Date of Award
Spring 5-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Health and Strategic Communication
First Advisor
Dr. Hannah Ball
Second Advisor
Dr. Sara LaBelle
Third Advisor
Dr. Vikki Katz
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth L. Cohen
Abstract
Social media influencers (SMIs/influencers) are frequently used for marketing and public relations purposes (i.e., influencer marketing), but can be leveraged to avoid resistance to health campaign messages. Guided by psychological reactance theory (PRT), the purpose of this dissertation was to (a) uncover micro-influencer characteristics that mitigate reactance toward sponsored social media posts, (b) investigate whether influencers induce less reactance than non- influencers when disseminating sponsored health content, and (c) experimentally test whether influencer source characteristics mitigate reactance to sponsored health messaging. In Study One, focus groups with Gen Z Instagram users (N = 12) identified SMI use of controlling, “one size fits all,” and derogatory language in sponsored posts as freedom threatening. Alternatively, participants mentioned sponsorship congruence, sustained authenticity, seamlessness, and personability/relatability mitigated freedom threat perceptions of sponsored content. Participant preferences for the message source varied depending on the severity of the health behavior being promoted, showing that Gen Z are in favor of influencer-health organization collaborations that combine both influencers and non-influencers. In Study Two, participants (N = 336) who were between 18 and 27 years old (i.e., Gen Z) and follow at least one Instagram influencer were randomly assigned to view one of three sponsored Instagram posts encouraging sunscreen use. The messages manipulated the source of the message and sponsorship congruence. Results of a serial mediation analysis indicated that sponsorship congruence (relative to non-congruence) and an influencer message (relative to a non-influencer message) did not significantly reduce freedom threat perceptions to a sponsored influencer post. However, as predicted, perceived freedom threat was positively associated with reactance, reactance was negatively associated with attitude toward sunscreen use, and attitude was positively related to behavioral intention toward using sunscreen daily. There was no evidence of an indirect effect of sponsorship congruence or source on behavioral intention sequentially through perceived freedom threat, reactance, and attitudes. This inquiry offers theoretical implications by being one of the first to experimentally investigate influencers’ potential in mitigating reactance to sponsored messaging by focusing on the source and sponsorship congruence. Practically, this work provides health campaign designers with clear recommendations for sponsored influencer messaging on social media.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Pick, L. D. (2025). A mixed-method examination of social media influencers’ source characteristics in sponsored health campaign messaging: An application of psychological reactance theory. [Doctoral dissertation, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000629
