Impact of social media influencers' endorsement on application adoption: A trust transfer perspective

Abstract

Social media influencers have become an important marketing tool for providers of computer applications (apps). We investigated from a trust transfer perspective how the endorsement of a social media influencer (SMI) can improve consumers' app adoption intention, within the framework of the technology acceptance model. Using structural equation modeling, we demonstrated that consumers' trust in an SMI had a direct influence on their trust in an app. Moreover, the endorsement of an SMI increased consumers' trust in the app through the perceived usefulness (but not the ease of use) of the app. Our results also showed that structural assurance, download volume, and online ratings were positively correlated with consumers' trust in the app. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

The influence of online and offline brand trust on consumer buying intention

“…The analysis confirmed that OnBT in NBOtps is a multifactorial construct resulting from trust in different non-proprietary online entities. This outcome corroborates previous findings (Hu et al , 2019) that claim that, especially in the online environment, a trust transfer process occurs. Liu et al (2018) demonstrated the existence of trust transfer in social media brand communities.…”

“…Based on the value of the standardized coefficients of the structural paths, the investigated touchpoints influence OnBT to different extents. SNS influencers, bloggers and BRUGC all exert very high impacts, confirming the results of previous studies, which proved that professional endorsers (Hu et al, 2019) and consumers (Khan et al, 2019) represent extremely powerful means for building brand trust and consequently increasing sales. As demonstrated by previous investigations (Balabanis and Chatzopoulou, 2019;Hajli and Sims, 2015;Loureiro et al, 2018), their influential role is enhanced by the credibility they boast of as information sources who are believed by consumers to provide honest advice.…”

Marketing research on Mobile apps: past, present and future

“…Adding to the above, the industry discusses several practices to promote apps (Saxena 2020 ; Fedorychak 2019 )—e.g., App store optimization via keywords and the inclusion of screenshots and videos for greater conversion rate (Karagkiozidou, Ziakis, Vlachopoulou and Kyrkoudis 2019 ; Padilla-Piernas et al 2019 ), or the use of push notifications (Srivastava 2017 ; Clearbridge Mobile 2019 ). At the same time, some studies highlight the power of promoting apps via influencers (Hu, Zhang and Wang 2019 ) or via leveraging user reviews and ratings (Ickin, Petersen and Gonzalez-Huerta 2017 ; Kübler et al 2018 ; Numminen and Sällberg 2017 ; Hyrynsalmi, Seppänen, Aarikka-Stenroos, Suominen, Järveläinen and Harkke 2015 ; Liu, Au and Choi 2014 ). Nonetheless, there is a limited understanding of the implication and effectiveness of promoting apps via these methods.…”

The Dynamics of Influencer Marketing

“…In the second scenario, followers cast a "positive halo" on influencers, dismissing influencers' negative qualities and believing that they could do nothing wrong (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017). A similar halo effect also materializes when credibility is automatically transferred from endorsers to brands (Hu et al, 2019).…”