Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.2 Managerial implication
Based on the result of our study on micro-influencer is something that marketer should use in order to increase purchase intention and brand trust. Perceived expertise of the micro-influencer needed to be highly considered as it plays an important role and have a positive impact on both brand trust and purchase intention. Therefore, choosing micro-influencer with greater level of expertise can definitely enhance both brand trust and purchase intention of the brand. However, product involvement of the consumer is somewhat not necessary when we chose micro-influencer as it does not have any significant effect on both brand trust and purchase intention. When we further consider different level of follower base of micro-influence with their expertise, the result shows that high follower base has more impact to purchase intention than low and medium follower base. So, if the purpose is to increase the purchase intention, selecting micro-influencer with high expertise and follower base is still the best option amongall levels.
35
In contrast with brand trust, micro influencer with low and medium follower base does not have significant impact on brand trust. However, it is interesting that micro influencer with high follower base has a negative interaction effect on brand trust. It might due to the fact that perceived expertise of micro-influencer would not be important to enhance brand trust as the followers would only look at the number of influencers not their expertise. This may be corresponding with the social identity behavior that the consumers might want to belong to the group or community and often imitate the influencers’ behavior and action on Instagram or social media platform regardless of their perceived expertise as long as the influencer have certain level of follower base and popularity. Moreover, in this present people become micro-influencer more easily due to the ease of the internet. So, there are various kind of micro-influencer that might not have a good image.
For an example, during that time there might be lots of micro-influencer with bad behavior that could destroy the trust from the public as a whole. Thus, there are so many other facts that could intervening trust. Even though media influencer have is already powerful but in consumer aspect it might be some doubt whether we can trust the influence when the influencer promotes the product since most of them are paid to promote product or service. It might because micro-influencer with high level of follower base might become celebrity in customer perspective
From a managerial implication perspective, the study offered several considerations when marketer select a social media influencer to improve their purchase intention or gain competitive advantages in the market and able to attract the targeted audience. Based on the results, brand trust and perceived expertise can influence purchase intention of consumers. Therefore, marketer should pay attention on using the appropriate influencer for the marketing campaign.
36 5.3 Limitations and future research
Even though the finding has potential implications for marketers and other researcher, there are still several limitations exists, some underlying mechanisms can affect these factors as well, such as the sponsorship discloser, different kinds of posts, attractiveness of the influencer and product category. Also, it would be interesting if cost effectiveness is investigated. Further research needs to be done in order to compare and make these results more generalizable. Future research could examine other moderator such as product category, brand familiarity as well as to compare the effectiveness of micro-influencer with nano-influencer.
37 References
Abidin, C. (2016). Visibility labour: Engaging with Influencers’ fashion brands and# OOTD advertorial campaigns on Instagram. Media International Australia, 161(1), 86-100.
Aurifeille, J. M., Quester, P. G., Lockshin, L., & Spawton, T. (2002). Global vs international involvement‐based segmentation. International Marketing Review.
Applbaum, R. F., & Anatol, K. W. (1972). The factor structure of source credibility as a function of the speaking situation.
Atkin, C., & Block, M. (1983). Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. Journal of advertising research.
Bouhlel, O., Mzoughi, N., Hadiji, D., & Slimane, I. B. (2011). Brand personality's influence on the purchase intention: A mobile marketing case. International Journal of Business and
Management, 6(9), 210.
Bloch, P. H., & Richins, M. L. (1983). Shopping without purchase: An investigation of consumer browsing behavior. ACR North American Advances.
Bughin, J., Doogan, J., & Vetvik, O. J. (2010). A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing. McKinsey Quarterly, 2, 113-116.
Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2018). Influencers on Instagram: Antecedents and consequences of opinion leadership. Journal of Business Research.
Celsi, R. L., & Olson, J. C. (1988). The role of involvement in attention and comprehension processes. Journal of consumer research, 15(2), 210-224.
ChaudhuriA, H. M. B. (2001). TheChain ofEffectsfrom BrandTrustandBrandAffectto BrandPerformance: TheRoleofBrandLoyalty. JournalofMarketing, 65(2), 81-93.
Chaudhuri, A., & Holbrook, M. B. (2002). Product-class effects on brand commitment and brand
38
outcomes: The role of brand trust and brand affect. Journal of Brand Management, 10(1), 33-58.
Cox, W., Considine, T., & Principal, T. (2009). Price communication, product definition, and service-oriented energy. Grid-Interop, Denver, CO, USA, 17-19.
Daneshvary, R., & Schwer, R. K. (2000). The association endorsement and consumers’ intention to purchase. Journal of consumer marketing.
De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages:
An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of interactive marketing, 26(2), 83-91.
De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V., & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through Instagram influencers: the impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798-828.
Delgado‐Ballester, E., & Munuera‐Alemán, J. L. (2001). Brand trust in the context of consumer loyalty. European Journal of marketing.
Djafarova, E., & Rushworth, C. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities' Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 1-7.
Dwivedi, A., & Johnson, L. W. (2013). Trust–commitment as a mediator of the celebrity endorser–brand equity relationship in a service context. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 21(1), 36-42.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of marketing research, 18(1), 39-50.
Gotlieb, J. B., & Sarel, D. (1991). Comparative advertising effectiveness: The role of involvement and source credibility. Journal of Advertising, 20(1), 38-45.
39
Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing theory and Practice, 19(2), 139-152.
Hajli, N., Shanmugam, M., Papagiannidis, S., Zahay, D., & Richard, M. O. (2017). Branding co-creation with members of online brand communities. Journal of Business Research, 70, 136-144.
Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion.
Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M. S., & Madden, T. J. (2016). The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), 27-41.
Houston, M. J., & Rothschild, M. L. (1977). A paradigm for research on consumer involvement.
Graduate School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kolarova, M. (2018). # Influencer marketing: The effects of influencer type, brand familiarity, and sponsorship disclosure on purchase intention and brand trust on Instagram (Master's thesis, University of Twente).
Kozinets, R. V., & Cerone, S. (2014). Between the suit and the selfie: Executives’ lessons on the social “micro-celebrity”. GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 6(2), 21-21.
Krugman, H. E. (1966). The measurement of advertising involvement. Public opinion quarterly, 30(4), 583-596.
Laaksonen, P. (1994). Consumer involvement: Concepts and research. Routledge.
Lassoued, R., & Hobbs, J. E. (2015). Consumer confidence in credence attributes: The role of brand trust. Food Policy, 52, 99-107.
Leal, G. P. A., Hor-Meyll, L. F., & de Paula Pessôa, L. A. G. (2014). Influence of virtual communities in purchasing decisions: The participants' perspective. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), 882-890.
40
Maddux, J. E., & Rogers, R. W. (1980). Effects of source expertness, physical attractiveness, and supporting arguments on persuasion: A case of brains over beauty. Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(2), 235.
Marwick, A., & Boyd, D. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter. Convergence, 17(2), 139-158.
Marwick, A. E. (2013). Status update: Celebrity, publicity, and branding in the social media age.
Yale University Press.
McCroskey, J. C. (1966). Scales for the measurement of ethos.
Mills, J., & Harvey, J. (1972). Opinion change as a function of when information about the communicator is received and whether he is attractive or expert. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21(1), 52.
Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of marketing, 58(3), 20-38.
Neese, W. T., & Taylor, R. D. (1994). Verbal strategies for indirect comparative advertising. Journal of advertising Research, 34(2), 56-70.
Nejad, M. G., Sherrell, D. L., & Babakus, E. (2014). Influentials and influence mechanisms in new product diffusion: an integrative review. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 22(2), 185-208.
Nunnally, J. Psychometric methods. 1978.
Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers' perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of advertising, 19(3), 39-52.
41
Schouten, A. P., Janssen, L., & Verspaget, M. (2020). Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit. International journal of advertising, 39(2), 258-281.
Senft, T. (2012). Micro-celebrity and the Branded Self. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from https://www.academia.edu/3775110/Micro-celebrity_and_the_Branded_Self
Teramoto, T., Inoue, A., & Saito, K. (2005). How opinion leaders are made by the Social Media. The future of marketing Expanding the possibilities of marketing, AD Studies, 52.
Traylor, M. B. (1981). Product involvement and brand commitment. Journal of Advertising Research.
Uzunoğlu, E., & Kip, S. M. (2014). Brand communication through digital influencers:
Leveraging blogger engagement. International Journal of Information Management, 34(5), 592-602.
Whitehead Jr, J. L. (1968). Factors of source credibility. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 54(1), 59-63.
Zaichkowsky, J. L. (1985). Measuring the involvement construct. Journal of consumer research, 12(3), 341-352.
Statista, Instagram: Active users 2018. (n.d.). Retrieved from
www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users
“Social media users in Thailand” (September 2019) Retrieved from
https://napoleoncat.com/stats/instagram-users-in-thailand/2019/12
42
Appendix: Questionnaires
Survey on micro influencer marketing
As parts MBA research thesis at National Taiwan Normal University, I am conducting a survey that investigates the influence of an influencer on Social Media, I will appreciate if you could complete the following questionnaire. Any information obtained in connection with this study that can be determined with you will remain confidential.
Please make a ✓in the box that most corresponding to yourself and your opinion
43
More than 55 year old
4.What is your marital status? *
Single (never married)
Married, or in a domestic partnership
Divorced
Separated
Widowed
5.What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? If currently enrolled, highest degree received. *
Elementary / Junior high
High school or equivalent
Bachelor’s degree (e.g. BA, BS)
Higher than Bachelor’s degree
Other:
6.What is your current employment status? *
Employed full time
Employed part time
Unemployed and currently looking for work
Unemployed and not currently looking for work
44
Student
Retired
Self-employed
Homemaker
Unable to work
Other
7.Area of Living *
Bangkok Metropolitan Region
Other province
8.Income (Baht/month) *
Less than 25,000 Baht
25,001 to 40,000 Baht
40,001 to 65,000 Baht
More than 65,000 Baht
9.Do you use Instagram? *
Yes
No
45
10.How often do you use Instagram in a day (Total amount of time per day)? *
Less than 1 hour
1 to 3 hours
More than 3 hours
Don't use Instagram
11. Do you buy product or service online? *
Yes
No
46 Part 2
Please specify your opinion on the following characteristics of Micro -Influencer by marking ✔ in the space that is closest to your opinion from
1) Strongly Disagree 2) Disagree
3) Neutral 4) agree
5) Strongly agree
You think that this influencer has ….. number of followers? *
Low
Medium
High
Please look at the following pictures carefully then answer the question below Pictures below:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
Please make a ✓ in the box that most corresponding to yourself and your opinion
Level of Opinion
Strongly Agree > Strongly Disagree
Brand trust
1 I find product endorsed by an influencer are trustworthy 5 4 3 2 1 2 I find product endorsed by celebrities are trustworthy 5 4 3 2 1
3 This influencer has good knowledge about 5 4 3 2 1
4 This virtual advisor provides unbiased product recommendations 5 4 3 2 1
5 This influencer is honest 5 4 3 2 1
1 I pretend to buy the products promoted by the influencers on Instagram
5 4 3 2 1
2 It is likely that I will buy the products promoted by the influencers on Instagram
5 4 3 2 1
3 I am willing to buy the products promoted by the influencers on Instagram
5 4 3 2 1
4 Would you switch or try from your regular products to a new product endorsed by an influencer
5 4 3 2 1
5 Will you purchase a product which is endorsed by an influencer 5 4 3 2 1
54 Product involvement
1 The product/service is interesting 5 4 3 2 1
2 The product/service is exciting 5 4 3 2 1
3 The product/service is appealing 5 4 3 2 1
4 The product/service is desirable 5 4 3 2 1
5 The product/service is needed 5 4 3 2 1
---Thank you---