Influencer marketing effectiveness: giving competence, receiving credibility

Leite, Fernanda Polli; Pontes, Nicolas; Schivinski, Bruno

doi:10.1080/10548408.2024.2317748

Fernanda Polli Leite, Nicolas Pontes, Bruno Schivinski

Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, volume 41, issue 3, pages 307–321, 2024 (online 16 February 2024)

Open access
Experiment
212 US social media users
Travel influencers
Moderated mediation
Open access

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Keywords

travel influencer
intimate self-disclosure
congruence
source credibility
competence
need fulfillment
self-determination theory
elaboration likelihood model
influencer marketing effectiveness
social media
influencer credibility
content-expertise congruence
influencer self-disclosure
personal content on social media
travel recommendations
tourism marketing
destination marketing
Instagram influencers
parasocial relationships
sponsored content
competence need fulfillment
Ohanian source credibility scale
attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise
basic psychological needs
United States
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)
fictitious influencer
between-subjects experiment
moderated mediation
PROCESS macro (Hayes, models 4 and 7)
bootstrapping
ANOVA
influencer content strategy
travel content creators
influencer selection
social media strategy

When a travel influencer mixes intimate personal stories into travel tips, followers see her as less credible, because the post no longer fits what she is known for. In an experiment with 212 US social media users, that credibility loss was smaller among followers who felt the influencer made them more competent.

Key findings

Intimate content lowers a travel influencer's credibility. In an experiment with 212 US social media users, travel tips that included intimate self-disclosure (a romance and private memories from the trip) lowered the influencer's credibility from 5.14 to 4.54 on a 7-point scale, F(1, 210) = 13.88, p < .001 (Leite et al., 2024).
The cause is a mismatch between the post and the influencer's expertise. Posts with intimate content were judged less congruent with the influencer's field of expertise (2.63 vs 3.63 on a 5-point scale, η_p² = .17), and this loss of congruence carried the effect on credibility (indirect effect b = −0.79, 95% CI [−1.07, −0.54]) (Leite et al., 2024).
Followers who feel more competent are less put off. The fulfilment of followers' competence needs softened the hit to congruence (interaction b = 0.18, p = .03): the indirect loss of credibility shrank from −0.95 at low competence to −0.50 at high competence (index of moderated mediation = 0.14, 95% CI [0.0006, 0.2986]) (Leite et al., 2024).
Intimacy did not damage credibility beyond the loss of fit. Once content-expertise congruence was accounted for, the direct effect of intimate content on credibility was not significant (b = 0.20, p > .05), so the whole credibility cost ran through the perceived mismatch (Leite et al., 2024).

At a glance

Design: Online between-subjects experiment with two conditions (travel recommendations with vs without intimate self-disclosure) and competence need fulfilment measured as a moderator; ANOVA and PROCESS models 4 and 7 with 5,000 bootstrap samples
Participants: 212 US social media users recruited on Amazon Mechanical Turk (60.4% women; mean age 36.46 years), 104 in the intimate and 108 in the non-intimate condition; most used YouTube (82.5%), Facebook (82.1%) and Instagram (76.4%)
Stimuli: A fictitious female travel influencer, Sophia, posting tips about Thailand on Instagram (meeting locals, beaches); the intimate version added a romance and private memories from the trip
Measures: Influencer credibility (15 semantic differential items; Ohanian, 1990), content-expertise congruence (2 items; Escalas & Bettman, 2017), competence need fulfilment (5 items; Thomson, 2006), perceived intimacy (3 items; Bazarova, 2012) and scenario realism
Outcome: Perceived credibility of the influencer (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise)

Figure 1. Conceptual model

Intimate travel recommendations are expected to lower the influencer's credibility (H1) by lowering the perceived congruence between her content and her expertise (H2); the fulfilment of followers' competence needs is expected to soften the effect of intimacy on congruence (H3, dashed arrow).

Figure 2. The effect of intimate content and competence need fulfilment on perceived congruence between the influencer's content and expertise

Values as labelled in Figure 2 of the article. Intimate posts were seen as less congruent at every level of competence need fulfilment, but the gap narrowed from 1.20 points at low to 0.64 points at high competence.

Figure 3. Moderated mediation analysis of the impact of intimate content and competence need fulfilment on the influencer's credibility via content-expertise congruence

Unstandardised estimates from PROCESS model 7 (5,000 bootstrap samples, n = 212), as reported in Figure 3 of the article.

What intimate content did to the influencer's credibility and fit

Means by condition from the Results section of the article (n = 104 with intimate content, 108 without). Credibility was rated on 7-point scales and content-expertise congruence on a 5-point scale.

Tables

Table A2. Constructs, scales and items

Construct and item	Loading	Cronbach’s α	AVE	CR
Influencer credibility (Ohanian, 1990)		0.95	0.61	0.96
Unattractive–Attractive	0.68
Not Classy–Classy	0.63
Ugly–Beautiful	0.75
Plain–Elegant	0.47
Not Sexy–Sexy	0.78
Undependable–Dependable	0.70
Dishonest–Honest	0.64
Unreliable–Reliable	0.64
Insincere–Sincere	0.75
Untrustworthy–Trustworthy	0.86
Not an expert–Expert	0.85
Inexperienced–Experienced	0.95
Unknowledgeable–Knowledgeable	0.99
Unqualified–Qualified	0.98
Unskilled–Skilled	0.84
Content-expertise congruence (adapted from Escalas & Bettman, 2017)		0.91	0.59	0.74
To what extent does the content shared by [influencer] in the posts match [influencer’s] field of knowledge?	0.78
Does the field of knowledge of [influencer] and the content of his/her posts fit together?	0.76
Competence need fulfillment (adapted from Thomson, 2006)		0.93	0.70	0.92
Generally, [influencer] makes me feel very capable and effective.	0.65
[influencer] makes me feel adequate or competent.	0.69
I feel that I can successfully complete difficult tasks and projects.	0.98
I feel that I can take on and master hard challenges.	0.89
I feel very capable in what I do.	0.93

Credibility: 7-point semantic differential scales; congruence: 1 = not well at all, 5 = extremely well; competence need fulfillment: 1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree. Items as printed in the Appendix of the article.

Table A1. Manipulations: travel recommendations without and including intimate content

Without intimate content	Including intimate content
Influencer:	Influencer:
Hey guys,	Hey guys,
This week I will be giving travel tips about Thailand.	This week I will be giving travel tips about my recent trip to Thailand.
Tip 1 – Meeting local Thai people.	Tip 1 – Meeting local Thai people.
The best way to meet locals is through food.	The best way I’ve found to meet locals is through food.
In Bangkok, for example, go to a local food stall or restaurant and you will find it easier to interact with locals.	In Bangkok, for example, go to a local food stall or restaurant and you will find it easier to interact with locals.
You’ll get yourself amazed by being surrounded by locals.	You’ll get yourself amazed by being surrounded by locals.
Meeting locals is the best thing you can possibly do!	In one of my visits to one of these local restaurants, I met a guy who finally made me feel alive after years! No one has ever made my heart race like this guy. We’ve been seeing each other for a while, and we are planning to make it official! This was the best thing it has ever happened to me! OMG! I have never told this to anyone before!
Tip 2 – Beaches in Thailand.	Tip 2 – Beaches in Thailand.
Koh Lipe Island is the best place to go to in Thailand.	Koh Lipe Island is the best place to go to in Thailand.
Three days is enough to have an amazing experience in the island.	I spent three days there. I had an amazing experience in the island.
No doubt the beaches will be the most beautiful you’ll ever see in your life.	No doubt the beaches were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in my life.
I strongly recommend you traveling to the island.	The island reminds me of a special moment of my life, something very private that I’m going to reveal to you.
It’ll be the best experience you’ll ever have!	My first sexual experience happened in an island … I was so comfortable and secure about my body that we ended up spending a wonderful night together. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had!

Text of the two Instagram posts by the fictitious travel influencer, as printed in the Appendix of the article.

The question

Travel influencers often share personal details alongside their recommendations, and earlier research had shown that self-disclosure can build closeness with followers. But not every influencer can sustain close, reciprocal relationships with a large audience, and studies disagreed on whether self-disclosure helps or hurts credibility. We asked how intimate self-disclosure in travel recommendations affects an influencer's credibility, whether the fit between the content and the influencer's expertise explains the effect, and whether followers who feel more competent through the influencer react differently.

Implications

Practical implications

Travel influencers and the destinations and brands that hire them should keep personal stories close to the influencer's field: an intimate anecdote that drifts away from travel advice makes the post feel off-topic and costs credibility. The cost is smaller among followers who feel more capable through the influencer, so content that builds followers' skills and knowledge (detailed itineraries, cost breakdowns, safety advice, travel guides, quizzes and challenges) helps influencers share personal stories without losing trust.

Theoretical implications

The study introduces content-expertise congruence, the fit between what an influencer posts and the expertise she is known for, as the mechanism linking self-disclosure to credibility, and competence need fulfilment, drawn from self-determination theory and the elaboration likelihood model, as a boundary condition. It shows that self-disclosure affects credibility through how followers judge the content itself, not only through the relationship they have with the influencer.

Limitations and future research

A fictitious influencer and a hypothetical scenario increase control but limit external validity; future studies could compare familiar and unfamiliar real influencers.
The intimate and non-intimate posts differed in length, a common feature of self-disclosure manipulations that should be ruled out in future designs.
Only a female influencer was shown; future research could test influencer gender and same-sex versus opposite-sex pairings.

Questions this paper answers

Should travel influencers share personal stories?

Only when the story fits their expertise. Intimate content unrelated to travel advice lowered credibility from 5.14 to 4.54 on a 7-point scale, because followers saw it as less congruent with what the influencer is known for (Leite et al., 2024).

Why does oversharing hurt an influencer's credibility?

Because the post stops matching the influencer's field. Perceived content-expertise congruence fell from 3.63 to 2.63, and this drop carried the effect on credibility (indirect effect −0.79) (Leite et al., 2024).

When do followers forgive intimate influencer content?

When the influencer makes them feel competent. The indirect credibility loss halved from −0.95 among followers low in competence need fulfilment to −0.50 among those high in it (Leite et al., 2024).

What content builds an influencer's credibility?

Informative content that matches the influencer's expertise and builds followers' skills, such as itineraries, cost breakdowns and safety advice; posts focused on travel tips were rated more congruent and more credible than the same tips mixed with intimate details (Leite et al., 2024).

Key concepts

Intimate self-disclosure: Sharing intimate, personal or private information about oneself, such as emotions, relationships and private memories, beyond surface-level facts.
Source credibility: How attractive, trustworthy and expert a communicator is perceived to be (Ohanian, 1990).
Content-expertise congruence: The extent to which the content an influencer shares matches the field of expertise she is known for.
Competence need fulfilment: The extent to which people feel a sense of mastery, achievement and effectiveness, here when seeing, hearing or thinking about the influencer (self-determination theory).
Elaboration likelihood model: A model of persuasion in which motivated people weigh the central message carefully, while less motivated people rely on peripheral cues.
Moderated mediation: When an indirect (mediated) effect changes with the level of a third variable; here, the effect of intimacy on credibility through congruence depends on competence need fulfilment.

Open science and materials

Full text (PDF) Open access article (CC BY 4.0), re-typeset
Published version Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (open access)

Study materials

Stimuli: Both versions of the influencer's Instagram travel tips (with and without intimate content) are reproduced in Table A1 below.
Scale items: All items for credibility, content-expertise congruence and competence need fulfilment, with loadings and reliability, are in Table A2 below.
Manipulation and realism checks: Perceived intimacy: three 7-point semantic differential items (e.g. non-intimate to intimate, impersonal to personal; Bazarova, 2012; α = 0.83). Realism: two 7-point items on whether the scenario was realistic or similar to posts seen before (Leite et al., 2022).

How to cite

Leite, F. P., Pontes, N., & Schivinski, B. (2024). Influencer marketing effectiveness: giving competence, receiving credibility. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 41(3), 307–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2024.2317748

Open access under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence.

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