The impact of Instagram influencers for apurchase decision of fashion items from a BelgianFemale Millennials’ Perspective.Kobe JongDissertation submitted as part requirement for theMaster of Science in International Managementat University of WorcesterJuly 2019AcknowledgementsI would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who helped me with the realizationof my dissertation.First of all I want … Continue reading “impact of Instagram influencers | My Assignment Tutor”
The impact of Instagram influencers for apurchase decision of fashion items from a BelgianFemale Millennials’ Perspective.Kobe JongDissertation submitted as part requirement for theMaster of Science in International Managementat University of WorcesterJuly 2019AcknowledgementsI would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who helped me with the realizationof my dissertation.First of all I want to thank my supervisor Mrs. Kasem. Her knowledge, expertise and feedbackhad great added value for the successful completion of my project.Then I want to thank my family and in particular my parents for giving me the opportunity tocontinue my studies at the University of Worcester. I also want to thank them for their supportthroughout the whole process.Finally, I would like to thank some friends I made in Worcester, M. Renders, L. Van Eeno, J.Ossieur and L. Van der Spurt. During this project they have always assisted me and madesure that stress never got the upper hand.Kobe JongUniversity of WorcesterJuly, 2019AbstractThe objective is to gain new insights in the impact of social media influencers for the purchaseof fashion products. To be able to answer these objectives successfully, this research wasconducted by applying a positivism and a deductive approach with a quantitative datacollection and analysis. A questionnaire was used for the quantitative data collection. The nonprobability sample techniques in this research are a combination of self-selection samplingand snowball sampling. The analysis of the data showed that the higher the credibility of ansocial media influencer, the higher the purchase intention. Moreover, the most credible socialmedia influencers where those from Belgium. However, the credibility of an social mediainfluencer did not affect the conspicuous consumption of fashion products. Although as themillennials followed more social media influencers, the higher the conspicuous consumption.Therefore, this research tries to help fashion brands in determining the best possible way ofreaching Belgian female millennials. Since this research is an quantitative study, it can be doneusing an qualitative approach to create more in-depth understanding about the reasons of apurchase intention or conspicuous consumption. In addition, this research can be appliedagain in other countries to see if the results differ.4Table of contentsAcknowledgements 2Abstract 3Table of contents 4List of figures 6List of abbreviations 71. Introduction 82. Literature Review 10 2.1.2.2.2.3.MillennialsSocial mediaSocial media influencers1010112.3.1.Instagram as SMI platformCredibility of SMI’s112.4.2.5.2.6.12Purchase intentionIndulgence and Conspicuous Consumption14152.6.1.2.6.2.2.6.3.Conspicuous consumption in FashionMillennials and Conspicuous ConsumptionSocial media and Conspicuous Consumption1616173. Methodology183.1.Philosophy & approach18 3.2.3.3.3.4.3.5.3.6.StrategyData collection technique & analysisSamplingEthical issuesLimitations19202122234. Data analysis244.1.4.2.4.3.4.4.Demographic questionsInstagram behaviourData reliability of both scalesCredibility of fashion influencers242729304.4.1.4.4.2.4.4.3.4.4.4.Factor analysis credibilityFactor attractivenessFactor trustworthinessFactor expertise303030314.5.4.6.Purchase intentionHypothesis testing: credibility – purchase intention31314.6.1.4.6.2.4.6.3.Attractiveness – purchase intentionTrustworthiness – purchase intentionExpertise – purchase intention3233334.7.4.8.4.9.Conspicuous consumptionHypothesis testing: Credibility – conspicuous consumptionHypothesis testing: SMI followed – conspicuous consumption333536 5. Discussion 376. Recommendations 39Conclusion 40Personal learning 415References 42Appendix 48Appendix 1: Questionnaire 48Appendix 2: Factor analysis 53Appendix 3: Factor Analysis – Fixed number of factors 55Appendix 4: Attractiveness 56Appendix 5: Trustworthiness 57Appendix 6: Expertise 59Appendix 7: Purchase intention 606List of figuresFigure 1: Hofstede dimensions Belgium…………………………………………………………………….15Figure 2: Age ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..24Figure 3: Educational level………………………………………………………………………………………25Figure 4: Employment status……………………………………………………………………………………25Figure 5: Household income (per year)……………………………………………………………………..26Figure 6: Ethnicity ………………………………………………………………………………………………….26Figure 7: follow influencers ……………………………………………………………………………………..28Figure 8: Interaction with influencers…………………………………………………………………………28Figure 9: Purchase intention ……………………………………………………………………………………31Figure 10: Frequency purchasing fashion ………………………………………………………………….34Figure 11: Average expenditure per month for fashion items ………………………………………..34Figure 12: Debt to purchase fashion …………………………………………………………………………35Figure 13: Regret on purchased fashion ……………………………………………………………………35Table 1: crosstab age – Instagram usage …………………………………………………………………..27Table 2: content of influencers …………………………………………………………………………………27Table 3: reliability analysis: credibility Table 4: reliability analysis: purchase intention……29Table 5: Correlations credibility and purchase intention ……………………………………………….32Table 6: Correlations attractiveness and purchase intention …………………………………………32Table 7: Correlations trustworthiness and purchase intention ……………………………………….33Table 8: Correlations expertise and purchase intention………………………………………………..33Table 9: correlation Credibility – Indulgence ……………………………………………………………….36Table 10: correlation Amount of SMI followed – Indulgence…………………………………………..367List of abbreviations Abbreviation ExplanationSMISocial media influencerSMI’sSocial media influencers 81. IntroductionIn recent years, the phenomenon of social media influencers has received a serious boost(Sammis et al. 2016). The favourite social media platform for these social media influencersbecame Instagram. Instagram also became very popular with millennials and the majorityspends their time daily on this platform (Guynn 2018). The popularity of social mediainfluencers and Instagram steadily increased and several companies noticed this trend.Because the target group of these companies spent their time online and it becameincreasingly difficult to reach this group in the traditional marketing way, they made use ofsponsorships and collaborations with social media influencers (Paton, 2014). These socialmedia influencers showcase the products of different brands and companies. The specificsponsored post of an influencer reaches suddenly a large part of the target group (Chae, 2018).However, the real impact of this new marketing method on the purchase intention is not yetvery clear. Hence this research aims to help fashion brands in determining the best possibleway of reaching Belgian female millennials. Therefore, it will investigate how Belgianmillennials determine the credibility of social media influencers in fashion products and thesubsequent impact on purchase intention. The focus will be on social media influencers onInstagram. In order to achieve this research goal, the following research objectives wereformulated:The research objectives are formulated as follows:v To examine Belgian female millennials behaviour on Instagram and attitude towardssocial media influencers.v To address when Belgian female millennial perceive an SMI as credible.v To assess the impact of perceived credibility of an SMI on purchase intention.v To assess the impact of perceived credibility of an SMI on conspicuous consumptionv To assess the impact of the number of influencers that millennials follow onconspicuous consumptionThe preparation of these research objectives and after studying the existing literature on thistopic, 3 hypotheses were formed.o Hypothesis 1: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the purchase intentionfor the fashion products promoted by the SMI.o Hypothesis 2: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the conspicuousconsumption for the fashion products promoted by the SMI.9o Hypothesis 3: As millennials follow more SMI’s, the higher the conspicuousconsumption for the fashion products promoted by the SMITo be able to answer these objectives successfully, this research was conducted by applyinga positivism and a deductive approach with a quantitative data collection and analysis. Aquestionnaire was used for the quantitative data collection. The non-probability sampletechniques in this research are a combination of self-selection sampling and snowballsampling.The thesis starts with the literature review. This is followed by the methodology. After studyingthe existing literature and by deciding the appropriate methodology for this study comes thedata analysis. The data analysis is followed by the discussion and recommendations about thefindings, from which eventually a conclusion is drawn. Finally, the last section is a personalreflection of the researcher.102. Literature ReviewThis literature review is divided into three sections. First of all, millennials will be reviewedwhich includes their affinity to technology and social media, relation to social media influencersand purchase intention. Furthermore, the literature about social media influencers will bereviewed, their favourite social media platform, perceived credibility and purchase intention.Finally, the cultural dimension of Indulgence will be examined and the relation to previousdiscussed topics such as millennials and SMI’s.2.1. MillennialsAccording to Howe and Strauss (2000) the age range of millennials is between 1982 and 2002.This results in Millennials today being between 19 and 37 years old. This generation, hailedas digital natives, is a group of individuals who grew up and have been exposed to technologysince childhood (Prensky, 2001). Technology, such as internet, has become the normal wayof life. Therefore, millennials are progressively dynamic at coordinating technology into theirdaily life. The Internet has become their primary source for research and information(Chatzigeorgiou, 2017; Djamasbi, Siegel and Tullis, 2010; Sethi, Kaur and Wadera, 2018). Thefascination of millennials with new technologies results in higher skill levels in technology anda better ability to multitask than older generations (Oblinger 2003; Jones et al, 2010).Furthermore, millennials are pro-active and seek to develop valuable relationships with brandsonline. They want two-way communication and seek collaboration with brands (Hurst, 2016;Noisi et al, 2017). Millennials are also a significant segment of customers to be considered asthey have a particular purchasing conduct, have positive attitude towards shopping online andare the generation with the most purchase power (Sethi, Kaur and Wadera, 2018;Chatzigeorgiou, 2017).2.2. Social mediaIn the early 2000’s, the rise of social media happened (Williams, 2015). Van Dijck (2013)defines social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideologicaland technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of usergenerated content”. People were searching the need for connectedness and there was animmense increase of social networking sites. This highly supported and changed thecollaboration of people and associations based on social networking platforms. Platforms suchas Facebook, Youtube and Twitter exploded in terms of users, because social networking sitesis tool to connect with others and the communication is two-way where relationships aredeveloped (Van Dijck, 2013; Edosomwan et al., 2011). Social media platforms created a way11of interaction. An individual can ‘follow’ a brand or celebrity; this allows the brands to interactand connect quickly and easily with their fans.2.3. Social media influencersThe rise of social media also created a new sort of advertising called influencer marketing.Sammis et al. (2016) states that influencer marketing is “the art and science of engaging peoplewho are influential online to share brand messaging with their audiences in the form ofsponsored content”. Actually influencer marketing is a gainful relationship between brands andinfluencers. It is a win-win situation for both parties. Brands use influencers to showcase andmarket their products to their interest group and the communication of the brand happensthrough the social media channel of the influencer (Evans et al., 2017). Chae (2018) statesthat social media influencers “are online celebrities who exhibit their personal lives to manyfollowers via social media”. Social media influencers are often called micro-celebrities(Molenaers, 2018). They create their own photos to attract attention and to share with theirmany followers (Khamis, Ang and Welling, 2016). They range from models, beginning actors,travellers, fitness trainers, friends of celebrities and wealthy people who love luxury. Most ofthe times, micro-influencers brag with their enormous luxury and lifestyle. Their page is toportray their life as a dream with all the luxury (Abidin, 2016; Chae, 2018). In return forshowcasing the products or experiences of brands, social media influencers receive somethingin return for example payments or products (Chae, 2018). Brands working together with socialmedia influencers can catch the attention of brand customers and promote relevant content tothe right clients. Thus, the new trend of social media influencers has effectively changed themanner in which that brands communicate with shoppers, particularly as to lifestyle branding(Glucksman, 2017). Social media influencers are considered a new generation of advertiserswho are utilized by brands to affect purchase intentions (Freberg et al., 2011).2.3.1. Instagram as SMI platformRecently, Instagram overtook Facebook as the most the favourite social media platform ofmillennials, because Instagram gives the ability to avoid fake news and is merely focused onphotos (McCormick, 2016; Guynn 2018). The highest number of users on Instagram arebetween 18-24 years and 25-34 years old (Statista, 2019). This two age groups covers theage range of millennials. In 2018, Instagram passed the 1 billion monthly active users’milestone, making it one of the biggest social media channels in the world (Statista, 2019). Infact, Instagram is the only social media platform that had a 7% increase of users from 2016 to2018. (Smith and Anderson, 2018). Furthermore, Instagram is seen as the social mediachannel with the most social interaction and best advertising experience (Voorveld et al.,2018).12The top three platforms that social media influencers use are Facebook, Youtube andInstagram. Nevertheless, the favourite social media platform that social media influencers useis Instagram. The platform is grown to one of the biggest social media sites. Instagram providesusers a way to capture and share their life in an easy and fast way (Hu, Manikonda andKambhampati, 2014). Instagram is a platform that depends on visualization and pictures, whichmakes it an appropriate system for promoting fashion products and pushing extravagant waysof life and noticeable luxurious brands (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017). Furthermore, it ispossible for users to gather followers and drive connections and interactions (Blight et al.,2017). Moreover, as mentioned before, it is seen as the social media channel with the mostsocial interaction and best advertising experience (Voorveld et al., 2018). Therefore, in recentyears, Instagram became the most popular social media channel for influencer marketing(Statista, 2019; Evans et al., 2017; Launchmetrics, 2017). Instagram experienced an increaseof fashion bloggers who shared a range of fashion products and specific brands on theirInstagram channel towards all their followers. This new trend was noticed by various fashionbrands, who started working together with the sharers (Paton, 2014). Furthermore, in 2017,research of Launchmetrics showed that the fashion industry is the main feature of social mediainfluencers on Instagram. Furthermore, a study conducted by Connolly (2018) indicates thatpeople who are between 19-24 years old are the age range that essentially follows socialmedia influencers. The literature strongly suggest that Instagram is the most powerful socialmedia channel for advertising and influencing millennials. Moreover, it is the channel with themost influencers. Hence, this research will focus on social media influencers on Instagram.The effect of influencers on their followers varies due to several factors, e.g. credibility, etc.which will be discussed next2.4. Credibility of SMI’sCredibility is a multidimensional concept with specific effect on the buyer’s purchase intention.The effectiveness of a message can be determined by the credibility of the source. The Modelof Source Credibility from Ohanian describes three factors that determine the credibility of asource (Ohanian, 1991; Ayeh, 2015).The first factor is trustworthiness. According to Ohanian (1991), trustworthiness is “thedegree of confidence in the source’s intent to communicate valid assertions. Trustworthinesscan also be described as the degree of confidence given to perceivers which can shape theiropinion about a product/service being promoted and, consequently, share (i.e. increase ordecrease) customers’ purchase intention(s).” In general trust between two people is thehighest when they have a valuable ongoing relationship. Usually family and friends are13perceived as the most trustworthy, because there is a valuable relationship (Hardin, 2002).The literature pertaining to trustworthiness strongly suggests that word of mouth is the mostpowerful information source for consumers, because there is an ongoing and valuablerelationship. The strength and trust of word of mouth is perceived the most powerful when therelationship between the sender and receiver is close, coming from friends, family and socialacquaintances (Brown and Reingen, 1987; Ennew, Banerjee and Li, 2000). In addition, aresearch from Uzunoğlu & Kip (2014) has shown that consumers find people who are similarto them more trustworthy. Arguably, this can explain the success of social media influencers,because they are perceived much closer by consumers than celebrities for advertising andtherefore perceived as more trustworthy (Jin, Muqaddam and Ryu, 2019).According, Cooley and Parks-Yancy (2019) is Instagram the most trustworthy social mediachannel for upcoming fashion trends. This in interesting to take in consideration for ourresearch about fashion products. Furthermore, a recent study of Xiao, Wang and ChanOlmsted (2018) showed that trustworthiness was the most important factor to create a crediblesource online. It also increased the credibility of social media influencer. However, thisresearch was applied on YouTube and the results may vary on another social media channelsuch as Instagram, because Youtube is only video related. Moreover, research of Baker (2018)in Ireland showed that female millennials perceive social media influencers for beauty productsthe most trustworthy if they have less followers and when the influencer is similar to them.However, Chatzigeorgiou (2017) describes that the trustworthiness of influencers formillennials is based on their number of followers. This creates some contradiction, sotherefore, this research tries to fill the gap in knowledge about the perceived trustworthinessof female millennials in Belgium on Instagram influencers and specifically for fashion products.The second factor of credibility according Ohanian (1991) is the level of expertise of thesource. Hovland et al. (1953) defines expertise as “the extent to which a communicator isperceived as a source”. In advertising when the sender of the advertisement is perceived asan expert in that field increases the credibility (Ohanian, 1991). Research of Raafat (2018)showed that the level of expertise is a major factor for credibility of health influencers onYoutube. However, Reichelt, Sievert and Jacob (2014) and Baker (2018) discovered thattrustworthiness was the most important factor for credibilty of a source in eWOM and far moreimportant than expertise. Furthermore, a study of Lou and Yuan (2019) described surprisinglythat the expertise of social media influencers did not increase the credibility of the followers intheir sponsored content. Lou and Yuan (2019) think that this is because influencers alreadyhave a status of expertise among their follower, but this will not increase the credibility of theirbranded content.14The third factor of source credibility is perceived attractiveness. This factor describes thelikeability or physical attractiveness of the source (Ohanian, 1991). Research by Lou and Yuan(2019) has shown that attractiveness is a significant factor for social media influencers. This isalso the case because individuals often follow perceived attractive personas as role-modelsand therefore find them more credible. The attractiveness of the influencer created longermemory of the promoted brand. Furthermore, a fun looking personality, so likability, alsoincreased the credibility of the social media influencer (Chatzigeorgiou 2017)By researching the existing literature around this topic, it can be concluded that sourcecredibility, in turn can affect the intention to purchase of a given product or brand (Sertoglu,Catlı and Korkmaz, 2014).2.5. Purchase intentionPurchase intention is a sort of decision-making that reviews the motivation and reason abuyer/consumer purchases a specific brand (Shah et al., 2012). Morinez et al. (2007) statethat purchase intention is “a situation where the consumer tends to buy a certain product incertain condition”(as cited in Parengkuan, 2017, p. 11). Thus, purchase intention is actuallythe eagerness to purchase a specific product, item or service. However, the purchase decisionis a complex process. It depends on the attitude, perception and attitude of the consumer(Mirabi, Akbariyeh and Tahmasebifard, 2015). The purchase intention is a tool to predictbuying behaviour (Ghosh, 1990). Furthermore, advertising has a positive effect and significantimpact on purchase intention (Mirabi, Akbariyeh and Tahmasebifard, 2015). Research ofBerkman and Gilson (1978) demonstrated that the buyers, who have revealed expectations tobuy an item, have additionally had a higher real purchasing rate when contrasted with thosecustomers who have no goal of purchasing. A study of Duffet (2015) pointed out that millennialsin South Africa where influenced in a positive purchase intention by advertising on Facebook.Moreover, a study of Babić Rosario et al. (2016) showed that eWOM or Electronic Word-ofMouth had a significant effect on purchase intention. The effect of eWOm was the strongeston social media platforms. Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) defined eWOM as “any positive ornegative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product orcompany, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet”.Social media influencers are actually masters in eWOM. As mentioned before, word of mouthis one the most credible and trustworthy sources of marketing. Therefore, social mediainfluencers are masters because, they take a special role to form the opinions of consumersfor products and services (Glucksman, 2017; Babić Rosario et al., 2016). Consumerspersonally identify themselves more with social media influencers and they see them as rolemodels. This is particularly true for millennials who perceive social media influencers as15credible sources of information (McGee 2017). This results in higher purchase intention of theproducts that the social media influencers share, particularly if these products are tangible(Babić Rosario et al., 2016; Tran and Strutton, 2014). Based on the above, it can be postulatedthat:Hypothesis 1: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the purchase intention for thefashion products promoted by the SMI.2.6. Indulgence and Conspicuous ConsumptionIn 2010, a sixth cultural dimension was added to the Hofstede model. This model describesindulgence vs restraint. This new dimension was based on humanist Minkov’s label and alsodrew on the broad World Values Survey Indulgence. This dimension is defined by Hofstede(2011) as “the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulse based on the waythey were raised”. When the control is low it is called ‘indulgence’. Hofstede (2011) states that“indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and naturalhuman desires related to enjoying life and having fun”. Indulgent or Liberal societies will ingeneral focus more on individual satisfaction and prosperity, relaxation time is increasinglysignificant and there is greater freedom and individual control. Below on the graph are thescores of Belgium on each individual cultural dimension. Belgium has a score of 57 on theindulgence dimension which marks Belgium as an indulgent country (Hofstede Insights, 2019).The literature shows that Belgium has an indulgence culture.Figure 1: Hofstede dimensions BelgiumThe indulgence dimension can manifest itself in relation to consumer behaviour in what it isknown in the literature as ‘conspicuous consumption’. The term conspicuous consumption was16invented by Veblen (1899) who described conspicuous consumption as the behaviour ofbuying unnecessities. However, Kilsheimer (1993) broadened the term later and stated thatconspicuous consumption is “the motivational process by which individuals strive to improvetheir social standing through the conspicuous consumption of consumer products that conferand symbolise status both for the individual and surrounding significant others”. The basis ofconspicuous consumptions’ conduct is that people are given the impression that they have aplace with a higher social class (Kaus, 2013).2.6.1. Conspicuous consumption in FashionFashion items tend to be the key targets for conspicuous consumption, because they are easilyvisible (Han, Nunes, and Drèze, 2010). Conspicuous products are often considered luxurygoods, but the research of Chaudhuri and Majumdar (2011) has shown that luxuryconsumption and conspicuous consumption is not the same, because conspicuousconsumption includes also the purchase of products that can be considered unique or cancontribute to the creation of a specific personality.2.6.2. Millennials and Conspicuous ConsumptionMillennials live on extremes and are a generation that indulges. The generation is normallyaware of a healthy lifestyle, but when they are in the mood to indulge, the indulgence tends tobe extreme. This indulgence happens on various levels such as food and watching TV shows.For example: binge-watching 10 hours on Netflix and eating a whole week of healthy food thenindulging on desserts in the weekend (Fromm, 2017). However, millennials exhibit a range ofpositive behaviours. They are also the generation that drinks less, have less sex and smokeless than other generations (Godwin, 2018; Frymorgen, 2017; Ritschel, 2019). Therefore,millennial indulgence leads almost always to feeling of regret or guilt, because they areafterwards actually aware of the best decisions (Fromm, 2017). Furthermore, millennials havedifferent purchasing behaviours than other generations. They have huge buying power andenjoy to display their wealth through their appearance. This trend of buying behaviour andpurchasing habits is influenced by the rise of social media and more specifically social mediainfluencers. Moreover, they are the generation that spends the most online (Sorensen, 2019).Social media influencers can influence young people to overspent, which may sometimesresult in debt. Young people are looking for the insta-famous life and therefore spend too muchmoney (Pasha-Robinson, 2019). Based on the above, it can be postulated that:Hypothesis 2: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the conspicuous consumptionfor the fashion products promoted by the SMI.172.6.3. Social media and Conspicuous ConsumptionConspicuous consumption often occurs because people start to compare themselves withother, called social comparison (Vogel et al., 2015). As mentioned earlier, social media and inparticular Instagram provides a setting in which people can participate in social comparison. Arecent study by Wai and Osman (2019) has shown that the higher the social media use, thehigher the conspicuous consumption. However, this research took place in Malaysia, where adifferent culture prevails and also has a slightly higher indulgence culture dimension than inBelgium (Hofstede Insights, 2019). This research was also applied to various social media andnot specifically to social media influencers. Moreover, Duan and Dholakia (2018) describesthat the great availability and rise of social media also increased the possibility of conspicuousconsumption. Individuals can more easily compare themselves via social media and exhibittheir unique products much faster through these media. Furthermore, posts on social mediahave a positive effect on audience’s purchase intention.This social comparison on social media does not only happen between friends and family butalso with key opinion leaders. Key opinion leaders have a major influence on the purchaseintention on social media (Seo and Park, 2018). Social media influencers can certainly beconsidered as key opinion leaders, because people follow these people for information andinterest. Furthermore, conspicuous consumption is considered to impress others. Because ofthis, social media influencers can certainly have an impact on conspicuous consumption,because their followers see them as role models and can therefor make indulgent purchasesto look like their favourite influencers, but also to pursue that insta-famous lifestyle. Based onthe above, it can be postulated that:Hypothesis 3: As millennials follow more SMI’s, the higher the conspicuous consumption forthe fashion products promoted by the SMI.The literature pertaining indulgence/conspicuous consumption on specifically the millennialsor social media influencers is very limited and therefore interesting to research the impact ofSMI’s on the conspicuous consumption of Belgian Female Millennials.183. MethodologyThis chapter will depict the techniques utilized in gathering and examining the data for thisresearch. A complete justification of both the technique and configuration will be provided. Theresearch ‘onion’ will be utilized to depict the issues underlying the choice of data collectiontechniques and analysis (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). At the end of this discussion,the limitations and ethical considerations will be included. Sim and Wright (2000) state thatmethodology “describes the overall approach taken in a piece of research. In particular, itrefers to the general principles of investigation that guide a study, based on its underlyingtheoretical and philosophical assumptions”. The essential goal of this study is to address theimpact of Instagram influencers on purchase decisions of fashion items from a Belgian FemaleMillennials’ Perspective.3.1. Philosophy & approachThe first part of this chapter is about the research philosophy for this study. According toSaunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) this term relates to “the development of knowledge andthe nature of that knowledge”. In this study, the positivism was chosen. Bell, Bryman andHarley (2019) state that positivism is “an epistemological position which is informed by anobjectivist ontology”. Only phenomena that are observed will prompt the generation oftrustworthy information (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Positivist philosophy is a wayto get at the truth and to predict and control this truth (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). AccordingSaunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) positivist approach relates to “working with anobservable social reality and that the end product of such research can be law-likegeneralisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists”. A good wayof collecting and gathering data in a positivist approach is by observing phenomena ormeasuring them using surveys (Bell, Bryman and Harley, 2019). Furthermore, the research isattempted in a value-free way and the researcher is independent of the data (Saunders, Lewisand Thornhill, 2009). Positivism utilizes a deductive research approach to deal with hypothesisthat can be tested with a predetermined and fixed research structure (Sekaran and Bougie,2016). Bell, Bryman and Harley (2019) state that “the logic of positivist social science isdeductive. It mimics that of experimental research in the physical sciences”. The researchreported in this dissertation follows a deductive approach because it starts with the existingtheory of Ohanian about source credibility (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).Research that investigates causal relationships between different variables is namedexplanatory research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). The emphasis of an explanatorystudy is stated by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) as “studying a situation or a problem19in order to explain the relationships between variables”. The reason for this study is tocomprehend if credibility of a social media influencer has an impact on the purchase intentionof Belgian female millennials. Furthermore, it aims to examine the role of social mediainfluencers in influencing conspicuous consumption. Thus, the purpose of this research isexplanatory, because relationships between variables such as credibility, purchase intentionand conspicuous consumption are explained.Quantitative approach is mainly associated with a deductive approach (Greener, 2008).Bryman and Bell (2015) state that quantitative research can be described as “entailing thecollection of numerical data and exhibiting the view of relationship between theory andresearch as deductive, a predilection for natural science approach, and as having an objectivistconception of social reality”. Quantitative research techniques uses number and facts. Inaddition, the most asked questions in quantitative research are “how many” and “how often”(Dudovskiy, 2019). Due to the fact that this research tries to understand the relationshipbetween different variables, which can be examined using statistical tests, and uses positivismand a deductive approach, quantitative data collection and analysis is regarded the mostsuitable (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009; Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019)3.2. StrategyTo conduct this research a good research strategy is needed. Each strategy can be utilized forexploratory, descriptive and explanatory research (Yin 2003). The chosen strategy of this studyis survey, which is usually associated with a deductive approach. It is a well-known andcommon strategy in business research and is mostly used to answers who, what and howmuch questions (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009). The basis of a survey is “questioningindividuals on a topic or topics and then describing their responses” (Jackson, 2011).Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) state that surveys “ are popular as they allow thecollection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way”.The survey strategy allows quantitative data collection which can be analysed quantitively byusing inferential and descriptive statistics. Moreover, the data that is collected by applying asurvey strategy is useful to advocate reasoning in the relationships between variables(Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Hence, survey is the best strategy for this study.Furthermore, this research will be a mono-method quantitative study. A single data collectiontechnique will be used to generate numerical data.203.3. Data collection technique & analysisThe research methods provide an understanding on how the data will be obtained andaccessed. There are different quantitative method possibilities, for example: questionnaire,structured observation and structured interviews. However, questionnaire is the most widelyknown and used data collection techniques within the survey strategy, because it gives thepossibility to gather a large amount of data in short period of time (Donley and Grauerholz,2012; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009; Dudovskiy, 2019). Questionnaires work best whenthe data collection is held by using standardized questions and that you know all therespondents will interpret these questions in the same way (Robson, 2002). They are generallyused in explanatory studies. Moreover, the researcher needs less skills and sensitivity than incertain qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews (Jankowicz, 2005). There are variousoptions for a questionnaire, but in this research a self-administered questionnaire is used andmore specific an internet-mediated questionnaire. Considering the fact that the suitablepopulation for this research are millennials who are currently present on Instagram, it will beno problem to reach them through internet, because they are computer-literate individuals.Moreover, by applying an internet mediated questionnaire, the scarcity in available time for thedata collection can be overcome (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Therefore, to gaininsight into the various objectives of this study, internet mediated questionnaire is regardedthe most appropriate.The questionnaire starts with a small introduction of this research and provides succinctinformation about the ethical approval of this study. The questionnaire is drawn up in 4 blocksto keep it short enough and to not scare of respondents with many pages or blocks. The firstpart of the research is based on two questions to exclude those who do not fit the criteria: agender question and a question about following fashion influencers on Instagram. In this wayall non-females and respondents who do not follow fashion influencers will be excluded to takepart in the questionnaire. The following part (question 3 – 7), demographic background,concerns respondents’ age, education level, employment status, household income andethnicity. This data can be used in the analysis phase to investigate how respondents’decisions differ from one demographic group to another. The last part (question 8 – 18) isactually divided in different sections focused on the different objectives and variables of thisresearch. The first section describes the respondents’ involvement with social media and socialmedia influencers. It includes the amount of Instagram used, way of interaction with theinfluencer, reason of following influencers, amount of influencers followed and favouriteinfluencer. All these questions are closed questions besides the last question about therespondents’ favourite influencer. This question is an open question to get an objective insight21of how many followers respondents’ favourite influencers possess. The second section are twoscales that were derived from previous literature and existing validated scales were adopted.The first scale was adapted from Rebelo (2017), who created a credibility scale for influencersbased on the Ohanian model (1991). The scale measures the source credibility byinvestigating the perceived importance of three credibility traits described in Ohanian’s model– expertise, attractiveness and trustworthiness – in relation to social media fashion influencerson Instagram. The next scale was also adapted from Rebelo (2017), which is applied on thetheory of Dodds, Monroe and Grewal (1991) about purchase intention. This scale was appliedto measure purchase intention of fashion products that are promoted by social mediainfluencers. The two scales were measured using a five-point Likert-type scale with anchorsranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The last section was focused onconspicuous consumption of the respondents’ and concerns respondents’ shopping habits.The questionnaire was first tested with two respondents’ because some terms in the scale ofRebelo (2017) on the source credibility model of Ohanian (1991) were quite similar. This couldcreate confusion with the respondents’ who are non-native English speakers in Belgium.Therefore, after the test phase, the questionnaire was adjusted with the goal for respondentsto comprehend the questions better and to reduce the confusion and disarray.The primary data of this study is assembled through a questionnaire arranged by the GoogleForms tool. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) state that a structured questionnaire is “aneffective data collection method to collect primary data for a business related research”.Google forms is an easy and cost-free tool. The application also gives to possibility to transferthe collected data into a spreadsheet in Excel. Eventually the data will be analysed by usingthe statistical program SPSS to discover causal relationships between variables.3.4. SamplingIn this research, it will be beyond the bounds of possibility to gather or to examine all theaccessible data due to limits of time, money and access. It is also impracticable to collect datafrom the entire population of Belgian female Millennials, thus sampling techniques will be usedto decrease the sum of information you have to gather by considering just information from asub-group (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p. 210). With this in mind, a non-probabilitysample is regarded the best option for this research, because there is not an existed populationframe of Belgian female millennials who are follow at least one fashion influencer on Instagram.Therefore, it is impossible to apply probability sampling. The extent of this research is limitedto participants born between 1982 and 2002 according to Howe and Strauss (2000), to implythat the target group are millennials. Furthermore, the participants should be female and22currently present on Instagram. Moreover, all the chosen respondents should follow at leastone influencer on Instagram that promotes fashion brands. In non-probability sampletechniques there are no guidelines depending the sample size. Although the sample size isreliant to the research questions as well as the research objectives. Specifically, what you haveto discover, what will be valuable and what should be possible inside your accessible assets(Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).The chosen non-probability sample techniques in this research are a combination of selfselection sampling and snowball sampling. The first sampling method – self-selection samplingis used because it enables the researcher to ask research relevant friends and family membersto take part in the research. The participants will be gathered through the network of theresearcher by sending a hyperlink and keeping in mind the criteria. At last snowball samplingis integrated after the initial contact with the network of the researcher. The participants areasked if they could identify further members of the relevant population (Saunders, Lewis andThornhill, 2009). By combining this two sampling techniques it was possible to identify andcontact many appropriate respondents. Nevertheless, to exclude the Belgian femalerespondents that were active on Instagram, but did not follow fashion influencers on theplatform, the survey starts with a question to exclude those Belgian female millennials.3.5. Ethical issuesEthical issues occur in almost every research and are usually divided into five main issues:harm to participants, absence of informed consent, privacy is intruded, not voluntary anddiscrimination (Diener and Crandall, 1978; Bryman and Bell, 2015; Hammersley and Traianou,2012). To make sure that the research is entirely in accordance with the rules, the ethics ofthe university of Worcester and GDPR rules were followed. The participants had theopportunity to withdraw from the research at any time and to contact the researcher orsupervisor for questions. Furthermore, the start of the research explained importantinformation about the questionnaire and study – collected data was processed anonymously,participation is voluntary and possible to withdraw at any moment. Before the research startedthe participants had to agree to all of these aspects before the research could been carriedout. This made it possible to avoid several ethical issues (Bryman and Bell, 2015). Moreover,the primary data was kept in a secure manner so that nobody can access it except theresearcher himself.233.6. LimitationsThis research may suffer a few limitations. The main limitation of this research is that thisresearch is only done by a mono-method approach, namely quantitative research with aquestionnaire. This strategy and method are used to advocate reasoning in the relationshipsbetween variables and highlight trends. However, by applying a mixed method – a combinationof quantitative and qualitative research – it can be possible to clarify the underlying outcomes(Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009; Beiske, 2002). Spencer et al. (2003) state thatqualitative research “aims to provide an in-depth understanding of people’s experiences,perspectives and histories in the context of their personal circumstances or settings”.Moreover, mixed methods can enrich and provide better opportunities to answer researchquestions (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2003; Greener, 2008). Thus, to investigate the underlyingand more profound reasons for female Belgian millennials, it can be very useful and interestingto use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research.A second limitation is the fact that non-random sampling was chosen to sample Belgian femalemillennials that are available on Instagram. The impact of social media influencers towardsBelgian female millennials and specifically for fashion brands, was tested through Instagram.However, it is possible the impact of social media influencers is different through other socialmedia channels. Likewise the impact could be different for males and of course have acompletely different impact in other countries244. Data analysisThis data analysis plans to demonstrate and show causal relationships between variablesregarding Belgian female millennials. First of all a codebook was constructed with SPSS.Moreover, all the questionnaires where coded with SPSS. The data-analysis consists of twomain sections: The first section is an outline presenting the primary findings without going intomuch detail. Some general characteristics could be recognized. The second part focuses onthe hypothesis testing. Factor analysis will be used to examine the composition of credibility.Furthermore, simple correlations will be utilized to measure the relationships between thevariables. The graphs and tables are analysed with SPSS.At the start of this analysis, two aspects are clarified that were meant to exclude thoserespondents who were not relevant to this study. By applying self-selection and snowballsampling 415 (98,1%) of the respondents is female. Only 8 respondents (1,9%) are male. Themale respondents were excluded of this study after they answered the first question. Of theremaining 415 participants, 277 (66,7%) follow fashion influencers and 138 (33,3%) do notfollow fashion influencers. Thus, a total of 277 participants follow influencers on Instagram whospecialize in fashion and these are the participants for whom it is possible to proceed to thefollowing questions for this research. Those who do not follow fashion influencers are excludedfrom this study.4.1. Demographic questionsIt is clear that the age category between 18-24 is the most represented in this study with 89%;followed by 10% with the age category between 25-34. Figure 2 for results.Figure 2: Age25In terms of highest achieved educational level, the results show that the majority of therespondents have a bachelor degree, representing 48% of the sample. Followed byparticipants with a high school qualification, representing 32%. Furthermore, 19% have amaster degree. Figure 3 for results.Figure 3: Educational levelThe majority of participants are students, representing 74% of the study. Moreover, 19% of theparticipants is employed full-time, whereas 4% is employed part-time. Figure 4 for results.Figure 4: Employment statusRegarding the current household income per year, the results of sample show that 32% of theparticipants have an income below €10 000, but also that 32% of the participants preferred not26to say there household income. Furthermore, 15% has an income between €10 000 and €25000. Figure 5 for results.Figure 5: Household income (per year)In terms of the ethnicity of the participants, the analysis shows that the majority (91%) isWhite/Caucasian. Only 5% of the respondents is mixed race. Figure 6 for results.Figure 6: Ethnicity274.2. Instagram behaviourSeveral questions were asked to gain insight into the Instagram use of female Belgianmillennials. These questions provide an answer to:RQ1: Instagram behaviour and attitude towards social media influencers.Table 1: crosstab age – Instagram usageThe crosstab above combines the Instagram usage with the two age categories of millennials.It can be concluded that 92% of female Belgian millennials between 18-24 visit Instagramseveral times a day. Moreover, all the participants between 25-34 visit Instagram several timesa day. Not to mention the use of Instagram is very large here. This is of course also becausethese people are already following fashion influencers.Table 2: content of influencersThe table above shows that millennials mainly follow influencers who share personal posts.The second reason why influencers are followed is when they share social posts.28Figure 7: follow influencersRegarding how many influencers the participants follow, the graph in figure 7 shows that theresults are well distributed. 28% of the participants follows 3-5 influencers. Followed by 6-10influencers, representing 27%. Furthermore, follows 15% 11-20 influencers and 12% morethan 30. 1/10 of the respondents follows only 1-2 influencers.Figure 8: Interaction with influencersThe bar chart in figure 8 describes the interaction that the participants have with influencers.Almost everyone interacts with an influencers by liking their post. Moreover almost a fifth ofthe respondents also comment on the posts of SMI’s by tagging one of their friends. Just anormal comment or sending a DM are also options but these ones are less widely used. It canbe concluded that liking a post of an influencers is by far the respondents’ favourite way ofinteraction.29Moreover, an open question was asked to get an objective insight in the content that theirfavourite SMI’s share but also in the importance of number of followers of SMI’s before theyget credible. After analysing this open question it became clear that there is a trend in thecontent of the SMI’s. The majority are primarily focused on sharing content about fashion andlifestyle. Furthermore, the most frequently mentioned influencers are Celineschh, An-Katrienand Luna Stevens. Celineschh was mentioned 39 times, An-Katrien 26 times and LunaStevens was mentioned 22 times. These 3 influencers are all three Belgian. So it seems thatBelgian female millennials are mainly attracted to influencers with whom they can compareand come across as credible because they come from the same country.Furthermore, the number of followers of the SMI’s, who are listed, extends from 201 followersto 141 million followers. However, there is a trend in the responses. The number of followersof Belgian SMI’s is lower on average than that of the international SMI’s. This can suggest thatthe importance of the number of followers of SMI’s to become credible is lower for influencerswho come from the same country and are therefore more relatable. Moreover, the three mostfrequently mentioned influencers were all Belgian and their number of followers ranged from97 000 to 575 000. Nevertheless, more research is necessary to prove this theory.4.3. Data reliability of both scalesTo ensure the reliability of both scales (credibility and purchase intention), the Cronbach’salpha test was conducted. Goforth (2015) state that the Cronbach’s alpha is “a measure usedto assess the reliability, or internal consistency, of a set of scale or test items. In other words,the reliability of any given measurement refers to the extent to which it is a consistent measureof a concept, and Cronbach’s alpha is one way of measuring the strength of that consistency.”Table 3: reliability analysis: credibility Table 4: reliability analysis: purchase intentionCronbach’s alpha coefficients below 0.5 are unacceptable. α values between 0.7 and 0.8 areregarded acceptable and suitable (Bland and Altman, 1997; Goforth, 2015). As can be seenin table 3 and table 4, the credibility scale and purchase intention scale have a Cronbach’salpha coefficient value between 0.7 and 0.8. Thus, both scales are considered reliable.304.4. Credibility of fashion influencersIn the next part the findings of the credibility of fashion influencers are represented. This partprovides an answer on research question 2:RQ2: To address when Belgian female millennial consumers perceive SMI’s credible4.4.1. Factor analysis credibilityIn appendix 2 are the results of the factor analysis. The 9 questions of the credibility scale weresubjected to a factor analysis. Many coefficients in the correlation matrix were above 0.3meaning that the data was suitable for a factor analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was0,778, so it exceeded the recommended value of 0,5 and the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity isless than 0,05 meaning that it is significant. The factor analysis revealed the presence of twocomponents (Pallant, 2016). The first component was trustworthiness and the secondcomponent was a combination of attractiveness and expertise. The factor analysis of Rebelo(2017) suggests that it would be differentiated into 3 components, however this factor analysisprovides only 2 components. This result can be due to the adjustments that were made tomake the construct of attractiveness and expertise more understandable for the target groupof non-native English speakers. Moreover, it is also possible that attractiveness and expertisetogether shape one factor to predict perceived credibility of SMI’s.In appendix 3 a new factor analysis was requested, but now with a fixed amount of factors.After the analysis it can be concluded that the 3 factors: trustworthiness; attractiveness andexpertise all constitute credibility. However, with this factor analysis there is an overlapbetween expertise and attractiveness. As earlier mentioned, this overlap may be due to thefact that the questions are adapted to the non-native English target group. Moreover, it is alsopossible that there may indeed be an overlap between the factors attractiveness and expertisewhen they shape perceived credibility of SMI’s. This finding is interesting for further research.4.4.2. Factor attractivenessIn appendix 4, the results can be found of the different factors that create the component of‘attractiveness’. Hereby, the results show that influencers who are attractive and classy havea bigger impact than influencers that are sexy.4.4.3. Factor trustworthinessMoreover, in appendix 5, are the results of each factor of trustworthiness. It can be concludedthat the four factors of trustworthiness have approximately the same score representingreliable, honest, sincere and trustworthy.314.4.4. Factor expertiseMoreover, by taking a look at the factors that create the concept of expertise in appendix 6, itcan be concluded that influencers are knowledgeable in fashion have a stronger impact thaninfluencers that are experts in new fashion trends and products. However, both factors have astrong impact on the credibility of a SMI.4.5. Purchase intentionThe graph shows the agreement with statements pertaining the purchase intention of fashionproducts of SMI. The disagreement with the purchase intention is the strongest representedwith 40%. Moreover, nearly a third of the participants don’t disagree or agree. 28% of theparticipants agrees, with even no participants strongly agree. When looking closely to differentstatements for purchase intention in appendix 7, it can be concluded that the majority of theparticipants are willing to buy items from millennials, however it is not likely or the intention islow to purchase items from millennials.Figure 9: Purchase intention4.6. Hypothesis testing: credibility – purchase intentionTo test “H1: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the purchase intention for thefashion products promoted by the SMI.” a simple correlation is utilized.32Table 5: Correlations credibility and purchase intentionThe relationship between credibility and purchase intention was investigated using Spearmancorrelation coefficient. The Spearman’s correlation coefficient was applied instead of thePearson’s correlation coefficient because the data was not distributed normally and the datawas ordinal (Statistics Solution, 2019). There was a small, positive correlation between the twovariables, r = 0,180, n = 274 (Pallant, 2016). Thus, hypothesis 1 is supported. The higher theperceived credibility of the SMI, the higher the purchase intention for fashion products.4.6.1. Attractiveness – purchase intentionAttractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise are the three factors that shape credibility.Hypothesis 1 is supported, but it is interesting to see which factor of credibility relates the mostto purchase intention. Thus, a simple correlation is utilized for the three factors.The results of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise were not normally distributed andthe results were ordinal. Results in appendices 4, 5 and 6. Therefore, the Spearman’scorrelation coefficient was used instead of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient.Table 6: Correlations attractiveness and purchase intentionThere was a medium, positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0,251, n = 274(Pallant, 2016). Thus it can be concluded that the higher the attractiveness of the SMI, thehigher the purchase intention for fashion products.334.6.2. Trustworthiness – purchase intentionTable 7: Correlations trustworthiness and purchase intentionThe Spearman correlation is 0,031 so close to 0. This means there is a weak correlationbetween the variables. Moreover, the Sig (2-tailed value) is 0,606 which is higher as .05. Thusit can be concluded that there is no statistically significant correlation between the twovariables. Trustworthiness of the SMI has no significant effect on the purchase intention forfashion products.4.6.3. Expertise – purchase intentionTable 8: Correlations expertise and purchase intentionThere was a small, positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0,133, n = 274. Thus itcan be concluded that the higher the expertise of the SMI, the higher the purchase intentionfor fashion products.Overall it may be said that the strongest participants perceived credibility of an SMI for fashionitems is attractiveness. Second is expertise.4.7. Conspicuous consumptionThe bar chart in figure 10 shows the frequency of purchasing fashion of the participants. Themajority with 71% purchases new fashion items monthly. The remaining 30% is divided with15% buying fashion items weekly and 14% buying fashion items every 6 months.34Figure 10: Frequency purchasing fashionThis chart in figure 11 gives information on how much the participants spend usually per monthon fashion. According to the chart, almost half of the participants spend around €51-€100 amonth on fashion items. Moreover, nearly a fourth of the participants spend on average lessthan €50 a month on fashion items and another ¼ of the respondents spend on averagebetween €101- €200. Only 5% spends monthly more than €201.Figure 11: Average expenditure per month for fashion itemsThe bar chart in figure 12 describes how often that the participants have gone into debt topurchase fashion items. 66% of the participants has never gone into debt. However with 18%this happens rarely and 13% states that it happens sometimes. Furthermore, only 3% claimsthat it happens often. No one of the respondents has answered that they ‘always’ go into debtto purchase fashion. It can be concluded that it is quite unusual for the participants that theygo into debt to purchase fashion.35Figure 12: Debt to purchase fashionIn terms of regret of the participants after the purchase of fashion items, it is clear that it is arecurring phenomenon. The majority of the participants rarely or sometimes regret their fashionpurchases with just 4% difference between the two. Only 1/10 of the respondents have neverregret their fashion purchases. For only 8% of the participants this feeling of regret after thepurchase of fashion is something that happens often or even always.Figure 13: Regret on purchased fashion4.8. Hypothesis testing: Credibility – conspicuous consumptionTo test “H2: The higher the credibility of the SMI, the higher the conspicuous consumption forthe fashion products promoted by the SMI.” a simple correlation is utilized.36Table 9: correlation Credibility – IndulgenceThe relationship between perceived credibility of an SMI and conspicuous consumption wasinvestigated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The data was not distributed normallyand the data was ordinal, therefore the Spearman’s correlation was used. The Spearmancorrelation is close to 0. This means there is a weak correlation between the variables.Moreover, the Sig (2-tailed value) is higher as .05. Thus it can be concluded that there is nostatistically significant correlation between the two variables. Hypothesis 2 is rejected (Pallant,2016). The higher the perceived credibility of the SMI has no effect on the conspicuousconsumption for fashion products.4.9. Hypothesis testing: SMI followed – conspicuous consumptionTo test “H3: As millennials follow more SMI’s, the higher the conspicuous consumption for thefashion products promoted by the SMI.” a simple correlation is utilized.Table 10: correlation Amount of SMI followed – IndulgenceThe relationship between the amount of SMI’s that millennials follow and conspicuousconsumption was investigated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The Spearmancorrelation is 0,178. This means there is a small, positive correlation between the variables.Thus it can be concluded that there is a significant correlation between the two variables.Hypothesis 3 is supported (Pallant, 2016). As millennials follow more SMI’s, the higher theconspicuous consumption for the fashion products promoted by the SMI.375. DiscussionThis study attempts to determine the impact of SMI’s on millennials for the purchase intentionof fashion items. In this part the findings of the data analysis are discussed and it is alsodiscussed whether this corresponds to the existing and previously mentioned literature onthese topics.The literature review shows that Instagram is a widely used social media channel of millennialsand that the highest number of users on Instagram are between 18-24 years and 25-34 yearsold (McCormick, 2016; Guynn 2018; Statista, 2019). That Instagram is a popular socialmedium for millennials is certainly reflected in our analysis. The survey showed that 92,7% offemale Millennials who follow at least one fashion influencer on Instagram use Instagramapproximately several times a day. This is likely to be due the fact that Instagram became thefavourite social medium platform of SMI’s and millennials (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017;Launchmetrics, 2017; Evans et al., 2017). This research confirmed that millennials areprimarily interested in following influencers and interacting socially with them, as suggested inexisting literature. For instance, the results of the survey show that Millennials follow multipleinfluencers. More than the half of the participants follows between 3 and 10 influencers andeven 15 percent follow more than 30. Furthermore, the social interaction that is so highlyfavoured about Instagram is also explained in the analysis (Voorveld et al., 2018). Almost allof the respondents interact with a SMI in the form of liking their post. This is the easiest way ofinteraction on Instagram, nevertheless, nearly 1 in 5 also comment on SMI’s posts.According to Chatzigeorgiou (2017), the trustworthiness of influencers for millennials is basedon their number of followers. Higher number of followers create a more trustworthy influencer.However, Baker (2018) describes that female millennials perceive SMI’s more trustworthy ifthey have less followers and when the influencer is similar to them. The results of this studyare a combination of the conclusions of Chatzigeorgiou and Baker. The research suggest thatthe number of followers of SMI’s to become credible is lower for influencers who come fromthe same country and are therefore more relatable, but more research is needed around thistopic. Moreover, it is clear that the most mentioned influencers are Belgian which suggeststhat SMI phenomena is still very much a local phenomenon. This could possibly be explainedby the fact that female Belgian might find it easy to relate to influencers who share the sameculture and language. The statements that influencers become more credible if they areperceived as role models corresponds also with the findings in this study (McGee, 2017;Abidin, 2016; Chae, 2018). Almost all of the named influencers were models, friends ofcelebrities or wealthy people. Furthermore, the literature has shown that the expertise of social38media influencers did not increase their credibility (Lou and Yuan 2019). Nevertheless, thefindings in the research state the opposite. Expertise is seen as the second most importantfactor of credibility, because of the expertise in new trends and products and theknowledgeable about fashion. Moreover, the literature shows that influencers are consideredcredible if they are attractive and somewhat serve as role models. Thus, it is a significant factorfor SMI’s credibility (Lou and Yuan, 2019). These statements can certainly be incorporated intothe results of our study. Attractiveness was the strongest factor for credibility. Influencers weremainly followed and deemed credible if they are attractive and classy. Being sexy, however,contributed less to an SMI’s credibility.These findings support previous findings about the source credibility model of Ohanian (1991).The three factors trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise all contribute to the credibilityof a fashion SMI. Additionally, in previous research trustworthiness was the most importantfactor to create a credible source online (Xiao, Wang and Chan-Olmsted 2018). However, theresults of this research fail to support that claim. Attractiveness was the main factor, secondexpertise and the last factor is trustworthiness. This could mean that they mainly followinfluencers and consider them credible because they have expertise in fashion and becauseof their attractiveness. The reason that trustworthiness is the least important factor to create acredible source could be because they themselves benefit from the collaboration with variousfashion brands such as obtaining free products, money etc. Although it is necessary to conducteven deeper research to be able to explain this with certainty.The study found that the higher the perceived credibility of an influencer, the higher thepurchase intention. The results support previous findings that millennials who perceive SMI’sas credible will result in higher purchase intention of their advertised products (McGee, 2017;Babić Rosario et al., 2016; Tran and Strutton, 2014). Therefore the first hypothesis that isderived from the literature review is appropriate.According to Han, Nunes, and Drèze (2010) are fashion items the key drivers of conspicuousconsumption. Furthermore, Belgium is a country that indulges (Hofstede Insights, 2019). Theresults of the study show that Belgian female millennials are indeed interested in new fashion.They often follow multiple fashion influencers and 75% of the respondents buy new fashionclothes every month. Moreover, on average almost half of them spends between €51 and €100on new fashion items every month, but it is usual to spend a bit more or a bit less. The largesums of money (on average + €200/month) are an exception. Furthermore, it is unusual to gointo debt. 2 out of 3 never go into debt to buy new fashion items. A feeling of regret sometimeshappens with most of the respondents. The results conclude here that it can happen thatsomething is bought after which they regret it, but that this does not happen often. Therefore,39conspicuous consumption is certainly not a recurring phenomenon for Belgian femalemillennials.The findings of this research around the impact of SMI’s on conspicuous consumptionhighlighted two important results. The first postulated hypothesis around this topic wererejected. The higher the credibility of an influencer had no effect on the conspicuousconsumption. There was no connection between these two. However, the second hypothesiswas accepted. The study found that as millennials follow more SMI’s, the higher theconspicuous consumption for the fashion products promoted by the SMI. These results givenew insights into impact of SMI’s on conspicuous consumption. The literature study describesthat social media can increase conspicuous consumption of millennials. Social media and SMIbring more opportunities for social comparison. This can lead to wanting to imitate the instafamous life, even though this is sometimes unrealistic. Hence, SMI’s can be a stimulus forconspicuous consumption, what can result in debt or regret (Duan and Dholakia 2018; Vogelet al., 2015; Seo and Park, 2018). The first finding did not support the findings of the literatureanalysis, so more research is needed.6. RecommendationsOne of the main recommendations is that this study could be replicated in other countries. Itwill be interesting to see if similar patterns occur in other European countries or even countriesin other continents. Furthermore, the focus of this research was on female millennials. It wouldbe interesting to examine and compare males and females. Moreover, the study can be appliedto other types of influencers such as life-style influencers, travel influencers, fitness influencers.A study can even be done on more niche influencers. It can also be interesting to do aqualitative study. This allows more in-depth understanding to be created about the reasons ofa purchase intention or conspicuous consumption. At last, the research around conspicuousconsumption and SMI’s is still very scarce. This is the main recommendation for furtherresearch. A deeper investigation into the reasons for conspicuous consumption in relation tosocial media influencers, could create interesting insights.40ConclusionThe most important issues and results of this study are discussed in this conclusion. Therecommendations for further research around this topic are also mentioned.This research attempts to find an answer to the impact of social media influencers on thepurchase intention of millennials. The research is specifically aimed at Belgian femalemillennials and for fashion products. The research was conducted by using a questionnaire.Eventually 423 respondents were reached, whereas 274 of them were useful. This study triesto help fashion companies to determine the effectiveness of SMI’s on Instagram to sell fashionproducts to a specific target group ‘millennials’ who are often present on social media and arealso interested in influencers.The findings about the social media behaviour of millennials were consistent with the literature.The majority of female Belgian millennials tend to visit Instagram several times a day.Moreover, there is certainly interest from this group towards social media influencers. It is rarethat they only follow one social media influencer. Furthermore, interaction with their favouritesocial media influencers mainly takes the form of ‘liking their post’. It can also be concludedthat influencers from Belgium are the most popular influencers. This could possibly be due tothe fact that they find them easier to relate to, but more research is needed.The credibility of an influencer is determined by 3 factors namely: attractiveness, expertise andtrustworthiness. It was shown that expertise and attractiveness were the biggest factors forassuming the credibility of an influencers. Trustworthiness came in last here. Furthermore,hypotheses were tested. This research contributed to the literature by confirming that thehigher the perceived credibility of an influencer, the higher the purchase intention. Thus, themore an influencer is considered as credible, the greater the chance of a purchase. However,the following hypothesis that the credibility of an influencer also has an influence on theconspicuous consumption was rejected. The credibility of an influencer does not affect theconspicuous consumption of female Belgian millennials. Nevertheless, as millennials followmore SMI’s, the higher the conspicuous consumption for the fashion products promoted by theSMI. This research contributed to the literature by suggesting that there is no relationshipbetween the credibility of an influencer and conspicuous consumption, but that the number ofinfluencers followed by an individual has an effect on the conspicuous consumption.In addition, this research can be applied again in other countries to see if the results differ. Itis also possible to adjust the target group. This research is focused on millennials, but41generation Z can yield other results. Moreover, it is also interesting to not limit gender to womenonly, but to take men also into account and to focus on a different product category.Personal learningThe dissertation taught me a lot of valuable skills and knowledge which can be very useful inmy later career. This research can be useful for the fashion industry. It can have an impact onthe way they work with influencers. First of all, I have learned how to set up and analyse aproposed research problem in a coherent and logical manner. Before I could do this, I wasimmersed in the methodology of a study. At the start, I knew relatively little about academicmethodology to complete research. I already knew about quantitative and qualitative research,but the relevant research philosophy was actually unknown to me. It also became clear to meduring the research, how important the research methodology is and how many different stepsa researcher must undertake to conduct and complete a research successfully. The skill toapproach a problem in the right critical way by following a logical step-by-step plan and thusobtaining a suitable solution, can certainly be a great value and asset for my later professionalcareer.Moreover, I understand that academic research requires a lot of work. In addition, varioussetbacks may occur that delay the research. Therefore, it was necessary to be flexible and tohave a positive mindset. With different setbacks it was important to act immediately andprofessionally by conducting problem solving. For example, it was not always easy to findrespondents. The research fell into the exam period of my contacts from the target group.Therefore, the self-selection sampling was difficult to perform. This made the snowballsampling a perfect addition to obtain an appropriate number of respondents. The dissertationhas taught me in these situations that perseverance and applying the right way to approachpeople can certainly lead to a successful result, which led to the achievement of 423respondents.42ReferencesAbidin, C. (2016). ‘Aren’t these just young, rich women doing vain things online?: Influencerselfies as subversive frivolity’, Social Media + Society, 2(2), pp. 1–17. doi:10.1177/2056305116641342Ayeh, J. K. (2015). ‘Travellers’ acceptance of consumer-generated media: An integratedmodel of technology acceptance and source credibility theories’, Computers in HumanBehavior, 48, pp. 173-180.Babić Rosario, A. et al. (2016) ‘The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth on Sales: A MetaAnalytic Review of Platform, Product, and Metric Factors’, Journal of Marketing Research,53(3), pp. 297–318. doi: 10.1509/jmr.14.0380.Baker, D. S. (2018). ‘The Impact of Social Media Influencers as an Advertising Source in theBeauty Industry from an Irish Female Millennials’ Perspective’, National college of Ireland.Berkman, H.W. & Gilson, C.G. (1978). Consumer Behavior: Concepts and strategies.Dickenson Publishing, Encino, CA.Beiske, B. (2002) Research methods. Uses and limitations of questionnaires, interviews, andcase studies. Available at: https://www.grin.com/document/15458 (Accessed: 14 June 2019).Bland, J.M. and Altman, D.G. (1997). ‘Statistics notes: Cronbach’s alpha’, Bmj, 314(7080), p.572.Blight, M.G., Ruppel, E.K. and Schoenbauer, K.V. (2017), ‘Sense of community on Twitterand Instagram: exploring the roles of motives and parasocial relationships’,Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(5), pp. 314-319.Brown, J. J. and Reingen, P. H. (1987) ‘Social Ties and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior’,Journal of Consumer Research, 14(3), pp. 350-362.Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2015) Business Research Methods. 4th edn. New York: OxfordUniversity Press Inc.Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B. (2019). Business Research Methods. 5th edn. Oxford:Oxford University Press.Chae, J. (2018). ‘Explaining females’ envy toward social media influencers’, MediaPsychology, 21(2), pp. 246-262. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2017.1328312Chatzigeorgiou, C. (2017) ‘Modelling the impact of social media influencers on behaviouralintentions of millennials: The case of tourism in rural areas in Greece’, Journal of Tourism,Heritage & Services Marketing, 3(2), pp. 25-29.Chaudhuri, H. R. & Majumdar, S. (2006). ‘Of diamonds and desires: understandingconspicuous consumption from a contemporary marketing perspective’, Academy ofMarketing Science Review, 2006(11), pp. 1-13.Connolly, B. (2018). Why Consumers Follow, Listen to, and Trust Influencers. Available at:http://www.olapic.com/resources/consumers-follow-listen-trust-Influencers _article/(Accessed: 20 May 2019).43Cooley, D. and Parks-Yancy, R. (2019). ‘The Effect of Social Media on Perceived InformationCredibility and Decision Making’, Journal of Internet Commerce, pp. 1-21.Diener, E. and Crandall, R. (1978). Ethics in Social and Behavioral Research. Oxford:University of Chicago Press.Djamasbi, S., Siegel, M. and Tullis, T. (2010). ‘Generation Y, web design, and eye tracking’,International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68(5), pp. 307-323.Djafarova, E. and Rushworth, C. (2017), ‘Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users’, Computersin Human Behavior, 68, pp. 1-7.Donley, A. M. and Grauerholz, L. (2012) Research Methods. New York: Facts On File, Inc.Duan, J., & Dholakia, R. R. (2018). ‘How Purchase Type Influences Consumption-RelatedPosting Behavior on Social Media: The Moderating Role of Materialism’, Journal of InternetCommerce, 17(1), 64-80.Dudovskiy, J. (2019). Quantitative Data Collection Methods. Available at: https://researchmethodology.net/research-methods/quantitative-research/ (Accessed: 12 June 2019).Dudovskiy, J. (2019). Survey Method. Available at: https://researchmethodology.net/research-methods/survey-method/ (Accessed: 12 June 2019).Duffett, R. G. (2015). ‘Facebook advertising’s influence on intention-to-purchase andpurchase amongst Millennials’, Internet Research, 25(4), pp. 498-526.Edosomwan, S., Prakasan, S. K., Kouame, D., Watson, J. and Seymour, T. (2011). ‘Thehistory of social media and its impact on business’, Journal of Applied Management andentrepreneurship, 16(3), pp. 79-91.Ennew, C. T., Banerjee, A. K. and Li, D. (2000) ‘Managing Word of Mouth Communication:Empirical Evidence from India’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 18(2), pp. 75-83.doi: 10.1108/02652320010322985Evans, N. J. et al (2017) ‘Disclosing Instagram Influencer Advertising: The Effects ofDisclosure Language on Advertising Recognition, Attitudes, and Behavioral Intent’, Journal ofInteractive Advertising, pp. 138-149. doi: 10.1080/15252019.2017.1366885Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K. and Freberg, L.A. (2011) ‘Who are the social mediainfluencers? A study of public perceptions of personality’, Public Relations Review, 37(1), pp.90-92.Fromm, J. (2017). ‘What Treating Brands Need to Know About the Evolution of MillennialIndulgence’, Forbes, 6 March. Available at:https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2017/03/06/what-treating-brands-need-to-knowabout-the-evolution-of-millennial-indulgence/#6afed87f44b0. (Accessed: 25 May 2019).Frymorgen, T. (2017). ‘Young people are finally quitting smoking’, BBC, 23 June. Availableat: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/b346a7ec-3bd4-4a71-ab58-e60e702c6579(Accessed: 5 June 2019).Ghosh, A. (1990). Retail Management. Chicago: Dryden press.44Glucksman, M. (2017). ‘The rise of social media influencer marketing on lifestyle branding: Acase study of Lucie Fink’, Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 8(2),pp. 77-87.Guynn, J. (2018) Bye Facebook, hello Instagram: Users make beeline for Facebook-ownedsocial network. Available at: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/03/22/byefacebookhello-instagram-users-make-beeline-facebook-owned-socialnetwork/433361002/(Accessed 19 May 2019).Godwin, R. (2018). ‘What’s wrong with young people today? They don’t get drunk any more’,The Guardian, 11 October. Available at:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/11/young-people-drunk-acoholmillenials (Accessed: 5 June 2019).Goforth, C. (2015). Using and Interpreting Cronbach’s Alpha. Available at:https://data.library.virginia.edu/using-and-interpreting-cronbachs-alpha/ (Accessed: 23 June2019).Greener, S. (2008). Business Research Methods. London: Ventus Publishing.Hammersley, M. and Traianou, A. (2012). Ethics and Educational Research. London: BritishEducational Research Association.Han, Y. J., Nunes, J. C., & Drèze, X. (2010). ‘Signaling status with luxury goods: The role ofbrand prominence’, Journal of Marketing, 74(4), pp. 15-30.Hardin, R. (2002) Trust and Trustworthiness. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K.P., Walsh, G. and Gremler, D.D. (2004) ‘Electronic word-ofmouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselveson the internet?’, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18(1), pp. 38–52.Hofstede, G. (2011). ‘Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context’, OnlineReadings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014Hofstede Insights. (2019). What about Belgium?. Available at: https://www.hofstedeinsights.com/country/belgium/ (Accessed: 20 May 2019).Hofstede Insights. (2019). What about Malaysia?. Available at: https://www.hofstedeinsights.com/country/malaysia/ (Accessed: 5 June 2019).Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L. and Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion;psychological studies of opinion change. New Haven, CT: Yale University PressHowe, N. and Strauss, W. (2000). Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. New York,NY: Vintage Original.Hu, Y., Manikonda, L. and Kambhampati, S. (2014). ‘What we instagram: A first analysis ofinstagram photo content and user types’, Eighth International AAAI conference on weblogsand social media.Hurst, A. (2016) The purpose economy expanded and updated: how your desire for impact,personal growth and community is changing the world. Boise: Elevate Publishing.Jackson, S.L. (2011) Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Approach. 4th edn.Belmont: Cengage Learning.Jankowicz, A.D. (2005) Business Research Projects. 4th edn. London: Thomson Learning.45Jin, S. V., Muqaddam, A. and Ryu, E. (2019). ‘Instafamous and social media influencermarketing’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning.Jones, C., Ramanau, R., Cross, S. and Healing, G. (2010) ‘Net generation or digital natives:Is there a distinct new generation entering university’, Computers & Education, 54(3), pp.722-732.Khamis, S., Ang, L. and Welling, R. (2016). ‘Self-branding, “micro-celebrity” and the rise ofsocial media influencers. Celebrity Studies’, Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292Kilsheimer, J. (1993) ‘Status Consumption: The Development and Implications of a ScaleMeasuring the Motivation to Consume for Status’, dissertation submitted to the MarketingFaculty at Florida State UniversityLaunchmetrics, The State of Influencer Marketing 2017 Report. Available at:https://www.launchmetrics.com/resources/whitepapers/the-state-of-influencer-marketing2017(Accessed 21 May 2019).McCormick, K. (2016). ‘Celebrity endorsements: Influence of a product-endorser match onMillennials attitudes and purchase intentions’, Journal of retailing and consumer services, 32,pp. 39-45.McGee, T. 2017. ‘The rise of the millennial’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 32,pp. 39–45Mirabi, V., Akbariyeh, H. and Tahmasebifard, H. (2015) ‘A study of factors affectingcustomers purchase intention. Case study; the agencies og Bono Brand Tile In Tehran’,Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science, 2(1), pp. 267-273.Molenaers, C. (2018) ‘Influencer marketing op instagram: disclosures’, K.U. Leuven. FaculteitSociale Wetenschappen, 2018.Noisi, C., Pucci, T., Silvestri, C. and Aquilani, B. (2017) ‘Does Value CoCreation ReallyMatter? An Investigation of Italian Millennials Intention to Buy Electric Cars’, Sustainability,9(12), p. 2159. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su9122159.Oblinger, D. (2003). ‘Boomers gen-xers millennials’, EDUCAUSE review, 500(4), pp. 37-47.Pallant, J. (2016). SPSS Survival manual. 6th edn. Berkshire: Open University Press.Paton, E. (2014) ‘Fashion world sashays to Instagram for brand-building’, The FinancialTimes, 2 May. Available at: www.ft.com/content/d20c1bbc-d156-11e3-81e0-00144feabdc0?mhq5j=e5 (accessed 22 May 2019).Parengkuan, M. (2017) ‘A comparative study between male and female purchase intentiontoward visual merchandising at centro by parkson department store mantos’, Journal BerkalaIlmiah Efisiensi, 17(1), pp. 9-21.Pasha-Robinson, L. (2019). ‘InstaDebt: How Instagram Is Causing Young People To Spend,Spend’, Huffington Post, 16 May. Available at:https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/instagram-anddebt_uk_5cdb0652e4b01e9bd353ca97?ncid=APPLENEWS00001&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcHBsZS5uZXdzL0FjUW9HUDVsZlFWaWc4LTZpbDFlTlpR&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADbel8axz9PVrkGlzmZYWs9watNnUZORrHmkmF5ZeBEXhuVv6kRAIfMxiewHWhbmvUZ460NVy4FNUftfiCcozN2a4qpWWYCip0YZoJDPFXYVnA7wtZu31Uj8gBOlZE_0pyUamF7FPmamw2ti5RdclgcS_lqNo1-BGpLO7ssF8sCaG (Accessed: 17 May 2019).Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’, On the Horizon, 9(5), pp. 1-6.Raafat, A. (2018) ‘Framing and Communicating Expertise on Social Media: A QualitativeCase Study on Health Influencers on YouTube’, Doctoral dissertation, Universitéd’Ottawa/University of Ottawa.Rebelo, M.F. (2017). ‘How influencers’ credibility on Instagram is perceived by consumersand its impact on purchase intention’, Docto dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment ofrequirements for the MSc in business administration, at the Universidade CatólicaPortuguesa.Reichelt, J., Sievert, J. and Jacob, F. (2014) ‘How credibility affects eWOM reading: Theinfluences of expertise, trustworthiness, and similarity on utilitarian and social functions’,Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1–2), pp. 65–81.Ritschel, C. (2019).’ Economist explains why millennials are having less sex’, TheIndependent, 30 April. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/sex-millennialsyoung-people-economist-risk-allison-schrager-a8893836.html (Accessed: 5 June 2019).Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.Sammis, K. et al. (2016) Influencer Marketing for Dummies. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students.5th edn. Essex: Peason EducationSekaran, U. and Bougie, R. (2016). Research Methods For Business: A Skill BuildingApproach. 7th edn. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Seo, E. J. and Park, J. W. (2018) ‘A study on the effects of social media marketing activitieson brand equity and customer response in the airline industry’, Journal of Air TransportManagement, 66, pp. 36-41.Sethi, R. S., Kaur, J. and Wadera, D. (2018). ‘Purchase intention Survey of Millennialstowards online fashion stores’, Academy of Marketing Studies Journal.Sertoglu, A. E., Catlı, O. and Korkmaz, S. (2014). ‘Examining the effect of endorser credibilityon the consumers’ buying intentions: an empirical study in Turkey’, International Review ofManagement and Marketing, 4(1), pp. 66-77.Shah, H., Aziz, A., Jaffari, A. R., Waris, S., Ejaz, W., Fatima, M. and Sherazi., K. (2012) ‘TheImpact of Brands on Consumer Purchase Intentions’, Asian Journal of BusinessManagement, 4(2), pp. 105-110Sim, J. and Wright, C. (2000) Research in Health Care: Concepts, Designs and Methods.Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.Smith, A. and Anderson, M. (2018) Social Media Use in 2018. Available at:http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/ (Accessed: 5 January2019)Sorensen, K. N. (2019).’ Millennials’ Acceptance of Voice Activated Shopping. Textiles,Merchandising and Fashion Design’, Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research. 13.47Spencer, L. et al. (2003). ‘Quality in Qualitative Evaluation: A framework for assessingresearch evidence’, Government Chief Social Researcher’s Office, London: Cabinet Office.Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/21069/2/a-quality-framework-tcm6-38740.pdf (Accessed:14 June 2019).Statista (2019) Number of monthly active Instagram users. Available at:https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/(Accessed: 3 February 2019).Statista (2019) age distribution of worldwide Instagram users. Available at:https://www.statista.com/statistics/248769/age-distribution-of-worldwide-instagram-users/(Accessed: 3 February 2019).Statistics Solution (2019) Correlation: Pearson, Kendall, Spearman. Available at:https://www.statisticssolutions.com/correlation-pearson-kendall-spearman/ (Accessed: 7 July2019).Tashakkori, A. and Teddlie, C. (eds) (2003) Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social andBehavioural Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Tran, G.A. and Strutton, D. (2014) ‘Has reality television come of age as a promotionalplatform? Modeling the endorsement effectiveness of celebreality and reality stars’,Psychology & Marketing, 31(4), pp. 294-305.Uzunoğlu, E. and Kip, S., M. (2014) ‘Brand communication through digital influencers:Leveraging blogger engagement’, International Journal of Information Management, 34(5),pp. 592-602. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.04.007.Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford:Oxford University Press.Veblen, T. (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Macmillan.Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Okdie, B. M., Eckles, K., & Franz, B. (2015). ‘Who compares anddespairs? The effect of social comparison orientation on social media use and its outcomes’,Personality and Individual Differences, 86, pp. 249-256.Voorveld, H., A. M. et al. (2018) ‘Engagement with Social Media and Social MediaAdvertising: The Differentiating Role of Platform Type’, Journal of Advertising, 47(1), pp. 38-54, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1405754Wai, L. K., & Osman, S. (2019) ‘The Influence of Self-esteem in the Relationship of SocialMedia Usage and Conspicuous Consumption’, International Journal of Academic Researchin Business and Socal Sciences, 9(2), pp. 335–352.Williams, A. (2015) ’Move over, millennials, here comes Generation Z’, The New York Times,18 September. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/fashion/move-overmillennials-here-comes-generation-z.html (Accessed: 3 May 2019).Xiao, M., Wang, R. and Chan-Olmsted, S. (2018) ‘Factors affecting YouTube influencermarketing credibility: a heuristic-systematic model’, Journal of Media Business Studies,15(3), pp. 188-213.Yin, R.K. (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Method. 3rd edn. London: Sage.48AppendixAppendix 1: Questionnaire4950515253Appendix 2: Factor analysis5455Appendix 3: Factor Analysis – Fixed number of factors56Appendix 4: Attractiveness57Appendix 5: Trustworthiness5859Appendix 6: Expertise60Appendix 7: Purchase intention
