Why are consumers following social media influencers on Instagram? Exploration of consumers’ motives for following influencers and the role of materialism

Despite the ubiquity of social media influencers (SMIs) and the clear value they hold for marketers, little is understood about the sociopsychological motives that drive consumers to follow them. The current research identified unique consumer motivations for following SMIs on Instagram and examined its association with important consumer behaviour outcomes (i.e. trust towards SMIs’ brand-related posts and frequency of purchasing SMI-recommended...