Social media influencers: a systematic review using PRISMA

Figures & data

Table 1. Previous literature review summary on SMI.

Title of the articles	Author and publication year	Name of the journal in which published	Domain	Publications considered for the study	Methodology used	Outcomes
The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic	Ki and Kim (2019)	Psychology of marketing	SMIs influence mechanism	101	SMIs’ impacts on attitude lead to consumer’s desire to mimic leading to purchase intention and word of mouth on social media and desiring mediating role to mimic	SMIs as opinion leader leads to consumers mimicking and further affect purchase intentions and word of mouth on social media
Using celebrity endorsement and authenticity, the effectiveness of influencers on attitude and purchase intentions is measured on Instagram.	EssiPöyry et al. (2019)	International journal of strategic communication	SMIs influence mechanism	86	Hierarchal regression analysis	Photo of SMIs increases purchase intentions. Congruence between the photo and Celebrity has a favorable influence on people’s attitudes and purchasing intentions.
The challenge of new gatekeepers for public relations. A comparative analysis of the role of social media influencers for European and Latin American professionals.	Navarro et al. (2020)	Public relations review	Importance of SMIS in PR	101	Quantitative, survey	SMIs are important gatekeepers for communications professionals
When less is more: the impact of macro and micro social media influencers’ disclosure	Kay et al. (2020)	Journal of marketing management	Macro vs Micro-influencers and disclosure impact on purchase intentions	92	Experimental and PLS-SEM-based analysis	Micro-influencers are more effective when making the disclosure.
Diffusing fashion information by social media fashion influencers: understanding antecedents and consequences	Quelhas-Brito et al. (2020)	Journal of fashion marketing and management	Fashion SMIs	107	Fashion interest as antecedents to opinion leadership and usability of blogs further leading to fashion leadership, parasocial interactions, and consciousness using SEM.	Intrinsic motivation leads to fashion leadership, while blogs do not.
The commercialization of social media stars: a literature review and conceptual framework on the strategic use of social media influencers	Hudders, De Jans, and De Veirman (2021)	International Journal of Advertising	Source, message and audience	154	Stern’s Revised Communication Model for Advertising	Authenticity of source and message play vital role in influencer’s effectiveness. Also transparency, storytelling and parasocial relations with followers increases influencers efficacy
Bibliometrix analysis of information sharing in social media	Abbas et al. (2022)	Cogent Business & Management	Information Sharing on social media	825	bibliometric mapping	The sharing of information on social media is linked not just to its quality but also to the pace at which it spreads, influenced by emotions.
Communicate your audience through virtual influencer: A systematic literature review	Pushparaj& Kushwaha (2023)	Journal of Content, Community & Communication	Virtual Influencer	67	SMIs’ impacts on Purchase intention	Digital influencers’ effects on the purchase intention of targeted customers
Foundations of consumer engagement with social media influencers	Bastrygina & Marc Lim (2023)	International Journal of Web Based Communities	Consumer engagement with social media influencers	45	Consumer engagement with social media influencers clicking, comments, liking, and sharing is based on three antecedent – brand-related, influencer related and social-related reasons resulting in brand purchase intentions, brand awareness etc. reasons such as brand placement (e.g. including a brand of interest); influencer-related	Consumers’ engagement with SMI’s influences their attitude, awareness, credibility perception, loyalty, purchase intention, relationship, responses, and trust toward brands
Towards state-of-the-art on social marketing research in User-Generated Content (UGC) and Influencers	Romero-Rodríguez& Castillo-Abdul (2023)	Journal of Management Development	User-generated content (UGC) and influencers	59	Impact of user-generated advertising content in the social marketing strategies of commercial brands	Suggest two types of UGC – those generated by personal and economic motivations

Figure 1. Steps for screening and filtering articles for final inclusion in the review study following the PRISMA model.

Table 2. Categories construction for SMI literature review.

Main classification of SMI	Sub-classifications of SMI	Description
Scopus /ABDC-indexed journals	High-quality journals	Targeting journals that publish SMI research
Year-wise		Studying the evaluation of the present research field for over 13 years (2011–2023) period
Research methodology	Conceptual/theoretical model	Designing of conceptual framework based on theory for easy understanding
	Simulation	Preparation of model and validating it to solve SMI-related real case
	Interviews	Searching for several approaches used in interview techniques
	Modeling	Creating an easy understanding by using mathematical models in research
	Survey-based	Various survey techniques employed
	Case study	Identifying wider research areas and then narrowing them to industry-specific real-time problem
Study design employed	Qualitative	Building conceptual/ theoretical models, developing prepositions for future research
	Quantitative	Mathematical modeling, simulation
	Empirical qualitative	Based on the data gathering depending on the type of interviews or case studies
	Empirical triangulation	For data collecting, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies is used.
	Empirical quantitative	Research-based on a survey of SMIs
The technique used for data analysis	Various statistical analyses, along with structural equation modeling (SEM)	Creating valuable information, arriving at conclusions, and enabling decision-making by inspecting, filtering, transforming, and data modeling data analysis tool used in SMI
Author-wise		Authors who are well-known in the SMI
Country-wise		The countries involved in SMI research
Enablers		Drivers promoting SMI
Barriers		Barriers that hinder SMI

Figure 2. SMI publication year spread.

Table 3. Journal-wise paper distribution.

Journals	Number of papers	%
International Journal of Strategic Communication	5	0.08
Journal of Interactive Marketing	4	0.07
International Journal of Advertising	4	0.07
Public Relations Review	3	0.05
Information Science	2	0.03
Journal of Business Research	2	0.03
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology	2	0.03
Journal of Marketing Management	2	0.03
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	2	0.03
Social Media + Society	2	0.03
International Journal of Web Based Communities	2	0.03
Aesthetic Surgery Journal	1	0.02
Anatolia	1	0.02
Digital Journalism	1	0.02
Applied Computing and Informatics	1	0.02
Computers in Human Behaviour	1	0.02
Corporate Communication: An International Journal	1	0.02
Critical Public Health	1	0.02
Digital Health	1	0.02
European Business Review	1	0.02
Health Promotion International	1	0.02
Heliyon	1	0.02
International Journal of Market Research	1	0.02
Journal of Communication	1	0.02
Journal of Consumer Research	1	0.02
Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising	1	0.02
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management	1	0.02
Journal of International Consumer Marketing	1	0.02
Journal of Internet Commerce	1	0.02
Journal of Media Ethics	1	0.02
Journal of Political Marketing	1	0.02
Journal of Product and Brand Management	1	0.02
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology	1	0.02
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing	1	0.02
Marketing Intelligence and Planning	1	0.02
Media Asia	1	0.02
Media International Australia	1	0.02
Media Psychology	1	0.02
Psychology of Marketing	1	0.02
Journal of Content, Community & Communication	1	0.02
Journal of Management Development	1	0.02
Cogent Business & Management	1	0.02

Table 4. Research approaches in SMI.

Research method deployed	Number of papers	%
Conceptual/Theoretical Model	19	31.15
Simulation	10	16.39
Others	14	22.95
Interviews	8	13.11
Mathematical Modeling	5	8.20
Survey	3	4.92
Case Study	2	3.28
Total	61	100

Table 5. Distribution of reviewed papers on research design.

Research Design	No of papers	%
Desk Qualitative	19	31.15
Desk Quantitative	15	24.59
Empirical Triangulation	14	22.95
Empirical Qualitative	10	16.39
Empirical Quantitative	3	4.92
Total	61	100

Figure 3. Type of industries researched in SMIs.

Table 6. Industry-wise articles classification on SMIs.

Industry	No. of papers
Advertising & Social Media	37
Tourism Industry	5
Healthcare Industry	4
Fashion Industry	3
Electronic Industry	2
e-commerce Industry	2
FMCG	2
PR	2
Alcohol Industry	1
Opera House	1
Plastic surgery	1
Politics	1

Figure 4. Country-wise paper distribution.

Table 7. Contribution of data analysis technique.

Data analysis techniques	Number of papers	%
Regression analysis	14	22.95
Descriptive analysis	11	18.03
Thematic analysis	10	16.39
SEM	8	13.11
Coding analysis	5	8.20
Network analysis	4	6.56
MANOVA	2	3.28
Chi-square analysis	1	1.64
Content analysis	1	1.64
Delphi method	1	1.64
Factor analysis	1	1.64
Greedy algorithm	1	1.64
Path analysis	1	1.64
Right relevance software	1	1.64

Ki, C. W. C., & Kim, Y. K. (2019). The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic. Psychology & Marketing, 36(10), 905–922. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21244

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Navarro, C., Moreno, A., Molleda, J. C., Khalil, N., & Verhoeven, P. (2020). The challenge of new gatekeepers for public relations. A comparative analysis of the role of social media influencers for European and Latin American professionals. Public Relations Review, 46(2), 101881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101881

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Kay, S., Mulcahy, R., & Parkinson, J. (2020). When less is more: The impact of macro and micro social media influencers’ disclosure. Journal of Marketing Management, 36(3-4), 248–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1718740

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Quelhas-Brito, P., Brandão, A., Gadekar, M. R., & Castelo-Branco, S. (2020). Diffusing fashion information by social media fashion influencers: Understanding antecedents and consequences. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 24, 137–152.

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Hudders, L., De Jans, S., & De Veirman, M. (2021). The commercialization of social media stars: A literature review and conceptual framework on the strategic use of social media influencers. International Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 327–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1836925

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Abbas, A. F., Jusoh, A., Mas’ Od, A., Alsharif, A. H., & Ali, J. (2022). Bibliometrix analysis of information sharing in social media. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1), 2016556. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.2016556

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Pushparaj, P., & Kushwaha, B. P. (2023). Communicate your audience through virtual influencer: A systematic literature review. Journal of Content Community and Communication, 17(9), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.31620/JCCC.06.23/04

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Bastrygina, T., & Marc Lim, W. (2023). Foundations of consumer engagement with social media influencers. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 19(2/3), 222–242. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2023.131410

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the authors.