Influencers, Inclusion and Intentions

With the rising popularity of influencer marketing, research has examined how the purchase intentions of consumers are shaped through identity alignment with influencers on varying social media platforms. The source credibility theory and the concept of homophily are the most prominent concepts in explaining the relationships between influencers, consumers and in predicting consumer behaviors, thus mediating roles were assumed. Although varying factors are examined in prior research on varying platforms, the impact of cultural diversity in TikTok influencer marketing campaigns have been largely neglected. Moreover, the study expected to find a moderating role of topic involvement, where high involvement with diversity had a positive impact on the association between a diverse influencer campaign and purchase intentions. This study thus examined the following research question: "To what extent does diversity in TikTok influencer campaigns influence the purchase intentions of female Dutch beauty consumers?". An experimental survey design was employed for this research, randomly assigning the respondents (N = 105) to one of the three conditions. The first condition exposed participants to a video with four diverse influencers, the second showed a video with an influencer who matches their self-reported identity, and the third condition exposed the respondents to a video with an influencer who does not match their self-reported identity. Then, data analysis was conducted with the use of SPSS and Hayes' PROCESS Macro for the mediation and moderation analyses. The between-subjects study unexpectedly revealed that diversity did not significantly affect purchase intentions. Furthermore, the mediating role of credibility and homophily on this relationship are not confirmed, and topic involvement did not serve as a moderator. However, social attractiveness and attitude homophily, which are components of source credibility and homophily, were found as predictors for purchase intentions. In addition, an exploratory analysis showed a significant positive influence of identification on purchase intentions, regardless of the experimental conditions. The study offers valuable insights for marketeers, as the findings highlight the importance of authenticity and personal connections in the engagement of consumers, whereas peripheral cues of diversity only provide surface-level affiliations.