University of Twente Student Theses
#InstaFamous: The Effect of Influencer Type and Brand Familiairity on Brand attitude and Corporate Reputation : The moderating roles of influencer fit and brand experience
Wijnen, J.M.M. (2019) #InstaFamous: The Effect of Influencer Type and Brand Familiairity on Brand attitude and Corporate Reputation : The moderating roles of influencer fit and brand experience.
|
PDF
970kB |
| Abstract: | Introduction – Nowadays, social media replaces traditional media as being the most prominent media platform. Along with this change come new opportunities and challenges for, among others, the field of brand management. Increasingly, consumers tend to find information about products and services no longer from offline sources, but from digital word-of-mouth sources like social media and review websites. Third parties are increasingly used to promote a company on social media. This is a new type of independent providers of social media posts, who shape the attitudes of a company’s audience, called ‘social media influencers’. Purpose – Since the use of influencers is currently increasing, while the field of research is still predominantly unexplored, the purpose of this research is to give advise to companies about the effect and the use of influencers for business purposes. This research examines the effect of influencer type on brand attitude and corporate reputation and the interaction effect of influencer type and brand familiarity. Which type of influencer fits best with a familiar brand and which type fits best with an unfamiliar brand? Do the effects limit to marketing communication strategies or should influencers be involved in corporate communication strategies as well? Companies can adjust their influencer strategies to these outcomes. Method – This research was conducted with a 3x2 experiment through an online survey. Each respondent was exposed to one of the six conditions. The stimulus material consisted of one picture, including an influencer type (celebrity, social media influencer or unknown) and a brand (Nike or YS). After exposure of the picture, the respondents were asked to answer questions about brand attitude and corporate reputation, and additionally about brand familiarity, brand experience and influencer fit. Results – There was no interaction effect between influencer type and brand familiarity. This means that the type of influencer that is used by a company does not have to depend on the familiarity of the brand. Furthermore, there were no significant effects found between influencer type and brand attitude and corporate reputation. Both dependent variables could be seen as one variable for influencer type. Influencer fit had a direct positive effect on brand attitude and corporate reputation, instead of a moderating role on the effect of influencer type on the dependent variables. Conclusion – From the findings we can conclude that influencer type does not play a significant role in consumers’ brand attitude and corporate reputation. This does not say that influencers are not useful for businesses, because there are many other business evaluations that could be affected positively by influencers but were not included within this research. However, influencer fit has a significant effect on both brand attitude and corporate reputation. This means that before choosing an influencer, companies have to determine or investigate whether the influencer fits with their brand according to consumers. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 05 communication studies |
| Programme: | Communication Studies MSc (60713) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/77360 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page