Exploring the Impact of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Consumer Choices: Evidence from Pakistan's Fashion Industry

Abstract

Consumer decision-making has been profoundly impacted by the influencer marketing in the recent times. The growth of SM influencers has significantly altered how companies interact with their clients and prospects (Jin & Ryu, 2020). It is reported that today more than 75% of marketers depends on SM influencers to promote their product/service-related information and more than 65% of global brands have plans to increase their influencer marketing budget with spending expected to reach US$373 million by 2027 (Ki et al., 2020).  Social media influencers have become important drivers of consumer behavior in the age of digitization, influencing choices for brands and purchases. It was also found that 82% of people are highly likely to follow influencer recommendations (Berger, 2016). Although the use of influencer marketing has grown significantly in recent years, there is a little academic research on the influencer marketing phenomenon (Cauberghe & Hudders, 2017). However, understanding the fundamental causes that lead to an influencer& capacity to impact purchase intentions is the main goal of this study. The interaction of source credibility, information quality, social influence, and attitude towards an influencer in influencing purchase intention is examined in this study thesis. A structured survey was used to gather information from people who follow influencers on social media as part of a quantitative research methodology. SEM, or structural equation modelling, was used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses that had been put out. This study proposes a theoretical model to comprehensively understand the key factors and it is found that source credibility, information quality and social influence which shapes a consumer attitude towards a particular SM influencer and predicts the purchase intention among the millennials consumers of online fashion products as a result of the message shared by that particular SM influencer.