This study aims to understand the non-commercial motivations of online influencers in a cross-country context, and identify individual differences, such as blogging activity levels, which moderate these motivations.
Data were collected from two countries: the US and Chile. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analysis.
Results indicated that bloggers’ social relational benefits (BSRB) predicted their socialization motivation (SM), conformity motivation (CM), and relational investments (RI) for both US and Chilean bloggers, but not for US bloggers’ relational investments (BRI).
Based on the U&G theory, our findings show that both hedonic and functional motivations drive online influencers. Specifically, the need to socialize and conform to norms is the key pathway through which social relational benefits (SRB) influence bloggers’ willingness to invest in relationships. Social capital theory further supports that such investments occur when SRB are expected. These findings have important implications for marketers, who can tailor strategies to engage bloggers with varying SRB by promoting their social status and reputation. However, limitations include gender imbalance in the US (male-biased) and Chile (female-biased) samples, and potential bias from self-reported data.
These findings have important implications for marketers, who can tailor strategies to engage bloggers with varying SRB by promoting their social status and reputation. However, limitations include gender imbalance in the US (male-biased) and Chile (female-biased) samples, and potential bias from self-reported data.
As online influencers become more crucial in a firm’s marketing efforts, understanding their non-commercial motivations rather than just focusing solely on commercial ones should be of interest in the effort to improve the firm’s recruitment strategies. Our two-country study offers insights into bloggers’ non-commercial motivations, which can strengthen firms’ marketing strategy.
