Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany

The present research addresses the issue of source credibility of social media influencers from the perspective of users. Social media influencers are defined as online personalities with a large number of followers, across one or several social media platforms. They have a complex role, being cont...

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Published in:Romanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations
Main Authors: Delia Balaban, Maria Mustățea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), College of Communication and Public Relations, Bucharest 2019-04-01
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/269
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author Delia Balaban
Maria Mustățea
author_facet Delia Balaban
Maria Mustățea
author_sort Delia Balaban
collection DOAJ
container_title Romanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations
description The present research addresses the issue of source credibility of social media influencers from the perspective of users. Social media influencers are defined as online personalities with a large number of followers, across one or several social media platforms. They have a complex role, being content creators, online opinion leaders, and even entrepreneurs. Influencer marketing is becoming a more and more relevant component of current advertising campaigns worldwide. A consistent body of literature has underlined the importance of source credibility for the effectiveness of advertising. Recent researches on Source Credibility Theory (Teng et al, 2014; Djafarova & Rushworth, 2016; Munnukka et al 2016; Lou &Yuan, 2018) have stressed the influence of trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness as elements of source credibility on perceived trust in influencer marketing. In order to gain better insights, we chose to conduct qualitative research that can allow us an in-depth perspective on the phenomenon of source credibility in influencer marketing. We carried out four group discussions in Germany and five in Romania. We explored the differences and similarities regarding the users’ perception of the perceived credibility of social media influencers.
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spelling doaj-art-0bd2be248ca34384b307b52ddd8c3d2e2025-08-19T23:53:32ZengNational University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), College of Communication and Public Relations, BucharestRomanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations1454-81002344-54402019-04-0121110.21018/rjcpr.2019.1.269269Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and GermanyDelia Balaban0Maria Mustățea1Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-NapocaBabeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca The present research addresses the issue of source credibility of social media influencers from the perspective of users. Social media influencers are defined as online personalities with a large number of followers, across one or several social media platforms. They have a complex role, being content creators, online opinion leaders, and even entrepreneurs. Influencer marketing is becoming a more and more relevant component of current advertising campaigns worldwide. A consistent body of literature has underlined the importance of source credibility for the effectiveness of advertising. Recent researches on Source Credibility Theory (Teng et al, 2014; Djafarova & Rushworth, 2016; Munnukka et al 2016; Lou &Yuan, 2018) have stressed the influence of trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness as elements of source credibility on perceived trust in influencer marketing. In order to gain better insights, we chose to conduct qualitative research that can allow us an in-depth perspective on the phenomenon of source credibility in influencer marketing. We carried out four group discussions in Germany and five in Romania. We explored the differences and similarities regarding the users’ perception of the perceived credibility of social media influencers. https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/269source credibilitysocial media influencerinfluencer marketingadvertising research
spellingShingle Delia Balaban
Maria Mustățea
Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
source credibility
social media influencer
influencer marketing
advertising research
title Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
title_full Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
title_fullStr Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
title_full_unstemmed Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
title_short Users’ Perspective on the Credibility of Social Media Influencers in Romania and Germany
title_sort users perspective on the credibility of social media influencers in romania and germany
topic source credibility
social media influencer
influencer marketing
advertising research
url https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/269
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