Trust in social media influencers and purchase intention: An empirical analysis

Zeynep Alkan 1 * , Sevilay Ulas 2
More Detail
1 Near East University, CYPRUS
2 Cankaya University, Ankara, TURKEY
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article No: e202301. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/12783
OPEN ACCESS   2731 Views   5368 Downloads   Published online: 01 Jan 2023
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

Influencers have entered our lives as a new communication tool with the developments in social media. The aim of the study is to reveal the relationship between the trust in the influence and the purchase intention in the influencer communication process. An online questionnaire was applied between 21-28 May 2020 to the students who were studying at the Near East University in the spring term of 2019-2020 and followed an influencer. It was found that influencers expressing opinions increased the trust towards them and that there is a positive correlation between trust in the influencer and purchasing intention. It was found that there were no significant difference between genders in terms of trust in influencer and purchase intentions of the participants following the influencer were moderate. There was no significant difference between the time spent on social media and the purchase intention however, significant differences were found between trust in influencer and education and monthly income. The subject being up-to-date and limited number of studies in the field can be considered as the originality of this study. Since it was implemented in the first period of the pandemic, the study sheds light to this process. The purchasing and trust scale has been adapted and developed for influencers. In this case, it is among the features of the study.
Keywords: influencer, influencer communication, trust and influencer, purchase intention and influencer

CITATION

Alkan, Z., & Ulas, S. (2023). Trust in social media influencers and purchase intention: An empirical analysis. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 13(1), e202301. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/12783

REFERENCES

  • Akarsu, B., & Akarsu, B. (2019). Bilimsel araştırma tasarımı- Nicel, nitel ve karma araştırma yaklaşımları [Scientific research design - Quantitative, qualitative and mixed research approaches]. Cinius Publications, Istanbul.
  • Alikilic, I., & Ozkan, B. (2018). Bir sosyal medya pazarlama trendi, hatırlı pazarlama ve etkileyiciler: Instagram fenomenleri üzerine bir araştırma [A social media marketing trend, memorable marketing and influencers: A study on Instagram influencers.]. Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 1(2), 43-57.
  • Bahar, R. (2019). Otomotiv sektöründe müşterilerin atfetme eğilimlerinin marka güveni ve müşteri memnuniyeti perspektifinden incelenmesi [Examining the attribution trends of customers in the automotive industry from the perspective of brand trust and customer satisfaction] [Doctoral dissertation, Balikesir University, Institute of Social Sciences].
  • Bakshy, E., Hofman, J. M., Mason, W., & Watts, D. J. (2011). Everyone’s an influencer: Quantifying influence on twitter [Paper presentation]. In 3rd ACM Conference on Web Search and Data Mining. ACM Press, Hong Kong. https://doi.org/10.1145/1935826.1935845
  • Balci, A. (2015). Sosyal bilimlerde araştırma yöntem, teknik ve ilkeler [Research methods, techniques and principles in social sciences] (11 Ed.). Pegem Akademi, Ankara.
  • Barker, L., Hannaford, J., Muchan, K., Turner, S., & Parry, S. (2016). The winter 2015/2016 floods in the UK: a hydrological appraisal. Weather, 71(12), 324-333. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2822
  • Boerman, S. C., Willemsen, L. M., Van der Aa, E. P. (2017). “This post Is sponsored” Effects of sponsorship disclosure on persuasion knowledge and electronic word of mouth in the context of Facebook. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 38, 82-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2016.12.002
  • Bor, M. H., & Erten A. (2019). Dijital çağın mesleği-Nasıl influencer olunur? [The profession of the digital age-How to become an influencer?]. Hürriyet Kitap, Istanbul.
  • Braatz, L. A. (2017). #Influencer marketing on Istara, consumer responses towards promotional posts: The effects of message sidedness and product depiction [Master’s thesis, University of Twente, Holland].
  • Brown, D., & Fiorella, S. (2013). Influencer marketing- How to create, manage, and measure brand influencers in social media marketing. QUE, USA.
  • Brown, D., & Hayes, N. (2008). Influencer marketing who really influencers your customers ? Butteworth- Heiman, Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080557700
  • Caliskan, M., & Mencik, Y. (2015). Değişen Dünyanın yeni yüzü: Sosyal media. Akademik Bakış Dergisi, (50), 254-277.
  • Cetin Aslan, F., & Özic, N. (2020). Bütünleşik pazarlama iletişiminde Instagram fenomenlerinin satın almaya etkisi [The effect of Instagram phenomena on purchasing in integrated marketing communications], Journal of Business Research-Turk, 12(1), 157-172.
  • Cetin, O. I., & Kumkale, I. (2016). Sosyal medya kullanım düzeyi ve satın alma niyeti arasındaki ilişkide faydacı motivasyonun aracı etkisi [The mediating effect of utilitarian motivation on the relationship between social media usage level and purchase intention]. Balkan ve Yakın Doğu Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2(4), 90-100.
  • Chen, Y. C., Shang, R. A., & Li, M. J. (2014). The effects of perceived relevance of travel blogs’ content on the behavioral intention to visit a tourist destination. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 787-799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.05.019
  • Coskun, C. (2018). Marka, ajans ve YouTuber üçgeninde nüfuz pazarlamasının belirleyici unsurları [Determinants of influence marketing in the triangle of brand, agency and YouTuber] [Master’s thesis, Basaksehir University, Institute of Social Sciences].
  • CreatorDen. (2018). Tüm pazarlamacıların bilmesi gereken 3 influencer türü [3 types of influencers all marketers should know]. https://creatorden.com/tum-pazarlamacilarin-bilmesi-gereken-3-influencer-turu/
  • Daimi, S. (2019). The effects of social media influencers on the customer brand relationship [Master’s thesis, Bahcesehir University, Institute of Social Sciences].
  • Ecmercer. (2015). Celebrity as a “Practice”. https://ecmercer.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/celebrity-as-a-practice/
  • Einarsdottir, V. A. (2017). “From celebrities to the girl next door” Influencer marketing with a special focus on the social media platform, Instagram [Bachelor’s thesis, Háskóli Islands].
  • Gashi, L. (2017). Social media influencers – why we cannot ignore them: An exploratory study about how consumers perceive the influence of social media influencers during the different stages of the purchase decision process. [Bachelor’s thesis, Kristianstad University].
  • Gorgulu, G., & Farajova, T. (2017). Sosyal medya fenomenleri takipçilerinin satın alma tercihilerini etkiliyor mu? [Do social media phenomena affect the purchasing preferences of their followers?] [Istanbul Bilgi University, School of Communication].
  • Inanc, A. S., & Cesur, D. K. (2018). Günümüz yeni marka elçileri olarak vlogger’ların tüketici kanaatleri üzerindeki rolü: Tüketici/takipçi yorumları üzerine bir araştırma [The role of vloggers on consumer opinion as today's new brand ambassadors: A research on consumer/follower comments]. Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 1(2), 68-67.
  • Johansen, I. K., & Guldvik, C. S. (2017). Influencer marketing and purchase intentions how does influencer marketing affect purchase intentions? [Master’s thesis, Norwegian School of Economics].
  • Kim, Y., & Tran, V. (2013). Assessing the ripple effects of online opinion leaders with trust and distrust metrics. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(9), 3500-3511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.12.058
  • Kiran, S., Yilmaz, C., & Emre, I. E. (2019). Instagram’daki influencer’ların takipçiler üzerindeki etkisi [The influence of influencers on Instagram on followers]. Uluslararası Yönetim Bilişim Sistemleri ve Bilgisayar Bilimleri Dergisi, 3(2), 100-111. https://doi.org/10.33461/uybisbbd.637155
  • Kurt, A. A. (Ed.). (2013). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri [Scientific research methods]. Anadolu University.
  • Kutukoglu, G. (2019). Sosyal medyanın satın alma karar sürecindeki rolü: Giresun ilinde bir uygulama [The role of social media in the purchasing decision process: An application in Giresun]. [Master’s thesis, Giresun University].
  • Lee, H. S. S., Khong, K. W., & Hong, J. L. (2014). Influence of online shopping enjoyment and trust towards purchase intention in social commerce sites. Handbook on the emerging trends in scientific research.
  • Li, N., & Zhang, P. (2002). Consumer online shopping attitudes and behavior: An assessment of research. Former Departments, Centers, Institutes and Projects, 57, 508-517.
  • Linqia. (2017). The state of influencer marketing 2017. https://www.linqia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-State-of-Influencer-Marketing-2017_Final-Report.pdf
  • Lueck, J. (2012). Friend-zone with benefits: The parasocial advertising of Kim Kardashian. Journal of Marketing Communications, 21(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2012.726235
  • Magforher. (2017). Duygu Özaslan ve Bobbi Brown iş birliği beklediğimize değdi [The collaboration of Duygu Özaslan and Bobbi Brown was worth the wait]. http://www.magforher.com/duygu-ozaslan-bobbi-brown/
  • Mat, B. (2019). The effects of influencer marketing activities on Y generation’s purchase intentions [Master’s thesis, Bahcesehir University].
  • Mediakix. (2019). Influencer marketing 2019: Key statistics from our influencer marketing survey. https://mediakix.com/influencer-marketing-resources/influencer-marketing-industry-statistics-survey-benchmarks/
  • Messiaen, J. (2017). Influencer marketing how the popularity threshold of Instagram influencers impacts consumer behaviour: The moderating role of purchase involvement [Master’s thesis, Universiteit Gent].
  • Moe, W. W. (2003). Buying, searching, or browsing: Differentiating between online shoppers using in-store navigational clickstream. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(1), 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327663JCP13-1&2_03
  • Moscovici, S., & Personnaz, B. (1980). Studies in social influence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16(3), 270-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(80)90070-0
  • Nadezhda, L., & Zeina, O. (2017). The impact of influencers on online purchase intent [Master’s thesis, Mälardalen University].
  • Nasermoadeli, A., Ling, K., & Maghnati, F. (2013). Evaluating the impacts of customer experience on purchase intention. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(6), 128-138. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v8n6p128
  • Ozaslan, D. (2017). Sonunda bu haberi sizlerle paylaşabiliyorum! [Finally I can share this news with you!] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHB-myqoBnI&t=170s
  • Salomon, D. (2013). Moving on from Facebook: Using Instagram to connect with undergraduates and engage in teaching and learning. ACRL TechConnect, 408-412. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.74.8.8991
  • Santora, J. (2020). 80 influencer marketing statistics for 2020. influenermarketinghub.com. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/
  • Sertoglu, A. E., Catli, O., Korkmaz, S. (2014). Examining the effect of endorser credibility on the consumers’ buying intentions: An empirical study in Turkey. International Review of Management and Marketing, 4(1), 66-77.
  • Shi, A. Y., Sia, C. L., & Chen, H. (2013). Leveraging social grouping for trust building in foreign electronic commerce firms: An exploratory study. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), 419-428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2013.02.001
  • Swant, M. (2016). Twitter says users now trust influencers nearly as much as their friends. adweek.com. https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/twitter-says-users-now-trust-influencers-nearly-much-their-friends-171367/
  • Szczurski, M. M. (2017). Social media influencer-lifestyle or a profession of the XXIst century? International Journal of Management and Applied Science, 3(10), 4-7.
  • Toksari, M., & Murutsoy, M. (2019). Instagramdaki sosyal medya fenomenlerinin tuketicilerin satın alma davranışlarına etkisi [The effect of social media phenomena on the purchasing behavior of consumers on Instagram]. Sosyal, Beşeri ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 2(8), 586-603. https://doi.org/10.26677/TR1010.2019.201
  • Ulas, S., & Alkan, Z. (2020). Marka etkileşimi ve influencerlar (etkileyiciler): Bobby Brown kampanyası örneği. [Brand engagement and influencers: A case study of Bobbi Brown campaign], Egemia Ege Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Medya ve İletişim Araştırmaları Hakemli E-Dergisi, 6, 91-115.
  • Veissi, I. (2017). Influencer marketing on Instagram [Bachelor’s thesis, Haaga Helia, University of Applied Sciences].