Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study

• Published in: Psychology & marketing Vol. 36; no. 12; pp. 1267 - 1276
• Main Authors: Torres, Pedro, Augusto, Mário, Matos, Marta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.12.2019
• Subjects: Advertisements; attitude toward the endorsement; attractiveness; brand attitude; Celebrities; congruence; Consumer attitudes; digital influencers; Endorsements; Influencer marketing
• ISSN: 0742-6046; 1520-6793
• DOI: 10.1002/mar.21274

The advertising and marketing literature have established that celebrity endorsements constitute an effective way to enhance attitudes toward brands and increase purchase intents. However, there are no relevant studies on digital influencers. This study addresses the research gap by examining the effect of digital influencers' attractiveness and the effect of the congruence between a digital influencer and a brand on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. By applying structural equation modeling to a sample of 307 followers of digital influencers, a model was tested and group analysis was performed for two categories (“entertainment & video games” and “fashion & beauty”). The results show that both brand attitudes and purchase intentions are influenced by the digital influencer's attractiveness (which includes both likeability and familiarity) and by the congruence between the digital influencer and the brand. This study makes several contributions to both theory and practice, which are highlighted in this paper.