An Empirical Study Investigating the role of social media influencer authenticity and parasocial relationship intensity on brand attitude and intentions to buy among Generation Z consumers: Evidence from the Indian fashion and lifestyle sector

Abstract

This study explores the impact of the authenticity of social media influencers and parasocial relationship intensity on brand attitude and intentions to buy among the consumer generation of Z in the fashion and lifestyle domain. The design used in the study is quantitative research approach and the conceptual framework is developed in this research is based on three theories, they are theory of source credibility, theory of Parasocial Interaction, and Theory of Planned Behavior. PLS-SEM is used to analyse data and study the proposed link between the selected variables. The results confirm that the authenticity of the influencer and parasocial relationship have positive effects on brand attitude and purchase intent, and brand attitude is a strong mediator between the first two variables. This paper provides a contribution to fields of influencer marketing literature and provides some practical evidence and opinions for fashion and lifestyle brands looking to create a successful content marketing campaign in a way of using influencers collectively targeting the Gen Zs consumers.