Providing a Model of Mental Shortcuts of Influential Users for Choosing Marketing Influencers on Instagram

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc., Department of Business Management, Faculty of Economics, Management and Social Sciences,, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

2 Associate Prof., Department of Management, Faculty of Economics, Management and Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

3 Assistant Prof., Department of Management, Faculty of Economics, Management and Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

Abstract

Objective
The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting users’ identification and selection of influencers on Instagram. Therefore, the study focused on the frequency and diversity of active influencers on Instagram as a social media platform. It sought to designate the key indicators and mental shortcuts employed by users to identify and select influencers before collaborating with them. Through empirical investigations, the study proposed a framework composed of effective factors.
Methodology
This study is an applied, developmental research that relies on an exploratory mixed (qualitative-quantitative) method. In the qualitative part of the study, the literature on the topic and existing documents were systematically reviewed. Next, based on the Morgan table for determining sample size in an infinite population, 384 users of influencer marketing strategy on the Instagram platform were asked to complete copies of a designed questionnaire. Equation structural modeling (ESM) was used to analyze the data collected.
Findings
After the content obtained through the qualitative stage was analyzed, 22 initial categories were observed, which were classified into seven final categories considering their conceptual similarities. The final categories represented users’ mental shortcuts when they tried to identify and select influences on Instagram. Following an analysis of the relationships among the categories, they were divided into level partitions, and their driving power and dependence power diagram were drawn.
Conclusion
This study proposed a final model of the factors as users’ mental shortcuts in identifying and selecting influencers for financial support and collaboration purposes. The model fit also revealed causal-hierarchical relationships among the factors.

Keywords

References

Aghdam, S. M. & Navimipour, N. J. (2016). Opinion leaders selection in the social networks based on trust relationships propagation. Karbala International Journal of Modern Science, 2(2), 88–97.
Amini, A. & Alimohammadlou, M. (2021). Toward equation structural modeling: an integration of interpretive structural modeling and structural equation modeling. Journal of Management Analytics, 1-22.
Bakker, D. (2018). Conceptualising Influencer Marketing, Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management, 1(1), 79-87.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative research journal, 9(2), 27–40.
Campbell, C. & Farrell, J. R. (2020). More than meets the eye: The functional components underlying influencer marketing. Business Horizons, 63(4), 469-479. ‏
De Veirman, M. & Hudders, L. (2020). Disclosing sponsored Instagram posts: The role of material connection with the brand and message-sidedness when disclosing covert advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 39(1), 94–130.
Enke, N. and Borchers, N. S. (2019). Social Media Influencers in Strategic Communication: A Conceptual Framework for Strategic Social Media Influencer Communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 13(4), 261-277.
Fahlevi, M., Rabiah, A. S., Pradipta, I. A. & Marta, A. (2020). Tourism and Absorption of The Labor Force in Indonesia: A Strategy for Development. E3S Web of Conferences, 16001, 2–6.
Fornell, C. & Larcker, D. (1981). Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (1), 39-50.
Ghozali, I. (2018). Aplikasi Analisis Multivariate dengan Program IBM SPSS 25. (Edisi 9). Semarang: Badan Penerbit Universitas Diponegoro.
Haenlein, r. M., Anadol, T. Farnsworth, H. Hugo, J. Hunichen and D. Welte. (2020). Navigating the New Era of Influencer Marketing: How to be Successful on Instagram, TikTok, & Co. California Management Review, 63(1), 5-25.
Kaplan, A. M. and Haenlein, M. (2010). User of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Khan, H. U. & Daud, A. (2017). Finding the top influential bloggers based on productivity and popularity features. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 23(3), 189–206.
Ki, C. W. C. & Kim, Y. K. (2019). The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic. Psychology & Marketing, 36(10), 905-922.
Komok, A. (2020). Audience Reachability and Authenticity. [Online]. Available: https://help.hypeauditor.com/en/articles/2771675audience-reachability-and-authenticity. [Accessed 03 07 2020].
Li, F. & Du, T. C. (2017). Maximizing micro-blog influence in online promotion. Expert Systems with Applications, 70, 52–66.
Li, K., Zhang, L. & Huang, H. (2018). Social Influence Analysis: Models, Methods, and Evaluation. Engineering, 4(1), 40–46.
Liu-Thompkins, Y. (2019). A Decade of Online Advertising Research: What We Learned and What We Need to Know. Journal of Advertising, 48(1), 1-13.
Lou, C. & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: how message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 58-73.
Lua, A. (2020). The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Analytics: Metrics, Insights, Tools, and Tips. [Online]. Available: https://buffer.com/library/instagram-analytics/. Accessed 17 01 2021.
Mallipeddi, R. R., Kumar, S., Sriskandarajah, C. & Zhu, Y. (2021). A framework for analyzing influencer marketing in social networks: selection and scheduling of influencers. Management Science.‏ http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3255198
Moore, A., Yang K., and Kim, H. M. (2018). Influencer Marketing: Influentials’ Authenticity, Likeability and Authority in Social Media, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 75(1).
Peng, S., Zhou, Y., Cao, L., Yu, S., Niu, J. & Jia, W. (2018). Influence analysis in social networks: A survey. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 106, 17–32.
Poyry, E., Pelkonen, M., Naumanen., E. and Laaksonen, S.-M. (2019). A Call for Authenticity: Audience Responses to Social Media Influencer Endorsement in Strategic Communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 13(4), 336-351.
Primasiwi, C., Irawan, M. I. & Ambarwati, R. (2021, May). Key Performance Indicators for Influencer Marketing on Instagram. In 2nd International Conference on Business and Management of Technology (iconbmt 2020) (pp. 154-163). Atlantis Press.
Roelens, I., Baecke, P. & Benoit, D. F. (2016). Identifying influencers in a social network: The value of real referral data. Decision Support Systems, 91, 25–36.
Roshandel Arbatani, T. & Mahmoodzadeh, A. (2018). Advertising through Social Media to Influence the Customers’ Willingness. Business Management, 9(4), 736-786. (in Persian)
Ryu, S. & Park, J. (2020). The effects of benefit-driven commitment on usage of social media for shopping and positive word-of-mouth. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102094.
Sahir, S. H., Suginam, S. & Fahlevi, M. (2021). Online Travel Agency Marketing Strategy: Implications For Consumer Repurchase Decision. EKUITAS (Jurnal Ekonomi Dan Keuangan), 5(2).
Sohrabi, B., Vanaki, A., Mohammadzadeh, A. & Khalili Jafarabad, A. (2021). Presenting a model to support the decision to effectively select influential people in marketing campaigns on the social network Instagram, Scientific Journal of Business Strategies, 16 (14), 200-181. (in Persian)
Taillon, B. J., Mueller, S. M., Kowalczyk, C. M. & Jones, D. N. (2020). Understanding the relationships between social media influencers and their followers: the moderating role of closeness. Journal of Product & Brand Management.‏
trendHERO, Likes Spread, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://support.trendhero.io/article/57 like-spread. Accessed 09 07 2020.
Turkestani, M., Salehi, M. And Razeqi Boroujerdi, b. (2020). Criteria for identifying influential people in social media marketing, Second National Conference on New Thoughts in Business Management, Tehran. (in Persian)
Wetzels, M., Odekerken-Schröder, G. & Van Oppen, C. (2009). Using PLS path modeling for assessing hierarchical construct models: Guidelines and empirical illustration. MIS quarterly, 177-195.
Journal of Business Management
Volume 14, Issue 4
2023
Pages 602-624

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics