Influencer advertising on Instagram: product-influencer fit and number of followers affect advertising outcomes and influencer evaluations via credibility and identification

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Figure 2. Experimental condition showing the female influencer endorsement with a high number of followers and poor product-influencer fit. Blacked out areas were visible to participants in the experiment but are not visible here for legal & copyright reasons.

Table 1. Means and standard deviations (in parentheses) for all mediating and dependent variables for the good-fit and poor-fit conditions, as a function of number of followers.

	Poor fit		Good fit
	Moderate number of followers	High number of followers	Moderate number of followers	High number of followers
	(n = 116)	(n = 105)	(n = 106)	(n = 105)
Credibility	3.69^a (1.07)	3.81^a (1.01)	4.23^b (1.03)	4.57^c (1.06)
Identification	2.67^a (1.18)	2.65^a (1.11)	2.75^ab (1.20)	3.07^b (1.13)
Influencer likeability	2.29^a (1.04)	2.42^ab (1.11)	2.32^ab (1.12)	2.69^b (1.22)
Attitude toward the advertisement	4.35^a (1.33)	4.48^a (1.08)	4.57^a (1.12)	4.99^b (1.06)
Attitude toward the product	5.11^a (1.26)	5.00^a (1.10)	4.55^b (1.15)	4.80^ab (1.22)
Purchase intention	3.57^a (1.62)	3.30^ab (1.58)	2.91^b (1.52)	3.06^ab (1.55)
Manipulation check fit	2.29^a (1.49)	2.46^a (1.59)	5.52^b (1.49)	5.82^b (1.34)
Manipulation check number of followers	4.14^a (1.64)	5.79^b (1.09)	4.15^a (1.60)	5.98^b (0.97)

Note. Different superscripts indicate significant differences (p < .05) between conditions (across rows, Tukey’s B correction applied).

Figure 3. Moderated indirect effects of product-influencer fit via credibility and identification on all dependent variables. Figure depicts significant direct effects at p < .05. Coefficients are unstandardized b’s.

Figure 4. Moderated indirect effects of number of followers via credibility and identification on all dependent variables. Figure depicts significant direct effects at p < .05. Coefficients are unstandardized b’s.

Table

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, L. Janssen, upon reasonable request.