You really are a great big sister: Parasocial relationships, credibility, and the moderating role of audience comments in influencer marketing
Reinikainen and colleagues study how audience comments shape influencer marketing. In an experiment with a YouTube vlog in which an influencer endorsed a brand, under two audience-comment conditions, a viewer's parasocial relationship with the influencer increased the influencer's perceived credibility, and comments from other viewers changed how strong that effect was. Higher perceived credibility in turn went with greater brand trust and purchase intention.
Reinikainen and colleagues study how audience comments shape influencer marketing. In an experiment with a YouTube vlog in which an influencer endorsed a brand, under two audience-comment conditions, a viewer's parasocial relationship with the influencer increased the influencer's perceived credibility, and comments from other viewers changed how strong that effect was. Higher perceived credibility in turn went with greater brand trust and purchase intention.
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Reinikainen, H., Munnukka, J., Maity, D., & Luoma-aho, V. (2020). You really are a great big sister: Parasocial relationships, credibility, and the moderating role of audience comments in influencer marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 36(3-4), 279-298. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2019.1708781 https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1708781