Purpose To inform and optimize frontline service interactions associated with higher education recruitment, the linguistic content and context of online posts by brand ambassadors and prospective students in a brand community are examined. Design/methodology/approach Using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) with content analysis, the authors examine over 20,000 online communication posts to identify prospects’ needs and communication styles that may inform brand ambassadors’ outreach efforts. Findings Analysis reveals linguistic differences between brand ambassadors’ and prospective students’ posts across public and private spaces, suggesting gaps in exchange efficacy. Publicly, prospects express more positive emotion, affiliation and authenticity than in private posts, where posting engagement is the highest. Prospects overall low clout language, combined with brand ambassadors’ low authenticity scores, suggest limited influence in exchange efforts. Theoretically, findings suggest that given the hedonic nature of public exchanges, this is where brand ambassadors may be more influential than in private, utilitarian informational exchanges. An integrated influencer marketing servicescape model is developed to guide future research. Originality/value Findings extend and integrate the online servicescape and influencer marketing literatures by revealing the importance of service interaction context and linguistic styles in enhancing frontline informational exchanges. Aligning linguistic language such as analytical thought, clout, authenticity, emotional tone, temporal focus and affiliation between public and private contexts may enhance authenticity in frontline service interactions, thereby enhancing communication effectiveness.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to extend theoretical knowledge of key variables and their interactions that impact the persuasiveness of online influencers. The study explores the interactions between influencer gender, follower gender, influencer physical attractiveness, influencer product-match and influencer-follower homophily on persuasiveness of influencer product promotions. Although the extant literature shows the persuasive impact of attractiveness, product-match, gender and homophily, less is known about the interactions of these variables with each other and the gender of the influencer and his or her followers. These gaps in the literature are explored.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a scenario-based experiment where respondents were randomly assigned to cells where influencer attractiveness and product-match were manipulated. The variables of homophily and respondent gender were measured and recorded, respectively. The data were collected through an online survey done through Qualtrics.FindingsThe findings show that for female influencers, homophily felt by their followers is a dominant persuasive factor, which tends to supersede the variables of attractiveness and product-match. For male influencers, homophily is an incremental persuasive variable. That is, homophily, attractiveness and product-match interact such that persuasiveness is highest when all three variables are strong.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations are that the authors used a student sample and a hypothetical scenario-based experiment. Theoretical implications are interesting in that the authors have results which add to theory on the factors that make an online influencer more persuasive. Specifically, the authors contribute by extending theoretical knowledge about the interactions of key variables that influence the impact of online influencers.Practical implicationsFor a manager marketing products using influencers, it is very important to stress homophily cues for female influencers more than other variables. However, for male influencers, product knowledge or match, homophily and attractiveness all need to work simultaneously to maximize influencer persuasiveness.Social implicationsOne needs to understand that physical attractiveness and perceived homophily with the influencer have significant influence and persuasiveness, regardless of product or service. Hence, there needs to be social responsibility in what is advertised and promoted, given that followers may be persuaded by influencers no matter what the product or service is.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that explores the persuasiveness of online influencers from the perspective of the variable interactions described above.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.