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marketing's influence on the audience. Lastly, Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) contributes tothis discussion and says that future studies on SMI’s and purchase intention should be donequalitatively to explore social media users’ opinions and beliefs regarding the subject(Dhanesh and Duthler., 2019). Bell et al. (2019) discusses, that a quantitative studycontributes with evidence of correlations between variables (Bell et al., 2019). Sinceexisting research have identified a connection between SMI’s and purchase intentions, ithas been showed that there is a lack of studies that are focused on exploring the reasonsbehind the evidence of the connection between SMI’s characteristics and purchaseintentions. Therefore, we will not confirm the actual relationship between SMIcharacteristics and consumers’ purchase intention. Instead, this thesis will aim to explorehow SMI’s characteristics influence consumers’ purchase intentions.1.3 PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how consumers purchase intentions are influencedby social media influencers characteristics.1.4 Research Question How does each of the characteristics of social media influencers influenceconsumers purchase intentions?4

2. Theoretical FrameworkIn this chapter, the area of social media influencers characteristics is presented.A theoretical overview of the literature about the most recurring characteristics of a socialmedia influencer is presented as well as their influence on consumers purchase intentions.2.1 Characteristics of Social Media Influencers and Their Influence2.1.1 AttractivenessWhen studying the literature, it was seen that different aspects of attractiveness have beendiscussed as a characteristic concerning SMI marketing. Nunes et al. (2018) discuss thatfor a message to be persuasive, the attractiveness of the source plays a big role. Influencerswho produce attractive content seem to be more persuasive than those who do not. Torreset al. (2019) conclude that the consumer could perceive a brand or a product as morepositive when the influencer promoting it are perceived as more attractive by theconsumer. Additionally, Lou and Yuan (2019) agreed that physical attractiveness can makethe consumer recognize and remember a product or brand. Attractiveness can be seen as acharacteristic that affects consumer’s trust in the sponsored content of an influencer. Kiand Kim (2019), says that attractiveness has an impact on consumers trust in SMI’s.However, the test that was conducted from a mixed group of people, showed thatattractiveness was a vital reason for following the influencer. Leparoux et al. (2019),discusses that another way of creating attractiveness of an SMI is for the SMI to bethemselves. Brown and Hayes (2015), states that a high frequency of publishing content isshowed to be important for SMI’s in order to create an attractiveness towards them.Furthermore, Dekavalla (2019) imply that the attractiveness of an SMI affects how well theconsumer perceives the influencer and the brand fit. Attractiveness towards the SMI wasshown to influence consumers engagement and purchase intention. The study also showedthat the attractiveness of an SMI affect consumers attitudes towards brands that theinfluencer collaborates with, which can change consumers purchase intentions. Accordingto Lou and Yuan (2019), attractiveness was shown to have an effect on consumers5

awareness of the brand, which, in turn, can influence purchase intentions. Leparoux et al.(2019), strengthens the discussion about attractiveness of the influencer having animportant role in consumers purchase intentions since these could be influenced by thepopularity of influencers. According to Nunes et al. (2018), another aspect of attractivenessbeing an influential factor for purchase intentions was for the influencer to have apersuasive message. This was shown to create a higher acceptance of the information fromthe consumer, which can affect the attitude towards purchasing the product (Nunes et al.,2018). Furthermore, Torres et al. (2019) have concluded that SMI’s attractiveness canaffect consumers attitudes and purchase intentions. Sokolova and Kefi (2020) discuss thatthe attractiveness, to be more attracted to the influencer due to their appearance, did notseem to have an impact on purchase intentions in relation to the influencer. Lim et al.,(2017) adds to this by concluding that source attractiveness did not seem to influenceconsumers purchase intentions since there was not found any correlation between aninfluencers source attractiveness and willingness to buy the product (Lim et al., 2017).2.1.2 SimilaritiesPöyry et al. (2019) discuss that consumers tend to be more engaged with SMI’s that havecharacteristics that are similar to themselves, rather than social media celebrities. This isalso concluded by Schouten et al. (2020) who says that people identify more withinfluencers since it is more realistic for them to compare themselves with them than withcelebrities. Lou and Yuan (2019) contribute to this discussion regarding similaritiesbetween an SMI and the consumer as an important factor. Their study showed that peopleseem to follow influencers with whom they can identify themselves with. Schouten et al.(2020) agree that consumers to feel similar to influencers as well as them being able toidentify with the influencer are important for the product to be advocated effectively.According to Sokolova and Kefi (2020), the perceived similarity between an SMI and thefollower is connected to that the follower has a parasocial relationship with the SMI.Values that are shared from the SMI are perceived as credible to the consumer. Sharingthese values showed a connection to that consumers perceived similarities betweenthemselves and the SMI. The study by Sokolova and Kefi (2020) also showed that shared6

values played an important role for social media consumers in whether they wereinterested in following the influencer or not. However, these findings showed that it wasmore important to Generation Z, to have a parasocial relationship with the influencer inquestion. Although it was found that parasocial relationship between the consumer and theinfluencer is most likely an outcome of social attractiveness (Sokolova and Kefi, 2020).Additionally, Jiménez-Castillo and Sánchez-Fernández (2019) discuss that consumers tendto develop a connection to the influencer on a personal level. Furthermore, Balaban andMustățea (2019) imply that when influencers achieve with gaining their audience's trust,the phenomena become rather similar to peer endorsement, in which consumers can start tosee the influencer as a friend. Pöyry et al. (2019) conclude that because of SMI’s closerelationship with their audience, the audience can relate and associate more with SMI’sthan with celebrities. Consumers tend to perceive SMI’s paid content as similar to peerendorsements since they tend to perceive SMI’s as someone who are close to them (Pöyryet al., 2019).Continuously, Gunawan and Huarng (2015), states that consumers purchase intentions canbe influenced by social influence, which is described as the influence of peers and otherpeople in their close surroundings. Lou and Yuan (2019) further on discuss that similaritiesbetween the influencer and the audience were shown to have an effect on consumersawareness of the brand, which, in turn, can influence purchase intentions. According toColliander and Dahlén (2011), consumers who follow influencers on blogs tend to createrelationships with the influencers, because of them sharing the same interest. Further on,parasocial interaction between consumers and influencers were shown to affect theirattitude towards brands. Brand attitudes had, in turn, an evident impact on consumersintention to purchase.7

2.1.3 AuthenticityLeparoux et al. (2019), says that being perceived as authentic is an aspect that can helpSMI’s to win the consumers trust. Childers et al. (2019), discusses that one way to managethis is to communicate messages in a genuine way and on a suitable platform for the cause.Another approach to achieve this is to promote brands and products that they believe inand in turn create credibility to the SMI. Audrezet et al. (2018), defines this behaviour aspassionate authenticity. They explain that passionate authenticity refers to that the SMI hasa genuine interest in the product that they are marketing. If the audience perceives that theinfluencer does not feel passionate about the product, this can lead to a lack of credibilityamong the consumers. Furthermore, it is of importance for influencers to collaborate withcompanies that fit their profile since this can create credibility (Audrezet et al., 2018).According to Lim et al. (2017), this was highly important for millennials, since theyperceived congruence between the product and the influencer to be a crucial factor forthem to engage with the influencer as well as for the influencer to be perceived asauthentic. It has also been stated that it is important for consumers that the relationshipbetween the digital influencer and the brand is congruent (Dekavalla, 2019; Xu & Pratt,2018). On another note, Audrezet et al. (2018) discuss that transparent authenticity wasshown to be a factor that is commonly used as a marketing strategy by SMI’s. Transparentauthenticity refers to that an SMI market the product with facts and information regardingthe product in question. Additionally, Audrezet et al. (2018) discuss that SMI’s whoexpress what they like and what their preferences are as well as having collaborations andmarket products according to these, can be seen as factors of authenticity. Continuously,Sokolova and Kefi (2020), discusses the importance of a close relationship between theaudience and the influencer as a factor that can create authenticity.According to Leparoux et al. (2019), it is concluded that perceived authenticity in SMI’scan lead to purchasing intentions. Additionally, Dekavalla (2019), said that congruencewas shown to influence consumers engagement and purchase intention. Because of this, aneffective way for the influencer to influence consumers purchase intention is to becongruent with the brand in question as well as getting the consumer’s attention. This is8

also stated by Lim et al. (2017), who discusses that congruence is necessary to manageconsumers purchase intentions. Jiménez-Castillo and Sánchez-Fernández (2019) agreewith the fact that brand fit between the SMI and the brand has a positive influence onpurchase intentions. The influence that an SMI possesses is something that can changeconsumers purchase intention in a positive way. Furthermore, Torres et al. (2019) haveconducted research on SMI’s and how the congruence between the brand and theinfluencer can implicate consumers attitudes and purchase intentions. Woodroof et al.(2020) discuss how consumers of SMI’s are affected by if the SMI is honest with havingpaid endorsements. They emphasize that when SMI’s are trying to be persuasive withoutbeing transparent, consumers become more critical and aware of those attempts. Therefore,being transparent about the paid endorsed product is an important aspect of SMI’s when itcomes to creating purchase intentions for consumers.2.1.4 TrustworthinessAccording to Lou and Yuan (2019), consumers tend to trust influencers branded postssince they have a high value of content information and this aspect seemed to have a largervalue than for example the level of entertainment in an influencers content. They alsoconcluded that trustworthiness has an effect on the level of belief the consumer had ininfluencers content. This was seen due to that influencers often cultivate a credible andappealing online persona and that this tends to affect the consumers trust in the post (Louand Yuan, 2019). Additionally, Hill et al. (2017) also concluded that when an influencerhas a high number of subscribers to its channels, the consumers perceive trustworthiness,and this can also enhance the perceived expertise of that influencer. Similarly, Kadekovaand Holiencinova (2018) discuss that one of the most outstanding reasons for consumers tofollow an influencer was that consumers felt an inspiration towards the content that theinfluencer produced, and this could also be perceived as a factor of the SMI having aperceived trustworthiness. In addition to this, De Veirman et al. (2017) states that a smallnumber of followers could be bad for the credibility and trustworthiness of the influenceramong consumers. However, the study also showed that consumers attitudes towards aproduct are more positive if the influencer that advertises it has a low number of followers,9

since that can create a certain uniqueness of the product. According to De Veirman et al.(2017), this could entail that when companies choose the SMI that they want to collaboratewith, they should consider more than just the number of followers. What type of audienceand niche the influencer has are factors than can entail a more precise engagement, which,in turn, can create trustworthiness (De Veirman et al., 2017). Brown and Hayes (2015)state that one way to gain authority and trustworthiness is connected to their expertise onthe subject. An evident characteristic of an influencer is that they should speak about abrand as something they believe in, since they would not risk their own reputation byspeaking about something they cannot stand for. Here it is also important that theinfluencer has authority on the subject. However, Brown and Hayes (2015), implies thatinfluencers only seem to be credible in a certain field of expertise, which makes this animportant factor for both the influencer in question as well as the company that chooses tocollaborate with them.According to Lou and Yuan (2019), trustworthiness can have an effect on consumerspurchase intentions. Mainly the information of an influencer’s content is seen as aninfluence on consumers purchase intentions. This could also be seen as a contribution ingiving the content more trust since it has a high value of information. Furthermore,according to Lim et al. (2017), trustworthiness was seen as an important characteristic ofan SMI, since a lack of credibility could change the consumer's purchase intentions. Thishappened when the influencer had a lack of knowledge about the advertised product, aswell as if the influencer had no connection to the product. Lou and Yuan (2019) concludethat factors such as expertise between the influencer and the audience, as well astrustworthiness, were shown to have an effect on consumers brand awareness, which, inturn, can have an influence on purchase intentions (Lou and Yuan, 2019). Hill et al. (2017)agree that influencers expertise can be an important factor in order to manage consumerspurchase intentions.10

3. MethodologyIn this chapter, the strategy and the construction of the study is presented. The chapter willinclude the type of research approach that will be the foundation for the study. Further on,it will explain the purpose of the study, the research design, how the data have beencollected and how the sample selection was carried out. The chapters also present the dataanalysis process. Lastly, there are justifications of the quality criteria of the study as wellas ethical considerations and societal issues within this research.3.1 Research ApproachOne important aspect to consider when writing a thesis is to choose the right researchapproach for the paper. The researchers should be concerned about whether they are doingan inductive or deductive study. It is of importance for the researcher to choose either ofthe research approaches, since it could vary depending on the nature of the reality of thetheory. It is an important aspect that the researchers read up on these factors beforeconducting the study (Bell et al., 2019). Another aspect to consider is if the researchapplies to quantitative or qualitative nature. According to what research strategy is chosen,the study could be carried out in different orders from which it is important to describethese choices in the methodology (Bell et al., 2019).3.1.1 Deductive ResearchThe research approach explains what methods the researcher has used in order to come upwith the research questions (Olsson & Sörensson, 2011). According to Bell et al. (2019)and Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2016), the two major approaches to theorydevelopment are referred to as deductive and inductive research. Research that is ofinductive nature is built upon the theory that is generated from observations or findings.When doing research of inductive nature, grounded theory is a common method to use inorder to generate concepts and theory out of data. An inductive methodology is usuallydone in qualitative research (Bell et al., 2019). Although, according to Saunders et al.(2016), qualitative research could also use a deductive approach in order to test the existing11

theory with qualitative procedures. A common problem with research of inductive nature isthat it is very time-consuming, which automatically becomes a problem for students, forinstance. This is one reason why research is usually not entirely of inductive nature (Bell etal., 2019). With this in consideration, this research applied a deductive approach.Moreover, a deductive approach refers to when the researcher uses theories that explainhow different relationships between phenomenon’s are taking place in reality (Olsson &Sörensson, 2011; Alvehus, 2019). Furthermore, Bell et al. (2019) say that research indeductive nature means that theory decides in what way the data collection method shouldoccur. One important factor to consider when writing a thesis in a deductive manner is thatit is important to know that there are steps that follow each other. According to Saunders etal. (2016), you are using a deductive approach if your study starts

needs to have a certain power. People tend to admire social media influencers since they have a developed social network. One thing that is outstanding for social media influencers is that social media consumers usually can relate and associate to them since they usually start their career as common amateurs (Tuten & Solomon, 2017).