Från samarbete till eget varumärke - En experimentell studie om följares reaktioner på influencers reklam på Instagram

Sammanfattning: Research within the field of influencer marketing has previously had its focus on follower loyalty and collaborations with generic brands. Recently, there has been a development in the industry where influencers have started to launch their own brands to a greater extent. This study was conducted by a quantitative experiment (n=571). An online questionnaire was distributed with the purpose of examining whether there ought to be a difference on the effect of the advertisement between a disclosure stating a collaboration with an own brand, and a disclosure stating a collaboration with a generic brand. The findings reveal that influencers who advertise their own brands are perceived to be more genuine resulting in greater attitudes towards the advertisement and the brand. However, no significant effect was observed affecting purchase intention. Moreover, parasocial interactions (PSI) was found to moderate the effect between disclosure type and attitude towards the brand. Followers with high degrees of parasocial interactions are proven to have positive attitudes towards the brand when being exposed to an influencer's own brand. On the other hand, followers with low degrees of parasocial interactions are proven to have positive attitudes towards the brand when being exposed to a generic brand.