I Like What She’s #Endorsing: The Impact of Female Social Media Influencers’ Perceived Sincerity, Consumer Envy, and Product Type

In an examination of influencer success, the current research draws from brand personality literature and identifies social media influencers (SMIs) as human brands. Specifically, this research examines how an influencer’s perceived sincerity trait and consumer envy influence consumers’ evaluations toward the influencer as well as brand endorsements across different product types. Data indicate that participants report a more favorable attitude toward a high-sincerity SMI, and envy was a significant moderator that enhanced participants’ attitude toward a low-sincerity influencer. In addition, whereas brand attitude did not differ by influencers’ sincerity levels for a symbolic product, the high-sincerity influencer was more effective in eliciting favorable brand attitude from participants when endorsing a utilitarian product. Implications of the findings are discussed with suggestions for future research.