Instagrammers’ Attributes and Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Consumer Perceptions
摘要
Instagram is one of the largest and most influential social networks for brand communication, due to its focus on visual content and high engagement. Offering various tools for businesses, it makes it a powerful platform for e-commerce and digital marketing. This study aims to determine how the attributes of Instagrammers—physical and social attractiveness and homophilic attitude—can affect consumer purchasing intentions, based on an in-depth analysis of influencer marketing. Special attention is paid to the mediating role of the characteristics of digital influencers perceived by the consumer—trustworthiness, parasocial relationship, and expertise. The results from a sample of 171 followers show that homophilic attitude has a more noticeable effect on trustworthiness; physical attractiveness positively influences parasocial relationships, and social attractiveness positively affects all three perceived characteristics. Both perceived expertise and parasocial relationships have positive effects on purchase intention. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer behavior, and the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns by identifying which attributes are most persuasive. In addition to brands, it also gives feedback to influencers.