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Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the influence e-WOM through social network sites has on consumers focusing on brand perception and purchase intention.  Methodology: A qualitative study was applied with the semi-structured online interview conducted with nine respondents across Bangladesh. The collected primary data were transcribed and thematically analyzed with the reviewed literature.  Findings and Conclusion: We conclude that e-WOM through SNS helps consumers to select smartphones and gadgets. Due to paid reviews and negative influencers, trustworthiness is vital on SNS reviews. Also, the recommendation from known sources or personal research increases brand perception. Rather than relying on single reviews on SNS, it is highly recommended to justify the reviews for purchase intention of smartphones or gadgets. Contribution of the Thesis: This study suggests that e-WOM through SNS influences consumers' purchase of smartphones or gadget brands. It is recommended for the managers to determine reviewers on SNS regarding smartphone or gadget brands. Besides, this study exposes the importance of trustworthiness in SNS reviews.  Suggestion for the Future Research: We suggest future research on a similar topic using a larger sample size. We also propose a comparative study with two or more countries on similar products to determine differences and results relatively. Besides, this study only focused on smartphones or gadget items; focusing on different products with larger audiences might be done for future research. Furthermore, future research could be done

This study examined the topic of growing news consumption on Instagram and the impact that could have on the spread of misinformation. The purpose was to establish if there was an issue with news being mixed into a platform with Swedish influencers. Furthermore, the study aimed to examine whether young adults were faced with risks when consuming news on Instagram.  An experiment was conducted in order to research if influencers liking posts were able to further mislead young adults. The experiment occurred in a web survey where 196 respondents participated. Respondents were exposed to a fabricated health related news post about vaccinating against covid-19. Comparing the result of those who saw the stimuli and those who only saw the unliked news post, resulted in indications that influencers were able to further mislead young adults. Spearmans rank correlation showed a significant correlation, 0.289**, between source-credibility and message-credibility. The influencers did not need to have an expertise in the area of health. Nonetheless, they could still increase the trustworthiness to health-related news by approximately 29% as indicated by the results. In order to protect young adults from misleading news, Instagram needs to separate influencers from public health news. In addition, influencers need to be informed that their social media post interactions could produce consequences. Further research could be qualitative, finding out reasons behind the social validation. Furthermore, future research could categorize the influencers investigated. / Denna studie undersökte den växande nyhetskonsumtionen på Instagram och påverkan förändringen kan ha på spridningen av falska nyheter. Syftet var att upptäcka eventuell problematik när nyheter integreras på en plattform med svenska influencers. Dessutom ämnade studien att undersöka unga vuxnas potentiella risker när de konsumerade nyheter på Instagram. Ett experiment genomfördes för att undersöka huruvida influencers kunde gillade-markera nyhetsinlägg på Instagram och ytterligare missleda unga vuxna. Experimentet genomfördes i en webbenkät där 196 respondenter deltog. Respondenterna tog del av ett fabricerat hälsorelaterat nyhetsinlägg om vaccinering mot covid-19. Genom att jämföra resultatet av dem som fick ta del av stimuli och de som endast såg det ogillade nyhetsinlägget påvisades indikationer på att influencers kunde missleda unga vuxna ytterligare. Spearmans rangkorrelation visade en signifikant korrelation på 0,289** mellan informants-tillförlitlighet och informations-tillförlitlighet. Influencerna visade sig inte behöva en expertis inom hälsa och vård. Resultatet indikerade att de ändå kunde öka tilliten till en hälsorelaterad nyhet med ungefär 29%. För att motarbeta unga vuxnas missledning bör Instagram särskilja influencers från nyhetsinlägg. Dessutom bör influencers informeras om hur deras interaktioner med inlägg på sociala medier kan ge konsekvenser. Vidare forskning kan vara kvalitativ och redogöra för anledningar till den erhållna sociala bekräftelsen. Dessutom kan framtida forskning kategorisera de undersökta influencerna.

Background: Influencer marketing is a rather new marketing strategy where companies use influencers to promote their products and services on their own social media platforms. Previous studies have shown that companies use influencer marketing for creating purchase intentions for the consumer, whereas other studies have indicated three different characteristics of an influencer, authenticity, attractiveness and trustworthiness, that are important to possess in order to be able to influence its followers, which is why this study wanted to do a combination of these types of studies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the relationship between influencers’ characteristics and consumers’ purchase intentions. Methodology: This quantitative study used a deductive approach and had an explanatory purpose, along with a cross-sectional research design. This study also presented a new model, including three hypotheses that assumed a positive relationship between the characteristics of an influencer and consumers’ purchase intentions. In order to collect data, a questionnaire was shared online, both through a convenience sampling technique and a snowball sampling technique, which resulted in 195 responses that passed the qualification questions. Findings: Two of the hypotheses within the proposed model were rejected, which meant that Authenticity and Attractiveness of an influencer did not show to have a positive relationship with consumers’ purchase intentions. Hypothesis 3 (H3) was however accepted, and it was shown that 14,8 % of consumers’ purchase intentions is explained by influencers’ Trustworthiness.   Conclusion: This study contributes with the theoretical implications that there is a relationship between the characteristic Trustworthiness of an influencer and consumers’ purchase intentions, along with the managerial implications which helps companies and marketers to know what characteristics to look for in an influencer when they want to create purchase intentions for consumers. Keywords: Attractiveness of an influencer; authenticity of an influencer; influencer characteristics; influencer marketing; influencers; purchase intentions; social media; trustworthiness on an influencer.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the effects of social media influencers' credibilitydimensions (attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise) on consumer behavior (purchase intention and attitude towards the brand) while considering the followers' loyalty as the mediating variable in the fashion industry.Theoretical approach: The proposed conceptual model of the study is based on assumptions of source credibility theory and theoretical reasonings provided in the previous literature related to social media influencer marketing.Design/methodology: Quantitative research design is used and data is collected through selfreported questionnaires. The population of the study consists of social media users who follow social media influencers on different social media platforms. Findings – Based on data collection from 225 Pakistani respondents, the analysis of the study indicates a positive impact of the three social media influencer credibility dimensions on the purchase intention, and followers’ attitude towards the endorsed brands. Moreover, influencers’ credibility positively impacts followers’ loyalty to the influencers. In addition to the direct effects, followers’ loyalty towards the influencers partially mediated (1) the relationship between influencers’ credibility and purchase intention, as well as (2) the relationship betweeninfluencers’ credibility and followers’ attitude towards the brand. Practical implications – The findings of the thesis provide implications for businesses and marketers to understand the role of credible social media influencers in shaping consumer behavior and it also answers the question of how they influence it.Originality/value – This study adds to the influencer marketing literature by investigating the mediating role of followers’ loyalty in between the relationship of influencer’s credibility and purchase intention of followers as well as their attitude towards the brand.

This research aims to investigate the impact of social media influencer’s credibility dimensions (Trustworthiness, Attractiveness, and Expertise), in shaping consumer's behaviour (Purchasing intention of customers and customer's attitude towards the brand). This proposed theoretical framework is based on social learning theory and the theoretical implications of the previous literature which is related to social media influencer marketing. For this empirical study, the data has been collected from Pakistani consumers who are following social media influencers who share and endorse products related to the fashion industry. Data is collected from 149 individuals out of which 135 were valid respondents.  Results reveal that social media influencer's credibility dimension (Trustworthiness, Attractiveness, and Expertise) positively influence the customer’s attitude towards the brands as well as the purchase intentions of the customers. In addition, the study has significance for social media influencers in the fashion and style sector in terms of understanding the factors of followers' devotion to them and the noticeable effects of followers' allegiance on their behaviour. This study adds to the literature on social media influencer marketing by demonstrating the importance of follower’s perspective towards the social media influencers. Previous studies lack in providing the Pakistan perspective related to social media influencermarketing and this research attempts to fulfill that gap. Another important aspect of this study is that the pictures of influencers have been used to conduct this research.

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When intelligent voice-based assistants (VBAs) present news, they simultaneously act as interlocutors and intermediaries, enabling direct and mediated communication. Hence, this study discusses and investigates empirically how interlocutor and intermediary predictors affect an assessment that is relevant for both: trustworthiness. We conducted a secondary analysis using data from two online surveys in which participants (N = 1288) had seven quasi-interactions with either Alexa or Google Assistant and calculated hierarchical regression analyses. Results show that (1) interlocutor and intermediary predictors influence people’s trustworthiness assessments when VBAs act as news presenters, and (2) that different trustworthiness dimensions are affected differently: The intermediary predictors (information credibility; company reputation) were more important for the cognition-based trustworthiness dimensions integrity and competence. In contrast, intermediary and interlocutor predictors (ontological classification; source attribution) were almost equally important for the affect-based trustworthiness dimension benevolence.

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While the idea of source or teacher credibility dates back to the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, research to connect this perceived credibility with individual affective and cognitive growth is a more recent phenomenon. In 2009, a credibility learning model connecting perceived credibility to cognitive learning with university-aged subjects was established. In contrast, this research project focused on determining a link between K-12 students' perception of teacher credibility, as determined by a student survey, to cognitive academic achievement as rated by a standardized test, the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The survey data were obtained through a pre-existing campus climate survey that was created to assist campus and district administrators in determining campus needs and developing a campus improvement plan. The assessment data were obtained through the Texas Education Agency database. The data were analyzed using quantitative research methods, including traditional univariate and multivariate statistical techniques such as principal component analysis, chi-square tests for independence, and binomial logistic regression. The findings of the study revealed no link between the survey instrument used and student academic achievement on the STAAR reading and mathematics assessment. The survey used did not align with the review of literature regarding student's perception of teacher credibility nor did it align with students' academic success. Therefore, survey findings were not correlated with STAAR results.