Influencer-product congruence and social media advertising perception: a mediated pathway to enhance purchase intention

Abstract

With the emergence of interactive technologies, social media has transformed into a medium to inspire and engage customers. The current study aims to investigate how influencer product congruence (IPC) and advertising perception (AP) mediate between influencer credibility (IC) and purchase intention (PI) in the social media advertising context. This study’s novelty lies in its stance on evaluating the combined mediating effect of IPC and AP on PI to determine whether it surpasses the standalone effect of IPC or AP. This novel extension entails measuring a conceptual model based on cognitive dissonance and SOR theory in the context of social media influencer marketing, which consequently predicts purchase intention. The survey-based questionnaire was distributed among social media users from major cities in Pakistan, and the data was analyzed using the mediation model of Hayes' PROCESS macro. The findings prove that IC develops stronger purchase intention among social media users through the mediation of IPC compared to the combined mediation effect of IPC and AP. By contrast, AP does not mediate the relationship in generating purchase intention. Customers develop AP when they think that an influencer is credible and the influencer’s personality matches the advertised product, leading to social media users' PI. The results suggest that IC generates PI in the context of social media advertising, but this effect can be enhanced using IPC. Marketers might reduce the cost without focusing on ICP, but by doing so, they might lose the purpose of their communication on social media platforms.