Problem definition: Along with a rapid growth of Internet usage new forms of communication and marketing have occurred. Influencer marketing have become a popular marketing form, but are brand’s aware of the risk it involves when collaborating with an influencer? This thesis examines how a brand’s trustworthiness can be affected by an influencer’s wrongdoing, in the perception of the critical generation - Generation Z. Purpose: Since Generation Z are a digital and critical generation who rely on influencers recommendations, but also value trustworthiness and transparency from a brand, we want to explore how Generation Z’s perceived trustworthiness of a brand change when an influencer connected to a brand makes a wrongdoing. Research question: This thesis consist of two research questions.  RQ1: Can there be a relationship between an influencers trustworthiness and a brand’s trustworthiness in Generation Z’s perception?    RQ2: How does an Influencers wrongdoing spill over on Generation Z’s perception of a brand’s trustworthiness depending on the brands reaction?  Methodology: The study is based on a quantitative method with a deductive approach. The empirical data was collected through a online survey that was answered by 148 respondents. The data were then analyzed through SPSS. Hypotheses developed from the research questions were then accepted or rejected.  Conclusion: The study resulted in that there is a weak relationship between Generation Z’s perception of an influencer’s trustworthiness and a brand’s trustworthiness. Furthermore, the findings from the survey resulted in that there is a negative spillover effect on brand’s trustworthiness regardless on how they act on an influencer’s wrongdoing.

The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate the phenomenon of shopping-hauls from a consumer perspective. Along with exploring ifconsumers’ purchasing behavior is affected by shopping-hauls, the aim is to provide insights into the phenomenon and how it affects consumers. In particular, the study aspires to understand whether consumers perceive shopping-hauls as a possible substitute for the need for touch. If so, shopping-hauls could be used to decrease uncertainty online. This thesis was conducted using a qualitative research method, with semi-structured interviews. The respondents in the interviews were consumers living in Sweden with knowledge of shopping-hauls. Twenty-five consumers participated in the interviews for the thesis, and they are all anonymous. The thesis has followed an inductive research approach to gain deeper understanding of the phenomena of shopping-hauls and receive new insights based on the respondents’ experiences. The literature review in this thesis includes theories about influencer marketing, sensory marketing, and online consumer behavior. Furthermore, the conceptual framework demonstrates the relationship between the mentioned theories. The empirical results of the thesis highlights challenges and opportunities which might occur when consumers make purchases online, as well as provides insights into how shopping-hauls are perceived by consumers. Based on these results, we created a three-step model for developing a strategy where shopping-hauls are used to reduce the consumer’s uncertainty when shopping online. The three steps are: Selection of influencer, identify the consumer, and evaluation.

Research questions:  How do social media influencers affect fashion purchase intent? How is slow fashion behavior affected by social media influencers?                                 Purpose:                  The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible effects that social media influencers have on slow fashion behavior, in addition to explore the effects of social media influencers on fashion purchase intent. Method:                   This research was conducted through a quantitative study and the data was collected using an online survey. The survey was constructed and distributed in collaboration with a research group at Mälardalen University.  Conclusion:             This study confirms that influencers have the possibility to influence consumers’ behavior and provides initial insight into how their communities can affect consumers. The study concludes that influencers can persuade consumers to purchase fashion products online. However, there is ambiguity into how much influencers affect consumers. The study showed that the relationship between influencers and their communities is not clear, and especially how the two concepts interact in the way they influence consumers to behave more sustainably. Despite the complex relationship, both have the capability to positively and negatively affect consumers’ slow fashion behavior. While consumers may not employ all behaviors favorable in the slow fashion movement, any positive behavior will make a difference.

Background: Today, for firms to engage with customers, it takes more than traditional advertisements, enticing prices and celebrity endorsements. Customers now rely on and expect to become an active rather than passive participant in the firm’s branding and marketing activities. Due to this change in the marketing environment firms have moved towards utilizing social media influencers and brand co-creation activities to drive the level to which customers connect their self-concepts with the brand.      Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the unique ways in which NA-KD uses their influencer marketing strategy and brand co-creation activities to drive the social identities of their customers and to create a model that visualizes this process. Method: An exploratory study has been conducted by the authors to investigate the influencer marketing and brand co-creation activities of the firm as to address the purpose of this paper. A single case study was performed where NA-KD was the primary subject of research. Semi-structured interviews with key employees working within marketing, collaborations and content creation was the primary source of data collection.    Conclusion: The empirical findings demonstrated the processes which employees at NA-KD created to develop their influencer marketing and brand co-creation strategies. The findings showed that the social identities of customers in an influencer-born firm are able to be directed through the activities within influencer marketing and brand co-creation. From these findings a conceptual model representing the process and management of social identity direction and producer-consumer relationship formation. This process includes influencer marketing, brand co-creation and brand experience, managed by methods of CRM and circle mapping to allow for self-brand connections and continued firm growth to occur.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether traditional advertising strategies exist on social media posts made by Swedish fashion influencers. Furthermore the aim was also to identify any differences and similarities between influencers on Instagram. To do so twelve Instagram posts from six influencers were analyzed with a semiotic qualitative content analysis. When analyzing, several semiotic tools were also applied, including; Roland Barthes denotation, connotation and myths, and Charles Sanders Pierce three category system. To improve the studies reliability several theoretical frameworks were applied to our semiotic analysis. The theoretical framework included theories about gender, stereotypes and norms.  The analysis identified several patterns in the influencers posts. The most significant one was the fact that influencers in many ways have embraced stereotypes portrayed in traditional media. Women were portrayed with feminine stereotypes, and men with masculine. The stereotypes existed in both private and sponsored posts, but most frequently in the sponsored ones. Worth mentioning is that deviant behaviors were identified, from both women and men, in the Instagram posts. The deviant behavior consisted of portraits that deviated from stereotypical representations. In conclusion, our study also shows that influencers Instagram posts probably are primarily aimed at recipients of the same sex.

The new phenomenon of “police influencers” consist of police officers who, under their private names, use their platform to share posts with both police content and humorous messages. The public's perception of the phenomenon is divided, and critical voices say it is inappropriate. The Swedish police force is known for their fellowship, often called “the spirit of the union”. But how does this fellowship correspond to front figures like police influencers?  In this study we examine how Swedish police officers and police students respond to the police influencers by applying a theoretical framework based on a discourse psychological perspective and theories about identity and organizational culture. The empirical material consists of semi- structured interviews with both police officers and police students.  The result shows that the organizational culture within the police force can be affected by police influencers. The informants show a strong feeling of unity within the force and are making a strong effort to maintain the police authority's legitimacy and trust. Police students seem to be negative to the phenomenon in large, but positive to the fact that police influencers can share important knowledge about the police profession. Experienced Police officers on the other hand are more concerned about how communication made by police influencers can damage the reputation of the police force. This divided perception can result in a split within the organization depending on how one views the phenomenon. There is a strong norm for what a police officer should do, and this characterizes the informants' perception of the phenomenon and in what way it affects the police force.  Keywords: Police, influencer, social media, public authority, identity, discursive psychology, organizational culture.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att studera betalda samarbeten mellan kvinnliga svenskainfluencers och företag på sociala medier. Närmare bestämt studeras företag och influencersexploatering av feminism i kommersiella syften. Studien ämnar bidra till ökad kunskap ochförståelse om hur femvertising verkar inom Influencer Marketing i den svenska socialamediekontexten, specifikt på medieplattformen Instagram. Med hjälp av den multimodalakritiska diskursanalysen undersöks tre Instagram-inlägg publicerade av influencers. Studienhar sin utgångspunkt i teorierna; tvåstegshypotesen, postfeminism och kommodifieradfeminism och undersöker hur feministiska budskap uttrycks samt hur influencers med sinauktoritet och tillförlitlighet har möjlighet att påverka människors attityder och värderingar.Resultaten används för att diskutera och problematisera företags och influencers exploateringav feministiska budskap och hur det kan påverka allmänhetens förståelse av feminism.Studiens resultat visar 1) att det till en övervägande del är postfeministiska budskap omsjälvständighet, individualisering och självsäkerhet som kommer till uttryck. Dessa tillskrivsäven till agerandet av att konsumera produkterna som marknadsförs. 2) Feminism exploaterasi syfte att stärka både företags och influencers varumärkesidentiteter. 3) Exploateringen avfeminism i marknadsföring är både problematisk och gynnande för allmänhetens förståelse avfeminism. Det är gynnande då fler blir medvetna om problemet, men är problematiskt pågrund av att problemets tyngd och väsentlighet förminskas på grund av de kommersiellaintentionerna.

Background In recent years, with the rapid development of e-commerce in China, various online media and digital social platforms have attracted more users, and online marketing has gradually replaced traditional marketing strategies. The increasing frequency of online shopping by Chinese consumers, especially millennials, presents a huge opportunity for influencer marketing. Influencers with a large number of followers have been used by many companies as online marketing tools. To deeply explore the reasons why Chinese millennial consumers buy products recommended by the influencer, the Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI) was used as the theoretical basis to form the theoretical framework of this study after a review of academic literature, and various factors such as Chinese culture, different industries, personal influence stream, environment, and social environment should be considered. Purpose The purpose of this research is to study the factors that affect Chinese millennial consumers to follow the recommendations of influencers in purchasing sports products through Taobao, Tik Tok, or Weibo. MethodIn this quantitative research, 362 Chinese respondents' data were collected through an online questionnaire. The data of the 302 sample were tested and analyzed by SPSS software since they were referring to Chinese millennials who have followed influencers and purchased sports products online. Conclusion According to the data analysis results of this study, behavior control, self-efficacy, and attitude will actively promote Chinese millennial consumers' purchase intentions of sports products recommended by influencers. Finally, social norms are related to Chinese culture, which may explain why this hypothesis does not significantly predict consumers' online purchase intentions. Therefore, this study could provide suggestions for influencers and online retailers to help them improve the online purchasing intention of Chinese millennial consumers, and thus improve the sales and profit. On the other hand, this study can help consumers understand the marketing strategies of influencers to achieve the purpose of helping them to make more rational consumption.

The online revolution has developed digital marketing, and how businesses connect with new consumers. The commercial usage of the World Wide Web has created opportunities for businesses to market their product through new digital platforms and marketing strategies. Therefore, social media platforms such as Instagram has become a dominant communication channel for consumers. From a business perspective this has created an opportunity by marketing their product through influencer marketing. An influencer is a person who has built a social network with people following them on the social platforms. The influencer is getting paid to market products on their social media to influence their followers. 98% of people studying in Sweden are using social media frequently, this makes them a target group suited for influencer marketing. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate how influencer marketing affect students’ attitudes and subsequently purchase intention through social media. To answer this research purpose a theoretical framework has been developed based on Theory of Reasoned Action. Semi structured interviews were conducted on a one-to-one basis with 17 students at Luleå University of Technology (LTU). The interviews focused on attitudes towards influencer marketing and subjective norms, and how these would subsequently affect their purchase intention. To analyze the interviews a thematic analysis was conducted. The data was coded based on observations of repetitive answers and themes, consisting of negative or positive attitudes towards influencers, as well as the impact of the subjective norms on the participants and how it affects their purchase intention. Results showed that there was an overall negative attitude towards influencers, that the subjective norms seem to have a significant and that purchase intention is mostly affected by the direct influence from the subjective norms. Analysis of these results leads to the conclusion that influencer marketing has a negative impact on students’ attitudes. On the other hand, subjective norms seem to be more important than the influencer marketing, when it comes to the purchase intention among the students.