Analysing The influence of Moderating and Mediating Variables in Social Influencers Effect on Global Consumers Purchase intention and Brand Preference

Abstract

Social media influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of consumer decision-making, but how influencer characteristics are translated into purchase-related behaviours remains poorly understood. This research developed and tested a PLS-SEM-based framework to examine how influencer characteristics (expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and authenticity) affect brand trust and, ultimately, drive brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Data were gathered via a structured survey distributed to active social media users who had been exposed to influencer-promoted products. The data analysis supported the reliability and validity of the measurement model (all composite reliabilities > 0.85, all average variance extracted > .66, and all Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations < 0.90), and identified the following structural relationships: Influencer authenticity has the most significant effect on brand trust, and both influencer expertise and trustworthiness have a statistically significant effect on brand trust. However, influencer attractiveness did not have a statistically significant effect on brand trust at the .05 level. Brand trust was found to affect brand attitude positively, and both brand trust and brand attitude positively affected purchase intention, supporting partial mediation (brand trust → brand attitude → purchase intention). Additionally, there was no evidence that product type moderated the relationship between brand attitude and purchase intention. These findings support the idea that establishing trust with consumers is key to creating effective influencers, and therefore that marketers should focus on partnering with authentic, credible influencers when seeking to create positive brand evaluations and purchase behaviour among their target audience.