Navigating Influencer-Driven Brand Trust: The Role of Social Media Influencer Experience and Consumer Engagement Intention

Abstract

The growing popularity of social media influencers has radically changed the relationship between consumers and brands in the internet sphere. Influencer attributes, including credibility, expertise, and attractiveness, in the fashion industry, have been the focal point of the previous scholarship; little has been done in terms of experiential elements of influencer interaction and its effects on consumer trust. This gap in the research is particularly relevant to the context of emerging economies, where the influencer marketing process is rapidly developing, and the customers respond to it in ways that are not necessarily similar to the trends detected in developed markets. The current research study is located in the theoretical frameworks of the Flow Theory and the Social Exchange Theory, where the brand trust is affected by social media influencer experience, and the intentions of further engagement serve as a mediating variable. The article also explores the mediating role of brand innovativeness and brand-influencer fit. A quantitative approach was used to identify data of 300 active users of social media. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0 was used to test the hypothesis model. The findings show that experience of influencers has a strong positive impact on the intention of consumers to continue engagement. However, the desire to keep engaging with the brand does not directly increase brand trust. In addition, brand innovativeness is a significant modifier of the indirect correlation between the experience of the influencer and the brand trust, but the brand-influencer fit exhibits a small moderating effect. This study contributes to the prior influencer marketing research, highlighting the importance of experiential and brand-level determinants in building trust and providing useful information to develop effective influencer marketing strategies in new markets.