The purpose of this study is to examine how fashion influencers’ source credibility, specifically attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness, drives consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs) through the mediating effect of parasocial relationships, drawing on parasocial theory.
To empirically test the proposed conceptual model, a quantitative study was conducted using an online survey of 201 social media users. The collected data were then analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
The results indicate that attractiveness and trustworthiness play key roles in fostering parasocial relationships. However, expertise does not have a significant influence on parasocial relationships. Furthermore, parasocial relationships positively influence all three dimensions of COBRAs: consuming, contributing and creating. Additionally, parasocial relationships mediate the relationships between a) attractiveness, b) trustworthiness and COBRAs.
Past studies have mainly focused on understanding how general influencers’ source credibility influences consumers’ purchasing behaviour. However, they have overlooked the potential issue of heterogeneity, where different types of influencers impact consumers differently. As a result, the present paper contributes to the social media influencer literature by exploring the impact of fashion influencers' source credibility on COBRAs via parasocial relationships, whereas previous research has primarily focused on general influencers. The findings offer valuable, industry-specific insights for fashion businesses seeking to enhance COBRAs.
