The effects of social media influencers’ credibility on product evaluation, product attitude, and purchase intention: The mediating effects of product-influencer fit

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the impact of social media influencers' credibility, knowledge, and attractiveness on customers' evaluations of products and services within the domain of social media. This investigation was conducted by utilizing the theoretical framework of source credibility theory. This study also investigates the impact of product appraisal on customers' views about the product and its subsequent influence on their intentions to make a purchase. This study identified three key qualities, including source credibility, product appraisal, and product-influencer fit, which were found to be significant. Additionally, this study also revealed the mediating impact of these characteristics. A web-based survey was administered, and the collected data was subjected to analysis via structural equation modeling (SEM). This study found that out of the three elements of source credibility, trustworthiness was the only one that had a statistically significant impact on product appraisal. The findings from the conducted tests indicate that there was no statistically significant impact of competence and attractiveness on the appraisal of the product. Furthermore, it is important to note that the concept of product-influencer fit played a role as a mediator solely in the association between trustworthiness and product appraisal. Also, a significant correlation was seen between product evaluation and product perception. More importantly, it was determined that the purchase intentions of customers were notably impacted by their perceptions and evaluations of the respective products. Therefore, given the influence of trustworthiness on customers' evaluations of items and their positive brand perceptions, social media influencers could be a reliable and effective medium for disseminating marketing communications to consumers.