The influence of social media influencers on purchasing behaviour

The ease of access of social media has created social media influencers that take advantage of this opportunity and gather their own audience. It did not take long for influencers, to enter the radar of marketers looking for different ways of reaching consumers. As a result, influencers have become one of the most popular tools in the marketing world. The increasing number of brand-influencer collaborations raises the question of whether the influencers are as effective as they are thought to be. Influencers are also considered as information sources by their followers. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of influencer's perceived online source credibility on purchasing behavior. 460 participants were reached via online survey method and required analyzes were conducted on 310 valid questionnaires. The analyzes consist of multiple linear regression analyzes. As a result of the analyzes conducted through statistical software, no online resource reliability dimension except the reliability dimension had an effect on purchase decision. In addition, the attitude towards the influencer variable was found to be effective at all purchasing stages.