The Impact of Instagram Influencer Marketing on Consumer Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Parasocial Relationships

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between influencer content quality and perceived influencer similarity with consumer purchase intention in Instagram and how the par asocial relationship between followers and influencers can mediate this relationship. The theory of uses and gratifications, social comparison theory and theory of planned behaviour were used to test the model, which was tested with survey data from 214 Pakistani social media users aged 18 and above who follow at least one influencer. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with 5,000 bootstrap samples was used to test hypotheses. Both influencer content quality and influencer similarity significantly predicted the par asocial relationship, which in turn significantly predicted the purchase intention. The par asocial relationship partially mediated the relationship between content quality and purchase intention, and fully mediated the relationship between influencer similarity and purchase intention, which had no direct effect on purchase intention. The model accounted for 33.9% of the variance in the parasocial relationship and 24.6% of the variance in purchase intention. The results also support the conflicting arguments surrounding the mediating role of para asocial relationships in influencer marketing, and provide brands and content creators with some information on how to persuade in emerging markets: similarity persuades only to the extent that it creates a relational bond, high-quality content persuades both directly and relationally.

Keywords: Influencer marketing; Instagram; influencer content quality; perceived similarity; parasocial relationship; purchase intention; Pakistan.