The Effect of Social Media Influencers on Purchase Intention : Parasocial Relationships and Brand Credibility as Mediating Variables and Persuasion Knowledge as a Moderating Variable (Study on Followers of Social Media Influencer Arief Muhammad)

Abstract

This study aims to explain the inconsistencies of previous research regarding the effect of social media influencers on purchase intention and gain a deeper understanding of the factors that drive purchase intention behavior, in the context of influencer marketing on social media. Specifically, it aims to explore the impact of influencers' involvement in product marketing on their followers' purchase intention behavior, by considering the role of parasocial relationships and brand credibility as potential mediators in the decision-making process, as well as further exploration of the impact of followers' persuasion knowledge. Objectively, this research conducted a study on the active Instagram social media followers of Indonesia's leading influencer “Arief Muhammad”, involving 185 members as respondents, using probability sampling method. The questionnaire used a Likert scale with a range of 1 to 5 with data analysis using SEM AMOS. This study shows several key findings : social media influencers have no positive effect on purchase intention directly, social media influencers have a positive effect on parasocial relationships, social media influencers have a positive effect on brand credibility, parasocial relationships have a positive effect on purchase intention, brand credibility has a positive effect on purchase intention, parasocial relationships mediate the effect of social media influencers on purchase intention, brand credibility mediates the effect of social media influencers on purchase intention, persuasion knowledge moderates the effect of social media influencers on purchase intention, persuasion knowledge moderates the effect of parasocial relationships on purchase intention.

Keywords : Social Media Influencer, Parasocial Relationships, Brand Credibility, Persuasion Knowledge, Purchase Intention.