing” practice in health campaigns.

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.

This study aims to examine the role of social media influencers (SMI) in millennial behavioural intentions towards Islamic banks, from the perspective of both bank clients and non-clients.

Of the 484 Indonesian millennials in the sample, 278 were clients and 206 non-clients of Islamic banks. Factor analysis was used to examine the SMI dimension in the Islamic banking context. This study then used the partial least square to evaluate the proposed model and test the relationships between SMI, bank image, trust and behavioural intention.

Three SMI dimensions were confirmed, i.e. expertise, celebrity and similarity. For bank clients, the findings show that SMI has a significant influence on behavioural intention and reinforces bank image and trust. For non-clients, SMI does not have a significant impact on behavioural intentions but significantly strengthens bank image and trust.

Islamic bank managers can take benefit of this study findings by learning to foster the behavioural intentions of their millennial clients and non-clients using SMIs. Further, choosing the right SMIs for their Islamic bank is an important activity, and if they want to make a positive impact on existing and potential millennial clients, they need to choose popular millennials who are knowledgeable about the Islamic value compliance of Islamic banking services.

This study is an early study to explore SMI’s role in influencing the behavioural intentions of millennials towards Islamic banks.

Describes a study which investigated the relationship between the vision and five dimensions of leadership behaviour of principals in Hong Kong. A survey was carried out on 48 secondary schools involving 548 teachers. Half of the sample schools were in a pilot scheme of school‐based management, the school management initiative (SMI). Factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyse the data. The results suggested that five dimensions of leadership behaviour were all significantly related to the vision of principals for both types of schools. Whether the school was participating in the SMI or not also had a significant effect on the relationship between the vision of principals and three dimensions of leadership behaviour. Contrary to the expectations of the SMI and the suggestions by some researchers that teachers need to be particularly empowered in schools undergoing reforms, the findings of this study demonstrated that for principals with average and below average scores on vision, the degree of empowerment perceived by teachers in schools under the SMI was lower than for schools not under the reform. However, principals with high vision in schools under the reform had the highest scores in all five dimensions of leadership behaviour. The SMI may provide opportunities for leaders with vision to bring about a better environment for school improvement. These results provide important insights for those responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the SMI in Hong Kong, and perhaps for other systems devolving decision‐making power to more self‐managing schools.

While serious mental illness (SMI) and substance use disorders (SUD) are common, less research has focused on causal beliefs across conditions. This is an important question when trying to understand the experience of dual diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to examine how three factors representing causal beliefs (biogenetic, psychosocial or childhood adversity) differ by SMI and SUD. This study also examined how causal beliefs were associated with overall, process and outcome beliefs about recovery.

Using Mechanical Turks online panel, 195 research participants from the general public completed measures of recovery – overall, outcome and process – for SMI and SUD. Participants also completed the Causal Beliefs Scale yielding three causal factors for SMI and separately for SUD: biogenetic, psychosocial and childhood adversity.

Results indicated participants endorsed biogenetic cause more for SMI and SUD. Moreover, research participants endorsed biogenetic causes more than the other two for SMI. Results also showed the psychosocial cause was positively associated with recovery for SMI. Biogenetic causes were not. Almost none of the causal indicators was significantly associated with recovery for SUD.

Implications of these findings for future research and public efforts to enhance attitudes about recovery are discussed.

This paper aims to study how a social media influencer (SMI) endorsement affects followers’ event attitude and behavioral intentions. More importantly, it comparatively examines the role of followers’ gender in event SMI marketing effectiveness.

Based on the congruity theory of attitude change, the current study developed an integrated framework of SMI marketing. In total, 335 online surveys were collected. Partial least squares structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Results show that a follower’s attitude and behavioral intentions toward the event are affected by his or her influencer attitude. The present study also finds that follower’s social media post attitude plays a mediating role. Moreover, female followers are impacted more directly by their influencer attitude, while male followers are affected more indirectly through their attitude toward the social media posts.

The current study not only extends the event literature on SMI marketing but also provides recommendations for event professionals on SMI selection.

This study examines SMI endorsement as a relatively new marketing tool in the event setting. It also is a pioneer study in testing the effect of social media followers’ gender differences.