A new study has revealed that consumers’ personal and social identification are related to their favorite influencers, and the brands endorsed by these influencers lead consumers to participate in higher-level brand-related activities.

The findings by Huan Chen, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Advertising associate professor, doctoral student Xiaofan Wei and a team of researchers were featured in “Influencers as Endorsers and Followers as Consumers: Exploring the Role of Parasocial Relationship, Congruence, and Followers’ Identifications on Consumer-Brand Engagement” published in the Journal of Interactive Advertising on Sept. 16.

Chen, Wei, Artemio Ramirez, Yongwoog Jeon and Yao Sun studied how two aspects related to influencer endorsement— influencer-follower parasocial and influencer-brand congruence —affected three levels of consumer online brand-related activities on the Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo.

According to the authors, “This study examined the positive role of digital influencer endorsement in motivating consumers’ engagement with brand-related content and revealed the impact of consumers’ identifications in this process.”

They add, “Because e-commerce is a rapidly developing business model in China and worldwide, online advertising is currently essential for brands. As a competitive form of online advertising, influencer advertising shows great potential on e-commerce platforms in the context of China.”

Posted: September 19, 2022
Category: College News, Student News
Tagged as: Huan Chen, Xiaofan Wei