The Impact of Influencer

Marketing on Brand Image and

Brand’s Trustworthiness in the
Fashion Industry

Submitted to Marion Garaus

Valeriya Savyak

61904123

Vienna, 16th of June 2023

Affidavit
I hereby affirm that this Bachelor’s Thesis represents my own written work and that I
have used no sources and aids other than those indicated. All passages quoted from
publications or paraphrased from these sources are properly cited and attributed.

The thesis was not submitted in the same or in a substantially similar version, not even
partially, to another examination board and was not published elsewhere.

16.06.2023
Date Signature

2
Abstract
Social media has completely changed the way one interacts and communicates with
one another and has integrated itself into the daily life. As social media continues to
grow and becomes a crucial aspect of business marketing activities, it is important for
businesses and individuals to understand how social media may affect a brand’s image
and brand’s trustworthiness. Social media has an impact on both individuals and
organizations since it provides a platform for communication between users and
allows companies to connect with customers. In addition, social media influencer
marketing has become a powerful tool in marketing to promote fashion brands. Social
media influencers are well-known and powerful people who manage their social
media networks and have a sizable fan base. This thesis aims to answer the question
of how influencer marketing impact brand image and brand trustworthiness in the
fashion industry.

A survey was conducted to test how social media users perceive influencer marketing
and how influencer marketing affects a brand’s image and brand’s trustworthiness.
The four constructs of interest, namely brand image, influencer authenticity, brand
trustworthiness, and quality of content, were analyzed using regression analyses,
which revealed that there is a positive correlation between the variables. The
authenticity of social media influencers and the content that influencers promote
have a positive effect on brand image and brand trustworthiness in the fashion
industry.

Keywords: social media, social media influencers, brand image, brand trust, fashion,
influencers’ authenticity, social media marketing.

3
Table of Contents
AFFIDAVIT ........................................................................................................................... 2

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... 4

LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................... 5

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. 5

1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 6

2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 8

2.1 A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ...................................................................................... 8

2.1.1 Instagram ........................................................................................................... 10
2.1.2 Facebook ............................................................................................................ 11
2.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND BRAND IMAGE ......................................... 12
2.3 TRADITIONAL MARKETING ............................................................................................ 13
2.4 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY ...................................................... 14
2.5 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT: CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT ................................................... 16
2.5.1 User-generated Content .................................................................................... 18
2.5.2 Electronic Word-of-Mouth ................................................................................. 19
2.6 SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS ......................................................................................... 20
2.7 BRAND TRUST AND BRAND AUTHENTICITY ....................................................................... 23
2.8 THE AUTHENTICITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS ........................................................... 24
2.9 THE QUALITY OF CONTENT ............................................................................................ 26

3 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 27

3.1 SURVEY DEVELOPMENT AND MEASUREMENTS .................................................................. 29

3.2 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ........................................................................................ 31
3.2.1 Sample Characteristics ....................................................................................... 31
3.2.2 Reliability Analysis ............................................................................................. 34
3.2.3 Hypotheses Testing ............................................................................................ 35

4 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 42

4.1 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS.......................................................................................... 43

4.2 LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ............................................................................ 43

5 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................... 44

4
6 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 56

6.1 APPENDICES 1: ONLINE SURVEY ..................................................................................... 56

List of Tables
Table 1: Measurement of constructs ......................................................................... 30
Table 2: Sample Characteristics.................................................................................. 34
Table 3: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test - Influencer authenticity .......................... 35
Table 4: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Brand Image ......................................... 35
Table 5: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Brand’s Trustworthiness ....................... 35
Table 6: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Quality of Content ................................ 35
Table 7: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 1 .............................................................. 36
Table 8: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 2 .............................................................. 38
Table 9: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 3 .............................................................. 39
Table 10: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 4 ............................................................ 41

List of Figures
Figure 1: Social media usage per day ......................................................................... 31
Figure 2: Most popular social media platforms among participants.......................... 32
Figure 3: Influencer type ............................................................................................ 33

5
1 Introduction
In the past years, various digital technologies have changed the way how consumers
interact with brands, and one of these new technologies is social media. Social media
is a virtual network platform, that became a crucial component in entertainment and
in business purposes (Appel et., 2019). There are various social media platforms that
became popular among people in recent years, such as Instagram, Facebook, and
many others. Social media allows users to exchange their ideas, opinions, feelings, and
information through engaging with other users (Dollarhide, 2021). Social media is
used for different purposes, such as seeking and sharing information, entertainment
purposes, or establishing a favorable image, which works for individuals and
businesses (Gao & Feng, 2016).

Recently, businesses started using social media as a marketing tool to promote their
products, services, and most importantly their brand image. This way of marketing
gives businesses the opportunity to establish communication with potential
consumers, receive direct feedback, and collect data, through viewing, liking,
commenting, and reposting (Eslami et al., 2021). According to a study made in 2019
by Buffer (2019), 73% of marketers, that participated in the study, claim that social
media is the most effective marketing tool for companies to promote their products.
Moreover, social media is as well a relatively cheap and easily accessible marketing
tool, therefore businesses chose this type of promotion more and more frequently
(Gao & Feng, 2016).

Another important aspect of social media is social media influencers. Social media
influencers are famous and influential individuals that run their own social media
pages with a large number of followers (users). Social media influencer marketing
became a fast-growing trend, where businesses chose to collaborate with social
media influencers to promote their brand (Cheung et al., 2022). Social media
influencer marketing is very effective since influencers share their beliefs and
opinions, which builds trust and relationships with their followers. Users of social
media look up to influencers, which later can help to promote a positive brand image
(Nafees et al., 2021). In addition, social media influencer content was found to be 6.9
times more effective than professional shot content (Ki and Kim, 2019) and an

6
industry report (Linqia, 2019) showed that 86% of brand marketers preferred
influencer marketing in their campaigns in 2017. Influencer marketing is preferred
more since it is more effective as to compared to traditional marketing. Consumers
tend to trust social media influencers and/or celebrities rather than a hired
salesperson, that does advertisements through TV or magazines (Masuda et al., 2022).

In order to have a good understanding and close the existing knowledge gap on the
issue of social media and its effects of it on brand image in the mass-market and high-
fashion industry, this thesis seeks to see if there is a positive or negative impact of
social media influencer marketing on brand image and trustworthiness in the fashion
industry. Social media is an important part of life and business in today’s world
(Dollarhide, 2021). People and businesses have begun to use social media as a means
of communication. There are different ways for different brands (mass market or high
fashion) to establish or improve their brand image in the fashion industry, therefore
if this issue is not investigated, there will be a lack of understanding, which may lead
to the choice of ineffective, costly, or incorrect marketing methods in the future (Gao
& Feng, 2016).

The main purpose of this thesis is to look deeper into the topic of social media
marketing, especially if there is an impact of social media on brand image in the
fashion industry. The questions that this thesis aims to answer are as follows:

• To what extent does influencer marketing have an impact on brand

trustworthiness and brand image in the fashion industry?
• What is the role of influencer marketing in shaping brand image and
trustworthiness in the fashion industry?
• What are customer perceptions of influencer marketing in the fashion
industry, and how do these perceptions affect how brand image and
trustworthiness are perceived?

The research paper is divided into four main sections. The literature review discusses
topics, such as types of social media platforms, types of social media marketing,
influencer marketing, and social media influencers. The understanding of these topics
is relevant to the study since it can help understand the research topic even better
and help to analyze data. Next comes the methodology section with the type of

7
research method, that is used for data collection. Following comes the results section
where collected data is presented and analyzed by the researcher. At the end, comes
the conclusion section that covers all the crucial points in this thesis and the
evaluation of the relevance of the research, that was done.

2 Literature review

2.1 A Definition of Social Media

To provide a common understanding of the relevant terms of this thesis, it is

important to define what social media is and explain how social media affects
individuals and businesses. Social media is a virtual network platform that allows users
to share their ideas, thoughts, and information and communicate with each other
through websites and/or apps (Appel et., 2019). Social media is internet-based and
can be accessed through electronic devices, such as computers, tablets, or
smartphones (Dollarhide, 2021). Social media is culturally significant because social
media became one of the most dominant sources for the circulation of information in
today’s world (Appeal et al., 2019). Social media is used in different ways, which
include (1) information seeking: sharing information through social media platforms,
which allows users to access and use information freely; (2) for entertainment
purposes: looking and sharing interesting content, such as experiences; (3) social
interactions: communication among users, such as sharing content, sharing feelings,
supporting; and lastly (4) impression management: individuals that use social media
deliberately to share personal information in social media in order to establish
positive image/impression of themselves (Gao & Feng, 2016). However, it is very
important to understand that social media network is constantly changing. With more
and more innovation taking place, the more likely it is that social media will be
different with each year. In general, it is seen that with time, different social media
platforms have greater liking than others. For instance, at one-point MySpace was the
most popular platform, which switched later to Facebook, and later to Instagram.
Social media changes affect the technological side, for instance, updating or inventing
new features. Likewise, user behavior is changing, for example, people start to be
interested in more things and new information on social media (Appel et al., 2019).

8
Furthermore, statistics show that social media became a part of everyday life. In
January 2022, there were 4.95 billion active internet users around the world and 4.62
billion of them are active social media users. There are different social media
platforms, a couple of the most popular social networks are Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (Statista, 2022). Individuals that use social media
show strong “socialness” on the internet that influences their social life through online
communication with other people and brands. Consumers tend to expect businesses
to hear, communicate and respond to their feedback on social media platforms (Park,
2017). With consumer-brand relationships, businesses are able to understand
consumer needs and wants, which allows them to build stronger connections with the
consumer, leading to the attachment to the brand (Hudson et al., 2016). Different
social media platforms are designed for different types of engagement, long-term or
short-term. In order to have an effective consumer-brand relationship, brands need
to set clear objectives and make a decision on the network that is suited best for
communication with consumers (Killian & McManus, 2015). Additionally, the
consumer-brand relationship gives businesses an opportunity for consumers to
distinguish them from their competitors. With the use of this strategy, brands are able
to emphasize their uniqueness, building a strong identity in a competitive market
(Coelho et al., 2018). Consumers play a huge role in building the brand’s identity; by
sharing information, feedback, opinions and just speaking about the brand (Gamboa
& Gonçalves, 2014). Overall, the whole concept of the consumer-brand relationship is
being actively researched and used by businesses, hence consumers do not buy
products just because they like them (Hudson et al., 2016). Consumers tend to buy
something due to an established relationship with the brand, and their emotional
connection (Robertson et al., 2022).

Moreover, social media affects individuals and as well businesses by giving an

opportunity for people to communicate with each other and businesses to reach out
to consumers (Dollarhide, 2021). Since social media has been invented, it took
different turns and changed throughout the years. Nowadays, it is important to think
of social media as a marketing tool that can help to evaluate consumer behavior and
be used as a communication channel. Social media is a platform for businesses to
show their products and to increase brand visibility, which can increase familiarity
among customers (Appel et al., 2019). According to studies made by Buffer (2019) on

9
the topic of engagement on social media, the majority of marketers (73%) believed
that the most effective marketing is through social media platforms, which allows
promoting of products, target customers, and received feedback (Eslami et al., 2021).
The following sections provide more detailed elaborations on two prominent social
media platforms, namely Instagram and Facebook.

2.1.1 Instagram

Instagram has become the most popular online platform among young users and
fashion brands (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021). Instagram was first launched in 2010
through App Store, where in one week Instagram received 100,000, and two months
after the launch, over one million users (Latiff & Safiee, 2015). Today, the number of
shared photographs on Instagram reaches to 95 million daily, with over 1.28 billion
users on the platform (Menon, 2022). Instagram allows users to analyze information
visually, without the need of analyzing long texts (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021).

Nowadays, Instagram became a tool for business, which offers a free business account
for brands to promote their products and engage with users. The content on
Instagram spreads very fast and can reach a lot of people, therefore brands that work
in the fashion industry use Instagram very frequently (Cheung et al., 2022). Business
accounts have more features than normal individual accounts. Companies with
business accounts can access impression metrics and engagement levels (Augustinus
& Agnes, 2020). Instagram gives users an opportunity to share information, through
mobile apps, in the form of photograph or series of photographs, short or long videos.
Additionally, people can add hashtags, captions, locations, filters, and music and tag
other users in their posts (Augustinus & Agnes, 2020). Furthermore, Instagram offers
private messaging between users. It could be a chat between two people, or a group
of people. Another feature of Instagram is stories. Stories can also be private among
“close friends” and public to all the people, that follow the user. Stories can come in
a photo and video that are visible for 24 hours only, with less formality than a post on
a user’s page (Carpenter et al., 2020). Moreover, Instagram started to provide
shopping services, as a separate section on the app, as of 2018. This service allowed
retailers and brands to sell directly to Instagram users without the need for their
original brand website (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021). Instagram is one of the most
popular social media networks today, which allows users to create content, share it

10
with others, and get feedback, however, there are other networks that are similar to
Instagram, which businesses can also work with (Appel et., 2019).

2.1.2 Facebook

Another well-known social media platform is Facebook. Facebook was created in 2004
and has over 2.95 billion registered users today. Facebook is a platform, where people
can create their accounts, and social media pages free of charge (Nadkarni &
Hofmann, 2012). Facebook is available in 37 different languages, which allows more
people to use Facebook as means of communication (Augustinus & Agnes, 2020).
People started to use Facebook to satisfy their need of being heard, by sharing their
thoughts and opinions on the platform (Laor, 2022). Features that Facebook provide
to the users are for instance visible profiles, friends list, status, events, photos/videos,
messages, chat with multiple people at the same time, sharing and liking of posts, and
lastly, the wall, where people can share their thoughts, pictures, and videos, and news
feed (Nadkarni & Hofmann, 2012). Facebook can be said to be a platform for the
online representation of offline relationships between people (Haenlein et al., 2020).
Facebook is an established social media platform, that has worked for many years.
Facebook has the highest number of monthly sessions, meaning that one user visits
Facebook about five times a day. Additionally, Facebook has the highest monthly
usage of approximately 13 hours and the highest number of posts from users
(Haenlein et al., 2020).

Moreover, businesses tend to use Facebook accounts to notify customers about

different promotions, products, and messages of the brand. With the use of Facebook,
businesses are able to collect and analyze feedback right away, without the need for
any special tools (Chawla & Chodak, 2021). Facebook offers public features such as a
marketplace, events, and presence technology (Augustinus & Agnes, 2020). A strong
presence on social media platforms, such as Facebook, gives brands an opportunity to
encourage users, their potential consumers, to share and emphasize the brand image
they have or the brand image they try to establish (Dehghani & Tumer, 2015).
However, before Instagram was invented, Facebook was a great social media platform
to use for digital marketing. Since 2010, Instagram became the main platform for
digital marketing. Instagram was created to capture important moments and is not
used to check the company’s office opening hours (Augustinus & Agnes, 2020).

11
Facebook now has the lowest satisfaction score, the highest number of users that
want to leave Facebook, and the highest drop in engagement between the years 2016
and 2019 (Haenlein et al., 2020).

2.2 The Relationship between Social Media and Brand Image

Brand image, in simple words, can be described as how consumers perceive the brand,
what associations individuals have with the brand, and how popular the brand is
(Shahid et al., 2017). Consumers shape their cognitive image of the brand by looking
at the beliefs, thoughts, and perceptions the brand projects (Jung et al., 2020). Brand
image has a direct impact on a brand’s success, sales, market share, and overall
performance of the brand in a specific industry. A positive brand image attracts new
customers, which may lead to the development of the brand and an increase in
profits, hence an increase in sales (The Investopedia team, 2021). A positive brand
image helps brands to position themselves on the market, increase brand
performance and make the brand stand out from their competition (Jung et al., 2020).
Brands with a brand page on social media allow them to have updated information
about consumers and exposure to the brand. A brand social media page gives an
opportunity for the brand to promote a positive brand image by posting content,
collaborating with famous influencers, and communicating with consumers through
comments, likes, and reposts (Gao & Feng, 2016). Consumers use social media to learn
about specific brands and brands’ services or brands’ products. Using social media
consumers can form their perception of the brand image, whether it is positive or
negative, depending on how dedicated the brand is to social media marketing (Park,
2017).

Nowadays, researchers investigate factors that influence the success of branding on

social media. The studies include many different factors, specifically position, size,
vividness, variety of social media platforms that are used, and interactivity (Djafarova
& Bowes, 2021) with the overall objective to find ways for more efficient marketing
of brand image on social media (Gao & Feng, 2016). Brand image is a mix of different
aspects, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, and brand loyalty. A crucial
aspect of the promotion of brand image on social media is brand recognition. Brands
with a high number of customers have better brand recognition, which, therefore,
leads to higher earnings (Shahid et al., 2017). Brand recognition goes hand in hand

12
with social media engagement. Brands are able to establish a relationship with their
consumers and potential consumers, in order for the brand to stand out and be
recognized in comparison to their competition (Coelho et al., 2018).

2.3 Traditional Marketing

It is essential to consider how and where digital marketing originated in order to have
a better understanding of the topic. Marketing is all possible activities that businesses
can do in order to get their product or service into the hands of the consumer. To have
effective marketing strategy businesses must know everything about their consumers
and competition. There are different types of marketing tools that exist today. It is
crucial to differentiate traditional marketing tools and social media as marketing tool
(Todor, 2016). Traditional marketing is a form of marketing that is done offline to
reach out to consumers. Traditional marketing tools are business cards, print
advertisements (businesses may choose to send out catalogs to people’s houses),
newspapers/magazines, billboards (if the billboard is placed in the right location, for
instance in a location where there is a lot of traffic all the time, then many people
might see the advertisement and respond to it), brochures, etc. (Lawrence et al.,
2018).

There are advantages and disadvantages to traditional marketing tools. The

advantages are high reach levels and direct feedback from the consumer, but only in
some tools, such as cold calling. Another advantage is the possibility to reach out to a
specific audience. However, the disadvantages are, for instance, the cost of traditional
marketing tools can be costly, renting or buying space for billboards/printed
advertisements or hiring employees for cold calling, in an attempt to sell the product.
Another disadvantage is only a few traditional marketing tools accommodate a direct
response, therefore there is no consumer-brand relationship (Taherdoost &
Jalaliyoon, 2014). Furthermore, businesses started to use social media more and more
frequently as a marketing tool to reach out to customers and have two-way
communication, rather than just receiving feedback, where consumers can reach out
to the brand and the brand can respond in different ways, for example by improving
what the consumer is concerned about or answering to the consumer directly (Appel
et al., 2019). With a lot of new big data analysis, metrics, and forecasting, businesses
cannot analyze everything by themselves. This is where digital marketing comes in,

13
with all the important features and analytics being included in social media platforms
by the creators (Todor, 2016).

2.4 Social Media Marketing in the Fashion Industry

Social media marketing can be defined as “methods for advertising products, services,
or brands using the internet, by attracting the interest of groups of people who discuss
them, make suggestions about them, etc. online” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2023). Digital
marketing was first developed in the 1990s and 2000s, and since then fashion brands
have started to make use of digital marketing more and more frequently (Sudha &
Sheena, 2017). Social media combines two response marketing, direct and indirect
(Taherdoost & Jalaliyoon, 2014). Direct marketing in social media comes from the
brands themselves, by engaging with their customers, for instance with the use of
user-generated content of liking and commenting on brand-generated content.
Indirect marketing, on the other hand, encourages customers to approach the brand.
Indirect marketing is all about building brand awareness and spreading it on social
media, for instance with the use of social media influencer marketing (Todor, 2016).
Social media marketing is constantly changing, specifically how content is created,
shared, consumed, and how the brand image is spread (Gordey et al., 2016). Constant
work done on social media marketing activities can improve consumer trust, intimacy,
relationship equity, brand equity, value equity, brand preference, brand awareness,
and loyalty from consumers and allow brands to put higher prices for their products
(Khan, 2022).

Social media is potentially one of the most effective and useful channels for targeting
consumers, spreading brand awareness, and promoting products and services
(Öztamur & Karakadilar, 2014). Although traditional marketing tools, such as TV
advertisements, billboards, and ratio are effective channels, that were verified over
many years, social media makes it possible to perform the same advertisements but
with less effort, cost, and greater exposure to a larger audience (Kim & Ko, 2012).
Moreover, social media is a relatively costless tool in terms of any other
communication channels in marketing, which gives all businesses, from small start-
ups to large established enterprises, equal opportunity to establish their presents and
reputation on the internet (Gamboa & Gonçalves, 2014). However, creating a business
page is not enough for effective marketing. Brands need to be actively working on

14
their social media pages (Chawla & Chodak, 2021). Social media marketing is a crucial
aspect of a brand’s operating activities (Öztamur & Karakadilar, 2014). The era of
digital marketing forces businesses to find new ways of interacting, reaching, and
communicating with customers (Gordey et al., 2016). Basic social media marketing
requires brands to operate brand fan pages, make promotions, keep public relations,
and most importantly do market research (Öztamur & Karakadilar, 2014). This allows
businesses to analyze data and find the right approach to have consistent social media
engagement in establishing a positive brand image (Taherdoost & Jalaliyoon, 2014).

Over the years, social media has changed the way fashion is presented and consumed
(Hsiao et al., 2020). Social media is the most popular marketing tool that creates links
between fashion brands and their consumers (Ahmad et al., 2015). With two-way
direct communication, fashion brands are able to work together with consumers to
create new products, improve existing products and develop business models (Kim &
Ko, 2012). Another reason why social media marketing became a popular marketing
tool for fashion brands is because social media marketing has a significant positive
impact on the consumer-brand relationship, where brands are able to get to know
their consumer needs better and consumers are able to build attachment and loyalty
to the brand (Hudson et al., 2016). With the use of social media marketing, brands are
able to enforce some familiar emotions and feelings associated with the brand,
making their brand more memorable in the eyes of consumers. In addition, social
media marketing activities allow brands to decrease any misunderstanding that
occurs in the news, social media, or in comments. Brands can improve their brand
image by addressing any issues on their social media pages and showing some action
following the issues or any accusations (Kim & Ko, 2012).

Furthermore, social media, particularly Instagram is a perfect tool for brands that are
related to the fashion industry (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021). Social media, like
Instagram, attract younger users. In the United States, 60% of Instagram users are
younger than 34 years old, therefore social media marketing is the most reasonable
form of marketing communication for fashion brands (Haenlein et al., 2020).
Instagram is a very visual social media platform, which is great for the fashion industry.
Consumers tend to first look at the photograph of the product they want to purchase
and if they like the visual presentation, they will go into more detail about the product

15
(Augustinus & Agnes, 2020). Another reason why brands use social media is social
media influencer marketing. Influential people who have amassed a sizable following
on social media platforms are known as social media influencers. They have the power
to affect how the public perceives goods, services, and anything else they may think
is important. Influencers have a significant impact on consumers' purchasing decisions
(Freberg et al., 2011). The fashion market is very competitive; therefore, it is crucial
for brands to make brand-generated content memorable and interesting at the first
glance (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021).

Brands have different means of creating creative products that allow them to have
memorable content on social media and show brand awareness and improve brand
image, one of them is co-branding. Firstly, fashion brands are divided into two
distinguished groups – luxury and fast fashion (Mrad et al., 2020). Therefore, it is
important to identify differences between luxury fashion brands and fast-fashion
brands. Luxury is correlated with pleasantness, richness, and leisure (Kong et al.,
2021). Luxury or premium brands are those brands that ensure the highest level of
quality and high prices for unique products (Mrad et al., 2020). The luxury fashion
market sector has grown substantially in the past years, specifically around 13-15
percent in 2021 (Xia et al., 2022). Contrary to luxury brands, there are fast-fashion
brands. Fast fashion is associated with fast response, matching of supply and
uncertain demand, and highly fashionable designs. The fast-fashion brand is relatively
cheap, trendy clothing that usually, but not always replicates luxury fashion brands’
design and monitors closely their consumers for quick response to changes in demand
(Mrad et al., 2020).

2.5 Social Media Engagement: consumer engagement

Social media engagement or in other words, consumer engagement is an essential

feature of measuring how successful the promotion of brand image on social media is
(Trunflo & Rossi, 2021). Consumer engagement can be defined as the level of
connection between individuals and businesses (Eslami et al., 2021). Consumers who
engage demonstrate better brand loyalty and satisfaction and are more likely to help
brands improve and develop new production, services, and marketing (Trunfio &
Rossi, 2021). For these reasons, marketers need to understand and know their
consumers and consumers’ willingness to engage with the brand. With an

16
understanding of consumer engagement, brands can find the right channels for social
media marketing activities (Khan, 2022). Social media allowed businesses to
communicate with consumers directly, which gave them the opportunity to collect
more information, and feedback, and develop consumer engagement further (Eslami
et al. 2021). With the use of social media as a marketing tool, brands can easily find
new clients and have greater exposure (Lawrence et al., 2018). Moreover, businesses
have the possibility to have different consumer engagement strategies in order to
establish efficient engagement. There are three types of strategies: persistent,
customized, and triggered. Going into more detail, persistent customer engagement
is plans, that businesses have for a long-term discussion. An example of persistent
engagement is businesses can share a video on a YouTube channel or a photograph
on Instagram which gives consumers an opportunity to communicate with businesses
through likes, comments, or impressions. Customized customer engagement is
communication with customers that is shaped by prior knowledge of the individual or
individuals, such as their preferences, interests, and views. For instance, if a person is
checking into a hotel, the hotel staff could ask for their personal information like email
or ask to give a person’s Facebook page. With the use of this information, hotels could
see if you ever checked in before, what your interests are, and what you expect from
the hotel (Cabiddu et al., 2014). Finally, triggered customer engagement is a strategy,
that is used by businesses for plans for initiated events by the customer to dig deeper
into “new-value creation opportunities” (Eslami et al., 2021). An example of this
engagement could be monitoring social media posts that are related to the business,
where the brand was tagged or mentioned. This engagement strategy allows
businesses to react to feedback in a fast and organized manner (Cabiddu et al., 2014).

Social media engagement can be seen through different actions from customers, such
as customers’ viewing, liking, commenting, reposting, and sharing the content of a
specific brand. These parameters can be used to determine the level of consumer
engagement with a brand’s social media (Trunfio & Rossi, 2021). There are two types
of sharing information and interacting with other individuals on social media: textual,
which is posts and written messages; and non-textual, which is images, videos, and
voice (Liu et al., 2021). Through analyzing this brand-related content among
customers, brands can establish their strategies for customer engagement (Trunfio &
Rossi, 2021). Businesses depend a lot on the users and algorithms of specific social

17
media, that are being actively used (Chawla & Chodak, 2021). Social media
engagement among consumers is a concept with multiple aspects, such as cognitive,
emotional, and behavioral (Liu et al., 2021). Social media engagement can be
measured using social media analytics, such as NLP – natural language processing
techniques or FE – fixed-effects model (Liu et al., 2021), which was created due to the
increase in the use of social media in the past years. This tool allows businesses to
quickly collect and effectively analyze data (Trunfio & Rossi, 2021).

2.5.1 User-generated Content

Furthermore, consumer engagement can be recognized in user-generated content,

which is done in social media. Many mass-market fashion brands, such as H&M, and
luxury fashion brands, such as Balmain use user-generated content as a marketing
tool. Brands encourage their customers to share their experiences with their company
through posts of photos and videos (Kim and Johnson, 2016). User-generated content
is now a highly recognized marketing tool, which is highly discussed by business
media, such as in Forbes Magazine (Mayrhofer et al., 2018). Reposts of user-
generated content done by the brand itself can be seen as a more reliable source of
advertisement since it comes directly from consumers’ own personal experience and
their social media pages. With the use of user-generated content, brands can enhance
their brand image, because user-generated content can be spread very easily and
quickly with other people that share similar passions (Kim and Johnson, 2016).

Brands increasingly rely on user-generated content, since it is a much cheaper and

more successful marketing tool than any other traditional media (Roma & Aloini,
2019). Furthermore, user-generated content is a valuable tool that is used by
businesses to create a consumer-brand relationship (Roma & Aloini, 2019). Users
create user-generated content not only to show their experience with the product
provided by the brand but to show how they associate with the brand image, that the
company projects (Mayrhofer et al., 2018). Consumer engagement goes hand in hand
with user-generated content since it is a channel that allows consumers to
communicate with the brand and other clients of the brand (Eslami et al., 2021).
Furthermore, along with increased interest in user-generated content, interest in
electronic word-of-mouth also has been amplified (Yoo et al., 2013).

18
2.5.2 Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Electronic word of mouth can be defined as “any positive or negative statement made
by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made
available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Hennig-Thurau &
Walsh, 2003). Electronic word of mouth has developed and today is a lot more
effective in reaching larger customer segments rather than traditional word of mouth,
which is diminished by time, space, and connections. This type of word-of-mouth is
available always available and can be viewed at any time by any other person (Yoo et
al., 2013). Electronic word of mouth allows customers to go beyond the brand image,
messages, or advertisements that the brand is trying to provide, which influences
customers’ perception of the brand (Krishnamurthy & Kumar, 2018). Brands try to
encourage their customers to share more positive electronic word-of-mouth. This
marketing strategy is effective because it creates trust between current and potential
customers (Yoo et al., 2013). With electronic word of mouth, customers are able to
get unbiased information about the brand. Customers tend to use and search for
different sources to form their opinion, the image of the brand and electronic word-
of-mouth is one of the biggest sources (Krishnamurthy & Kumar, 2018). According to
the statistics, 70% of consumers visit social media page that business owns to seek
information, 60% of these consumers said that they were more likely to communicate
information to other consumers through social media and 45% of them encouraged
the use of word-of-mouth (Kim & Ko, 2012).

Additionally, electronic word-of-mouth can be a very helpful tool for potential

customers to build an idea of the brand image a business is trying to promote.
However, on the other hand, it can be a disadvantage to the brand (Krishnamurthy &
Kumar, 2018). The problem with negative publicity is it is spread way faster than
positive publicity (Kim et al., 2016). Negative electronic word of mouth can lead to the
loss of potential customers as well as current customers (Yoo et al., 2013). Brands are
not able to control electronic word of mouth. They can take electronic word of mouth
as feedback and react by changing their marketing strategies and improving
products/services. However, it still can damage the brand’s image (Dalman et al.,
2020). However, if the company responds appropriately during the unfavorable
electronic word-of-mouth crisis, the situation may even work to its advantage.

19
Appropriate responses can lead to an increase in satisfaction and trust from
customers, which will lead to an improved online reputation (Kim et al., 2016). With
the thought that electronic word of mouth cannot be controlled by the brands, brands
try to find other channels, where customers can be reached and influenced – one of
them is social media influencers (Yoo et al., 2013).

2.6 Social Media Influencers

Influencer marketing in social media is widely used by the fashion industry, both fast-
fashion and luxury brands (Kim & Kim, 2021). Fashion has long been seen as a
significant social force that shapes consumer behavior and is strongly connected to
the social and economic life of people. Therefore, social media influencers have
gained a lot of attention, as a brand marketing tool (Cheung et al., 2022). Social media
influencers are influential individuals that have gained a large audience through social
media platforms and can shape the audience’s perception of products, services, and
anything, that they believe in (Freberg et al., 2011). Social media influencers chose a
niche area in which they feel most comfortable and where they are experts. Some
examples of niche areas of expertise on social media are beauty (fashion or beauty
products, such as makeup), health (lifestyle or cooking), sport (workouts or body
improvement), and video games (Argyris et al., 2020). Influencers are a powerful force
in the decision-making of the consumer. Social media influencers can create “trends”
and “must haves”, which would make consumers believe that they need these “must
haves” since consumers judge social media influencers as experts in the product
industry (Sudha & Sheena, 2017). The number of influencers on Instagram grew
enormously in the past few years, 39% of all Instagram accounts are owned by
500,000 influencers with more than 15,000 followers on their accounts (Nafees et al.,
2021). Brands tend to collaborate with social media influencers to promote brand
image, brand products, or services, which now as well has its own term “social media
influencer marketing” (Cheung et al., 2022). Influencer marketing is being used by
many fashion brands, for example, Gucci. In 2019, fashion house Gucci decided to use
influencer marketing, partnering with different fashion influencers on Instagram,
specifically 23 influencers, to promote the new fragrance line “Gucci Bloom”. The
campaign included 135 pieces of content that significantly increased brand awareness
and reached up to 750,000 people following the campaign (Haenlein et al., 2020).

20
Social media influencers are believed to be professionals with deeper knowledge in a
specific area, for example in the fashion industry, hence, brand marketers prefer social
media influencers in marketing rather than traditional celebrities (Cheung et al.,
2022).

Moreover, using social media influencers is relatively cheaper than creating a banner
advertisement, TV advertisement, or any similar advertisement (Nafees et al., 2021).
Statistics show that in 2018 there were 3.7 million brand-sponsored influencers' posts
on social media compared to 2019 with 4.95 million posts (Statista, 2019). Brand
image promotion through social media influencers is very effective, since influencers
create content as part of their real life, for example, how a brand’s products can be
used in everyday activities (Cheung et al., 2022). Through social media posts done by
influencers, consumers can process information about a promoted brand with no
effort, since the posts are short, simple, and clear. Influencers share their moral
beliefs, views, and behavior, which builds trust between them and potential
consumers, therefore, trust or favorability towards promoted brand or brands by
influencers (Nafees et al., 2021). Important aspects that help influencers to build trust
with consumers are valuable informational content. Valuable information plays a big
role in creating interest in the promoted brand. Influencers educate and share posts
about tending products, such as beauty products or new technological products, and
share their thoughts about them. Another aspect that needs to be considered when
creating a promotion of brand image is design quality. Influencers focus on the quality
of the text, graphics, audio, and video in their posts, to have effective and interesting
promotion (Cheung et al., 2022). Overall, all that influencers do, have, and share
contributes towards a positive perception of influencers and the brands they
promote. Influencers are being looked up to and therefore, social media influencers
can influence individuals to mimic their positive attitude toward the specific brand
(Nafees et al., 2021).

Furthermore, social media influencers have gained enormous popularity in recent

years in promoting products, services, and brand image in general (Belanche et al.,
2021). People trust social media influencers more than they trust advertisements
made by the brand itself (Zhou et al., 2021). However, social media influencers are
another channel of digital marketing, that is used by businesses. Brands send social

21
media influencers what they need to promote on their social media page. Brands
either pay influencers to make posts or give away free products that the brand
creates. Influencers only choose how to present content/product, that is given by the
brand, on their social media pages (Cheung et al., 2022). Therefore, it is important to
look at both the positive and negative sides of social media influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing can cause negative consumer response, because of low-quality,
unethical, or just inauthentic content, that is being posted about the brand (Zhou et
al., 2021). An example of such a negative consumer response is Chriselle Lim. Chriselle
Lim is social media influencer with 1.5 million followers, that promotes her lifestyle
on Instagram. Her posts usually are related to beauty, fashion, and family. However,
Chriselle got an offer from Volvo to promote their toxic-free car cleaner. The
consciences of this post were negative feedback from her followers, saying that the
post had nothing to do with her established image on social media and Volvo spent
their resources on useless advertisements in partnership with the influencer
(Belanche et al., 2021). Social media influencers create content that encourages
consumers to follow them and build a relationship (Cheung et al., 2021). From this
example, it can be concluded that social media influencers need to maintain high-
quality, authentic social media pages for the right brands to have a successful
partnership with them (Zhou et al., 2021). On the other hand, brands need to consider
as well with whom they want to partner with. It is important for fashion brands to
partner with the right social media influencer, that makes a post related to fashion
(Cheung et al., 2021). With the appropriate campaign created by the appropriate
influencer, the brand, and influencer can get positive responses from consumers
(Belanche et al., 2021). Social media is now flooded with all kinds of influencers, such
as celebrities, athletes, artists, musicians, and many others. Therefore, it is crucial to
identify what the brand promotes, and who the brand needs and find the right timing
for the marketing campaigns (Arora et al., 2019). Unfortunately, even with
appropriate influencers being chosen, there are other risks - one of them being ethics.
Many social media influencers can falsify data, such as the number of “real” followers
– actual people, engagement rates of posts, and likes (Belanche et al., 2021). Brands
tend to promote their products and brand image through influencer marketing
because social media influencers build strong relationships and connections with their
followers. This marketing tool gives brands a boost in social media engagement

22
(Coelho et al., 2018). However, when the data presented by the influencer is falsified,
the brand will not receive the required consumer engagement (Belance et al., 2021).
Another problem that can occur with influencer marketing is influencers are not
aware of the product that they are promoting and brands keep back important
information about the product (Cheung et al., 2021). An example of this negative
influencer marketing is Kim Kardashian promoting the drug Diclegis in 2015. Kim
Kardashian promoted pregnancy sickness drug, by making a review of it on her
Instagram page, which lead to questions from FDA (food and drug administration).
FDA made Kim Kardashian take down her promotion post from her page because this
drug had a lot of side effects, which she was not aware of (Haenlein et al., 2020). In
order for brands to choose the appropriate influencer and not get into situations that
can harm the campaign and brand image, brands make use of the social influencer
index. The social influencer index looks at social media influencers’ total engagement,
total reach, total sentiment, and total growth (Arora et al., 2019).

2.7 Brand Trust and Brand Authenticity

Brand trust can be defined as “the willingness of consumers to trust a brand and
expect positive results even in the face of risk” (Zhang et al., 2022, p. 2). However,
usually, consumers do not expect or think about any risks that could take place when
selecting a brand, they believe in and trust (Zhang et al., 2022). Brand trust can grow
exponentially when consumers believe and feel that the brand is authentic
(Benedictus et al., 2010). Brand trust is formed by consumers’ brand knowledge and
their experiences that come from different channels, such as adverting, word-of-
mouth, and user experience that are shared on social media (Zhang et al., 2022).
Brand trust has also positive effects on marketing, for instance by reducing marketing
costs (Kocak & Kabadayi, 2012).

Brand trust became a key factor in building long-term relationships between

consumers and brands in the fashion industry. Trust has positive effects on brand
loyalty and on the brand image (Alhaddad, 2015). It is important to know that
consumers do not form their perception of the brand before actually trying it out.
Consumers form their perceptions based on their experiences. Therefore, brands
need to prioritize the creation of the product and the experiences the consumer can
get by using the product. For example, some elements that may influence consumer’s

23
experience with the product are packaging, price, advertising channels, and logos
(Kocak & Kabadayi, 2012). Consumers’ trust is what leads to consumers’ loyalty, by
creating positive relationships. As a result of consumers loyalty, brands can gain a
competitive advantage, increase positive word-of-mouth, and increase sales, which
leads to higher profits (Nadeem et al., 2020).

Furthermore, brand trust goes hand in hand with brand authenticity, resulting in
consumers’ loyalty (Södergren, 2021). Brand authenticity can be defined as “the
extent to which consumers perceive a brand to be faithful and true toward itself and
its consumers, and to support consumers being true to themselves” (Morhart et al.,
2015, p. 202). Brand authenticity became a main focus in the past decade, because
businesses showed no connection between their objectives, values, and actual
actions, and accomplishments, which damages the brand image and brand trust.
Research shows that brands that stay authentic, have better relationships with their
consumers, are trustworthy, and have better profits (Eggers et al., 2013).

Additionally, many brands use influencer marketing as one of many marketing

channels (Audrezet et al., 2020). Research shows that people (users of social media)
are more likely to follow more authentic influencers that promote brands, which leads
to an increase in consumer engagement and improvement of brand image on social
media (Yang et al., 2021). Authentic and trustworthy brands now face many issues
with finding authentic social media influencers, which will be discussed in more detail
further in this research (Audrezet et al., 2020).

2.8 The Authenticity of Social Media Influencers

Social media became a tool for brands to engage with social media influencers in
creating content to promote the brand and the brand’s image, through various
platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and others in the form of videos,
photographs, and stories (Gao & Feng, 2016). With the use of social media, influencers
are able to gain a large audience in a short period of time and share information
attractively and interactively, where users (consumers) can share their thoughts
through reposts and comments (Cheung et al., 2022). An example of a popular social
media influencer that gained an enormous number of followers, around 8.2 million
on Instagram in a short period is Chiara Ferragni. Chiara Ferragni is a fashion blogger,

24
known for her blog “The Blonde Salad”. Influencers can supplement conventional
corporate communication by incorporating their unique style and dress preferences.
Therefore, brands often practice “influencer marketing” where they partner up with
social media influencers and take advantage of the content that social media
influencer creates and shares (Audrezet et al., 2020). Research shows that social
media influencers are seen as more trustworthy and authentic by social media users
than traditional celebrities, such as musicians and actors because traditional
celebrities tend to have publicity teams behind them (Yang et al., 2021).

Authenticity can be defined as being true to yourself, your values, personality, and
feeling (Balaban & Szambolics, 2022). There are two types of authenticity: indexical
authenticity and iconic authenticity. Indexical authenticity refers to “the original” or
“the real thing” (Grayson & Martinec, 2004). For instance, a painting is “the original”
and any other similar-looking paintings are inauthentic copies of “the real thing”
(Audrezet et al., 2020). And iconic authenticity refers to “something whose physical
manifestation resembles something that is indexically authentic” (Grayson &
Martinec, 2004, p. 298). In other words, iconic authenticity is a precise representation,
a copy of something else (Audrezet et al., 2020).

Brand relationships with social media influencers are not without risk. A social media
influencer’s followers are first drawn to the opportunity to access content created by
the "ordinary" individual in the role of influencer because it is believed to be
noncommercial and, therefore, more reliable than marketing-initiated
communication. In other words, social media influencer’s content is perceived as real
and authentic, however, partnerships with brands can put authenticity into question
(Audrezet et al., 2020). Social media influencers’ authenticity could be at risk when
creating content for commercial purposes for fashion brands because the
advertisement could push away the content that the influencer creates based on the
influencer’s beliefs and passions (Audrezet et al., 2020). It is extremely hard to stay
authentic in social media since the digital world requires idealized content, which
could be photoshopped or presented differently on social media rather than in real
life, which is done for a reason, for followers to stay always curious and interested
(Balaban & Szambolics, 2022). “Social media display hyper-real representation of the
world, exploiting audience’s attention” (Maares et al., 2021, p. 1). Social media

25
influencers are being pressured by brands, followers, managers, and others to post
content that will catch attention and be interesting to look at. Therefore, it is
challenging for social media influencers to sustain authenticity while creating
commercial or non-commercial content to satisfy followers and others, who are
involved in the content (Audrezet et al., 2020).

2.9 The Quality of Content

Meanwhile, social media marketing started to become more and more popular among
businesses, the main point of social media is to spread information and connect with
consumers through content. There are different types of content that were also
mentioned before in the literature review, such as brand-related content, user-
generated content, influencer-generated content, and others. The quality of content
is an important issue, that businesses need to take into consideration when promoting
a brand’s image and brand’s trustworthiness. Social media content marketing is
crucial in the fashion industry when creating effective content to attract consumers
(Ahmad et al., 2016). Content marketing is “a contemporary marketing paradigm with
many long term benefits such as building loyalty by engaging with the target audience
with valuable content” (Du Plessis, 2017, p. 1). Social media content marketing is what
keeps the brand health score high. Brand health can be defined as the image of the
brand or the reputation of the brand. Brand health is an important aspect in
determining the performance of the business based on the demand from the
consumers, interaction from the consumers, and the number of sales (Ahmad et al.,
2016). The main purpose of social media content marketing is to find the ideal content
to attract consumers to visit the brand’s social media page, to engage with the brand,
to make frequent purchases from the brand, to like and repost content from the brand
and communicate to other people about the brand through the use of word-of-mouth
(Ansari et al., 2019). Social media content tends to be more and more aesthetic quality
which can be identified as “the perceived aesthetic quality and attractiveness of the
visual content (pictures or videos) posted on social media” (Bazi et al., 2020, p. 228).
Fashion brands, such as Chanel, Gucci, or Louis Vuitton tend to focus on aesthetic
quality content, by use of graphical design, high-quality pictures and videos, various
colors, and icons, which attract the consumer’s eye. The content with aesthetics is
more likely to be shared and draw attention to the brand (Bazi et al., 2023).

26
H1: An influencer’s authenticity has a positive impact on brand image in the fashion
industry.

H2: An influencer’s authenticity has a positive impact on a brand’s trustworthiness in

the fashion industry.

H3: The quality of an influencer’s content has a positive impact on brand image in the
fashion industry.

H4: The quality of an influencer’s content has a positive impact on a brand’s

trustworthiness in the fashion industry.

These are the four crucial hypotheses that need to be addressed. In this research, the
researcher’s main objective is to find if there is a correlation between social media
influencer’s authenticity and brand image, as well as the quality of content and the
brand’s trustworthiness.

3 Methodology
The collection of data can be done through different research approaches. There are
three types of research approaches; the first one is qualitative, the second one is
quantitative, and the third approach is mixed methods (Creswell, 2014). Qualitative
research focuses on the “why” type of questions rather than the “what” type of
questions. This type of research method focuses on everyday real-life experiences
from people, which allows one to get an in-depth understanding of the data collected
(Ahmad et al. 2019). The data is collected through expert interviews, focus groups,
consumer (in-depth) interviews, observation, and case studies, which required
answering open-ended questions (Creswell, 2014). Moreover, quantitative research
test different theories (hypotheses) by looking at the relationship between different
variables, the dependent variables and the independent variables. After the research
is conducted, the null hypothesis can be rejected or accepted. This research approach
requires numeric data, however, can also include open-ended questions. The data
collection can be done through surveys or experiments (Ahmad et al. 2019). Lastly,
there is mixed methods research approach. This method includes both qualitative and

27
quantitative research forms. A mix of two approaches gives in-depth research and
gives an opportunity to analyze more data for accurate results (Crewell, 2014).

Quantitative research makes use of a postpositivist worldview. This worldview focuses

on empirical data, which is observed and measured directly through real-life personal
experience. The postpositivist worldview allows one to observe an individual’s reality
and behavior, as well, it takes into consideration, that there is no right or one answer
to the question (Creswell, 2014).

For this study, a quantitative research approach was chosen as a data collection
method. The study required both open-ended questions and numeric questions,
which will be collected through the use of online surveys (Lo et al. 2020). Surveys allow
the collection of data in terms of trends, attitudes, and opinions from a population
sample. Through the use of this data, information can be analyzed, and conclusions
can be drawn. Convenience sampling method, a non-probability sampling, would be
used to collect data, since individuals in the population sample, which would be
around 80 individuals, will not be chosen by specific characteristics, such as age,
gender, etc, but will be chosen based on the access to the participants, which gives
unbiased results about the influence of social media on brand image in the fashion
industry (Creswell, 2014). However, the two main requirements for the participants
are they need to be social media user and follow at least one social media influencer.
The survey is conducted online since this approach provides several advantages. The
use of an online survey allows the research to have a large sample size, that can be
easily found by sharing a link. With a link, people do not need to share any personal
information and can stay anonymous. Moreover, this method of data collection is
inexpensive and very flexible, the design can be adapted, and the formatting as well
(Lo et al. 2020). However, a couple of disadvantages to the online survey are that
participants who received a link may not use social media or may not follow social
media influencers, and another disadvantage may be that people who want to
participate do not have access to Wi-Fi, therefore cannot participate in the survey.
Another crucial disadvantage to online surveys is technical issues that could lead to
poor respondent experience and could lead to incompletion of the survey. Another
disadvantage is a lack of control over the environment and personal interaction. If any
interruptions happen, such as the influence of other people or poor connection, that

28
are not controlled by the interviewer, as it could be controlled during face-to-face
interviews, then participant can be distracted, and the quality of responses can
decrease. It is important for the researcher to take all the disadvantages and
advantages into consideration when deciding whether or not to conduct an online
survey.

3.1 Survey Development and Measurements

The online survey was conducted to collect the required data in order to answer the
research questions of the study to accept or reject proposed hypotheses. The survey
was sent out to participants (population sample) by a link and the link was posted on
social media (Instagram), as well as sent out in groups on WhatsApp. The data
collection is done after the research on the topic of the impact of social media
influencers on brand image and brand trustworthiness in the fashion industry, for the
purpose of including only relevant questions in the survey. The non-probability
sampling method was used, which does not require to collect personal data, such as
name, but at the end will collect data, such as age and gender, and the highest level
of education the participant received until now, which allows participants to stay
anonymous and gives enough information for the researcher to analyze the data.

The survey was created using Google Forms in English and the link was distributed
through various platforms and groups such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and email. The
survey consists of 17 questions, multiple-choice questions at the beginning, where
participants need to choose one answer for the questions “do you use social media?”
with choices “yes” or “no”. Second question “How often do you use social media?”,
with choices “1 = Rarely (less than once a day)”, “2 = Occasionally (once daily)”, “3 =
Sometimes (2-5 times a day)”, “4 = Frequently (6-10 times a day)”, “5 = Always (I am
signed in all the time)”. And there were multiple choice questions, where participants
were able to choose one or more answers, for instance, “Which social media platform
do you use more frequently to follow fashion brands?”, and the answers were
“Instagram”, “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “TikTok”, or “Other (please specify)”. In the end,
7-point Likert scale (where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree), 7-point
semantic differential scale (where 1 was, for instance, dishonest and 7 was honest),
and an open-ended question about the age of the participants. In order to participate
in the survey, participants were required to use social media and follow at least one

29
influencer. Individuals that participated in the survey and answered “no” to the
question “do you use social media?” and to the question “do you follow influencers
on social media?” were not able to go further and the survey was terminated. The
reason for the termination of the survey at these two questions was that the
responses provided by participants that do not follow influencers and do not use
social media did not give the research relevant information that could have been used
in the research to make conclusions and accept or reject the hypotheses. All the
findings and the online version of the survey are provided in the Appendix. The
questions were adapted from existing research on similar topics. Table 1 provides an
overview of the measures used in the survey.

Table 1: Measurement of constructs

Construct Survey Question Source

Well-known and prestigious.

Fashionable and trendy. (Cretu & Brodie,

Brand Image
2007)
Having reputation for good quality.

Untrustworthy ---- Trustworthy

Dishonest ----- honest (Michaelidou et

Brand
al., 2015)
Trustworthiness Unethical ---- Ethical

Phony ---- Genuine

Influencers actively communicate with

consumers.
(Ryu & Hank,
Influencers value the relationship with 2021)
their followers.

Influencers should be honest without lying.

Influencer
Influencers must broadcast with sincerity.
Authenticity
Influencers have their own special content.

Influencers have their own personality and

characteristics.

30
 Influencers must fulfill their promises with
followers well.

Influencers well explain the relationship (Ryu & Hank,

between content, product, and brand. 2021)
Quality of
Influencers clearly communicate
Content information about a product or brand.

Influencers know and understand a

product or brand well.

3.2 Data Analysis and Results

3.2.1 Sample Characteristics

The number of participants that took the survey which answered “yes” to the question
“do you use social media?” turned out to be 78. Out of 78 participants, 47.4% are
always signed in social media (signed in all the time), 34.6% use social media
frequently (6-10 times a day), 14.1% use social media sometimes (2-5 times a day),
1.3%. occasionally use social media (once daily) and 2.6% rarely use social media (less
than once a day). The data shows that most of the participants are frequent social
media users.

Figure 1: Social media usage per day

The most frequently used social media network is Instagram, around 85.9% out of 78
participants use this social media platform to follow fashion brands. The second most
frequently used social media by the participants is TikTok with around 35.9%. Twitter

31
is being used by 11.5% and Facebook is in fourth place with 10.3%. Other social media
that some participants use are Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat. From the
data in Figure 2, it can be concluded that most of the participants use Instagram, which
shows that Instagram is the most popular social media platform among young users.

Figure 2: Most popular social media platforms among participants

Moreover, out of 78 participants, 55 (70.5%) follow social media influencers and 23

(29.5%) do not follow any social media influencers on social media platforms. 22
participants follow professional social media influencers, for instance, bloggers. 11
participants follow celebrity influencers, such as actors/actresses. Only 1 participant
follows other types of influencers, which are professionals such as health experts. And
21 participants follow both celebrity influencers and professional social media
influencers.

The reasons for participants to follow more professional social media influencers, as
seen in Figure 3 could be for entertainment purposes, inspiration purposes,
knowledge and expertise of an influencer in a specific field, being connected with the
influencer and other users that follow that influencer, and last but not least, product
or service recommendation. These are the most frequent reasons why social media
users follow professional social media influencers. Therefore, it can be concluded that
professional social media influencers have better knowledge in specific fields and
create more content that interests social media users compared to celebrity
influencers.

32
Figure 3: Influencer type

Table 2 – sample characteristics, refer to general information about participants that

was recorded at the end of the survey, from participants that answered all questions
in the survey. In general, gathering sample characteristics during a survey assures
accurate representation, gives an opportunity for analysis and generalization, makes
it easier to conduct subgroup analyses, accounts for any confounding variables, and
allows to make comparisons between researches. It is a crucial component of survey
research that improves the findings' validity, dependability, and utility. Out of 55
participants, 33 (60%) were female, 21 (38.2%) were male and 1 (1.8%) other. The
participants' age range is from 16 years old up to 32 years old. The mean age turned
out to be 22 years old. Most of the participants (54.5%) had high school or equivalent
education level and 30.9% of participants had bachelor’s degree education level. From
this, it can be concluded that the survey was completed by young participants, which
is reasonable since the average age which shows most activity on social media
platforms are people ages of 19 and 29 (Zhou, 2023).

Before conducting any further hypotheses testing, a reliability test was conducted. A
statistical technique - reliability analysis is used to evaluate the reliability and accuracy
of each construct (influencer’s authenticity, brand image, brand’s trustworthiness,
and the quality of content) that was used in the data collection process. Cronbach’s
alpha was used, where an alpha of 0.6 can count as acceptable – a low internal
consistency, 0.7 and above are good, 0.8 and above is even better, and lastly 0.9 and
above is the best – excellent internal consistency (Raharjanti et al., 2022). In research,
Cronbach’s alpha is an indicator of internal consistency and dependability. It is

33
frequently used to evaluate a scale's or survey’s consistency or reliability when it has
several items meant to measure a specific construct or area (Amirrudin et al., 2021).

Table 2: Sample Characteristics

3.2.2 Reliability Analysis

From the tables below, it can be concluded that all four constructs (influencer’s
authenticity, brand image, brand’s trustworthiness, and the quality of content) are
above 0.6 (influencer’s authenticity – 0.8, brand image – 0.73, brand’s trustworthiness
– 0.82 and the quality of content – 0.86), meaning the Cronbach’s alpha is acceptable.
Low standard deviation values show that all data are grouped together around the
mean. With data being clustered together, one can see that most of the participants
had similar answers to the questions in the survey. Less response variability is
indicated by a low standard deviation, while great internal consistency is indicated by
a high Cronbach's alpha. When the scale's items consistently measure the same
construct and there is a great general agreement or general consensus among the
participants, as indicated by both a low standard deviation and a high Cronbach's
alpha, as can be seen in Table 3, Table, 4, Table 5 and Table 6, the results are
considered to be reliable. This often signifies the scale's high reliability and internal
consistency (Amirrudin et al., 2021).

34
Table 3: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test - Influencer authenticity

Table 4: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Brand Image

Table 5: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Brand’s Trustworthiness

Table 6: Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test – Quality of Content

3.2.3 Hypotheses Testing

For hypotheses testing the most appropriate analysis was regression analysis (linear
regression). Regression analysis is “a statistical technique for estimating the
relationship among variables which have reason and result relation. Main focus of
univariate regression is analyse the relationship between a dependent variable and
one independent variable formulates the linear relation equation between dependent
and independent variable” (Uyanik & Güler, 2013, p. 234). For the linear regression,
the four constructs – brand image, brand’s trustworthiness, influencers’ authenticity,
and the quality of content were computed into composite scores. By computing

35
composite scores, the researcher can get one single score for multiple observed
variables, to reduce measurement error and to make the regression model easier to
analyze. To compute each construct, the researcher took each construct, for instance,
brand image, which is composed of the items: (1) well known and prestigious, (2)
fashionable and trendy, (3) having reputation for good quality used the mean function
to compute the average. The same process was done for the other three constructs,
influencers’ authenticity, the brand’s trustworthiness, and the quality of content.

Each tested hypothesis had the null hypothesis (H0) and the alternative hypothesis
(H1). The null hypothesis (H0) states that there is no correlation or impact between
the independent and dependent variables. It is assumed under the null hypothesis
that any detected variations in the data are the result of random chance or sampling
variability and that no effect was seen. In other words, it suggests that there is no
actual or appreciable connection between the variables. On the other hand, there is
alternative hypothesis, the researcher's verdict, or assertion that certain effects or
correlation exist between the variables. According to the alternative view, any
observed differences in the data are not only the result of chance but rather are the
result of a real relationship (Streiner, 2003).

H0: An influencer’s authenticity has no impact on brand image in the fashion industry.

H1: An influencer’s authenticity has a positive impact on brand image in the fashion
industry.

Table 7: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 1

36
The first hypothesis aims to test if there is any correlation between social media
influencers’ authenticity and brand image, and if the correlation is positive or
negative. For the testing, the dependent variable is brand image, and the independent
variable is influencer’s authenticity. In regression analysis, the R-value (the correlation
coefficient) is used to determine the linear correlation between two variables. The R-
value range is from -1 to 1, where -1 is a perfect negative linear relationship, 0 means
that there is no relationship between the variables and 1 is a perfect positive linear
relationship. In table 7, the R-value is 0.39, meaning that there is a moderate positive
linear relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable.
Moreover, the R2 value is a is a measure that is used in statistics to show how much of
the variance in the dependent variable can be accounted for by the independent
variable. The R2 value ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 means that none of the variance is
defined by the regression model, and 1 means the variance is well defined by the
model. The R2 value of 0.15 or 15%, as seen in Table 7, can be described as the
relatively weak relationship between two variables. 0.85 or 85% of the variance is not
influenced by the factor presented in the model, however, is affected by other
external factors. The adjusted R2 value represents a better version of the R2 value,
where number of independent variables is being considered and regulated for the
degree of freedom. However, in Table 7 the adjusted R2 value is 0.14, which still means
that there is a relatively weak relationship between the dependent and the
independent variables. Therefore, it is important to look at other data to make the
decision whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis.

Furthermore, the SE-value (standard error value) “quantifies uncertainty in the

estimate of the mean” (Barde & Barde, 2012, p. 114). In simple words, the standard
error value explains how dependent variable varies from the regression model
determined by the independent variable. The t-value or t-statistic is “also based on
the ratio of explained variance against unexplained variance or error” (Field, 2009, p.
204). Overall, the t-value of 3.11 and SE-value of 0.16 mean that there is a strong
statistically significant correlation between the variables. Additionally, the p-value is
“the probability of rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis… The smaller the P
value, the stronger the evidence against H0” (Thiese et al., 2016, p. 928). In Table 7
the p-value is 0.003, which is smaller than 0.05, meaning that the p-value is
statistically significant. Even though the R-value, R2 value and adjusted R2 value

37
suggest that there is a weak correlation between the variables, the t-value, SE-value,
and the p-value together in table 7 suggest that the results are significant, and the null
hypothesis should be rejected, and H1 should be accepted.

H0: An influencer’s authenticity has no impact on a brand’s trustworthiness in the

fashion industry.

H2: An influencer’s authenticity has a positive impact on a brand’s trustworthiness in

the fashion industry.

Table 8: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 2

The second hypothesis aims to test the correlation between two variables, the
dependent variable – brand’s trustworthiness and the independent variable –
influencers’ authenticity. For the second hypothesis, as well, regression analysis was
used to determine the relationship between variables. The R-value is 0.30 as shown
in Table 8. The value of 0.30 is relatively low based on the range from 0 to 1 for the R-
value, where 0 means that there is a weak relationship and 1 means that there is a
strong correlation between the two variables. An R2 value of 0.09 shows that the
independent variable in the regression model can account for 9% of the variance in
the dependent variable. This indicates that the relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable is somewhat weak. When determining the
adjusted R2 value, the number of independent variables in the regression model is
being considered. An adjusted R2 value of 0.07 in Table 8 suggests that the
independent variable in the model can explain 7% of the variance in the dependent
variable when the number of the independent variables and their degrees of freedom

38
are thought about. According to an adjusted R2 value of 0.07, one can suggest that
there is a weak correlation between the independent variable and the dependent
variable.

Moreover, the p-value for the second hypothesis is 0.027, which is less then 0.05,
which suggests that the null hypothesis needs to be rejected and the H2 should be
accepted. This is also proven by the t-value which is 2.27 and the SE (standard error)
value of 0.15 because a large t-value suggests that there is a strong relationship and
suggests strong evidence against the null hypothesis. Therefore, the researcher can
conclude that there is a statistically significant correlation between the influencers’
authenticity and the brand’s trustworthiness, and the second hypothesis can be
accepted, and the null hypothesis can be rejected.

H0: The quality of an influencer’s content has no impact on brand image in the fashion
industry.

H3: The quality of an influencer’s content has a positive impact on brand image in the
fashion industry.

Table 9: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 3

The third hypothesis tries to test the relationship between brand image and the
quality of content made by social media influencers while promoting the fashion
brand. For the third hypothesis, the researcher chose to conduct a regression analysis.
The R-value of 0.55 in Table 9 suggests that there is a moderate positive linear

39
relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. An R2 value of
0.03 illustrates that the independent variable in the regression model can account for
3% of the variance in the dependent variable. This indicates that the relationship
between the independent variable and the dependent variable is close to weak. It is
crucial to recall that a regression model's suitability depends on the particular context
and the type of data being evaluated, therefore a low R2 value does not always imply
that the model is insufficient. When considering the number of independent variables
and their degrees of freedom, an adjusted R2 value of 0.29 in Table 9 indicates that
the independent variable in the model can explain 29% of the variance in the
dependent variable.

Additionally, the third hypothesis' p-value is less than 0.05 (<0.001), indicating that
the null hypothesis should be rejected and the H3 should be accepted. This is further
supported by the fact that the t-value is 4.79 and the SE (standard error) is 0.09, both
of which indicate a significant association and strong evidence against the null
hypothesis, respectively. In this case, based on the information provided in Table 9,
the researcher can come to the conclusion that H3 should be accepted and there is a
positive correlation between the dependent variable – brand image and the
independent variable – the quality of content. Meaning that the quality of content
created by social media influencers has a positive effect on the brand’s image in the
fashion industry.

H0: The quality of an influencer’s content has no impact on a brand’s trustworthiness

in the fashion industry.

H4: The quality of an influencer’s content has a positive impact on a brand’s

trustworthiness in the fashion industry.

40
Table 10: Linear Regression for Hypothesis 4

Last but not least, is hypothesis number four, which suggests that the quality of
content made by social media influencers has a positive effect on a brand’s
trustworthiness in the fashion industry. With the regression analysis, the researcher
aims to test if there is a correlation between the two variables and if the relationship
is positive. In comparison to the other three hypotheses testing, one can see that the
results are slightly higher than in the previous tables above. The R2 value reveals that
approximately 37% of the variability of the dependent variable is explained by the
independent variable included in the model, despite the fact that an R-value of 0.61
indicates a moderate positive correlation. The adjusted R2 value provides a somewhat
lower estimate of the explanatory power and takes model complexity into
consideration.

Further, the p-value for hypothesis four is <0.001, again, implying that there is a strong
correlation between the quality of content and the brand’s trustworthiness.
Additionally, a high t-value of 5.64 and a low standard error value of 0.08 also suggest
that there is a relationship between the variables. Therefore, based on the analyzed
data in Table 10, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between the brand’s
trustworthiness (the dependent variable) and the quality of content created by the
influencers (the independent variable). The null hypothesis, therefore, is rejected and
the H4 is accepted.

All in all, the hypotheses testing with the use of the regression analysis showed that
all four hypotheses can be accepted and there is a positive impact of social media

41
influencers and the content that influencers create on brand image and brand trust in
the fashion industry.

4 Conclusion
This section summarizes the survey's findings and provides an overview of them.
These findings are then contrasted with the assertions made in the thesis. The
researcher will next discuss managerial implications. In addition, this part will address
any potential weaknesses in the research report and propose how to fix them for
future studies.

To conclude, social media has cultural significance since it has emerged as one of the
most important channels for the communication of information in the modern world
(Appeal et al., 2019). There are many different social media platforms, that are used
by 4.95 billion active users (Statista, 2022), which are Facebook, Instagram, and many
others (Park, 2017). Social media as well is a powerful tool in today’s marketing
activities (Park, 2017). With the use of social media as a marketing tool, brands are
able to reach out to their current and potential consumers with the use of different
channels (Hudson et al., 2016). Brands tend to promote positive brand image using
social media. Positive brand image has a direct influence on a brand’s success in terms
of sales, market share, performance, and profit (Jung et al., 2020). Consumers use
social media to learn about a specific brand and brand’s products (Park, 2017).
Consumers' perception of the brand can be built upon electronic word-of-mouth,
which is created by other consumers where they share their opinions and attitude
towards the brand and the brand’s products, which can be positive and negative
(Hennig Thurau & Walsh, 2003). The fashion industry is a competitive market, which
is why it is very important for brands to create memorable and extraordinary content
to attract consumers and have a positive brand image (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021). One
of the most popular sources that are frequently used by fashion brands to spread
content such as user-generated content and brand-related content is social media
influencers (Cheung et al., 2022). Social media influencers are influential individuals
that have a large following on social media platforms, where they create specific
content that interests their followers (Ferberg et al., 2011). In the past couple of years
influencer marketing started to be used more and more frequently by fashion brands

42
in order to share and improve the brand’s image (Cheung et al., 2022). Influencer
marketing in social media became a crucial aspect of the marketing activities of the
brand, because consumers tend to trust social media influencers and try to mimic the
same positive attitude toward the brand that is being promoted (Nafees et al., 2021).

4.1 Managerial Implications

The findings of the research that were done through existing research on similar topics
and the survey that was conducted by the researcher suggest that fashion brands
need to utilize social media marketing through the use of social media influencers to
promote the brand’s image and build brand trust among current and potential
consumers. However, fashion brands need to always take into consideration which
social media influencer they partner up with, because as data analysis showed there
is a positive correlation between the quality of content that is produced by the social
media influencers and influencers’ authenticity on the brand’s image and brand trust.
Fashion brands need to partner up with authentic and trustworthy influencers to
promote the brand image, in order for consumers to have trust in the brand. The
evidence for this statement can also be proven by the accepted four hypotheses that
were tested.

The findings, also show that it is crucial for fashion brands to choose the appropriate
content strategy, where brands need to create content that is relevant to their brand,
as well as content that is interesting for their consumers. With content strategies,
fashion brands can develop brand image and brand trustworthiness. Through content,
fashion brands can establish consumer-brand relationships, which will help to
increase consumer trust. Consumer trust could be built through transparency,
engagement with consumers, connection to specific authentic influencers, and
keeping the promises to the consumers.

4.2 Limitations and Further Research

Despite the findings and accepted hypotheses, there could be a couple of limitations,
which could affect the results in future research. There are general and more specific
limitations that could be discussed. Firstly, a limitation of response bias can occur,
which means that instead of giving the participant’s genuine ideas and thoughts, the
participant may give socially acceptable answers to the questions, in a way the

43
participant believes is anticipated. The authenticity and dependability of answers that
are gathered from participants may be impacted by this bias. Another limitation is
sample representativeness and self-selection bias, where it could be hard to allow for
generalization. It is especially difficult in the research done on the topic of social media
and social media influencers, since the survey results (sample characteristics), in Table
2 showed that there are more younger participants rather than individuals that are
older than 30 years old. This could affect the results because the older generation is
not as familiar with social media and social media influencers as the younger
generation. Additionally, individuals that participate in the survey may have different
opinions and views on the topic compared to people who do not participate in the
survey. Another limitation could be limited response options. In the survey that was
conducted, the questions were made based on existing Likert scales and semantic
differential scales, which gave limited answers to the participants. The use of
questions with limited answers could lead to oversimplification and loss of important
information and perceptions from the participants. And last but not least, a crucial
limitation in future research may be generalizability. The results of the survey might
only be appropriate to the particular situation or time frame in which it was carried
out. Depending on the industry, location, and timing, influencer marketing may or
may not have an impact on a brand's image and brand’s trustworthiness.

Overall, there are still many aspects that need to be studies on topic of social media
influencers and influencer’s marketing. All the limitations that were mentioned need
to be considered in future research in order to have reliable results.

5 Bibliography
Alhaddad, A. (2015). Perceived Quality, Brand Image and Brand Trust as Determinants
of Brand Loyalty.

Ahmad, N., Salman, A., & Ashiq, R. (2015). The Impact of Social Media on Fashion
Industry: Empirical Investigation from Karachiites. Journal of Resources Development
and Management, 7.

44
Ahmad, N. S., Musa, R., & Harun, M. H. M. (2016). The Impact of Social Media Content
Marketing (SMCM) towards Brand Health. Procedia Economics and Finance, 37, 331-
336. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(16)30133-2

Ahmad, S., Wasim, S., Irfan, S., Gogoi, S., Srivastava, A., & Farheen, Z. (2019).
Qualitative v/s. Quantitative Research- A Summarized Review. Journal of Evidence
Based Medicine and Healthcare, 6(43), 2828–2832.
https://doi.org/10.18410/jebmh/2019/587

Amirrudin, M., Nasution, K., Supahar. (2021). Effect of Variability on Cronbach Alpha
Reliability in Research Practice. Jurnal Matematika, Statistika & Komputasi, 17(2),
223-230. https://doi.org/10.20956/jmsk.v17i2.11655

Ansari, S., Ansari, G., Ghori, M. U., Kazi, A. G. (2019). Impact of Brand Awareness and
Social Media Content Marketing on Consumer Purchase Decision. Journal of Public
Value and Administration Insights, 2(2), 5-10.

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in
marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79–95.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Argyris, Y. A., Wang, Z., Kim, Y., & Yin, Z. (2020). The effects of visual congruence on
increasing consumers’ brand engagement: An empirical investigation of influencer
marketing on instagram using deep-learning algorithms for automatic image
classification. Computers in Human Behavior, 112, 106443.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106443

Arora, A., Bansal, S., Kandpal, C., Aswani, R., & Dwivedi, Y. (2019). Measuring social
media influencer index- insights from facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 49, 86–101.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.03.012

Audrezet, A., de Kerviler, G., & Guidry Moulard, J. (2020). Authenticity under threat:
When social media influencers need to go beyond self-presentation. Journal of
Business Research, 117, 557–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.008

45
Augustinus, D., & Agnes, A. (2020). The Impact of Instagram Marketing Adoption
Towards Consumer Purchase Decision on Fashion. JIM UPB (Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen
Universitas Putera Batam), 8(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.33884/jimupb.v8i2.1641

Balaban, D. C., & Szambolics, J. (2022). A Proposed Model of Self-Perceived

Authenticity of Social Media Influencers. Media and Communication, 10(1).
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4765

Barde, M. P., & Barde, P. J. (2012). What to use to express the variability of data:
Standard deviation or standard error of mean? Respectives in Clinical Research, 3(3),
113-116. https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-3485.100662

Bazi, S., Filieri, R., & Gorton, M. (2020). Customers’ motivation to engage with luxury
brands on social media. Journal of Business Research, 112, 223–235.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.02.032

Bazi, S., Filieri, R., & Gorton, M. (2023). Social media content aesthetic quality and
consumer engagement: The mediating role of entertainment and impacts on brand
love and loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 160.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113778

Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., Flavián, M., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2021). Understanding
influencer marketing: The role of congruence between influencers, products and
consumers. Journal of Business Research, 132, 186–195.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.067

Benedicktus, R. L., Brady, M. K., Darke, P. R., & Voorhees, C. M. (2010). Conveying
Trustworthiness to Online Consumers: Reactions to Consensus, Physical Store
Presence, Brand Familiarity, and Generalized Suspicion. Journal of Retailing, 86(4),
322–335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2010.04.002

Buffer (2019), State of social media. https://buffer.com/state-of-social-2019

(accessed 1 May 2022)

Cabiddu, F., Carlo, M. D., & Piccoli, G. (2014). Social media affordances: Enabling
customer engagement. Annals of Tourism Research, 48, 175–192.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2014.06.003

46
Cambridge Dictionary. (2023) Social Media Marketing.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-media-
marketing?q=Social+media+marketing (accessed 3 April 2023)

Carpenter, J. P., Morrison, S. A., Craft, M., & Lee, M. (2020). How and why are
educators using Instagram? Teaching and Teacher Education, 96, 103149.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103149

Centobelli, P., Abbate, S., Nadeem, S. P., & Garza-Reyes, J. A. (2022). Slowing the fast
fashion industry: An all-round perspective. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable
Chemistry, 38, 100684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100684

Chawla, Y., & Chodak, G. (2021). Social media marketing for businesses: Organic
promotions of web-links on Facebook. Journal of Business Research, 135, 49–65.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.020

Cheung, M. L., Leung, W. K. S., Aw, E. C.-X., & Koay, K. Y. (2022). “I follow what you
post!”: The role of social media influencers’ content characteristics in consumers’
online brand-related activities (COBRAs). Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,
66, 102940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.102940

Coelho, P. S., Rita, P., & Santos, Z. R. (2018). On the relationship between consumer-
brand identification, brand community, and brand loyalty. Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, 43, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.03.011

Creswell, J. W. (2014) Research design: qualitative, quantitative & mixed methods

approaches. 4th ed. Los Angeles: Sage.

Cretu, A. E., & Brodie, R. J. (2007). The influence of brand image and company
reputation where manufacturers market to small firms: A customer value perspective.
Industrial Marketing Management, 36, 230-240.
https://10.1016/j.indmarman.2005.08.013

Dalman, M. D., Chatterjee, S., & Min, J. (2020). Negative word of mouth for a failed
innovation from higher/lower equity brands: Moderating roles of opinion leadership
and consumer testimonials. Journal of Business Research, 115, 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.041

47
Dehghani, M., & Tumer, M. (2015). A research on effectiveness of Facebook
advertising on enhancing purchase intention of consumers. Computers in Human
Behavior, 49, 597–600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.051

Djafarova, E., & Bowes, T. (2021). ‘Instagram made Me buy it’: Generation Z impulse
purchases in fashion industry. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, 102345.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102345

Dollarhide (2021). Social Media. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-

media.asp (accessed 27 April 2022)

Du Plessis, C. (2017). The role of content marketing in social media content

communities. SA Journal of Information Management, 19(1).
https://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v19i1.866

Eggers, F., O’Dwyer, M., Kraus, S., Vallaster, C., & Güldenberg, S. (2013). The impact
of brand authenticity on brand trust and SME growth: A CEO perspective. Journal of
World Business, 48(3), 340–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.07.018

Eslami, S. P., Ghasemaghaei, M., & Hassanein, K. (2022). Understanding consumer

engagement in social media: The role of product lifecycle. Decision Support Systems,
162, 113707. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2021.113707

Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics using SPSS. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage.

Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg, L. A. (2011). Who are the social
media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations
Review, 37(1), 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.11.001

Gamboa, A. M., & Gonçalves, H. M. (2014). Customer loyalty through social networks:
Lessons from Zara on Facebook. Business Horizons, 57(6), 709–717.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.07.003

Gao, Q., & Feng, C. (2016). Branding with social media: User gratifications, usage
patterns, and brand message content strategies. Computers in Human Behavior, 63,
868–890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.022

48
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R.
(2016). Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and
consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5833–5841.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.181

Gornostaeva, G. (2023). The development of digital commerce in the fashion industry:

The typology of emerging designers in London. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 186, 122122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122122

Grayson, K., & Martinec, R. (2004). Consumer Perceptions of Iconicity and Indexicality
and Their Influence on Assessments of Authentic Market Offerings. Journal of
Consumer Research, 31(2), 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1086/422109

Haenlein, M., Anadol, E., Farnsworth, T., Hugo, H., Hunichen, J., & Welte, D. (2020).
Navigating the New Era of Influencer Marketing: How to be Successful on Instagram,
TikTok, & Co. California Management Review, 63(1), 5–25.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125620958166

Hennig-Thurau, T., & Walsh, G. (2003). Electronic word-of-mouth: Motives for and
consequences of reading customer articulations on the internet. International Journal
of Electronic Commerce, 8(2), 51–74.

Hsiao, S.-H., Wang, Y.-Y., Wang, T., & Kao, T.-W. (2020). How social media shapes the
fashion industry: The spillover effects between private labels and national brands.
Industrial Marketing Management, 86, 40–51.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.022

Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M. S., & Madden, T. J. (2016). The influence of social
media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand
perceptions and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing,
33(1), 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2015.06.004

The Investopedia Team. (2021). How Do Brand Image and Marketing Affect Market
Share? https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032615/how-does-brand-
image-and-marketing-affect-market-share.asp (accessed 24 March 2023)

49
Jung, J., Kim, S. J., & Kim, K. H. (2020). Sustainable marketing activities of traditional
fashion market and brand loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 120, 294–301.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.019

Khan, I. (2022). Do brands’ social media marketing activities matter? A moderation

analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 64, 102794.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102794

Ki, C.W., Kim, Y.K. (2019). The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade
consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic. Psychology and Marketing,
36(10), 905-922. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21244

Killian, G., & McManus, K. (2015). A marketing communications approach for the
digital era: Managerial guidelines for social media integration. Business Horizons,
58(5), 539–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.05.006

Kim, A. J., & Johnson, K. K. P. (2016). Power of consumers using social media:
Examining the influences of brand-related user-generated content on Facebook.
Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 98–108.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.047

Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer
equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research,
65(10), 1480–1486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.014

Kim, D. Y., & Kim, H.-Y. (2021). Trust me, trust me not: A nuanced view of influencer
marketing on social media. Journal of Business Research, 134, 223–232.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.024

Kim, S. J., Wang, R. J.-H., Maslowska, E., & Malthouse, E. C. (2016). “Understanding a
fury in your words”: The effects of posting and viewing electronic negative word-of-
mouth on purchase behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 511–521.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.015

Ko, E., Phau, I., & Aiello, G. (2016). Luxury brand strategies and customer experiences:
Contributions to theory and practice. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5749–
5752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.170

50
Kong, H. M., Witmaier, A., Ko, E. (2021). Sustainability and social media
communication: How consumers respond to marketing efforts of luxury and non-
luxury fashion brands. Journal of Business Research, 131, 640-651.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.08.021

Koçak Alan, A., & Kabadayi, E. T. (2012). BRAND TRUST AND BRAND AFFECT: THEIR
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE ON BRAND LOYALTY. Journal of Global Strategic
Management, 1(6), 80–80. https://doi.org/10.20460/JGSM.2012615788

Krishnamurthy, A., & Kumar, S. R. (2018). Electronic word-of-mouth and the brand
image: Exploring the moderating role of involvement through a consumer
expectations lens. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 43, 149–156.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.03.010

Laor, T. (2022). My social network: Group differences in frequency of use, active use,
and interactive use on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Technology in Society, 68,
101922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.101922

Latiff, Z. Abd., & Safiee, N. A. S. (2015). New Business Set Up for Branding Strategies
on Social Media – Instagram. Procedia Computer Science, 72, 13–23.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.12.100

Lawrence, S., Deshmukh, S., & Navajivan, E. (2018). A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF

DIGITAL MARKETING VS TRADITIONAL MARKETING. 3.

Li, X. (Leah), & Feng, J. (2022). Influenced or to be influenced: Engaging social media
influencers in nation branding through the lens of authenticity. Global Media and
China, 7(2), 219–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364221094668

Linqia (2019). The State of Influencer Marketing 2019. Influencer Marketing Joins the
Big Leagues. https://linqia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Linqia-State-of-
Influencer-Marketing-2019-Report.pdf

Liu, X., Shin, H., & Burns, A. C. (2021). Examining the impact of luxury brand’s social
media marketing on customer engagement: Using big data analytics and natural
language processing. Journal of Business Research, 125, 815–826.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.042

51
Lo, F.Y., Martí, A.R., & Carrubi, D.B. (2020). Research methods in business:
Quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis. Journal of Business Research, 115,
221-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.003

Maares, P., Banjac, S., & Hanusch, F. (2021). The labour of visual authenticity on social
media: Exploring producers’ and audiences’ perceptions on Instagram. Poetics, 84,
101502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101502

Masuda, H., Han, S. H., & Lee, J. (2022). Impacts of influencer attributes on purchase
intentions in social media influencer marketing: Mediating roles of characterizations.
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 174, 121246.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121246

Mayrhofer, M., Matthes, J., Einwiller, S., & Naderer, B. (2020). User generated content
presenting brands on social media increases young adults’ purchase intention.
International Journal of Advertising, 39(1), 166–186.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2019.1596447

Menon, D. (2022). Uses and gratifications of photo sharing on Instagram. International

Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 168, 102917.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102917

Michaelidou, N., Micevski, M., & Cadogan, J. W. (2015). An evaluation of nonprofit

brand image: Towards a better conceptualization and measurement. Journal of
Business Research, 68(8), 1657–1666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.03.024

Monacis, L., Griffiths, M. D., Limone, P., & Sinatra, M. (2021). The risk of social media
addiction between the ideal/false and true self: Testing a path model through the
tripartite person-centered perspective of authenticity. Telematics and Informatics, 65,
101709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101709

Morhart, F., Malär, L., Guèvremont, A., Girardin, F., & Grohmann, B. (2015). Brand
authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale. Journal of Consumer
Psychology, 25(2), 200–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.11.006

52
Mrad, M., Majdalani, J., Chi Cui, C., El Khansa, Z. (2020). Brand addiction in the context
of luxury and fast-fashion brands. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Service, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102089

Nadeem, W., Khani, A. H., Schultz, C. D., Adam, N. A., Attar, R. W., & Hajli, N. (2020).
How social presence drives commitment and loyalty with online brand communities?
The role of social commerce trust. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55,
102136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102136

Nadkarni, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2012). Why do people use Facebook? Personality and
Individual Differences, 52(3), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.007

Nafees, L., Cook, C. M., Nikolov, A. N., & Stoddard, J. E. (2021). Can social media
influencer (SMI) power influence consumer brand attitudes? The mediating role of
perceived SMI credibility. Digital Business, 1(2), 100008.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.digbus.2021.100008

Nurfadila, S. (2020). Impact of Influencers in Consumer Decision Process: The Fashion

Industry. INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL ON LAW, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES,
1(2), 1. https://doi.org/10.19184/ijl.v1i1.19146

Öztamur, D., & Karakadılar, İ. S. (2014). Exploring the Role of Social Media for SMEs:
As a New Marketing Strategy Tool for the Firm Performance Perspective. Procedia -
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150, 511–520.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.067

Park, Hyejune. (2017). How Social Media is Transforming the Fashion Consumers: The
Effects of “Social” Consumer Attributes on Brand Engagement in Social Networking
Sites. Fashion, Industry and Education, 15(1), 1–11.
https://doi.org/10.7741/FIE.2017.15.1.001

Paydas Turan, C. (2022). Deal or deny: The effectiveness of crisis response strategies
on brand equity of the focal brand in co-branding. Journal of Business Research, 149,
615–629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.053

Raharjanti, N. W., Wiguna, T., Purwadianto, A., Soemantri, D., Indriatmi, W.,
Poerwandari, E. K., Mahajudin, M. S., Nugrahadi, N. R., Roekman, A. E., Saroso, O. J.

53
D. A., Ramadianto, A. S., & Levania, M. K. (2022). Translation, validity and reliability of
decision style scale in forensic psychiatric setting in Indonesia. Heliyon, 8(7), e09810.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09810

Robertson, J., Botha, E., Ferreira, C., & Pitt, L. (2022). How deep is your love? The brand
love-loyalty matrix in consumer-brand relationships. Journal of Business Research,
149, 651–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.058

Roma, P., & Aloini, D. (2019). How does brand-related user-generated content differ
across social media? Evidence reloaded. Journal of Business Research, 96, 322–339.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.11.055

Ryu, E. A., & Han, E. (2021). Social Media Influencer’s Reputation: Developing and
Validating a Multidimensional Scale. Sustainability, 13(2), 631.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020631

Shahid, Z., Hussain, T., & Zafar, F. (2017). The Impact of Brand Awareness on the
Consumers’ Purchase Intention. Journal of Accounting & Marketing, 06(01).
https://doi.org/10.4172/2168-9601.1000223

Shin, E., & Lee, J. E. (2021). What makes consumers purchase apparel products
through social shopping services that social media fashion influencers have worn?
Journal of Business Research, 132, 416–428.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.022

Södergren, J. (2021). Brand authenticity: 25 Years of research. International Journal of

Consumer Studies, 45(4), 645–663. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12651

Statista (2019). Number of brand sponsored influencer posts on Instagram from 2016
to 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/693775/instagram-sponsored-
influencer-content/ (accessed 29 April 2022).

Statista (2022). Global digital population as of April 2022.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
(accessed 29 April 2022).

54
Statista (2022). Number of monthly active Instagram users from January 2013 to
December 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-
active-instagram-users/ (accessed 8 June 2022).

Streiner, D. L. (2003). Unicorns Do Exist: A Tutorial on “Proving” the Null Hypothesis.

Can J Psychiatry, 48(11), 756-761.

Sudha, M., & Sheena, K. (2017). Impact of Influencers in Consumer Decision Process:
The Fashion Industry. Journal of Indian Management.

Taherdoost, H., & Jalaliyoon, N. (2014). Marketing vs E-Marketing. International

Journal of Academic Research in Management, 3(4), 335-340.

Thiese, M. S., Ronna, B., Ott, U. (2016). P value interpretations and considerations.
Journal of Thoracic Disease, 8(9), 928-931. https://doi.org/10.21037/jtd.2016.08.16

Todor, R. D. (2016). Blending traditional and digital marketing. Bulletin of the

Transilvania University of Brasov, Series V: Economic Sciences, 9(58).

Trunfio, M., & Rossi, S. (2021). Conceptualising and measuring social media
engagement: A systematic literature review. Italian Journal of Marketing, 2021(3),
267–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43039-021-00035-8

Uyanik, G. K., & Güler, N. (2013). A study on multiple linear regression analysis.
Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 106, 234-240.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.027

Wasike, B. (2023). The influencer sent me! Examining how social media influencers
affect social media engagement, social self-efficacy, knowledge acquisition, and social
interaction. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 10, 100056.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teler.2023.100056

Xia, Y., Li, J., Xia, L. (2022). Launch strategies for luxury fashion products in dual-
channel distributions: Impacts of social influences. Computers & Industrial
Engineering, 169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2022.108286

55
Yang, J., Teran, C., Battocchio, A. F., Bertellotti, E., & Wrzesinski, S. (2021). Building
Brand Authenticity on Social Media: The Impact of Instagram Ad Model Genuineness
and Trustworthiness on Perceived Brand Authenticity and Consumer Responses.
Journal of Interactive Advertising, 21(1), 34–48.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2020.1860168

Yoo, C. W., Sanders, G. L., & Moon, J. (2013). Exploring the effect of e-WOM
participation on e-Loyalty in e-commerce. Decision Support Systems, 55(3), 669–678.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2013.02.001

Zhang, M., Xu, P., & Ye, Y. (2022). Trust in social media brands and perceived media
values: A survey study in China. Computers in Human Behavior, 127, 107024.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107024

Zhou, L. (2023, January 12). Social Media Demographics: The Definitive Guide in 2023.
Luisa Zhou. https://www.luisazhou.com/blog/social-media-
demographics/#:~:text=72%25%20of%20US%20adults%20use%20social%20media&
text=78%25%20of%20women%20said%20they,and%2065%2B%20(45%25).

Zhou, S., Blazquez, M., McCormick, H., & Barnes, L. (2021). How social media
influencers’ narrative strategies benefit cultivating influencer marketing: Tackling
issues of cultural barriers, commercialised content, and sponsorship disclosure.
Journal of Business Research, 134, 122–142.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.011

6 Appendices

6.1 Appendices 1: Online Survey

1. Do you use social media?

o Yes
o No à if the answer is no, then the survey will be terminated.
“Your participation is greatly appreciated in our survey, but your
response does not provide the information we were looking for.
Thank you for your participation.”

*Page 2*

56
2. How often do you use social media?

o 1 = Rarely (less than once a day)

o 2 = Occasionally (once daily)
o 3 = Sometimes (2-5 times a day)
o 4 = Frequently (6-10 times a day)
o 5 = Always (I am signed in all the time)

3. Which social media platform do you use more frequently to follow fashion brands?

o Instagram
o Facebook
o Twitter
o TikTok
o Other (please specify)
*Page 3*

4. Do you follow influencers on social media?

o Yes
o No à if the answer is no, then the survey will be terminated.
“Your participation is greatly appreciated in our survey, but your
response does not provide the information we were looking for.
Thank you for your participation.”

*Page 4*

5. What type of influencer do you follow the most?

o Professional social media influencer

o Celebrity (actress/actor, athlete, musician, etc.)
o Others (Or I do not know, etc.)

6. Please think on the influencers you are following and evaluate the following
statements RELATED to the influencers you are following.

(1-strongly disagree – 7-strongly agree)

Influencers I am following actively communicate with consumers.

Influencers I am following value the relationship with their followers.

Influencers I am following should be honest without lying.

57
Influencers I am following must broadcast with sincerity.

Influencers I am following have their own special content.

Influencers I am following have their own personality and characteristics.

Influencers I am following must fulfill their promises with followers well.

7. Again, please think on the influencers you are following and evaluate the following
statements RELATED to the influencers you are following.

(1-strongly disagree –7-strongly agree)

Influencers I am following well explain the relationship between content, product, and
brand.

Influencers I am following clearly communicate information about a product or brand.

Influencers I am following know and understand a product or brand well.

*Page 5*

8. Please indicate how you perceive the brands that are promoted by influencers and
evaluate the following statements.

(1-strongly disagree – 7-strongly agree)

Well-known and prestigious

Fashionable and trendy

Having a reputation for good quality

9. Please indicate how you perceive influencer-generated branded posts on social

media.

(7-point semantic differential scales)

Ineffective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Effective

Untrustworthy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Trustworthy

Dishonest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Honest

58
Phony 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Genuine

Unethical 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ethical

Unenjoyable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Enjoyable

*Page 6*

10. What is your gender?

o Male
o Female
o Other
o Prefer not to say.

11. What is your age? _____

12. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

o High school or equivalent.

o Bachelor’s degree
o Master’s degree
o PhD degree
o Other

59