Influencer Marketing: Role of Influencer Credibility and Congruence on Brand Attitude and eWOM
Abstract
Despite marketers increasing interest in influencer marketing, selecting the right influencer(s) for such campaigns remain a challenge. The success of any marketing strategy can simply be attributed to its ability to achieve desired objectives. Hence, to advise brands, the present study examines the role of influencer credibility and influencer-brand congruence in impacting the brand’s two main goals of conducting influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram, i.e., brand attitude and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention. This research intends to recommend which factors brands should consider while selecting influencer(s) for their marketing campaigns on Instagram. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was performed on 383 Instagram users. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The findings indicate that expertise, similarity, and congruence have a positive relationship with brand attitude. While expertise, trustworthiness, and similarity have a positive relationship with users’ intention to engage in eWOM. The current study also offers theoretical and managerial implications.
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Budget-conscious tourists are influenced by budget-friendly travel tips and hacks shared by influencers.
“Budget-Conscious Tourists (Dhun and Dangi 2022) Tourists are influenced by budget-friendly travel tips and hacks shared by influencers.”
From Influencer Marketing and Tourist Behaviour: A Systematic Literature Review of Attitudes, Intentions and Behaviours in Tourism (2026) · cites this paper as Dhun and Dangi 2022
Budget-conscious tourists focus on practical advice, discounts, or affordable destinations.
“They focus on practical advice, discounts, or affordable destinations”
From Influencer Marketing and Tourist Behaviour: A Systematic Literature Review of Attitudes, Intentions and Behaviours in Tourism (2026) · cites this paper as Dhun and Dangi 2022
Cites
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“For a message to be persuasive, the credibility of the endorser is of utmost importance (Hovland and Weiss 1951; Ohanian 1990).”
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“The credibility dimensions were also found to have a differing impact based on the product type, endorser, or culture (Eisend and Langner 2010; Pornpitakpan 2004).”
BackgroundMeasuring Attitude toward the Brand and Purchase Intentions
Spears, N., & Singh, S. N. (2004) · Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising · doi:10.1080/10641734.2004.10505164 · Cited by 1,812 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Thus, brand attitude is a customer’s assessment of a particular brand (Spears and Singh 2004).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialWord of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research
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“In addition, Hughes et al. (2019) recognized that the factors influencing sponsored blogging campaign engagement vary between platforms such as Blogs and Facebook.”
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“…also utilized the source credibility theory to explain what role influencers’ credibility play in impacting consumer behaviors (Christodoulaki 2018; Lim et al. 2017; Lou and Yuan 2019; Schouten, Janssen, and Verspaget 2020; Vrontis et al. 2021; Wiedmann and Von Mettenheim 2021; Xiao, Wang, and…”
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Social media influencer marketing: the moderating role of materialism
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“In another study, the trustworthiness and expertise of the influencer significantly influenced the purchase intentions of social media users (Koay et al. 2022).”
BackgroundInfluential
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John, S. P., & Supramaniam, K. (2026) · International Journal of Tourism Research · doi:10.1002/jtr.70226 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dhun, & Dangi, H. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Delhi (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Dhun
- Venue
- Journal of Internet Commerce
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-09-22
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- sup1
- ISSN
- 1533-2861 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-287X
- OpenAlex
- W4296608992
- Cited by
- 108
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 31.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Internet Commerce (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Keywords
- influencer marketing, influencer credibility, brand attitude, electronic word of mouth, Instagram, influencer selection, expertise, similarity, trustworthiness, social media marketing
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