With great power comes great responsibility: The antecedents and outcomes of social media influencers’ perceived social responsibility authenticity

This study draws on signaling theory to investigate what signals the authenticity of influencers when communicating social causes and its consequent outcomes from consumers’ perspectives. Two between-subjects experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 found that transparently communicating a social cause positively signals influencers’ authenticity, which is significantly moderated by the level of fit between the social cause and the influencer’s domain of interest. Perceived authenticity positively impacts consumers’ attitudes toward the influencer, subsequently affecting their purchase intention (i.e., pro-influencer behavior) and social cause communication engagement intention (i.e., pro-social behavior). Study 2 aimed to examine the findings of Study 1 in the context of controversial social causes. It was found that congruency between a consumer’s and an influencer’s stance on the cause influences perceived authenticity. From a holistic perspective, this study investigated consumers’ pro-influencer and pro-social behavioral intentions to corroborate influencers’ impacts on both business and societal aspects.