This research is trying to understand the relationship between spokesperson and athletic products. With the increasing competing markets, major athletic brands are focusing on marketing strategies in order to attract and obtain consumers. Among them, brand¡¦s marketing is extremely important to sports industry. This is because the enterprise can attract consumer¡¦s attention through its spokesperson and represent their unique characteristics to promote its products. Using spokesperson to endorse its brand is a bridge to communicate with the consumers. The successful career of a professional sports endorser will create an image for the brand, which will lead the consumers belief by wearing the products will have the similar and expected results. When a brand decides on its spokesperson, it is based on the spokesperson¡¦s public image and personal characteristics. First of all, the enterprise will consider if the spokesperson¡¦s image is positive, then they will review if his/her characteristics fit well with their athletic products. This research will related spokesman from western countries for examination on the relationship of the spokesperson with brands and regarding the buying effects on consumer. According to Ohanian¡¦s (1991) research paper, celebrity endorser¡¦s source credibility, contains three dimensions: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, has positive impact on consumers¡¦ purchase intent. This research proved that the source credibility theory applies to sports brands¡¦ marketing in Taiwan market as well. The research findings not only confirm with Ohanian¡¦s theory, but also discovered one additional factor, exposure, that affect consumers¡¦ perception on endorser¡¦s credibility, but also influence consumers¡¦ intention to purchase. Based on the initial findings, the study then designed questionnaire for survey for the consumers. The survey results proved that endorser¡¦s exposures have significant impact on the consumers. When the Exposure Effect enhances the endorser¡¦s attractiveness, the endorser¡¦s source of credibility affects consumer¡¦s buying perception. Thus, the study suggests the sports brand marketers, for better marketing values, to investigate the endorser¡¦s media exposures, in order to elevate consumers¡¦ buying intention.

The growth of YouTube has resulted in the industrialization of a platform that redefines mainstream success. Success measures such as endorsements and viewership are serving as motivational factors for YouTubers. YouTubers and brands want more views, but are those motivations effecting perception? While much research has focused on the effects that YouTube has on the brand, this study focuses on the effects that the brand has on the YouTuber. It also determines whether viewership affects YouTuber perception and whether it‟s a success measure worth using. Using the constructs of the source credibility theory, this study assessed the main effect of brand endorsement and viewership on perceived expertise and trustworthiness of YouTubers. After conducting an online experiment, findings suggest that non-brand endorsed YouTubers possess higher-rated expertise and trustworthiness. While viewership did not make a difference in perceived expertise, it did result in higher-rated trustworthiness when a YouTuber possesses lower viewership.

“Who says what to whom and of what consequence?” is a fundamentally communicative question. This dissertation provides answers to this question by examining receivers’ expectations about, perceptions of, and responses to, requests for compliance. This dissertation asks: What impact does source credibility have on responses to and evaluations of request for compliance? Do people who receive requests for compliance have different language expectations for high and low credibility sources? If receivers perceive self-benefit from complying with a request, will that affect their responses to or evaluations of the message or message source? To answer these questions, this dissertation responds to the call for studies to extend language expectancy theory by focusing on interpersonal influence attempts; the results herein provide researchers with the opportunity to offer refined specifications when making predictions about social influence outcomes. In addition, this dissertation is novel in that it examines the intersection between language expectancy theory and predicted outcome value theory. / text

Social Media Influencers (SMIs) and their sponsored posts on the Social Media represent a growing part of tomorrow’s digital marketing landscape. Marketers hire them to recommend their products to their large audiences through friendly and engaging social media posts. To please marketers, increasing and maintaining their audience size is of the utmost importance. Consequently, number of followers, likes, and comments have become the metrics of SMIs success. However, recent contradictory publications of business magazines and academic research raised the question of SMIs’ online popularity, credibility, and their efficiency as brand endorsers. Hence, an online-based survey experiment based examined the audience’s attitude of SMI credibility across three different level of online popularity using Ohanian’s (1990) source credibility model. Further, the relationship between SMI credibility and brand attitude, and the mediating effect of attitude toward sponsored post were investigated using a research model adapted from Attitude toward advertising models. The findings revealed that the more an SMI is popular, the more he is perceived as a credible brand advocate, and SMI credibility was found to positively and directly influences brand attitude. Semi-structured interviews strengthened the discussion of the quantitative results. Theoretical and managerial contributions of the study are presented and suggestions for future research ensue.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers’ online purchase intention is impacted by sponsorship transparency and the use of disclosure. An online survey was collected from 135 people from 41 different countries around the world. The collected data was used to test the proposed four hypotheses and was analyzed with a linear regression test. The findings suggest that the ethical practice of sponsorship transparency negatively impacts purchase intention; and posits that an explicit sponsorship disclosure has no positive impact on purchase intention. However, the characteristic trait of the influencer, i.e. transparency and authenticity and their source credibility has a significant impact on prompting consumers toward purchase intention.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to create an understanding of how influencer marketing could be used to increase the purchase intention in an area of a high involvement product in a niche market. Since this study is collected together with a Swedish golf company, the golf industry was evaluated. In order to fulfill the purpose, the social media influencer value (SMIV) model was adopted in this study. Method – A quantitative experiment was conducted through the use of experimental vignette methodology (EVM) together with a qualitative validity check-in form of an interview with a key person from the industry. The main data was collected through a combination of exposure to the independent variable (through a stimulus) and a set of following questions (a questionnaire). The questionnaire was sent out to the company’s consumer through email and to analyze the collected data an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used. Findings – In the collected data, evidence indicating that golf is a high involvement activity where the participants put down a lot of time and effort in the sport was found. In the SMIV model three significant paths was found between expertise and purchase intention, similarity and purchase intention, and usefulness and purchase intention. All three independent variables had a positive impact on purchase intention which tells us that when expertise, similarity, or usefulness increases, consumers purchase intension increases as well. Theoretical and practical implications – The results in this study contributes to current literature in the area of influencer marketing by confirming some relationships but also by extending the literature. The study also contributes to important insights for marketing practitioners since the results present important variables to consider when using influencer marketing to create purchase intention. It also creates meaningful insights for the influential person itself and open up for further research in the area of the effect of influencer marketing in a high involvement product.

Misinformation remains pervasive in digital platforms, shaping how individuals receive news online. Prior work suggests that credibility perceptions of misinformation can differ based on the modality of the misinformation message. Informed by the MAIN model, this quantitative study conducted two separate 2 (Modality: video or text) x 2 (Social endorsement cues: high vs. low) between-subject experiments to assess the influence of message modality and social endorsement cues on misinformation credibility judgments. The experiments reviewed two different topics of misinformation: artificial intelligence technology malfunction (N = 296) and a cure for cancer (N = 306). Results for Study 1 on artificial intelligent technology malfunction misinformation indicated that participants who viewed the video modality judged a higher perception of source expertise and message credibility. The results of Study 2 suggested that the text presentation of health misinformation prompted higher message elaboration relative to the video conditions. Findings suggest that modality does influence how people judge misinformation messages depending on the subject matter. In addition, source credibility influences how people judge message credibility. The paper concludes with a discussion of theoretical implications and practical applications.

Background: Celebrity endorsements is a marketing strategy that has been long used bymarketers to strengthen brands' reputations. Nowadays, due to the fast growth of socialmedia, number of people using social media increase day-by-day. Hence, the use of digitalplatforms as marketing channel has increasing. Plus, a changing shift from traditionalcelebrity endorsement to influencer marketing has also been observed whereby well-knownsocial media users are employed by brands to promote their products. Those people areknown as social media influencers (SMIs) and are deemed as non-traditional celebrities.According to advertising and marketing literature, celebrity endorsement is an effectiveapproach to improve attitudes towards brands and raise buying intentions. However, thereare limited research on the impacts of different types of celebrities on social media uponcustomers, especially in the perfume industry. Therefore, this study was created to fill this gap. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of Instagram influencers onVietnamese customer’s attitude and intentions in purchasing perfume. This paper adoptedthe Ohanian model of source credibility since the authors aim to examine associationbetween SMIs’ perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise and customerattitude. The relationship between customer attitude and purchasing intention of perfumewas then also investigated. Method: The survey method was used as the research method. Online questionnaire wasemployed to gather primary data from the respondents in Vietnam. A total of 147 sampleVietnamese Instagram users participated in the survey and collected data was analysed usingthe SPSS 28.0 version. Conclusion: The research results showed that all three dimension of source credibilitymodel, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, had significant influences on customerattitude. Findings also demonstrated a positive relationship between customer attitudetowards SMIs and their buying intention of perfumes. This study made several contributionsto both theory and practice, which were also highlighted in this paper.

TitelMarknadsföringsaktiviteter på Instagram - En kvantitativ studie om hur varumärkesattityd påverkas av företags samarbeten med influencers på sociala medier. NivåC-uppsats i ämnet Företagsekonomi. FörfattareFelicia Johnsén & Wintana Habte Gimariam HandledareJonas Molin & Lars-Johan Åge. Datum2021 – juni SyfteStudiens syfte är att undersöka hur varumärkesattityd påverkas av den upplevda attraktiviteten hos influencers när de utför samarbeten med företag. MetodDenna studie tillämpar en kvantitativ metod med en tvärsnittsstudie. Studiens datainsamling har utförts med en online enkätundersökning. Den baserades på 79 godtagbara svar från Instagram användare som följer en eller flera influencers. Enkätsvaren har analyserats genom IBM SPSS Statistics och Excel. Därefter har en deskriptiv analys samt en korrelationsanalys gjorts för att tolka studiens resultat. Resultat & SlutsatsResultatet av denna studie visar att attraktiva egenskaper påverkar varumärkesattityd mer än fysisk attraktivitet. Studiens resultat visar även innebörden av att välja en passande influencer till varumärket för ett företags framgång. Förslag till vidare forskningDenna studie föreslår bland annat att genomföra två kvalitativa studier där ena lyfter frågan om fysisk attraktivitet har blivit tabu att tala om och den andra kan utföra samma studie som denna, men med intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. Andra förslag till vidare forskning är att undersöka olika generationer och begränsa urvalet efter könsfördelning, exempelvis endast kvinnor. Uppsatsens bidragStudiens bidrag är att attraktiva egenskaper hos influencers påverkar konsumenter mer än deras fysiska attraktivitet. Det är även viktigt för företag att välja en passandeinfluencer till sitt varumärke för att främja positiva attityder gentemot varumärket. NyckelordInfluencer, Influencer marketing, Instagram, Product Match-up. Source Attractiveness, Source Credibility, Varumärkesattityd. / TitleMarketing activities on Instagram - A quantitative study of how brand attitude is affected by companies colloborations with influencers on social media. LevelFinal assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. AuthorsFelicia Johnsén & Wintana Habte Gimariam. SupervisorsJonas Molin & Lars-Johan Åge. Date2021 – june AimThe purpose of the study is to investigate how brand attitude is affected by the perceived attractiveness of influencers when they do collaborations with brands. MethodThis study applies a quantitative method with a cross-sectional study. The study's data collection was conducted with an online survey. It was based on 79 acceptable responses from Instagram users who follow one or more influencers. The survey results have been analyzed through IBM SPSS Statistics and Excel. Subsequently, a descriptive analysis and a correlation analysis were performed to interpret the study results. Result & ConclusionThe results of this study show that attractive properties affect brand attitude more than physical attractiveness. The results of the study also show that the meaning of choosing the right influencer for the right brand is important for a company's success. Suggestions for future researchThis study proposes, among other things, to conduct two qualitative studies where one raises the issue of physical attractiveness has become taboo to talk about and the other can perform the same study as this, but with interviews as a data collection method. Other proposals for further research are to examine different generations and limit the selection by gender distribution, for example only women. Contribution of the thesisThe study's contribution is that attractive characteristics of influencers affect consumers more than their physical attractiveness. It is also important for companies to choose a suitable influencer for their brand in order to promote positive attitudes towards the brand. Key wordsBrand attitude, Influencer, Influencer Marketing, Instagram, Product Match-up, Source Attractiveness, Source Credibility.

Syfte: Studien syftar till att skapa förståelse för om och i så fallhur mikro- och makroinfluencers påverkar relationen mellan attitydkomponenterna (tillförlitlighet, experits och attraktivitet) och köpintentionen. Metod:Denna studie baseras på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod där primärdata samlades in via en digital enkätundersökning. Enkäten innehöll frågor från tidigare forskning samt egenutformade och den distribuerades ut via sociala medier. Primärdata samlades in från 150 respondenter där 15 blev bortfall. Primärdata analyserades sedan genom korrelationsanalyser och regressionsanalyser i IBM SPSS-Statistics.  Slutsats: Studien visade att tillförlitlighet och attraktivitet påverkar köpintentionen. Tillförlitlighet har den starkaste påverkan på köpintentionen och makroinfluencers påverkar denna relation medan mikroinfluencers inte gör det. Attraktivitet har också en påverkan på köpintentionen, och mikroinfluencers påverkar relationen, medan makroinfluencers inte gör det. Studien fastställde inte om expertis påverkar köpintentionen, vilket kräver ytterligare forskning. Mikro- och makroinfluencers har en signifikant effekt på förhållandet mellan expertis och köpintention, vilket är av intresse och kräver framtida forskning. / Purpose: This study aims to understand whether and if so, how micro- and macroinfluencers affect the relationship between the attitude components (trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness) and purchase intention. Method:This study is based on a quantitative research method where primary data was collected via a digital survey. The survey contained questions from previous research as well as self- designed questions and was distributed via social media. Primary data was collected from 150 respondents and 15 were excluded. The primary data was then analyzed through correlation- and regression analyses in IBM SPSS-Statistics. Conclusion:The study found that trustworthiness and attractiveness impact purchase intention. Trustworthiness has the strongest impact, and macroinfluencers significantly affect this relationship while microinfluencers do not. Attractiveness also has a positive impact on purchase intention, with micro-influencers affecting the relationship, while macroinfluencers do not. The study did not determine if expertise impacts purchase intention, requiring further research. Micro- and macroinfluencers have a significant effect on the relationship between expertise and purchase intention, which is of interest and needs further research.