Influencer Endorsements: How Advertising Disclosure and Source Credibility Affect Consumer Purchase Intention on Social Media

This paper investigates the impact of social media influencer endorsements on purchase intention, more specifically, the impact advertising disclosure and source credibility have in this process. The proposed framework argues that advertising disclosure has a significant impact on source credibility subdimensions of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise; subdimensions that positively influence consumer purchase intention. Empirical findings based on 306 German Instagram users between 18 and 34 years of age reveal that source attractiveness, source trustworthiness and source expertise significantly increase consumer purchase intention; whilst advertising disclosure indirectly influences consumer…