Fashion influencers on Instagram: Determinants and impact of opinion leadership on female millennial followers

Abstract

In the fashion industry, the effectiveness of influencer marketing, known as “opinion leaders,” via Instagram remains little known to brand managers and scholars despite the frequent use of such a communication strategy by companies in recent years. Likewise, to the best of our knowledge, no study has jointly addressed the determinants of opinion leadership, specifically source and content factors. This article aims to examine the determinants and impact of opinion leadership on Instagram female millennial followers' intention to adopt fashion recommendations. Data was taken from a survey carried out on 280 followers of a fashion Instagram account. Web‐administered questionnaires were used to collect the data, which was processed using an exploratory factor analysis and a structural equation modeling. The findings indicated that perceived credibility, psychological closeness to the influencer, and perceived originality of content affected respectively opinion leadership. Thus, opinion leadership affected positively consumer's intention to follow recommendations. Moreover, it turned out that perceived product‐influencer congruence had no moderating effect on the link between opinion leadership and the followers' intention to follow recommendations. Then, this study contributes to a better understanding of the determinants of opinion leadership and the impact of opinion leaders on promoting fashion products.

The determinants of Tunisian influencer-mompreneurs’ success: an exploratory study of a new form of female web entrepreneurship on Instagram

“…Hysa et al (2021) argued that generation Y (millennials) is an ambitious generation, characterized by independence, creativity and innovation. In light of the above and given that this consumer group is actively connected to digital media more than the other generations (Jansom and Pongsakornrungsilp, 2021;Jegham and Bouzaabia, 2022;Jones and Kang, 2020), we believe in the accuracy of conducting our study with millennials. Respondents who agreed to collaborate with our research project were aged between 26 and 39 years.…”

“…Additionally, it has been investigated that similarity can be an important factor of persuasion. Millennials, in particular tend to buy products endorsed by influencers close to their self-image (Jegham and Bouzaabia, 2022). Jansom and Pongsakornrungsilp (2021) pointed out that millennials perceive their admired celebrities or influencers as similar to them, and consequently, they develop "a sense of affinity" toward them.…”

“…The interest in studies on female entrepreneurship (Bruni et al , 2004; Brush et al , 2009; Duffy and Hund, 2015; Eikhof et al , 2013) and on influencer marketing (Gilal et al , 2020; Janssen et al , 2022; Jegham and Bouzaabia, 2022; Ki et al , 2020; Kim and Kim, 2021) is gaining momentum. In this sense, including both researches in the same study will raise influencer-mompreneurs’ awareness about the determinants of their success on Instagram, which they need to develop and improve.…”

The Oscars: Friends and foes for millennials

“…This generation exhibits a higher propensity to search for information online and use social media sources for information and entertainment (Dobre et al, 2021; Liljander et al, 2015). They are more inclined to use visually creative content and rich visual messages for digital communication and are prone to celebrity influence (Jegham & Bouzaabia, 2022; Viswanathan & Jain, 2013). Millennials propensity towards influencers and celebrity followership is especially interesting, considering the importance of celebrity endorsers and meaning transfer (Jain & Roy, 2016) for and within movie marketing and promotion.…”

“…Of interest are young adult moviegoers' perceptions of the Academy Awards and their use of Oscar awards as signals of movie quality and their experiential needs. Millennials are especially of interest to this industry, considering their propensity to communicate based on visual and creative content and their role as market influencers (Jegham & Bouzaabia, 2022; Viswanathan & Jain, 2013). The Millennial market of adults between 18 and 36 represents a key audience for motion pictures, as this segment counts 38% of frequent moviegoers and contributes 40% of box office sales (Motion Picture Association, 2020).…”