The effect of trust in influencers on brand image, purchase intention and behavior

Recently, product marketing by influencers has attracted a lot of attention thanks to social media. In the study, the effect of influencers on product/service purchasing was examined with the help of the proposed model. The model proposed in the research is physical and social attractiveness, which are prerequisites for purchasing intention, as personal characteristics; Brand image, reliability and expertise are intended to be evaluated as qualities. The hypotheses proposed for the relationships between the factors in the model and the fit of the model explaining the relationships between the 6 factors were examined within the scope of this study. The data collected as a result of the study was collected through a survey conducted with consumers who purchased products/services after following the shares of influencers. The fit of the research model and hypotheses was analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (KEKK-YEM) method and the SmartPLS (v.4.0.9.2) package program. It was seen that 7 of the 16 hypotheses were not supported as a result of the analysis. The relationship between brand image and purchase intention was found to be the highest correlation coefficient as a result of the hypothesis test.