Title: The mediation effect of emotional attachment between influencer and customer behaviours

Authors: Mohamad Bash; Anupam Bandyopadhyay

Addresses: Marketing Department, GITAM School of Business, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India ' Marketing Department, GITAM School of Business, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Abstract: The present study seeks to probe into the perceptions of followers' attachment to influencers, focusing specifically on emotional attachment. To gauge the extent of the emotional bond, our research study investigates the influence of two key factors, hedonism, and homophily, on followers' attachment to influencers. The findings suggest that various attributes associated with social media influencers, such as content presentation, content credibility, popularity, and communication, play a significantly positive role in nurturing emotional attachment among followers. This emotional attachment, in turn, fosters a favourable behavioural intention towards the influencers. Furthermore, our research reveals that the hedonic and homophily factors act as significant moderators, further enhancing followers' behavioural intentions by strengthening the emotional attachment between them and the influencers. The insights from this study can prove invaluable to content-driven influencer strategies seeking to attract a larger following and influence followers' intentions to recommend and continue following these influencers along with the marketers.

Keywords: social media influencer; emotional attachment; behavioural intention; homophily; hedonism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2024.140471

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2024 Vol.21 No.1/2, pp.202 - 233

Received: 05 Dec 2023
Accepted: 17 Apr 2024
Published online: 19 Aug 2024 *

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