• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.31-44
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among SNS users' interpersonal trust, brand image and purchase intention. A total of 335 questionnaires were collected during 6 days by Embrain online research company. Collected data were analyzed by SPSSWIN and AMOS program and frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, validity test, correlation analysis and structural equation model analysis were performed. The results of verifying the relationship among variables are as follows. First, SNS users' interpersonal trust in influencers had positively influenced by brand image. Second, brand image sold by influencers had positively influenced by purchase intention. Third, SNS users' interpersonal trust in influencers had a significant effect on purchase intention.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.88-98
• /
• 2024

With the growing preference among Chinese consumers for purchasing beauty products through social media networks (SNS), influencer marketing has recently emerged as a crucial strategy for maximizing word-of-mouth effects. This study aims to ascertain the impact of SNS beauty influencers' characteristics on trustworthiness and consumers' intentions to engage in word-of-mouth promotion. Furthermore, the study seeks to explore the moderating role of consumer involvement in the relationship between SNS beauty influencer characteristics and the trust consumers place in them. As part of an empirical analysis, an online survey was administered to 259 Chinese female consumers who had previously purchased beauty products through influencers on SNS. The data gathered were scrutinized by conducting multiple and hierarchical regression analysis to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicated that the attributes of "expertise,"' "intimacy," and "homogeneity" in SNS beauty influencers significantly affect influencer trust, whereas "charm" does not have a significant impact. Moreover, consumer involvement was found to moderate the relationship between SNS beauty influencer characteristics (expertise, intimacy, charm, and homogeneity) and influencer trust. Additionally, influencer trust positively influenced the intention to engage in word-of-mouth activities. These findings signify that leveraging influencers possessing qualities such as expertise, intimacy, and homogeneity can help enhance product exposure, popularity, and sales of the beauty industry. This study contributes valuable insights into the strategic utilization of influencer characteristics in the beauty industry and digital marketing, highlighting their pivotalrole in consumer engagement and the success of marketing strategies.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.557-567
• /
• 2023

The rapidly evolving social platform marketing landscape has led businesses to increasingly rely on social platform influencers for brand and service promotion. Despite growing interest in these influencers, there remains a dearth of empirical research examining the impact of their characteristics on consumer attachment and brand loyalty. This study, therefore, investigates the relationships between social platform influencer characteristics, consumer attachment, and brand loyalty. An online survey targeting Chinese consumers was conducted, and a total of 360 responses were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. The findings reveal that among the various social platform influencer characteristics, reliability, professionalism, and intimacy significantly influence consumer attachment. Furthermore, it was confirmed that higher attachment to a social platform influencer leads to increased brand loyalty.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.1093-1106
• /
• 2021

This study attempted to investigate the influence of a beauty influencer's characteristics on makeup behavior and color cosmetics purchase intention against young female consumers in their 20-30s, who are a primary target for beauty influencer marketing. It aimed to provide basic data which are helpful in promoting marketing and expanding markets for color cosmetics through beauty influencers. For this, a questionnaire survey was conducted. Among a total of 563 questionnaires distributed across Seoul and capital region, 531 copies were used for final analysis, and the results found the followings: In terms of age, factors affecting beauty influencers' characteristics differed depending on reliability and expertise. Specifically, reliability and communicative competence had a positive effect(+) on all makeup behavior while expertise revealed a positive influence on base makeup only. In color cosmetics purchase intention, a positive effect was observed in reliability, communicative competence and attractiveness. In particular, reliability showed the largest influence. Therefore, there should be continued efforts to maintain a long-term relationship with consumers through communication based on beauty influencers' characteristics and by delivering more diverse makeup and color cosmetics-related information in an open and honest fashion.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.180-196
• /
• 2021

The goal of this research is to examine the effects of sports star influencer advertising value on brand equity in social networking sites. In particular, this study identifies the moderating role of consumer team identification. A total of 350 university students participated via online survey. To test proposed hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multi-group analysis were employed. It was found that informativeness, entertainment, and credibility showed significant positive effects on brand equity. Also, significant moderation effects of team identification were found in that consumers with high team identification compared to those with low team identification perceived higher value of entertainment. On the other hand, consumers with low team identification perceived more irritation than those with high team identification. This study contributes to the understanding of sports star influencer advertising in social networking sites. Theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research in this area are provided.

• Knowledge Management Research
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.137-159
• /
• 2023

This study focuses on consumers' perceptions of virtual influencers, which many companies recently used for marketing. This study uses the Q methodology to derive what kind of perception consumers have about virtual influencers who work with various appearances, background stories, and worldviews as components. In addition, we want to see how the expected value of virtual influencers differs by age group. To this end, 34 statements were produced through preliminary interviews and literature reviews. This study showed that some consumers preferred appearances similar to humans, despite recognizing that virtual influencers are fictional characters. Some other consumers preferred to feel like a fictional character by maintaining virtuality, confirming that there are both opposite consumers. In addition, consumers expect virtual influencers to have consistency and expertise in the content field covered, and some consumers do not prefer to show an overly commercial appearance. This study will likely provide implications for companies that want to utilize virtual influencers in considering which ones to use for target customers in marketing activities.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.169-181
• /
• 2022

Currently, due to the activation of SNS live broadcasting, online services based on influencer live broadcasting are becoming a major consumption trend around the world. This study aims to verify the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, product characteristics, and acceptance intention for influencer broadcasting based on nfluencer broadcasting experiences in an Internet environment. This study conducted a survey of users who experienced live broadcasting on social media in Taiwan from June 29 to August 30, 2020, and a total of 253 copies were used for empirical analysis. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS 25.0. The results of the empirical analysis are summarized as follows. First, it was found that the service quality factors (reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, certainty, and empathy) of Taiwan's influencer live broadcast had a significant effect on live broadcast satisfaction. Second, it was found that the product characteristics of Taiwan's influencer live broadcasting had a significant effect on product satisfaction. Third, it was found that live broadcasting satisfaction and product satisfaction had a significant effect on the acceptance intention of new brands in Taiwan's influencer live broadcasting. This study will provide useful data for establishing efficient marketing strategies to improve live and product satisfaction and increase acceptance of new brands by identifying service quality factors and product characteristics of Taiwan's influencer Live Broadcasting.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.159-175
• /
• 2021

This study attempted to analyze the relationship between influencer's characteristic factors such as professionalism, authenticity, and interactivity and content quality factors consisting of accuracy, completeness, and diversity on brand attitude and purchase attitude through trust and self-consistency. To reveal the structural relationship between main variables, a survey was conducted on 201 users. An EFA, CFA, and reliability analysis were performed to confirm reliability and validity. And structural equation was conducted to verify hypothesis. The main results are as follows. First, it was found that professionalism and interactivity had a significant positive effect on trust. And, accuracy, completeness, and variety were all found to have a significant positive effect on trust. Second, in the relationship between individual characteristic factors and self-consistency, it was found that professionalism and authenticity had a significant positive effect on self-consistency. In addition, in the relationship between content quality and self-consistency, accuracy, completeness, and diversity were found to have a positive effect on self-consistency along with trust. Third, in the relationship between trust and self-consistency on brand attitude and purchase intention, both trust and self-consistency were found to have a statistically significant positive effect on brand attitude. It was found that only self-consistency and brand attitude had a statistically significant positive effect on purchase intention. These findings showed that when users perceive professionalism and interaction with influencer, trust increases, and professionalism and progress increase self-consistency with influencer. In addition, in the case of content quality, it was found that trust and self-consistency responded positively when perceived content quality through content accuracy, completeness, and diversity. Also, trust and self-consistency increased attitudes toward brands and could influence consumption behavior such as purchase intention. Therefore, for effective marketing performance using influencer's influence in the field of influencer marketing, which has a strong information delivery on products and brands, not only personal characteristics such as professionalism, authenticity, and interactivity, but also quality of content should be considered. The above research results are expected to suggest implications for marketing strategies and practices as one available basic data to exert the expected effect of marketing using influencer.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.45-59
• /
• 2020

This study is to examine the effects of personal media influencer's source credibility (attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise) and content authenticity on brand authenticity and product purchase intention. An online survey was conducted, on which the respondents were asked to watch the embedded contents of the influencer provided on YouTube before answering the questionnaire. The results of the regression analysis showed that both influencer expertise and content authenticity had a positive effect on brand authenticity. Moreover, brand authenticity had a positive effect on purchase intention and had a mediating effect between purchase intention and content authenticity. The findings are meaningful in that they not only analyze empirical advertising effects of personal media and media contents but also expand the scope of research on authenticity. This study also provides strategic implications for personal media influencers and companies which want to collaborate with influencers.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.57-76
• /
• 2024

A virtual influencer is a digital artifact that primarily operates on social media and acts like the human influencer. This study investigate how the attractiveness and reputation of virtual influencers affect consumers' purchase intentions. Based on previous studies, we developed a research model and questionnaire, and analyzed a total of 371 survey questionnaires using a structural equation model. The study results show that reputation positively affect attachment, imitation desire, and interaction, while attractiveness positively influence attachment and imitation desire but not interaction. Lastly, purchase intention was positively influenced by imitation desire, attachment, and interaction; which indicates that attractiveness, reputation, and interactivity are crucial factors in virtual influencer implementation strategies. The quality and reliability of contents provided by virtual influencers are essential not only for gaining popularity but also for maintaining a good reputation. Additionally, continuous interaction is necessary in order to foster close relationships with consumers. A few practical insights are presented for firms considering to implement a virtual influencer.