Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-17-2024

Abstract

The use of influencer marketing campaigns has increased exponentially in recent years as brands have embraced such campaigns in order to capitalize on the relationships that social media influencers (SMIs) have built with their followers as a means of increasing brand awareness and sales. Although influencer marketing is extensively utilized in practice, much is still unknown about the effects of these campaigns, including potential downsides and audience-level variables that could moderate their success. In the current research, we find that partnering with SMIs is perceived as a norm violation for consumers with a high brand attachment, negatively impacting consumption intentions. Across five studies, we show that social media posts originating from an SMI, as opposed to the brand, lead to lower purchase intentions and willingness to pay for consumers with a high brand attachment. Additionally, we consider several moderators to this effect, including the salience of the sponsorship and consumers' attachment to the SMI. We also provide process evidence by documenting that perceptions of a norm violation mediate these effects.

Comments

This article was originally published in Journal of Consumer Psychology in 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1432

jcpy1432-sup-0001-supinfo.docx (8000 kB)
Supporting Information

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

The authors

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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