IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v14y2024i2p33-d1339676.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Gen Z and Gen X Responses to Influencer Communications

Author

Listed:
  • Danijel Bratina

    (Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, 6000 Koper, Slovenia)

  • Armand Faganel

    (Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, 6000 Koper, Slovenia)

Abstract

The increased popularity of social media has greatly affected the marketing-communications activities of companies. This study seeks to understand how influencers promoting products affect their followers’ purchasing intentions and attitudes towards endorsed products. Our main interest is to get an insight on differences between two generations (X and Z). We construct a structural model, based on the theory of credibility. Findings suggest that influencer endorsements have an impact on both age groups, with a more noticeable effect observed in the younger generation. The loyalty towards influencers emerges as a constructive intermediary factor, amplifying the influence of credibility on purchasing intentions across both generations. When considering attitudes towards the brands endorsed by the influencers, loyalty’s impact is comparatively modest. The results provide a building block in understanding the influencers’ activities in marketing-communications, and how they can be used for communication with different generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Danijel Bratina & Armand Faganel, 2024. "Understanding Gen Z and Gen X Responses to Influencer Communications," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:14:y:2024:i:2:p:33-:d:1339676
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/14/2/33/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/14/2/33/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belanche, Daniel & Casaló, Luis V. & Flavián, Marta & Ibáñez-Sánchez, Sergio, 2021. "Building influencers' credibility on Instagram: Effects on followers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward the influencer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raza, Ali & Ishaq, Muhammad Ishtiaq & Khan, Ayesha & Ahmad, Rehan & Haj Salem, Narjes, 2023. "How fashion cewebrity influences customer engagement behavior in emerging economy? Social network influence as moderator," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Lu, Hsiao-Han & Chen, Ching-Fu & Tai, Yi-Wen, 2024. "Exploring the roles of vlogger characteristics and video attributes on followers’ value perceptions and behavioral intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Akhtar, Naeem & Siddiqi, Umar Iqbal & Gugnani, Ritika & Islam, Tahir & Attri, Rekha, 2024. "The potency of audiovisual attractiveness and influencer marketing: The road to customer behavioral engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Cheah, Chee Wei & Koay, Kian Yeik & Lim, Weng Marc, 2024. "Social media influencer over-endorsement: Implications from a moderated-mediation analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Sesar, Vesna & Martinčević, Ivana & Hunjet, Anica, 2022. "How Influencer Credibility and Advertising Disclosure affects Purchase Intention," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2022), Hybrid Conference, Opatija, Croatia, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Hybrid Conference, Opatija, Croatia, 17-18 June 2022, pages 248-263, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
    6. Li, Jian & Huang, Jinsong & Li, Yaqi, 2023. "Examining the effects of authenticity fit and association fit: A digital human avatar endorsement model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Li, Bin & Chen, Shuang & Zhou, Qi, 2023. "Empathy with influencers? The impact of the sensory advertising experience on user behavioral responses," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Ren, Shengnan & Karimi, Sahar & Bravo Velázquez, Alberto & Cai, Jianfeng, 2023. "Endorsement effectiveness of different social media influencers: The moderating effect of brand competence and warmth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Li, Huajun & Lei, Yueqiu & Zhou, Qi & Yuan, Hong, 2023. "Can you sense without being human? Comparing virtual and human influencers endorsement effectiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Wasim Ahmed & Alex Fenton & Mariann Hardey & Ronnie Das, 2022. "Binge Watching and the Role of Social Media Virality towards promoting Netflix’s Squid Game," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 11(2), pages 222-234, July.
    11. Park, Jinhee & Ahn, Hyeongjin & Kim, Dongjae & Park, Eunil, 2024. "GNN-IR: Examining graph neural networks for influencer recommendations in social media marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Barta, Sergio & Belanche, Daniel & Fernández, Ana & Flavián, Marta, 2023. "Influencer marketing on TikTok: The effectiveness of humor and followers’ hedonic experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Li, Wenting & Zhao, Fang & Lee, Ji Min & Park, Jiwoon & Septianto, Felix & Seo, Yuri, 2024. "How micro- (vs. mega-) influencers generate word of mouth in the digital economy age: The moderating role of mindset," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    14. Zhang, Peilin & Chao, Chih-Wei (Fred) & Chiong, Raymond & Hasan, Najmul & Aljaroodi, Hussain M. & Tian, Feng, 2023. "Effects of in-store live stream on consumers’ offline purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Akhtar, Naeem & Hameed, Zahid & Islam, Tahir & Pant, Manoj Kumar & Sharma, Anshuman & Rather, Raouf Ahmad & Kuzior, Aleksandra, 2024. "Avatars of influence: Understanding how virtual influencers trigger consumer engagement on online booking platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Ching-Fu Chen & Hsiao-Han Lu, 2024. "Transforming a social media influencer’s influential power to followers’ word of mouth and purchase intention: the role of brand attachment, brand credibility, and parasocial relationship," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(4), pages 415-429, July.
    17. Peng Li & Yang Sun, 2024. "Impact of internet celebrities’ short videos on audiences’ visit intentions: Is beauty power?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Alcántara-Pilar, Juan Miguel & Rodriguez-López, María Eugenia & Kalinić, Zoran & Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco, 2024. "From likes to loyalty: Exploring the impact of influencer credibility on purchase intentions in TikTok," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:14:y:2024:i:2:p:33-:d:1339676. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.