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#sponsored – Influencer Marketing on Instagram An Analysis of the Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure, Product Placement, Type of Influencer and their Interplay on Consumer Responses Nora Lisa Ewers Master Thesis June, 2017

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Page 1: #sponsored – Influencer Marketing on Instagramessay.utwente.nl/72442/1/Ewers_MA_BMS.pdf · Abstract Background: Influencer marketing is a relatively new marketing strategy that

#sponsored – Influencer Marketing on Instagram

An Analysis of the Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure, Product Placement, Type of Influencer and their

Interplay on Consumer Responses

Nora Lisa Ewers

Master Thesis June, 2017

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#sponsored–InfluencerMarketingonInstagramAnAnalysisoftheEffectsofSponsorshipDisclosure,Product

Placement,TypeofInfluencerandtheirInterplayonConsumerResponses

MASTERTHESISJUNE15,[email protected] SUPERVISORS:DR.J.F.GOSSELTDR.A.J.A.M.VANDEURSENUNIVERSITYOFTWENTEFACULTYOFBEHAVIOURAL,MANAGEMENT&SOCIALSCIENCESMASTERCOMMUNICATIONSTUDIES–MARKETINGCOMMUNICATION

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Abstract Background:Influencermarketingisarelativelynewmarketingstrategythatcameupinthecourseofthegrowingpopularityofsocialmedia.Influencermarketingcanbeseenasamodernformofcelebrityendorsement, inwhich both celebrities andmicro-celebrities function as influencers and promotebrandsorproductsontheirownsocialmediachannels.EspeciallyonInstagrammanypostscanbeobserved,inwhichproductsareprominentlyplacedandsupposedlyrecommended.Thishasbeenpartofseveraldiscussionsinthepast,sincesomepeopleseeinfluencermarketingascovertadvertisinganddemandsponsorshipdisclosure.Objective: The type of influencer, sponsorship disclosure and product placement are importantcomponentsof influencermarketingandespecially concerning the setupof (sponsored) Instagramposts.Ontheonehand,theyserveasameanstoeffectivelypromoteaproductorabrandwhileontheotherhand,sponsorshipdisclosurehelpsconsumerstoidentifysponsoredcontentonInstagram.Since influencermarketing is believed to persist, it seems important to getmore insight into howdifferentsetupsof(sponsored)Instagrampostsareperceived,whichiswhythestudyathandaimstoinvestigatehowthesethreeaspectsaswellastheirinterplayaffectconsumerresponses.Method:Tothisendanonlineexperimentwasconducted,employinga2(typeofinfluencer:celebrityvs. micro-celebrity) x 2 (sponsorship disclosure: “#sponsored” vs. no disclosure) x 2 (productplacement:productplacementvs.noplacement)betweengroupsdesign.240German females,allregistered for an Instagramaccount, tookpart in this study,whichmeasured,message credibility,brandattitudeandpurchaseintentionasconsumerresponses.AttitudetowardstheInstagrampostaswellassourcecredibilitywereaddedasmediators;persuasionknowledgeandproductinvolvementwereincludedasmoderatingvariables.Results:Thecelebritycouldbefoundtogenerateahigherpurchaseintentionthanthemicro-celebrity.No main effects for sponsorship disclosure and product placement were found. However, theinteractionoftypeofinfluencerandsponsorshipdisclosureaffectedmessagecredibility,whereastheinteraction of all three independent variables had an effect on brand attitude. No sponsorshipdisclosurehadamorepositiveeffectforcelebrities,butamorenegativeeffectformicro-celebrities.Source credibility mediates the effect of type of influencer on purchase intention, while thehypothesizedmediatingeffectofattitudetowardsthepostcouldnotbesupported.Themoderatingeffectsofproduct involvementandpersuasionknowledgecouldnotbe confirmed,butpersuasionknowledge did negatively affect message credibility. Furthermore, persuasion knowledge was notactivatedbysponsorshipdisclosure,butcouldbefoundtobehighacrossallconditions.Conclusion: The research at hand is one of the, so far, very few studies to provide informationregarding influencermarketingon Instagram.The findingscanhelpmarketerswith thechoiceofafittinginfluencerandinfluencerswiththesetupoftheirsponsoredInstagramposts,asbothimportantselectioncriteriaandrelevantcomponentsofapostonInstagramarediscussed.Atthesametime,theinsightgainedinthisstudygivesreasontofurtherinvestigateadditionalcharacteristicsthatdeterminewhether an influencer is successful aswell aswhat exactly activates persuasion knowledgewithininfluencer marketing on Instagram. Supplementary research is necessary so that in the futuresponsoredpostscanbecreatedinawaythatisbothbeneficialforbusinessesandtheirinfluencers,butalsotransparentandfairtoconsumers.Keywords: Influencer marketing, Instagram, sponsorship disclosure, product placement, sourcecredibility,persuasionknowledge

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AcknowledgmentsIwanttotakethischancetothankeveryonewhohashelpedmethroughoutmystudiesandespeciallyduringwritingandfinishingmymasterthesis.Firstofall,Iwouldliketothankbothofmysupervisors,Dr.J.F.GosseltandDr.A.J.A.M.vanDeursen,fortheirvaluablefeedback,theefficientandinsightfulmeetingsandtheoverallsmoothprocess.Furthermore,mygratitudegoesouttomyfriendsforremindingmetotakebreaksandfordistractingmewhennecessary.Also,thankstoeveryonewhotookthetimetofillinandsharethesurveywithothers.Finally,Iwanttothankmyparentsforgivingmetheopportunitytoattenduniversity,forkeepingupwithmeandforsupportingmeineverywaytheycan,whilelettingmegomyownway.Thankyou!

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Tableofcontents

1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1

2 THEORETICALFRAMEWORK....................................................................................................42.1.INFLUENCERMARKETING....................................................................................................................42.2.CONSUMERRESPONSESTOINFLUENCERMARKETING...............................................................................52.3.INDEPENDENTVARIABLES...................................................................................................................62.4.INTERACTIONS..................................................................................................................................82.5.MEDIATINGVARIABLES....................................................................................................................102.6.MODERATINGVARIABLES.................................................................................................................112.7.CONCEPTUALRESEARCHMODEL........................................................................................................12

3 METHOD...............................................................................................................................133.1.RESEARCHDESIGN..........................................................................................................................133.2.PROCEDURE...................................................................................................................................133.3.STIMULUSMATERIALANDMANIPULATIONCHECKS................................................................................143.4.MEASURES-DEPENDENT,MODERATINGANDMEDIATINGVARIABLES......................................................183.5.PARTICIPANTS................................................................................................................................19

4 RESULTS................................................................................................................................204.1.MAINANDINTERACTIONEFFECTS......................................................................................................204.2.MEDIATORSANDMODERATORS........................................................................................................224.3.THEROLEOFPERSUASIONKNOWLEDGE..............................................................................................234.4.HYPOTHESES..................................................................................................................................244.5.ADDITIONALANALYSES....................................................................................................................25

5 DISCUSSION..........................................................................................................................26

6 LIMITATIONS.........................................................................................................................30

7 IMPLICATIONSANDFUTURERESEARCH................................................................................327.1.THEORETICALIMPLICATIONSANDFUTURERESEARCH.............................................................................327.2.PRACTICALIMPLICATIONSANDFUTURERESEARCH................................................................................33

8 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................35

9 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................36

APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................45APPENDIXA–SURVEY............................................................................................................................45APPENDIXB–STIMULUSMATERIAL..........................................................................................................54

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1 IntroductionThefastdevelopmentofmoderntechnologiesandespeciallytheinternetwithallitsapplications,offermanynewopportunities for both individuals andorganizations (Berthon, Pitt, Plangger& Shapiro,2012). In particular, the ever newoccurring anddeveloping socialmedia platformsandblogs givepeople the possibility to become active online and create online content themselves (Kietzmann,Hermkens,McCarthy&Silvestre,2011).Oneexampleofsuchasocialmediaplatformis Instagram.Instagramisamobileservicewithwhichuserscansimplytakepictures,chooseafilteriftheywouldlike to and then upload it and share it with their friends or so called “followers”. In June 2016,Instagramhitthe500millionusermark(Roth,2016).Morethan80millionphotosareuploadedonInstagramperdayandalluserscombinedgive3.5billionlikesperday(Ratcliff,2016).ButInstagramisnotonlyafunAppforconsumers,itcanalsobeusedasamarketingtoolonacorporatelevel.Itisarelativelyeasyandcheapwayforbusinessestogetintouchwiththeir(potential)consumers,whichhelpsbrandstobuildloyaltyandtrustaswellaswithbuildingarelationshipwiththeircustomers.Intheend,thiscanalsoenhancebrandawarenessandbrandimage(Kreutzer&Hinz,2010;Mangold&Faulds,2009).OneoptionforbusinessestouseInstagramfortheirmarketingpurposesisinfluencermarketing.Inaway,influencermarketingworkslikeelectronicwordofmouth(Wong,2014).“Regular”people,whobuiltupalargecommunityontheirsocialmediaplatformsorblogs,increasinglygainaformofcelebritystatussimplythroughtheironlineactivities.Theirwidereachenablesthemtogetintouch with and influence a great audience, which is why they are also referred to as influencers(Uzunoğlu&Kip,2014). Influencersarenotnecessarily linkedtoacertaincompany,buttheirgreatinfluence makes them attractive for companies, who progressively decide to work together withinfluencerswhose followersbelong to the company´s target grouporwhoseactivitiesmatch theirproductorbrand(Hilker,2017;Schröder,2017). In thatway, theycanapproachtheir targetgroupother thanwith directmarketing tactics. The broader goal of influencermarketing is to generatepositive consumer responses (tapinfluence, n.a.; wehype, 2016). Here, message credibility, brandattitudeandpeople´sintentiontopurchasetheadvertisedproductareimportantfactors,astheycanindicate how effective an advertisement or in this case the Instagram post is (tapinfluence, n.a.;wehype, 2016; Cheung, Luo, Sia & Chen, 2009; Lee& Koo, 2015; Loda, Teichmann& Zins, 2009).WhetherthisultimategoalofinfluencermarketingcanbeachievedisexpectedtodependonseveralaspectsconcerningthesetupoftheInstagrampost,thatistosaythetypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacement.Theseconceptswillbefurtherexplainedinthefollowing.Firstofall,thetypeofinfluenceritselfseemstobeanessentialchoice,astheattributesthatconsumerslinktotheendorsercanhaveanimpactontheeffectivenessoftheadvertising(Wymer&Drollinger,2015).With theemergenceof socialmedia and subsequently influencermarketing, anew typeofendorsercameupaswell–socalledinfluencers.Today’sinfluencerscanbeseenasanewformofcelebrity endorsers (Weinswig, 2016) and influencer marketing as a modern form of celebrityendorsement.Thatmakesitinterestingtocomparethesetwogroupsandtoinvestigatewhethertheyaffectconsumerresponsesdifferently.Consequently,adifferencewillbemadebetweencelebritiesthatareinfluentialonsocialmediaandmicro-celebritiesthatsimplyhavegreatreachonInstagramthankstotheirsocialmediaactivities.Nexttothetypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementareimportantfactorstoconsiderastheycangiveawayinformationaboutthetrueintentofanInstagrampost.Sofarthere

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are,atleastinGermany,nolawsorregulationsconcerningsponsorshipdisclosureonsocialmedia,butcriticsandespeciallyconsumersdisapproveofhowindistinctpostsonsocialmediaare.Someevencreatedapetitionaskingformoretransparencyonthewebandforadvertisingtobedeclaredassuch(Rondinella, 2017). Nonexistence of sponsorship disclosure is one of the main issues regardinginfluencermarketing,becauseifsponsorshipisnotdisclosed,consumersaretrickedintobelievingthattheinfluencerpersonallyrecommendstherespectiveproduct(Sammis,Lincoln&Pomponi,2016).Italsogoesattheexpenseofallhonestpeoplewhosimplywanttosharetheiropinionorexperienceswiththeirfollowers(Wind,2015).Sincethereisnowayforpeopletoknowforsurewhethersomeoneis not being sponsored or just not disclosing it (Hutchinson, 2017), they might become skepticaltowardsallrecommendations.Thereareseveralhonestinfluencers,though,whodiscloseiftheyaresponsored and when looking at social media posts, different types of sponsorship disclosure canalreadybefound.Usuallyoneseeshashtagslike“#ad”,“#sp”or“#sponsored”addedtothecaptionofaphotoonInstagram,butsofarthereisnoconsistentformofsponsorshipdisclosureonInstagram,atleastnotinGermany.Insummer2014,acourtinMunichdeclaredeventheadditionofthehashtag“#sponsored”tonotbesufficient,becausesomepeoplewouldnotunderstandthatitmeantthatthecontentofthepostwassponsored(Petersen,2015;Laukemann,2016).Thisiswhythestudyathandaims to investigatewhether this additionof thedisclosure “#sponsored” really is thatunclear andwhicheffecttheadditionorabsenceofthehashtaghasonconsumerresponses.Thelastaspectthatwillbeaddressedandincludedasanindependentvariableisproductplacement.Kuhn,HumeandLove(2010)argue,thatsimplyplacingaproductcouldbeseenascovertadvertising,if it is not disclosed in any way. When looking at obviously sponsored Instagram posts, one willrecognizethattheproductusuallyisthefocusofthepostandisoftenheldbytheendorserorplacedinawaythatitdrawstheattentionoftheviewer.Thisappearsratherpushy,whichinthepasthasbeenfoundtogeneratenegativereactionsinadvertising(Korotina&Jargalsaikhan,2016).Thepresentstudyincludesproductplacementinordertoseewhetherthiskindofprominentplacement,whichistypicalforInstagram,alsoevokesnegativeconsumerresponseswithininfluencermarketing.Thecombinationofthesethreevariableshasnotbeenfocusofpreviousresearch,eventhoughtheaspectsarealldirectlylinkedtoinfluencermarketingandalsoexpectedtoberelatedtoeachother.Forexample, ifaproduct isprominentlyplaced, it couldgiveawayacommercial context,which isthought toevokerathernegativeconsumer responses. Incombinationwithsponsorshipdisclosurethis effect might be even strengthened. Furthermore, it could be the case, that an influencer isperceiveddifferentlybasedonwhetherheorshedisclosessponsorshiporwhetherheorsheobviouslyshowsaproduct.Also,somecouldperceivetheinfluencerashonestifsponsorshipisdisclosed,while,othersmightnotbelievethestatementastheinfluencergotpaidtopostit.Thisiswhy,ontheonehand, the main effects of these three components, but also their interplay will be investigated.Consequently,themainresearchquestion,thestudyathandaimstoanswer,is:RQ:Towhatextenddotypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosure,productplacementandtheirinterplayinfluencemessagecredibility,brandattitudeandpurchaseintentioninthecontextof

influencermarketingonInstagram?Next to the three independent variables there are several other aspects expected to affect howconsumers respond toa (sponsored) Instagrampost.Here, sourcecredibility,attitude towards thepost,persuasionknowledgeandproductinvolvementwillbetestedfortheirmediatingormoderating

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rolesrespectively.Firstofall,thecredibilityofthesourcehasbeenfoundtobeaveryimportantfactorregardingtheeffectivenessofanadvertisement(Ohanian,1990),whichismostlyrepresentedbyhowconsumersrespondtoit.Also,theattitudepeopledeveloptowardstheadvertisement,orinthiscasetheInstagrampost,hasbeenfoundtomediatetheeffectofadvertisementonconsumerresponses(Lutz,MacKenzie&Belch,1983).Thisiswhythefirstsub-questionisasfollows:SQ1:Towhatextentdosourcecredibilityandattitudetowardsthepostmediatetheeffectoftypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementonmessagecredibility,brandattitudeand

purchaseintention?Furthermore, persuasion knowledge is awidely discussed conceptwithin advertising. It dealswithpeople´sawarenessofthepersuasionattemptofanadvertisementandhasbeenproventoaffecthowpeoplereacttotherespectivemessage.Inordertofindoutwhetherthesameholdsfor(sponsored)Instagramposts,itwillbeincludedasapotentialmoderator.Thesamegoesforpeople´sinvolvementwiththeadvertisedproduct,asitcoulddifferperproductorproductcategoryandhasthereforebeenfoundtobeanimportantfactorwithinadvertising.Thus,thesecondsub-question,thestudyaimstoanswer,is:SQ2:Towhatextentdopersuasionknowledgeandproductinvolvementmoderatetheeffectoftypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementonmessagecredibility,brandattitude

andpurchaseintention?It isexpectedthatthestudywillprovidehelpful informationnotonlyforbusinessesthatengageininfluencermarketing,butalsoforinfluencersthemselvesandfinallyconsumers.TheresultscouldofferinsightsthatcanhelptosetupappropriateguidelinesforinfluencermarketingonInstagramandalsoforcompaniesonhowtoeffectivelyuseinfluencermarketingwithoutfoolingconsumers.

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2 TheoreticalFramework2.1.Influencermarketing According to Sammis, Lincoln and Pomponi (2016) influencermarketing is the “art and science ofengagingpeoplewhoareinfluentialonlinetosharebrandmessageswiththeiraudiencesintheformofsponsoredcontent”(p.7).Influencers,usuallybloggers,YouTubersorjournalistswithanownblog,YouTubechanneloronlinemagazine(Tamblé,n.a.),canthusbeseenaspeoplewhohaveacertainimpactonothersonlineand,dependingontheiraudience,theyarechosenbycompaniesinordertoreachthatexactaudienceandpromotebrandsortheirproducts(Sammis,Lincoln&Pomponi,2016).Influencermarketingcanworkinseveraldifferentways.Companiescould,forexample,simplysendproductsorfreesamplestoasuitableinfluencerandhopeforhimorhertoreviewitonlineortheycouldsetupacontractandpaytheirinfluencersforpostingaboutitonhisorherblogorsocialmediaaccount(Sammis,Lincoln&Pomponi,2016).Inawayinfluencermarketingworkslikewordofmouth(WOM)marketing(Pophal,2016;Wroblewski,2017).Though,BrownandHayes(2008)statethatWOMisratheruncontrollablesinceitcannotbetracedwhosayswhatandtowhom.Withinfluencermarketingthatisdifferent,becauseacompanypicksaninfluencerbasedonthereachofthatpersonandtheirgroupoffollowers.Furthermore,themessageandthewayitwillbepresentedisagreeduponbybothparties.Itcanthusbeseenasanoldmarketingconceptwithanewtouch.Thiscanalsobeclarifiedwiththehelpofthe2-stepflowtheory.This theorystates that thereareopinion leaders insociety thatpaycloseattentiontomassmediamessagesandpassthesemessagesor interpretationsoftheserespectivemessagesontothemass(Katz&Lazarsfeld,1966).Withininfluencermarketingtheseopinionleadersaretheinfluencers.Eventhough the influencersusuallygetpaid to spreada respectivemessage, theconceptofanopinionleaderwhompeoplelookuptostillseemstobeapplicable.Theconceptofinfluencermarketingisgreatforboththecompanies,butalsotheinfluencers.Ontheonehand influencermarketing canbe a rather inexpensivemarketing strategy,while it offers theopportunitytoreachaspecifictargetgroupdirectly(Kaplan&Haenlein,2010;Weiss,2013;Loeffler,2016). On the other hand, the influencers also benefit, since they usually receive different, oftenvaluablegoodsorcouldevenearnmoneywiththeirsocialmediaactivities,whichtheyenjoydoingeitherway.In thepast, researchhas already looked intohow consumers respond to endorsements in regularadvertising.Sinceinfluencerscanbeseenasanewformofcelebrityendorsers,thequestionraiseswhetherbothofthesetypesof influencersaffectconsumerresponsesinthesamewayorwhethertherearedifferences.Theconcepts,orconsumerresponses,thatareincludedasdependentvariablesinthestudyathandandwhytheseshouldbeconsideredinthecontextofinfluencermarketingwillbeexplainedinthefollowing.

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2.2.Consumerresponsestoinfluencermarketing 2.2.1.MessagecredibilityMessage credibility focuses on how credible or trustworthy the message itself, for example thestatementmadeinanadvertisement,isperceived.ThedefinitionAppelmanandSundar(2016)cameup with, based on reviewed literature, reflects this idea: “Message credibility is an individual’sjudgmentoftheveracityofthecontentofcommunication.”(p.63).Thisdefinitionwillbeappliedinthisstudy,withthecontentofcommunicationbeingthestatementmadeintheInstagrampost.TakenasabasisthatinfluencermarketingonInstagramisaformofadvertising,itseemsimportanttoincludethecredibilityofthestatementmadeinsuchapost,sinceitcanhaveanimpactontheeffectivenessor the persuasiveness of the advertisement and how consumers respond to the advertisement(Cheung,Luo,Sia&Chen,2009;Lee&Koo,2015;Loda,Teichmann&Zins,2009).ThisagaincouldhelptounderstandhowtobestsetupasponsoredpostonInstagraminorderforittobeeffective.2.2.2.BrandattitudeBrand attitude can be seen as an evaluation of a brand (Spears& Singh, 2004) or howa brand isperceived in general andwhat people (consumers) think of a respective brand. Sheinin, Varki andAshley (2011)definebrandattitudeasa“generaldispositiontowardthebrand” (p.6).Sincetheseexplanationsaccordwitheachother,thedefinitionofbrandattitudeasanevaluationwillbeembracedhere.Thisissomethingthatisespeciallyimportantforcompaniesandevenmorewhenworkingwithendorsersorinfluencers.Pastresearchhasshownthatthechosencelebrityendorsercanhavedirectinfluenceonhowthebrandisseenortheattitudepeoplehavetowardsthebrand(Amos,Holmes,&Strutton,2008).Sincethatseemstobelinkedtoattributesandthecredibilityoftheendorser(Amos,Holmes,&Strutton,2008),itisexpectedthatmicro-celebritiescanaffectbrandattitudejustaswell.By including this consumer response as a dependent variable, it is hoped to be able to receiveinformationconcerningwhichtypeofinfluencer,celebritiesormicro-celebrities,influenceconsumerresponsesmorepositively.Thiswouldhelpmarketers,forexample,withtheirdecisionsconcerningthechoiceofaneffective influencer for theircampaigns,whichseemstobe important inorder toachievetheultimategoalofasponsoredInstagrampost-positiveconsumerresponses.2.2.3.PurchaseintentionThetermpurchaseintentioncoverspeople´swillingnessorconsiderationtopurchasetheadvertisedproduct in the (near) future. Kuo,WuandDeng (2009) also speakof the „tendency” people haveconcerningtheadvertisedproductortheadvertisingbrand.SpearsandSingh(2004)definedpurchaseintention as follows: “Purchase intentions are an individual’s conscious plan tomake an effort topurchaseabrand”(p.56).Thisdefinitionwillbeadoptedinthestudyathand.Measuringpeople´sintentiontopurchasethepresentedproductinthefutureisofgreatinterestforcompanies.Itrevealsweather the advertisement was effective or not. Pornpitakpan (2004) found that celebrities asendorsers have an influence on this, which is why it should be included here in order to makeassumptionsaboutwhether influencershavean impactonpurchase intentionaswell,ornot. It isexpectedtogivevaluableinputformarketerswhohavetochoosefittingandeffectiveinfluencersaswell.

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2.3.IndependentvariablesNow that the dependent variables have been explained, the following chapter will deal with theindependent variables. Additionally, hypotheses will be formulated with regard to how theseindependentvariablesareexpectedtoaffectthepreviouslydescribedconsumerresponses.2.3.1.TypeofinfluencerCelebrityendorsementisamarketingstrategythathasbeenusedalotinthepastandeventhoughitis still being successfully practiced (McCormick, 2016), new possibilities for marketing strategiesemergedthroughtheincreasingopportunitiessocialmediaoffer.Individualswhohaveaccumulatedagreat reach on their social media accounts, primarily through their online activities, are used bycompanies as influencers. These influencers could thereforebe seen as a newormodern formofcelebrities,whichisalsowhytheymightbereferredtoasmicro-celebrities,atermusedforpeoplewhogainedpopularityonline(Marwick,2011).Forthisreason,itisinterestingtocomparethesetwotypesofinfluencerstogetinsightintowhethertheygeneratesimilarordifferenteffectsonconsumerresponseswithregardtopromotionson Instagram. Influencermarketinghasnotdirectlybeenthefocusofresearchsofar,thoughcelebrityendorsementorendorsementingeneralhavebeenstudiedamply.Inthefollowing,previousstudiesconcerningendorsementwillbediscussedandbasedonthatassumptionswillbemadeabouttheeffectsofinfluencermarketing.AccordingtoRajashekarreddy(2012)celebrityendorsement,thustheuseofcelebritiesasendorsers,canbehelpful ingettingattentionandalsomighthelppeopletorememberaproduct.WeiandLu(2013)ontheotherhandfoundthatpeopletendtodistrustcelebrities,becausetheyalreadyassumethattheygetpaidtopromotetherespectiveproductandthereforeitwouldnotbetheirownopinion.Onthecontrary,bloggersasinfluencersseemtobeabletomaintainauthenticity,eventhoughpeoplemightbeawareofthefactthattheygetpaid(Woods,2016).Amos,HolmesandStrutton(2008)foundthattheeffectaninfluencercanhaveonthewayabrandisseen,dependsonattributespeoplelinktothe influencer. Especially the credibility of the source, in this case the influencer, seems to be ofimportancewhenitcomestotheeffectivenessofanadvertisement(Ohanian,1990;Gotlieb&Sarel,1991).DjafarovaandRushworth (2017) summarize findingsof several researcherswho found thatbloggerswereperceivedasmorecrediblethancelebrities.AlthoughDjafarovaandRushworth(2017)themselvesfoundthatcelebrityendorsementon Instagramstillseemstobeeffective,theirresultsalsosuggestthatmicro-celebrities,orastheysay“non-traditionalcelebrities”(p.1),haveevenmorepower.Accordingtothem,thatisbecausetheyareseenasmorecredibleandpeoplecanrelatetothemmoreeasily,ratherthantocelebrities(Djafarova&Rushworth,2017).Forbes(2016),aswell,emphasizesthatmicro-celebritiesaremore“relatable”(p.79)andaremorelikelytoliveanormallifecomparedtocelebrities,whostillappeartobefarawayduetotheirfame(Chan&Misra,1990).Smith,MenonandSivakumar(2005)foundthatpeoplemostlytendtorelyonrecommendationsfrompeersrather than any other information. Isosuo (2016) adds on to this theory by stating that micro-celebrities are sometimeseven seenaspeersof the followers. Swant (2016) supports this ideabystatingthatnowadayspeopletendtotrustrecommendationsfrominfluencersalmostasmuchastheywould trust recommendations from their peers. This could lead to the assumption that micro-celebritieswillbeperceivedasmorecredibleandthattheirpostwillevokemorepositiveconsumerresponsesthantheoneofacelebrity.Therefore,thefollowinghypothesiswillbedrawnfrompreviousliterature:

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H1:Theuseofmicro-celebritiesininfluencermarketingonInstagramwillhaveamorepositiveeffectonconsumerresponsesthantheuseofcelebrities.2.3.2.SponsorshipdisclosureWhen influencers do not disclose that they are being sponsored and that they are being paid forpostingacertainpictureandpromotingacertainproduct,onecanspeakofcovertadvertising(Bauer,2015). In Germany, covert advertising is simply forbidden by law (Fulterer, 2015) and generallyadvertisingneedstoberecognizableassuchbyeveryone(Bauer,2015).Influencermarketingcanbeseenaslegallimbo(Stiegler,2016;Laukemann,2016;Petersen,2015),sinceinmanycasesitcannotreallybeproventhatitisamatterofadvertising.Sofar,influencermarketinghasnotbeenidentifiedascovertadvertisingyet;atleastnotinawaythatlegalauthoritiesprosecuteit.Withregardtosponsorshipdisclosureonsocialmedia,researchfindingsarelimited,sinceitisarathernewissue.BoermanandVanReijmersdal(2016)arguethatsponsorshipdisclosureingeneralcouldactivatepeople´spersuasionknowledgeandthusleadtoresistancetowardsthepersuasionmessage.Previousliteratureindeedshowedthatsponsorshipdisclosuretriggersthepersuasionknowledgeoftheviewer,whichthennegativelyimpactspeople´sbrandattitudeandfinallytheirpurchaseintention(Reijmersdaletal.,2016).Rotfeld(2008)explainsthat“peoplearegenerallyskepticalofanybusiness-providedsourcesofinformation,…”(p.1).Koslow(2000)aswellasObermillerandSpangenberg(2005)similarlystatethatpeoplearesuspiciouswhenitcomestoadvertising.Ifpeoplerecognizesponsorshipdisclosure theywill be prepared to see advertising,which canultimately leadpeople to resist thepersuasion(Boerman,Reijmersdal&Neijens;2014).Whiledisclosingsponsoredcontentseemsfairtothe consumers, it could also harm the effectiveness of the sponsored post, because it could beperceived as too commercial (Korotina & Jargalsaikhan, 2016). Since influencer marketing onInstagramisstillcontroversialandmanyconsumerscallfordisclosureofsponsorship,itisinterestingtolookintohowpeoplereallyperceivethisdisclosureonInstagramandhowitaffectstheirresponses.Basedonthesefindings,thefollowinghypothesiswillbetested:H2: Sponsorship disclosurewill have amore negative effect on consumer responses thanwhenadvertisingisnotdisclosed.2.3.3.ProductplacementAnotherfactorthatcangiveinsightintowhetherabrandisbehindacertainInstagrampostornot,isthewayaproductisplacedwithinthepictureortowhatextentthebrandcanbeseenornot.Thisisbestdescribedbytheterm“productplacement”(Gupta&Lord,1998).Itisespeciallyinterestinginthecontextofthepresentstudy,sinceit isstrikinghowobtrusivesomeproductsareplacedwithinsponsoredpostsonInstagram(“ProductplacementInstagram”,2015).AccordingtoFennisandStroebe(2016)productplacementisthe“paidinclusionofbrandedproductsor brand identifiers through audio and/or visual means” (p. 417). Der Waldt and La Rey (2005)summarize that there are threedifferent typesof productplacement: visual, verbal andhandsonproductplacement.Furthermore,thetermdoesnotnecessarilydictatethattheactualproducthastobeshown,itcouldalsobethebrandnameorlogo(DerWaldt&LaRey,2005).Inthiscase,onlyvisualproductplacementwillbeapplied.Homer (2009)argues that the impactofproductplacementonconsumers´reactionshasnotbeensufficientlyexaminedyet.Theexistingfindingshaveshownbothpositiveandnegativeeffectsconcerningproductplacementingeneral(Kuhn,Hume&Love,2010).

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KyrkjeeideandLervik(2015)claimthatproductplacementcouldpositivelyinfluencepeople´sbuyingbehaviorwithoutreallychangingtheirattitude,buttheydonotexcludenegativeeffects.Oneaspectconcerningproductplacement,thathasgottenattentioninpaststudies, istheextenttowhichtheplacement isprominent,wherebymoreprominenceseems toevokemorenegative reactions (VanReijmersdal,Neijens&Smit,2009;Homer,2009).SinceInstagramisaplatform,whichputsthefocusonthephotographs,theattentionisalsoeasilyledtowardsthepromotedorplacedproducts(“ProductplacementInstagram”,2015),whichiswhyitcouldbearguedthatproductplacementonInstagramisratherprominent.KorotinaandJargalsaikhan(2016)addontothisbyarguingthatconsumersmostlyperceiveproductplacementinanegativeway,especiallyifthepersuasiveattemptistooobviousandthe placement appears to be too commercial. It therefore seems interesting to compare twoconditions,oneinwhichtheproductisobviouslypresentedandoneinwhichitisnotshownatall.Sincetheprominentorobviousplacementhasbeenshowntoinfluenceconsumers´responsesrathernegatively(Cowley&Barron,2008)itwillbehypothesizedthat:H3:Productplacementhasamorenegativeeffectonconsumerresponsesthannoplacement.

2.4.InteractionsNowthat theexpectedmaineffectshavebeenexplained, the followingsectionwilldealwithhowthese variables are expected to interact with each other and how that might affect consumerresponses.2.4.1.Typeofinfluencer&productplacementVanReijmersdal,NeijensandSmit(2007)lookedintotheeffect(s)ofbrandplacementinatelevisionshowonbrand image.Resultsshowthatover timepeople formedabrand imageaccordingtotheimageofthetelevisionshow.Forthestudyathand,itcouldmeanthatpeoplebuildanopinionaboutthebrandandtheproductbasedontheimageoftheinfluencerwhoispresentingtheproduct.Inthecaseofthemicro-celebritypeoplemightnothaveformedanimageyet,astheymightnotknowhimorheryet,whichcouldspeakfortheideathatabloggermightbeamoreneutralinfluencerthanacelebritywhomightpolarize.This issupportedbytheresultsofanotherstudy,whichsaysthatthemorepeopleknowaboutacelebritythelessusefulacelebrityisinamarketingcontext(Sanbonmatsu,Mazur,Pfeiffer,Kardes&Posavac,2012).GagelerandVanderSchee(2016)foundsomethingsimilarandarguethatproductplacementcanhaveapositiveeffectonpurchase intentionandthatthis isdependentontheextenttowhichtheconsumerlikesthecelebrity(orinfluencer).FennisandStroebe(2016)supportthisviewintheirbook.Itcouldthereforealsobeassumedthatpeople´sevaluationofproductplacementalsodependson theevaluationof thesource.Thisgives the idea that,when itcomestotheinteractionofaninfluencerandproductplacement,consumerresponsesdependontheinfluencerandnotsomuchonwhetheraproductisplacedornot.Sinceitwasalreadyarguedthatmicro-celebritieswillbeperceivedasmorecredible,itisexpectedthat:H4:Typeof influencerandproductplacementwill interact inaway thatconsumer responses toproduct placement will be more positive if respondents are confronted with a micro-celebritycomparedtowhentheyareconfrontedwithacelebrity.2.4.2.Typeofinfluencer&sponsorshipdisclosureConcerningthecombinationofthevariablestypeofinfluencerandsponsorshipdisclosure,previousresearch does not offer much insight yet. Dekker and Reijmersdal (2013) found that sponsorship

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disclosureonlyhadanegativeimpactonacceptanceofthemessage(productclaims),whenpeoplebelieved the influencer (celebrity in their case) to be dishonest. So again, the attributes of theinfluencer, especially credibility, seem to play a very important role. According to the findings ofBoermanandVanReijmersdal(2016)itdoesnotnecessarilymatter,whethercontentissponsoredornot, as long as the influencer is believed to be credible. This idea is supported by Dekker andReijmersdal (2013), who also found that disclosure had a rather negative effect on consumerresponses,ifthecelebritywasnotperceivedascredible.Since,asstatedbefore,micro-celebritiesareexpectedtobeperceivedasmorecrediblethancelebrities,itcanconsequentlybeassumedthatthecombinationofmicro-celebritiesandeitherdisclosureornodisclosurewouldgeneratemorepositiveresponsesthanthecombinationofcelebritiesandeitherdisclosureornodisclosure.Whenconsideringthatpeople´spersuasionknowledgecouldbeactivatedthroughthesponsorshipdisclosureoneneedsto assume that the combination of a micro-celebrity and disclosure would cause more negativeresponses than the combination of a micro-celebrity and no disclosure. Based on these previousfindings,thefollowinghypothesis,concerningtheinteractionoftypeof influencerandsponsorshipdisclosure,canbeformulated:H5:Micro-celebrities generatemorepositive consumer responses if sponsorship is notdisclosedcomparedtowhenitisdisclosed.2.4.3.Productplacement&sponsorshipdisclosureAsalreadymentionedabove,peopleseemtodislikeadvertisingonsocialmediawhenitistoopushy(Korotina&Jargalsaikhan,2016).ThisviewisalsosupportedbythefindingsofChu,Allem,CruzandUnger (2016).Theirstudyrevealedthatpeople likedproductplacementbetterwhentherewasno(obvious)advertisingcontext.Forthestudyathand,thiscouldmean,thatpicturesthatobviouslyshowa product work better if sponsorship is not disclosed, because that would reveal the advertisingcontexttotheviewer/consumer.Itcouldthereforebeexpectedthatthepicturesinwhichaproductisobviouslyplacedandsponsorshipisdisclosedwillhaveanegativeinfluenceonconsumerresponses.Asamatteroffact,therearefindingsthatsuggestthatdisclosureminimizedthepersuasiveeffectoftheproductplacement,probablydue toactivationofpersuasionknowledgeof theconsumer,andthereforesupportthisidea(Campbell,Mohr&Verlegh,2012).DerWaldtandLaRey(2005),aswell,arguethatproductplacementseemsmorerealisticthanpaidadvertisement.This,again,speaksfortheassumptionthatanInstagrampostwhichdisclosesasponsorshipmightbetoopushy,toomuchadvertising,whichcouldleadtoanegativeevaluation.H6: Product placement has amore negative influence on consumer responses if sponsorship isdisclosedcomparedtowhensponsorshipisnotdisclosed.2.4.4.Typeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosure&productplacementFinally, itwill be looked at the interaction effect that could occur based on all three independentvariables. In this concern, Dekker and Reijmersdal (2010) argue that disclosing advertising orsponsorshipmightdecreasetheeffectofproductplacementingeneral,especially,whentheinfluencerisperceivedasdishonest.Basedonthepreviousliteraturereviewit ishypothesizedthatingeneralmicro-celebrities will be perceived as more credible, and therefore probably more honest, thancelebrities.Furthermore,notdisclosingsponsorshipseemsbetterthanwhenadvertisingisdisclosed,since it is expected toactivatepeople’spersuasionknowledge,which thenmightnegativelyaffect

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consumerresponses.Finally,productplacementisexpectedtohaveanegativeeffectonconsumerresponses.Basedonthesepreviousassumptions,thefollowinghypothesescanbeformulated:H7: Themost positive consumer responseswill be evoked through the combination of amicro-celebrity,noproductplacementandnosponsorshipdisclosure.Thereviewofpreviousliteratureleadstotheassumptionthatitisnotonlytheindependentvariablesand their interactions that affect consumer responses. It can be expected that these effects aremoderatedormediatedbyadditionalvariables,whichwillbeelaboratedonbelow.

2.5.MediatingvariablesTheconceptofsourcecredibilityhasalreadybeenmentionedasanimportantaspectregardingtheeffectivenessofanadvertisement.There is reason toassumethat thisvariableaswellaspeople´sattitudetowardsthepostcouldfunctionasmediatorsfortheeffectoftheindependentvariablesonconsumerresponses.Thiswillbefurtherelaboratedoninthefollowingsection.2.5.1.SourcecredibilityThe literature review concerning the independent variables already gave away that the effect ofadvertisementson consumer responsesoften seems todependon theperceived credibilityof thesource.AccordingtoGotliebandSarel(1991),sourcecredibilityismadeupofdifferentcomponents-perceivedtrustworthinessandperceivedexpertise.This issupportedbyKorotinaandJargalsaikhan(2016),whofoundthattrustworthinessplaysanimportantrolewhenitcomestotheattitudetowardsthe endorser (influencer). In the same concern, they also stress the importance of credibility andexpertise of the influencer. The importance of these two characteristics and its impact on theperceptionofanadhasalsobeenfoundbyGupta,KishoreandVerma(2015).Ohanian(1990)whodevelopedthesourcecredibilitymodel,basedonreviewandanalysisofexistingliteratureandsourcecredibility measures, names attractiveness of the source as another component of credibility.According toOhanian (1990) source credibility is an indicator for thepersuasivenessof amessagebasedoncharacteristicsofthesourcewithregardtoattractiveness,trustworthinessandexpertise.GotliebandSarel(1991)pointedouthowimportantthecredibilityofthesourceinadvertisementsis.Theeffectivenessseemstodependonwhetherthesourcewhoissupposedtotransmitthepersuasivemessageisperceivedascredibleornot,whichiswhy,amongstothers,LaFerleandChoi(2005)arguethatsourcecredibilityevenactsasamediatingvariable.ThisissupportedbyShuqair,Cragg,ZaidanandMitchell(2016)whofoundthatelectronicWOMworkedbetterthanpostsbycompanies,butonlyifthesourcewasperceivedascredible.IfinfluencerspromoteaproductonInstagramthisrespectivepost can be viewed as advertisement as well, which is why it seems important to look into thecredibility of the influencers in order to be able to make statements about the effectiveness ofinfluencermarketingandespeciallydifferenttypesof influencerson Instagram. Itwill thereforebelookedintowhethersourcecredibilitymediatestheeffectoftypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementonthedependentvariables.2.5.2.AttitudetowardspostAccordingtoGalloway(asstatedinSheinin,Varki&Ashley,2011)itisimportanttoconsiderpeople´sattitudetowardstheadsinceitcouldhaveinfluenceonhoweffectivethepersuasivemessageis.Here,onecanspeakofanevaluationofthead(Spears&Singh,2004).Lutz,MacKenzieandBelch(1983)found that theattitude towards thead,hadamediating role concerning responses toadvertising,

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especiallywhenitcomestobrandattitude.Thismakesitanimportantaspecttotakeintoaccountfortheresearchathand.Ashasbeenexplainedpreviously,theInstagrampostcanbeviewedasaformofadvertisement,whichiswhythisconcept“attitudetowardsthead”willbeadapted,onlyunderadifferentname:attitudetowardsthepost.2.6.Moderatingvariables 2.6.1.ProductinvolvementMichaelidouandDibb (2006) stress the importance formarketingagencies tounderstandpeople’sattachmenttoproductsandfurthermorethatthisattachment,orinvolvement,variesacrossproductsandpeople.Thus,itseemsimportanttoincludeproductinvolvementinprojectslikethecurrentstudyin order to be able tomake specific statements about the effects concerningone explicit product(category).Inthefuture,thiscouldhelptofindoutwhetheracertaineffectcanbegenerallyappliedtoallkindsofproducts (orproductcategories),orwhether itdiffersbetweenproducts/categories.Additionally,previousresearchhasfoundthatproductinvolvementcanactasamoderatingvariableregardingtheeffectsofcelebrityendorsement(Richins&Root-Shaffer,1988;Doh&Hwang,2009),whichalsospeaksforincludingithereinordertoseewhetheritmoderatestheeffectofinfluencermarketingonconsumerresponsesaswell.2.6.2.PersuasionknowledgeTheelaborationofsomeoftheconceptsabove,especiallysponsorshipdisclosure,alreadygaveanideaof how important persuasion knowledge is, when it comes to the effectiveness of advertising.Persuasionknowledgeincludestheextenttowhichpeopleareawareofthefactthattheyarebeinginfluenced or the persuasion attempt (Boerman, Reijmersdal&Neijens, 2012). It seems especiallyimportant to include here, sincewhen it comes to Instagram posts in real life, one can never beabsolutelysurewhetherapostissponsoredornot,unlessitisdisclosed.Sincedisclosureisagreatpartofthepresentstudy,itisinterestingtogetinsightintotheextenttowhichpeopleperceiveanInstagrampostasadvertisingandmore importantlywhether thisdiffers, if advertising isdisclosedcompared to when there is no disclosure. According to Boerman and Van Reijmersdal (2016)sponsorshipdisclosure,aslongasnoticedbytheviewer,activatespeople´spersuasionknowledgeandcouldthereforenegativelyinfluenceconsumers´brandattitudeorpurchaseintention.Thereisthusreason to assume that, also in the case of influencer marketing, the addition of the hashtag“#sponsored”asasponsorshipdisclosurewillmakepeopleawareofthepersuasivemessageoftheInstagram post, which will consequently lead to resistance and negative evaluations of the post.Therefore,nexttoincludingpersuasionknowledgeasamoderatingvariable,twofurtherhypothesesaredrawnfromthis:H8a:Sponsorshipdisclosureactivatespeople´spersuasionknowledge.H8b:Persuasionknowledgeisnegativelyrelatedtoconsumerresponses.

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2.7.ConceptualresearchmodelBasedonthe literaturereviewandthehypothesesthathavebeendrawn,aconceptualmodelhasbeendeveloped,whichcanbeseeninFigure1.

Figure1.Conceptualresearchmodel

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3 Method

3.1.ResearchdesignThe study employed a 2 (celebrity vs.micro-celebrity) x 2 (sponsorship disclosure: yes vs. no) x 2(productplacement:yesvs.no)betweengroupsfactorialdesigninformofanonlineexperimentinordertoexaminethemainandinteractioneffectsoftypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementonmessagecredibility,brandattitudeandpurchaseintention.Thisdesignleadtoeight different experimental conditions, which are displayed in Table 1. The three independentvariables – type of influencer, sponsorship disclosure and product placement were manipulated.Message credibility, brand attitude and purchase intentionwere included as dependent variables;persuasion knowledge andproduct involvement asmoderating and source credibility and attitudetowardsthepostasmediatingvariables.Table1Overviewoftheeightexperimentalconditionsandthenumberofresponsespercondition

ConditionTypeof

influencerSponsorshipdisclosure

Productplacement

Responses

1 Micro-celebrity yes yes 302 Micro-celebrity yes no 323 Micro-celebrity no yes 314 Micro-celebrity no no 335 celebrity yes yes 306 celebrity yes no 297 celebrity no yes 288 celebrity no no 27

3.2.ProcedureFirstofall,apretestofthewholesurveywasconductedinordertotestthequalityoftheconstructsaswellasunderstandability,grammarandwhether themanipulationsworked. In total28subjectsparticipatedinthepretestandadditionallywereaskedtogivetheiroverallfeedbackconcerningthesurvey and stimulus material. A couple of weaknesses were detected which could then easily beresolved.Nexttosmalladjustmentsconcerningspellingandgiveninstructions,acoupleofquestionshadtobeeliminatedoraltered,whichwillbefurtherexplainedpermeasurebelow.Theonlinesurveyforthemainstudywasspreadonlineviadifferentways.Allprivatecontacts(Germanfemales)oftheresearcherwerecontactedthroughtheFacebookmessenger,askingthemwhethertheyhadanInstagramaccountand,ifso,whethertheywouldbewillingtoparticipateandfillinthesurvey. Additionally, the link was shared in several Facebook groups, posted in the feed of theresearcherandfollowingthesnowballprinciplefriendssharedthelinkaswellandaskedotherfriendsorcolleaguestoparticipate.Atthebeginningofthesurveyparticipantswereinformedabouttherequirementsofparticipation,theirrighttoleavethesurveyatanygivenpointandthattheirdatawouldbetreatedanonymously.Byclickingonthebutton“>>”theyagreedtohavereadandunderstoodtheinformation.Theemail

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addressof the researcherwasmentioned in caseparticipantshadanyquestionsandpeoplewerethankedfortheirparticipation.Beforeparticipantswereconfrontedwiththestimulusmaterialtheywereshownanexplanatorytext,inwhichtheywereaskedtoputthemselvesintothepositionofbeingafollowerofthepersontheywereabouttosee.Thiswastohelppeopleanswerthequestion,sincethepretestshowedthatpeoplewhodidnotknowthesourcestruggledtogiveanswers.Afterwards,people were randomly assigned to one of the eight conditions and got so see the correspondingInstagram post along with a short description of the respective influencer. This was part of themanipulation and supposed to help people who did not know the source to categorize them.Subsequently, the manipulation check questions and the questions concerning all remainingconstructswereshown.Allofthesewerethesameforeachparticipant,regardlessoftheconditiontheywereassignedto.Inthelastpartofthesurvey,participantswereaskedtoansweracoupleofquestions about themselves. These questions were about gender, age, nationality, education andwhethertheyhaveanInstagramaccountornot.ThesurveyendedwithanexplanationrevealingthattheInstagrampostwasfictitiousandonlycreatedforthepurposeofthestudy.Furthermore,itwasindicatedthatVelvetyisafictivebrand.Finally,participantswereaskedtoclickthebutton“>>”onthebottomofthepageonemoretimeinorderfortheirresponsestobecompletelysubmitted.Theywerethankedand informedthat theycouldnowclose the taborwindow. Itwaschosen topresent thestimulusmaterialandconsequentlythewholesurveyinEnglish,sinceitisthemostcommonlanguageonInstagram.Also,sincetheoriginalscalesweremostlyinEnglishtheywerekeptlikethattoensurereliability.WhatspokeforanEnglishsurveyaswell,wasthefactthatArianaGrandeisAmericanandthereforespeakingandpostinginEnglish.Itdidnotseemappropriateorrealistictocreateapostthatis supposed to be from her, butwaswritten in German.On the other hand, it is not unusual forGermans,likeDagiBee,topostinEnglish.Tokeepconsistencythroughoutthewholesurvey,itwaschosentoformulateeverythinginEnglish.ThecompletesurveycanbefoundinAppendixA.

3.3.StimulusmaterialandmanipulationchecksThethreeindependentvariables-typeofinfluencer,productplacementandsponsorshipdisclosure-servedasabasisforthestimulusmaterialandhadtobecombinedintoeightdifferentInstagramposts;one Instagram post per condition. Therefore, a screenshot of existing Instagram posts of eachinfluencer - Ariana Grande and Dagi Bee - were used to create a realistic image, which weresubsequentlymodifiedforthepurposeofthestudy.Thepicturewaschanged;theexistingheadingwas erased and replaced by a new heading, written with the same font Instagram uses, and thenumberoflikeswaserasedinordertonotletthishaveanyinfluenceontheparticipants.Theexactmeasuresandmanipulationsperindependentvariableareexplainedbelow. 3.3.1.TypeofinfluencerBasedonlistsofthemostsuccessful/popularcelebritiesonInstagram(Carson,2016;Bishop,2016)aswellasalistofGermany’smostinfluentialYouTubers(micro-celebrities)onInstagram(Nguyen,2016),ArianaGrande(celebrity)andDagiBee(micro-celebrity)werechosenasthetwodifferenttypesofinfluencers. Figure2andFigure3 showpicturesofbothof themrespectively. Inorder to findoutwhetherparticipantsperceivedthesetwoasacelebrityormicro-celebrityrespectively,acoupleofmanipulationcheckquestionswereaskedandmeasuredwithafivepointLikertscalerangingfrom“stronglydisagree”to“stronglyagree”:

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1. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisfamous”2. “DagiBeeisknownforherYouTubevideos”/“Amongotherthings,ArianaGrandeisknown

forsinging.”3. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisunknown”4. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisacelebrity”

Thesefouritemswerepresentedtoparticipantsinarandomorder.Eventhoughthepretestshowedthatthevaluesfortypeofinfluencerwereacceptable(a=.73)itwasstilldecidedtoformulatenewandrephrasesomeoftheinitialitemsinordertogetevenmoreinsightintopeople´sevaluationofthesources.Theultimatescale,whichisshownabove,provedtobeevenmorereliable(a = .84).In order to find out whether the results for the manipulated variables differed significantly andwhetherthemanipulationsworked,at-testswasperformed.Theresultsfortypeofinfluencershoweda significant difference between the celebrity condition and the micro-celebrity condition(Mcelebrity=4.27,SD=0.56;Mmicrocelebrity=3.37,SD=0.78;p<.01).Thisleadstotheconclusionthatthemanipulationwith regard to the typeof influencerworked and that participantsmostly perceivedArianaGrandeasacelebrityandDagiBeeasamicro-celebrityrespectively.

Figure2.ArianaGrande–celebrity Figure3.DagiBee–micro-celebrity3.3.2.ProductplacementIt was decided to make up a brand and think of a product many people use on a regular basis.Furthermore,theideawastochooseaproductthatpeoplewouldusuallyneedtoexperiencebeforethey can determine its value (so called experience goods) and therefore might rely onrecommendationsandreviewsofotherconsumerswhohavetriedorusedtheproduct(Chen,Wu&Yoon,2004).Beautyproductsfallintothiscategory,whichiswhyeventuallylipbalmwaschosen.Lipbalmisnotalsoabeautyproduct,butalsohasanurturingfunctionandthereforewasconsideredtobeabeautyproductthatmightbeusedbymostpeople,eventhosewhoarenotintomake-upandthelike. SincethepicturesofArianaGrandeandDagiBeedidnotshowaproduct,apictureofahandholdinga lipbalmwas takenandwith theaidof theprogramPhotoshopplaced intobothpictures for theproduct placement conditions. The difference between product placement and no placement isdisplayedinFigure4andFigure5.Thelipbalmwasplainwhiteanddidnotshowalogo,thebrandwas

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onlymentioned in the heading of the post. Thesemanipulation check questionswere shown in arandomorderandmeasuredwitha5pointLikertscalerangingfrom“stronglydisagree”to“stronglyagree”aswell:

1. “TheproductDagiBee/ArianaGrandewasreferringtowasvisibleinthepicture.”2. “ThelipbalmDagiBee/ArianaGrandewasreferringtocouldnotbeseeninthepicture.3. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandewasholdingalipbalminherhand.”4. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandeshowedtheproductshewasreferringto.”

Thisscalewasfoundtobereliableaswell(a=.96),butsincethealphavalueisreallyhighitalsohastobetakenintoconsiderationthattheitemsweretoosimilartoeachother(Tavakol&Dennick,2011).Here,thet-testrevealedsignificantresultsaswell.Participants intheproductplacementconditionscoredsignificantlyhigheronthemanipulationcheckquestionsconcerningproductplacement,thanparticipantsinthenoplacementcondition(Mproductplacement=4.47,SD=0.58;Mnoproductplacement=1.98,SD = 0.84; p < .05). Broadly speaking thismeans that people in the product placement conditiongenerally noticed the product and people in the no product placement condition noticed that noproductwasshown.

Figure4.Productplacement Figure5.Noproductplacement3.3.3.SponsorshipdisclosureFinally, the heading of the picture had to be formulated, since the sponsorship disclosure wassupposedtobedisplayedwithinthecaption.InspiredbyexistingInstagramposts,itwasdecidedtoincludethebrandname,apositiveaspectoftheproductandwhattherespectivepersonthinksoftheproduct.Thisresultedinthefollowingcaption:“Lovemynewlipbalmfrom@velvety!Mylipsaresosoft!”.TherearedifferentwaystodiscloseadvertisementsonInstagram.Here,itwaschosentoaddthehashtag“#sponsored”tothecaptioninthe“sponsorshipdisclosure”conditions.Sincetheproductwassupposedtobefromafictionalbrand,thebrandnamehadtobemadeupaswell.DifferentLatinand English adjectives, describing a main advantage of lip balm, were compared and eventually“velvety”waschosen,sinceitsoundedthebestormostrealisticanddidnotseemtoexistyet.Again,therewereseveralmanipulationcheckquestionswhichweremeasuredwitha5pointLikert scalerangingfrom“stronglydisagree”to“stronglyagree”andpresentedrandomly:

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1. “InthepostDagiBee/ArianaGrandesharesherownpersonalopinion.”2. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandewascompensatedbythebrandforcreatingthepost.”3. “DagiBee/ArianaGrandeindicatedthatthepostwassponsored.”4. “Thecaptionofthepostcontainedthehashtag#sponsored.”5. “TheInstagrampostwasadvertising.”6. “ThebrandVelvetypaidDagiBee/ArianaGrandetopublishthispost.”

Reliabilityforthisscalewasratherbad(a=.50),whichiswhytheitem“InthepostDagiBee/ArianaGrandesharesherownpersonalopinion.”hadtobeeliminated(reliabilityvaluefortheremainingfiveitemswasa=.66)andwasnotincludedinthecomputedvariable“sponsorshipdisclosure”andanyadditionaltests.Significantdifferencescouldbefoundbetweenthedisclosureandthenodisclosuregroups(Mdisclosure=4.24,SD=0.70;Mnodiscloure=3.37;p<.05).Consequently,itcanbeassumedthatthis manipulation was effective and overall people in the disclosure condition noticed the“#sponsored” and people in the no disclosure condition truthfully recalled that there was nodisclosure.Figure6andFigure7showtwooutoftheeightdifferentpicturesusedasstimulusmaterial,oneofthemwithsponsorshipdisclosedandonewithoutdisclosure.

Figure6.Nosponsorshipdisclosure Figure7.Sponsorshipdisclosure

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3.4.Measures-Dependent,moderatingandmediatingvariables3.4.1.MessagecredibilityInordertodetectthecredibilityofthewholestatementmadewiththepost,messagecredibilitywasmeasured.Therefore,theTVadvertisingbelievabilityscalebyBeltramini(1982)wasadaptedforthepresentstudy.Twoitemsfromtheoriginalscalewereremoved;eight itemsremained,whichweremeasuredwithafivepointLikertscale(rangingfrom1=“stronglydisagree”to5=“stronglyagree”):believable;trustworthy;convincing;credible;reasonable;honest;questionable;authentic.Thisscalewasfoundtobereliableaswell(a=.84).3.4.2.BrandattitudeThisconstructwasaswellmeasuredwithafive-pointsemanticdifferentialscale.Sevenitemswereobtainedandchosen fromSpears&Singh (2004),whoreviewedseveraldifferentscalesand itemsfrom previous literature: appealing/unappealing; good/bad; likable/unlikable; positive/negative;advisabletochoose/notadvisabletochoose;expensive/cheap;ahigh-qualitybrand/a lowqualitybrand.Thisscaleprovedtobereliable(a=.80).3.4.3.PurchaseintentionTheconstructpurchaseintentionwasmeasuredwithfouritemsthatwereobtainedfromSpearsandSingh(2004),aswell.ParticipantswereaskedwhethertheywouldchooseVelvetythenexttimetheyhad to buy a lip balm. Purchase intention was then measured with four items: unlikely/likely;impossible/possible; never/definitely; certainly not/ certainly yes. This scale has been found to bereliable,too(a=.89).

3.4.4.SourcecredibilitySourcecredibilitywasmeasuredusingthesourcecredibilityscaledevelopedbyOhanian(1990).Onafive-pointsemanticdifferentialscaletrustworthiness,expertiseandattractivenessaremeasuredwithfive items each: Attractiveness: attractive/unattractive; classy/not classy; beautiful/ugly;elegant/plain; sexy/not sexy – Trustworthiness: dependable/undependable; honest/dishonest;reliable/unreliable; sincere/insincere; trustworthy/untrustworthy–Expertise:expert/notanexpert;experienced/inexperienced; knowledgeable/unknowledgeable; qualified/unqualified;skilled/unskilled.Reliabilitywasgood(a=.91).3.4.5.Attitudetowardsthead/postSince the Instagrampostof an influencer canbe seenasanadvertisement, a scale thatmeasurespeople´sattitudetowardanadvertisementwasusedtomeasuretheattitudetowardstheInstagrampost.ThescalewasobtainedfromAjzen&Fishbein(ascitedinPascal,Sprott&Muehling,2002)andconsists of the following four items: good/bad; favorable/unfavorable; positive/negative;pleasant/unpleasant.Theseweremeasuredwithafive-pointsemanticdifferentialscale.Reliabilityforthisscalewasgood(a=.84).3.4.6.ProductinvolvementSincethisconstructasksforspecificquestions/itemswhicharerelevantforthestudyathand,thusadaptedtothechosenproduct,thequestions/itemsweremadeup.Though,theywerestillbasedonexisting scales or rather categories as “pleasure” and “importance” as embraced by, for example,MichaelidouandDibb(2006):“I liketouselipbalm”,“usinglipbalmis importanttome”,“Idislike

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whenmylipsfeelrough”,“Whenmylipsfeelrough,Ifeeltheneedtouselipbalm”.Responseoptionsrangedfrom1=“stronglydisagree”to5=“stronglyagree”.Thescaleprovedtobereliable(a=.82).3.4.7.PersuasionknowledgePersuasionknowledgewasmeasuredbyasingleitemasithasbeenshowntobesufficientinpreviousresearch(Rossiter,asstatedinBoerman,Reijmersdal&Neijens,2012).BasedontheitemBoerman,ReijmersdalandNeijens (2012)used, the following itemwas formulated: “The Instagrampostwasadvertising.”. The itemwas also one of themanipulation check questions regarding “sponsorshipdisclosure”.Reliabilitycouldnotbemeasured,sincethiswasaoneitemmeasure.

3.5.ParticipantsA total of 420 responses had been collected. Nevertheless, only those cases were selected thatmatchedthecriteriathathadbeenformulatedbefore:Germanfemales,olderthan18,allregisteredfor an Instagram account. This left 240 complete responses. The 240 participants were randomlyassigned tooneof theeightexperimental conditions. Thedistributionof the responsesacross theconditionscanalsobeseeninTable1.Theaverageageofrespondentswas23.49years;theyoungestrespondentswere19andtheoldest34years.Educational levelvariedfromhighschooldiplomatoBachelor orMaster diplomas to apprenticeship and state examination.Most participants (n=106)statedaBachelor’sdegreetobetheirhighestcompletededucationasofthedayofcompletingthesurvey.

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4 Results4.1.Mainandinteractioneffects 4.1.1.MANOVAAmultivariatetestofvariances(MANOVA)wasconductedinordertogetinformationaboutpossiblemainandinteractioneffectsoftheindependentvariables.Thetestrevealedthreesignificanteffects–onemaineffect,atwo-wayinteractionandathree-wayinteraction.AllsignificantresultscanbeseeninTable2.Afterwardsthemaineffectwillbefurtherexplained,followedbyanexplanationofbothinteractioneffects.Table2Multivariateanalysisofvariances(MANOVA)

Source Dependentvariable F pTypeofinfluencer

Purchaseintention 4.18 .04

Typeofinfluencer*Sponsorshipdisclosure

Messagecredibility 4.59 .03

Typeofinfluencer*Sponsorshipdisclosure*Productplacement

Brandattitude 6.19 .01

Note.Onlysignificanteffectsaredisplayed(significantatp<.05)4.1.2.MaineffectsTheBetween–SubjectsEffectstestrevealedasignificantmaineffectoftypeofinfluenceronpurchaseintention(F(1,229)=4.18,p<.05).Inordertomakemorespecificassumptionsaboutthiseffect,thegroupmeans had to be compared. This comparison, as can be seen in Table 3, showed that thepurchaseintentionofpeopleinthecelebrityconditionswassignificantlyhigher(M=2.25,SD=0.80)thanthepurchaseintentionofpeopleinthemicro-celebrityconditions(M=2.03,SD=0.74).Table3Meansandstandarddeviationsfortheindependentvariablesforeachgroup Typeofinfluencer Sponsorshipdisclosure Productplacement Celebrity Micro-

celebrityYes No Yes No

Messagecredibility 3.50(0.61) 3.63(0.60) 3.56(0.61) 3.58(0.61) 3.56(0.59) 3.59(0.63)

Brandattitude 3.05(0.46) 2.94(0.45) 3.00(0.50) 2.98(0.41) 2.98(0.46) 3.01(0.45)

Purchaseintention

2.25(0.80)*

2.03(0.74)* 2.12(0.80) 2.15(0.75) 2.15(0.79) 2.13(0.77)

Notes.M(SD)*Significantdifferencebetweengroups(significantatp<.05).

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4.1.3.Interactioneffects 4.1.3.1.Two-wayinteractionThe test of between-subjects effects also showed significant results for the interaction of type ofinfluencer and sponsorship disclosure on message credibility (F (1,229) = 4.59, p < .05). Here, aBonferronitestwasperformedinordertobeabletocomparemeansandgetmoreinformationaboutwhich interaction evoked the most positive and which interaction generated the most negativeresponses.Thetestrevealedthatthecombinationofthecelebrityandnosponsorshipdisclosurelead

tohigherscoresformessagecredibility(M = 2.59, SD = 0.08) compared towhensponsorshipwasdisclosed (M=2.42, SD = 0.08). Interestingly, in themicro-celebrity conditions, highervaluesformessagecredibilitycouldbefoundwhensponsorshipwasdisclosed(M=2.45,SD=0.09)thanwhenitwasnotdisclosed(M=2.28,SD=0.08).Theprofile plot, which visualizes theinteraction effect of sponsorshipdisclosure and type of influencer onmessage credibility can be seen inFigure8.

Figure8.Interactioneffect(typeofinfluencer*sponsorshipdisclosure) 4.1.3.2.Three-wayinteractionAdditionally, a significant interactioneffectofall three independentvariablesonbrandattitude (F(1,229)=6.19,p<.05)couldbeobserved.Here,theBonferronitestrevealedthatthecombinationofthecelebrity,nodisclosureandnoproductplacementresultedinthehighestscoresforbrandattitude(M=3.19,SD=0.09).Inordertodisplaythisinteractioneffecttwoprofileplotswerenecessary.

Figure9.Interactioneffect(typeofinfluencer*sponsorshipdisclosure*productplacement)

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Figure 9 shows the interaction of sponsorship disclosure and product placement for each type ofinfluencer.Itcanbeseenthat,whilethescoresforbrandattitudeinthecelebrityconditions,whensponsorshipwasnotdisclosedandaproductwasplaced,wereonlyaverage(M=3.00,SD=0.09),thehighestscoreswereevokedbythecombinationofcelebrity,noproductplacementandnosponsorshipdisclosure(M=3.19,SD=0.09).ThatwasalreadyconfirmedbytheBonferronicomparisonofmeans.Whatisremarkablehere,isthefactthatthescoresonbrandattitudeinthemicro-celebrityconditions,whentherewasnoplacement,weresimilarlyhigh,butonlyifsponsorshipwasdisclosed(M=3.09,SD=0.08).Furthermore,thegraphsrevealthatbrandattitudescoresinthemicro-celebrityconditionweresimilarlylowwhensponsorshipwasnotdisclosed,regardlessofwhetheraproductwasplaced(M=2.90,SD=0.08)ornot(M=2.88,SD=0.08).However,whensponsorshipwasdisclosedinthemicro-celebritycondition,noproductplacementgeneratedamorepositivebrandattitude(M=3.09,SD=0.08)thanwhentheproductwasshown(M=2.91,SD=0.08).Onthecontrary,whensponsorshipwasdisclosedinthecelebrityconditions,scoresonbrandattitudewerehigher,whenaproductwasplaced(M=3.08,SD=0.08)comparedtowhennoproductwasplaced(M=2.90,SD=0.09).

4.2.Mediatorsandmoderators 4.2.1.MediationanalysisAccording toBaronandKenny (1986)oneshouldcheckwhether therearesignificant relationshipsbetween the independent and dependent variable, the independent and possible mediator andbetweenthepossiblemediatorandthedependentvariable.Ifallofthesethreerelationshipsarefoundtobesignificant,onecanproceedandlookintothemediationeffect.Inthestudyathandthiswasonly thecase for theeffectof typeof influenceronpurchase intentionwithsourcecredibilityasamediator.Themediationanalysiscouldthereforeonlybeconductedforthesevariablesandnotforothers.Consequently,itcanbesaidthatattitudetowardsthepostdoesnotmediatetheeffectoftheindependentonthedependentvariables. 4.2.1.1SourcecredibilityInordertobeabletoanswerthequestionwhethersourcecredibilitymediatestheeffectoftypeofinfluencer on purchase intention, a mediation analysis was conducted through several regressionanalyses. Following the four steps of Baron and Kenny (1986), the effect of type of influencer onpurchase intentionwasdetermined first.Significant resultswere found: (F (1,238)=4.93,p< .05,R2=.02;β=-.14,t(238)=-2.22,p<.05).Thesecondstepgaveinformationabouttheeffectoftypeof influencer on source credibility. Resultswere significant (F (1, 238) = 31.91, p < .001, R2 = .12;β=-.34,t(238)=-5.65,p<.001).Inthefollowingstep,theeffectofsourcecredibilityonpurchaseintentionwasexamined.Again,resultsweresignificant(F(1,238)=24.18,p<.001,R2=.09;β=.30,t (238) =4.92, p < .001). Finally, itwas lookedat theeffectof the typeof influenceronpurchaseintention, controlling for source credibility. This effect could not be found to be significant(F(2,237)=12.27,p<.001,R2=.09;β=-.04,t(237)=-.65,p=.51),while,underthesameconditions,theeffectofsourcecredibilityonpurchaseintentionwassignificant(β=.29,t(237)=4.39,p<.001),whichprovesthemediationeffect(Baron&Kenny,1986).Additionally,anothert-testwasperformedinordertobeabletocomparethemeanscoresconcerningsourcecredibilityforeachtypeofinfluencer.Theresultsshowthatthescoresforsourcecredibilityinthecelebrityconditionsaresignificantlyhigherthaninthemicro-celebrityconditions(Mcelebrity=3.19,SD=0.52;Mmicrocelebrity=2.77,SD=0.63;p<.05).

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4.2.2.ModerationanalysisAmoderationanalysiswasconductedwith“PROCESS”,apluginforSPSS,whichwaswrittenbyHayes(2012).Neitherpersuasionknowledge,norproductinvolvementseemtosignificantlymoderateanyoftheeffectsproposedinthemodel.

4.3.TheroleofpersuasionknowledgeIn order to test the hypotheses concerning persuasion knowledge, another independent samplest-testwasconducted.Itdidnotrevealasignificantdifferencebetweengroupswhowereconfrontedwiththehashtag“#sponsored”(M=4.30,SD= .86)andthosewhowerenot (M=4.19,SD= .98).Additionally,aregressionanalysiswasconducted,whichdidnotshowsignificantresultseither.Thismeans that it cannot be assumed that it is necessarily the sponsorship disclosurewhich activatespeople’s persuasion knowledge. Furthermore, another regression was conducted with persuasionknowledgeastheindependentvariableinordertolookatitsrelationtothedependentvariables.Nosignificanteffectwasshownforbrandattitudeandpurchaseintention,butitseemsthatpersuasionknowledgeacts as apredictor formessage credibility (F (1, 238) =41.27,β= -.25, t (238) = -6.42,p<.001,R2=.15,p<.001).Finally,acorrelationanalysishadtobeconductedinordertofindoutwhetherpersuasionknowledgeandmessagecredibilitywerepositivelyornegativelycorrelated.TheresultsforthecorrelationanalysiscanbeseeninTable4.Table4PearsonCorrelationbetweenalldependentvariablesandadditionalvariables

Variables Persuasionknowledge

Sourcecredibility

Attitudetowardsthepost

Messagecredibility

Brandattitude

Purchaseintention

Productinvolvement

Persuasionknowledge -

Sourcecredibility -.23** -

Attitudetowardsthepost

-.25** .54** -

Messagecredibility -.39** .60** .64** -

Brandattitude -.12 .40** .44** .36** -

Purchaseintention -.09 .30** .40** .32** .39** -

Productinvolvement .09 .13* .05 .11 .20** .04 -

Notes.n=240forpersuasionknowledge,sourcecredibility,attitudetowardsthepost,purchaseintentionandproductinvolvement;n=239formessagecredibility;n=238forbrandattitude.**Correlationsignificantatp<.01.*Correlationsignificantatp<.05.Alltestsaretwo-tailed.It canbe seen thatpersuasion knowledgeandmessage credibility really arenegatively correlated,whichpartlysupportshypothesis8b.

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4.4.HypothesesThe results will now be used to detect whether the hypotheses that have been formulated aresupportedorneedtoberejected.TheoutcomecanbeseeninTable5.Almostallofthehypotheseshavetoberejected,whichisalsoduetothefactthatthreeofthehypothesesconcerninginteractioneffects were based on the assumption that the micro-celebrity would generate more positiveconsumerresponses.Ifthatwouldnothavebeenthecase,hypothesesH5andH7couldhaveprobablybeensupportedbytheresults.H8bisonlypartlysupportedsincepersuasionknowledgeonlypredictsand is significantly negatively related to message credibility and not any of the other consumerresponses.Table5OverviewofsupportedandrejectedhypothesesHypotheses Supported/rejectedH1:Theuseofmicro-celebritiesininfluencermarketingonInstagramwillhaveamorepositiveeffectonconsumerresponsesthantheuseofcelebrities.

rejected

H2:Sponsorshipdisclosurewillhaveamorenegativeeffectonconsumerresponsesthanwhenadvertisingisnotdisclosed.

rejected

H3:Productplacementhasamorenegativeeffectonconsumerresponsesthannoplacement.

rejected

H4:Typeofinfluencerandproductplacementwillinteractinawaythatconsumerresponsestoproductplacementwillbemorepositiveifrespondentsareconfrontedwithamicro-celebritycomparedtowhentheyareconfrontedwithacelebrity.

rejected

H5:Micro-celebritiesgeneratemorepositiveconsumerresponsesifsponsorshipisnotdisclosedcomparedtowhenitisdisclosed.

rejected

H6:Productplacementhasamorenegativeinfluenceonconsumerresponsesifsponsorshipisdisclosedcomparedtowhensponsorshipisnotdisclosed.

rejected

H7:Themostpositiveconsumerresponseswillbeevokedthroughthecombinationofamicro-celebrity,noproductplacementandnosponsorshipdisclosure.

rejected

H8a:Sponsorshipdisclosureactivatespeople´spersuasionknowledge.

rejected

H8b:Persuasionknowledgeisnegativelyrelatedtoconsumerresponses. partlysupportedInthestyleoftheconceptualresearchmodel,Figure10depictsallmain,interactionandmediatingeffects,aswellastherelationofpersuasionknowledgeandmessagecredibility,thatcouldbeproventobesignificant.

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Figure10.Overviewofallsignificanteffectsthatrelatetotheresearchandsub-questions

4.5.AdditionalanalysesSincemost of thehypotheses could not be supportedby the findings and the correlation analysisshowedsignificantcorrelationsforbothsourcecredibilityandattitudetowardsthepostwithregardtoallthreeconsumerresponses,furtherregressionanalyseswereconductedinordertofindoutmoreabouttherelationsofthesevariables. Itwasrevealedthatsourcecredibilityactsasapredictorformessage credibility (F (1,237) = 134.83, R2 = .36, p < .001) and brand attitude (F (1,236) = 44.70,R2=.16,p<.001),whereasitdoesnotseemtopredictpurchaseintention.Moreover,attitudetowardsthe post predicts message credibility (F (1, 237) = 164,77, R2 = .41, p < .001), brand attitude(F(1,236)=55.79,R2=.19,p<.001)andpurchaseintention(F(1,238)=43.66,R2=.16,p<.001).

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5 DiscussionTheresearchathandwasconductedinordertogetinsightintotheperceptionof(sponsored)postsonInstagram.Inthefollowing,thepreviouslydisplayedfindingswillbediscussed.Againsttheassumptionthatmicro-celebritieswouldgeneratemorepositiveconsumerresponses,theresultsshowthatpurchaseintentionwashigherinthecelebrityconditionsandconsequentlylowerinthemicro-celebrityconditions.Thiscouldbeexplainedbytheresultsconcerningsourcecredibility,whichshowthatthecelebritywasperceivedasmorecrediblecomparedtothemicro-celebrity.Fromthisitcanbeassumed,thatamorecrediblesourceleadstoahigherpurchaseintention,whichhasbeenshownbyresearchbefore(Sternthal, Phillips&Dholakia,1978).Itisalsosupportedbyfindingsfrom Erdogan (1999), stating that the attractiveness of the source can affect the influencer ofcelebritiesonpurchaseintention.Sinceattractivenesswasmeasuredasapartofsourcecredibilityandwasalsoratedhigherforthecelebritycomparedtothemicro-celebrity,itcouldexplainwhypurchaseintentionwashigherinthecelebrityconditions.Thisleadstotheassumptionthatboththegeneralcredibility and the attractiveness of the source have an important impact on people´s purchaseintention.Anothercomponentofthesourcecredibilitymodelwhichwasmeasuredhere,isexpertise(Ohanian,1990).Whileitcouldbeargued,thatamicro-celebritylikeDagiBee,whoisoftentestingandrecommendingbeautyproducts,wouldhavemoreexpertisethanacelebritywhoisknownforsingingandacting(Neuman,2016),thescoresforexpertisewerehigherforthecelebrity.Thiscouldthus also account for the higher purchase intention in the celebrity conditions, as expertise canpositively influence consumer responses (Korotina& Jargalsaikhan, 2016). It was also argued thatmicro-celebritieswouldgeneratemorepositiveconsumerresponses,sincepeoplewouldbeabletorelate to themmore easily than to celebrities (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017; Forbes, 2016). Thefindingsofthepresentstudydonotsupportthis,oritneedstobeassumedthatbeingabletorelatetothesourcedoesnothaveasmuchpoweras,forexample,admiringafamouscelebrity.HoffnerandCantor(asstatedinWei&Lu,2013),forexample,arguethatpeoplemimiccelebritiestheylookupto,whichmightbeanotherexplanationforthehigherpurchaseintention.Buyingandusingthesamelipbalmasthecelebritymightbeseenasonewaytomimicthem.Italsoneedstobeassumedthattherewere also other characteristics or factors that participants associatedwith the presented sources,whichhaveeitherledtoamorepositiveevaluationofthecelebrityoramorenegativeevaluationofthemicro-celebrity.Pastliterature,forexample,suggeststhattheattributeslinkedtotheendorserplayan importantrole(Wymer&Drollinger,2015;Amos,Holmes,&Strutton,2008).Otherfactorsregardingthesourcethat,inthepast,wereproventohaveanimpact,are,forexample,thepopularityorlikingofthesource(Kamins,Brand,Hoeke&Moe,1989;Sola,2012;Charbonneau&Garland,2005).Eventhoughlikingandpopularitywerenotdirectlymeasured,itseemslikelythatthecelebrityismorepopulardue toherworldwide fame,whichcouldaccount for thehigher intention topurchase theproductinthecelebrityconditions.Ingeneral,people´spurchase intentionwasrather low, regardlessof the influencer.Theratingsofbothbrandattitudeandmessagecredibilitywerealittlehigher,mostlywithapositivetendency,butnomaineffectsoftypeofinfluenceronthesetwoconsumerresponsescouldbedetected.Thelowscoresforpurchaseintentioncouldbeexplainedbythefactthatafictionalbrandwasused,whichtheparticipants consequently did not know. At the same time, it is imaginable that the influencers´credibilitywasnotenoughtogenerateahigherintentiontopurchasealipbalmfromabrandtheydidnotknowsofar.

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Thefactthattherewasnosignificanteffectforsponsorshipdisclosureandnosignificantdifferencesbetweenthedisclosureandthenodisclosureconditions,couldbeexplainedbylookingattheresultsconcerningpersuasionknowledge.Itisinterestingtoseethat,whilethereisnosignificantdifferenceforpersuasionknowledgebetweenpeopleintheconditionsinwhichsponsorshipwasdisclosedandtheonesinwhichitwasnotdisclosed,persuasionknowledgewasgenerallyhigh.Fromthisitcanbeconcluded that itdoesnotnecessarilymatterwhether sponsorship isdisclosedornot inorder forpeopletobeawareofthepersuasivenatureof(sponsored)Instagramposts.Itcouldbeassumedthatpeoplearegenerallyawareofinfluencermarketingalreadyandthereforeexpecttobepersuaded,nomatter whether sponsorship is disclosed or not. In the past, people´s experience and knowledgeconcerninga respective topicplayeda role in triggeringpersuasionknowledge (Friestad&Wright,1994). In this case,people´sexperienceandknowledge regarding influencermarketing couldhavemade respondentsawareof thepersuasiveattempt,which thencouldhave led to thehighscoresconcerningpersuasionknowledge.Also,themissingguidelinesconcerningsponsorshipdisclosuremayleadpeopletobeskepticalwhenitcomestorecommendationsonsocialmediaingeneral,asthereisnocluethatgivesawaywhetherthepostissponsoredoranhonestrecommendation.Thefactthat,here,sponsorshipdisclosuredidnottriggerpersuasionknowledgesupportsthisideaandcouldexplainwhythereisnosignificantmaineffectforsponsorshipdisclosureonthedependentvariables.Justasforsponsorshipdisclosurenomaineffectcouldbeobservedforproductplacement.Thisgivesreasontobelievethatproductplacementalonedoesnotaffectconsumerresponsesneitherpositivelynornegatively.Itcouldbearguedthatthesetupofbothpictures,eitherwithplacementorwithout,were similarly authentic or congruent,which resulted in similar evaluations. This idea stems fromearlier findings, suggesting that product placement can have a positive effect if the placement iscongruent(Russel,2002)ororganic(Ware,2016).Itispossiblethatthepeopleinthenoplacementconditiondidnotmisstheplacementofthelipbalmandfoundthepictureandthepostcongruentasitwas.Maybe,inthiscase,thepursedlipsoftheinfluencerweresufficient.Ontheotherhand,peoplein the placement condition might not have perceived the placed lip balm as too obtrusive andthereforefoundtheInstagramposttobecongruentaswell.So,ifinbothcasestheInstagrampostwasperceivedassimilarlycongruent,itcouldhaveresultedinsimilarevaluations,leadingtothefactthatnomaineffectforproductplacementcouldbefound.Theresultsconcerningtheinteractioneffectsdemonstratethatthetypeofinfluencerincombinationwithsponsorshipdisclosureaswellasincombinationwithbothsponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacement,hadasignificanteffectonconsumerresponses.Though,whiletherewasamaineffectonpurchaseintention,theinteractionofsponsorshipdisclosureandtypeofinfluencerhadaneffectonmessagecredibilityandtheinteractionofallthreevariablesaffectedbrandattitude.Again,theresultsshowtheoppositeofwhatwashypothesized,whichcouldbeexplainedbythefactthatthehypothesesconcerning the interaction effects were based on the assumption that the micro-celebrity wouldgeneratemorepositiveresponses.Thetwo-wayinteractionrevealed,thatthecombinationofthecelebrityandnodisclosuregeneratedthe highest scores for message credibility. It is remarkable, though, that concerning the micro-celebrity, scoresonmessage credibilitywerehigherwhen sponsorshipwasdisclosed compared towhenitwasnotdisclosed,whiletheoppositewastrueforthecelebrityconditions.Thiscouldbeduetopeople´sneedandrequestformoretransparencyandhonestyonsocialmedia.Asdiscussedearlier,with the growth of social media and influencer marketing, people increasingly ask for more

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transparencyontheweb(Rondinella,2017),whichiswhyinthemicro-celebrityconditionsitmightjustgenerateamorepositiveeffectifpeopleseesponsorshipdisclosed.Thefactthatsponsorshipisdisclosed could be seen as honest,whichmight have led people to evaluate the credibility of themessagehigherthanwhentherewasnodisclosure.Thisagainwouldalsoexplainwhythecombinationofthemicro-celebritypairedwithnodisclosureledtothelowestvaluesformessagecredibility.Atthesametime,thecelebritypairedwithsponsorshipdisclosurecouldhavebeenperceivedastoopushyandmighthaverevealedtoomuchadvertisingcontext(Korotina&Jargalsaikhan,2016),whereasthecelebrity alone generated amorepositive response.On theother hand, itmight be the case thatpeople are used to celebrities being involved in commercials and advertising on TV, magazines,billboardsandthelike.ThisideaissupportedbyKimmelandKitchen(2014)whostatethat,accordingtotheFederalTradeCommission,celebritiesdonotneedtodisclosesponsorship if consumersareawarethattherespectivepersonisanendorserofthepromotedbrand.InthiscaseparticipantscouldnothavepossiblyknownthatArianaGrandeisanendorserforVelvety,asitisafictionalbrand,butitstillgivesreasontoassumethatpeoplearegenerallyawareofcelebritiesbeingendorsers,whichiswhytheyprobablydon´tneedittobedisclosed.Though,whenitcomestomicro-celebritiesitmightnotbeasobviouswho is sponsoredandwho ishonestlyandpersonally recommendingaproduct.Here, sponsorship disclosure seems to be necessary in order for consumers to be able to distinctbetween “normal” posts and sponsored posts (Marvin, 2015). Another explanationwould be thatpeoplecouldhavetheideathatcelebrities,otherthanmicro-celebrities,arenotdependentonthemoneygainedfromsponsoredposts,astheyhaveothersourcesofincome.Thiscouldleadpeopletothinkthatcelebritiesdon’tneedtoengageininfluencermarketing,whichthenmightleadpeopletoperceivethemessageascredible. Thiswouldalsoexplainwhythedisclosurehasamorenegativeeffectwhenpairedwiththecelebrity,becausethatwouldrevealthatthestatementmadeinthepostisnotnecessarilythecelebrity´sownopinionandcouldconsequentlyleadtomorenegativeresponses. Itisimportanttomentionthatallscoresconcerningmessagecredibilitywereratherlowforalleightconditions,therefore leaningtowardsanegativeevaluationofmessagecredibility.Soregardlessofwhethersponsorshipwasdisclosedornot,themessagedidnotseemtobeperceivedastoocrediblein general, which could indicate that participants were still skeptical, possibly because of theirawarenessofthepersuasionattempt.Thethree-wayinteractionshowedthat,inthecelebritycondition,productplacementwasbetterwhensponsorshipwasdisclosedcomparedtowhen itwasnotdisclosed,eventhoughthehighestscoreswheregeneratedwithoutaplacedproductandwithoutsponsorshipdisclosure.Whentherewasnoproduct,theadditionofsponsorshipdisclosureleadtoamorenegativeevaluation.Thisagaincanbeexplainedby the fact that hasbeendiscussedbefore, namely that congruentplacement seems toachievemorepositiveevaluations(Russel,2002;Ware,2016).Disclosingsponsorshipwithoutshowinga productmight have been perceived as not congruent. In themicro-celebrity condition, people´sattitude towards the brandwas generally badwhen sponsorshipwas not disclosed, regardless ofwhetheraproductwasplacedornot,butwhensponsorshipwasdisclosed,noproductplacementleadtoamorepositiveevaluationofbrandattitude.Theexplanationsforthatareexpectedtobesimilartothoseassumptionsmaderegardingthetwo-wayinteractioneffect.Itseemsthatthereisahigherneed for sponsorship disclosure when the influencer is a micro-celebrity compared to when theinfluencerisacelebrity.Withregardtoproductplacement,itcanbearguedthataprominentlyplacedproduct and especially product placement pairedwith disclosure,might have been too pushy. Asdiscussed in the theoretical framework, people seem to be skeptical when it comes to business

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provided content (Rotfeld, 2008) and tend to resist persuasion attempts that appear to be tooobtrusive(Korotina&Jargalsaikhan,2016).Thiscouldbeapossibleexplanationforbothinteractioneffects within the present study. It thus seems likely that especially the combination of disclosedsponsorship and a prominently placed product, showed too much of a corporate, persuasivebackgroundandthereforemighthaveresulted inmorenegativeresponses.Apossibleexplanationwith regard to theeffectonbrandattitudecouldbe that the respondents transferred thepositiveimageofthecrediblecelebrityortheiroverallevaluationoftheInstagramposttothebrand(Halonen-Knight&Hurmerinta,2010;Batra&Homer,2004).Except for sourcecredibility,no furthermoderatorsormediators couldbedetected.The first sub-question can consequently be answered as follows: In the context of the present study, attitudetowardsthepostdidnotmediatethe(interaction)effectsoftypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureand product placement on message credibility, brand attitude and purchase intention. Sourcecredibility, on the contrary, mediates the effect of type of influencer on purchase intention. Thisaccords with earlier findings and the argumentation that if a source is perceived as credible orattractivethiscouldpositivelyaffectpeople´sintentiontopurchasethepromotedproduct (Erdogan,1999).Theanswertothesecondsub-questionisevenmoredistinct:Neitherpersuasionknowledge,norproductinvolvementmoderatetheeffectsoftheindependentonthedependentvariableswithinthepresentedstudy.Sincenot all hypothesizedmediating andmoderatingeffects couldbe supported, correlations andregressionswereanalyzedinordertogetmoreinformationabouttheroleofthevariablesinrelationtoeachother.Itwasrevealedthatpersuasionknowledgeisnegativelycorrelatedwithandpredictsmessagecredibility.Thismeansthatthehigherpeople’sawarenessofthepersuasionattemptis,thelesscredibletheyfindthemessage.So,eventhoughitcouldnotbedetectedwhatexactlytriggeredpeopletothinkofthepostasadvertising,itstillcanbesaidthatthisawareness,orpeople´spersuasionknowledge,isnegativelyrelatedtothecredibilityofamessageandshouldthereforebeconsideredasanimportantaspectwithininfluencermarketing.Furthermore,itwasrevealedthattypeofinfluenceractsasapredictorforsourcecredibility,whichinturnpredictsmessagecredibility,brandattitudeandpurchase intention. Since there was no main effect between type of influencer and all of thedependentvariables,onecannotspeakofamediationeffectinallcases,buttheresultsstillemphasizean important role of source credibility. Something similar goes for attitude towards the post. Thehypothesizedmediationeffectcouldnotbefound,butattitudetowardsthepoststillseemstopredictmessagecredibility,brandattitudeandpurchaseintentionandshouldconsequentlybeconsideredasanimportanteffectnotonlyinregularadvertising,butalsowithininfluencermarketing.Finally,withregardtotheresearchquestion,itcanbesaidthatboththetypeofinfluencer,butalsotheinterplayofthetypeofinfluencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementaffectconsumerresponses,whereastheeffectoftypeofinfluencerismediatedbythecredibilityoftheinfluencer.

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6 Limitations Whileconductingandreflectingontheresearchaswellasduringtheanalysis,acoupleoflimitationshavebeendetected. Thesewill be explained in the following, as they should be consideredwhenlookingattheresultsandconductingfurtherresearch.First of all, the focus of the study was on German women, older than 18, and a single product.Generalizability is therefore limited,which iswhyoneneeds tobecareful concerningassumptionsaboutallGermanfemales,especiallythoseyoungerthan18,aboutothernationalities,howmenwouldreacttothesekindsofpostandhowreactionstootherproductcategoriesmightbe.Thefactthattherewasonlyonecelebrityandonemicro-celebrityselectedcouldbeathreattovalidity.More research would need to be done in order to be able to make general assumptions aboutdifferences or similarities in effects of celebrities vs. micro-celebrities. Although the two types ofinfluencerswereselectedbasedonanumberofpreviouslydeterminedaspects,thesourcesshouldhavebeenpretested in order to findoutmore abouthow they are perceivedby theparticipants.Because,eventhoughthemanipulationcheckconcerningcelebrityvs.micro-celebritywassuccessful,itneedstobeassumedthatotheraspectsplayedaroleandhadanimpactonconsumerresponses,such as liking of or identification with the respective source. Furthermore, the description of thesourcescouldhaveplayedaroleinpeople´sjudgements.Thedescriptionforthemicro-celebrity,forexample,read“anythingaroundfashion,beautyandlifestyle”.Dependingonwhatpeoplegenerallythinkofvloggers/bloggers,thismighthaveledtoamorepositiveornegativeevaluation.WhilesomepeoplemightthinkthattheseaspectsqualifyDagiBeetorecommendalipbalm,othersmightthinkofitasonlyoneofmanyonlinerecommendations.Anotherissuerelatedtotheinfluencersmighthavebeenthefactthatbothsourcesprobablyaddressadifferenttargetgroup,differentfromthepeoplewhoparticipatedinthestudy.Manyoftheirfansareyoungerthan18,sonexttimesourcesshouldbeselectedaccordingtoabroadersetofcriteria,otherthanonlythenumberoffollowersorwhoismostinfluential on Instagram. This could be an explanation for the overall low scores on consumerresponses,eveninthecelebritycondition,becauseastheorystates it is importantthatpeoplecanidentifywithanendorserandthatthisiseasierwhentheyaremorelikethem(Djafarova&Rushworth,2017;Feick&Higie,1992).Also, italwaysneedstobeconsideredthatpeoplehadproblemstoputthemselves into the position of being a follower of either Dagi Bee or Ariana Grande, whichwasimportanttocreateasimilarstateofmindamongparticipantsasastartingpointfortheexperiment.It could then be assumed that their attitudes were not necessarily generated by any of themanipulationbutbypeople’sprejudicesandattitudestheyalreadyhadpriortotheexperiment.Regarding the setup of the survey it has to be mentioned that the measurement of persuasionknowledgeonlythroughasingle itemconstructcouldbea limitationtotheresults,eventhough itseemedtohavebeenasufficientmeasureinthepast.Moreover,itmightbethat,duetothewaythequestions were formulated, participants realized the purpose of the study or that especially themanipulation check questions led their thoughts into a certain direction. And, although it was anargumentbaseddecision topresent thesurvey inEnglish, the languagebarriermighthavebeenaproblemforsomeparticipantsandmighthavecausedmisunderstandings.Oneproblemoccurredduringthecollectionofthedata.Thesurveywaspublishedonaplatformwhichwas build up for researchers so that they can collectmore responses for their study. Peoplewho

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publish their own survey on this platformhave to fill in other surveys in order to gain points andthereforegetahigherranking.Thehighertherankingthemorepointsothersgetforfillinginone’ssurvey,whichmakesitmoreattractiveforthem.Therewassupposedtobeacodeattheendofeachsurveywithwhichtheexactpointswouldbegranted.EventhoughthesettingsinQualtricsweresetupinawaythatparticipantswouldberemindedthattheydidnotfillineveryquestion,itcouldstillbeobservedthatsomeparticipantsdidnotfillinanything,probablyinordertojustgetthecode.Itcouldthereforealsobeexpectedthatsomepeoplefilledinthesurvey,butnottruthfully,alsoinordertofinishfaster.Theseareonlyassumptions,duetothefactthattheexactparticipantscannotbetracedback. Since only fully completed responses of German females with an Instagram account wereincludedintheanalysesandonly33responsesweregainedfromthisplatformitisexpectedthatnottoomanyoftheresponseswerefilledinunthoughtfully.Finally,thefactthatonlyacertainamountofaspectscouldbeincludedinthesetupoftheexperimentcanbeseenasalimitation.SinceinfluencermarketingonInstagramhasnotbeenthefocusofmanystudies,astartingpointhadtobefound,meaningthatacoupleofvariableshadtobechosenandothershadtobeleftoutfornow,inordertonotmakeittoocomplex.Thefollowingchaptergivesmoreinformationaboutwhichothervariablescouldbeconsideredandwhichvariablesneedmoreattention.

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7 Implicationsandfutureresearch Nowthattheresultshavebeendiscussedthefocusofthefollowingchapterwillbeonboththeoreticalandpracticalimplicationsaswellasfutureresearch. 7.1.TheoreticalimplicationsandfutureresearchThefindingsshowthatthecelebrityasaninfluenceronInstagramevokeshigherscoresforpurchaseintentionthanthemicro-celebrity.Atthesametimetheresultsindicatehowimportantthecredibilityofthesourceis,asitcouldbeproventomediatetheeffectoftypeofinfluenceronpurchaseintention.Additionally, it was found to predict all of the three independent variables. Source credibilityconsequentlyseemstoplayanimportantrolewhenitcomestoinfluencermarketingonInstagram,whichgivesreasonstobelievethatnotthefactofbeingacelebrityaloneisaguaranteeforsuccessfulinfluencer marketing, but that the attributes of an influencer play a crucial role concerning howconsumers react to (sponsored) Instagram posts. Since the hypotheses concerning the type ofinfluencer could not be supported and actually even showed the opposite to be true, it isrecommendedtofurtherlookintowhatexactattributesmakeanendorserandespeciallyaninfluenceron Instagram credible and what other characteristics an influencer should have in order for asponsoredpostonInstagramtobeeffective.Forthispurpose,attributesthatinthepasthavebeenfoundtobeimportantpredictorsforeffectivecelebrityendorsement,likepopularity,likeabilityortheextenttowhichconsumerscanrelatetooradmiretheinfluencer(Kamins,Brand,Hoeke&Moe,1989;Sola,2012;Charbonneau&Garland,2005;Djafarova&Rushworth,2017;Forbes, 2016;Hoffner&Cantoras,asstatedinWei&Lu,2013),shouldbeincludedinawaythat,forexample,sourcecredibilityhasbeenincludedinthestudyathand.Thiscouldrevealwhichofsuccessfulcelebrityendorsersareimportantwithinininfluencermarketingaswell,whichthencouldbeusedbymarketersasselectioncriteriafortheirinfluencers.Inadditiontothat,theinteractionofthetypeofinfluencerandsponsorshipdisclosureseemstobecrucial.Whilesponsorshipdisclosurehadamorenegativeeffectthannosponsorshipdisclosureforcelebrities,ithadamorepositiveeffectformicro-celebrities.Subsequently,oneofthemostimportantthingsthatfutureresearchconcerninginfluencermarketingshouldfocusonisthereasonbehindthatphenomenon,as itcouldprovideadditional important informationformarketers.Forthispurpose,theassumptionsmadeinthediscussionshouldbefurthertestedfortheirvalidity,whileotherpossibleexplanationsshouldbeconsideredaswell.Furthermore, the results imply that sponsorshipdisclosuredidnot activatepersuasionknowledge,neitherdidtheotherindependentvariables.Thisleavesthequestion,ifthedisclosuredoesnotgiveawaythatthepostisaformofadvertising,whatdoes?Furtherresearchshouldthereforelookintofactors thatpredictpeople’spersuasionknowledge in influencermarketing inorder toanswer thequestionofwhatisnecessaryforpeopletounderstandtheyarefacingpaidcontent.Oncethesecuesareidentified,itwillalsobeinterestingtogetmoreintodetailconcerningtheireffectsonconsumerresponses.Persuasionknowledgeitselfcouldnotbeproventoactasamoderatorfortheeffectoftheindependenton thedependent variables.But the results supportprevious findings concerning theimportantroleofpersuasionknowledge,bysuggestingthatitpredictsmessagecredibilityandthatitis negatively correlated with not onlymessage credibility, but also source credibility and attitudetowardsthepost.Sincepersuasionknowledgewasonlymeasuredwithoneitem,itisadvisedtofutureresearcherstolookintotheserelationswithadditionalmeasuresofpersuasionknowledge.

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Sinceithadbeendecidedthattheadditionofthehashtag#sponsoredisnotsufficient,thequestionariseswhatkindofdisclosurewouldbeenoughforpeopletorealizetheyarefacingsponsoredcontent.Inordertoanswerthatquestion,differentwaysofsponsorshipdisclosurecouldbecompared.Whenlooking at Instagram posts one can find different versions. Next to “#sponsored”, there are, forexample,also“#advertisement”oreven just “#sp”or“#ad”. Ifonewouldcombine thesedifferentdisclosuretypeswithameasurementofpersuasionknowledgeonecouldgetmoreinsightintowhichkindofdisclosureismostobviousorunderstandableforconsumersandwhichonesgeneratemorepositiveornegativeconsumerresponses.Though,as“#sponsored”reallydidnottriggerpersuasionknowledge,itisquestionablewhetheranabbreviatedform,suchas“#sp”,wouldbemoreobvioustoconsumers. This is why it is suggested to further investigate what triggers people´s persuasionknowledge other than hashtags added to an Instagrampost. This could, for example, be people´sexperience or their knowledge of the topic of influencer marketing. Next to different kinds ofsponsorshipdisclosureitisalsorecommendedtotestdifferentkindsofcaptions.Itcould,forexample,be comparedwhether a “call to action” (e.g. “you should try it”) has any influence on consumerresponses, since that is something that canoftenbe seenon Instagram. It couldbe thecase that,dependingontheexactcontent,persuasionknowledgeisactivatedbythecaptionoftheInstagrampost. Identifyingwhat triggers persuasion knowledge in the context of influencermarketing couldultimatelyhelptoimprovedisclosureguidelines.AttitudetowardstheInstagrampostdidnotseemtomediateanyoftheeffects,whereasitseemstofunctionasapredictorforconsumerresponses,whichiswhyit is importanttokeepinmindwhenengaging in influencer marketing on Instagram. Other factors that are expected to play a role ininfluencermarketing,whichcouldnotbeincludedhere,are,forexample,attitudetowards(beauty)bloggersingeneral,people´sInstagramorsocialmediabehaviororbehaviorconcerningreadingblogsandviewingvlogs.Thesecould, in the future,beexaminedwithregardto influencermarketingonInstagramaswell,inordertogainmoreinsightintowhataspectsareimportanttoconsiderinorderfor sponsored Instagram posts to be effective. Finally, future research could also include moredemographicsoftheparticipantsinordertobeabletoclassifytheresultsevenbetter.

7.2.PracticalimplicationsandfutureresearchNexttotheoreticalimplicationstherearepracticalimplicationsthatcanbedrawnfromthefindingsofthisstudy.As previously described, sponsorship disclosure on Instagram seems to be a controversial topic.Consumersaskformoretransparency,whereasformarketers,sponsorshipdisclosurecouldaddtoomuch“advertising”toinfluencermarketing.However,thefindingsoftheresearchathandshowthatsponsorshipdisclosurealonedoesnotcreatemorenegativeconsumerresponsesthannodisclosure.Onlyinthecombinationwiththetypeofinfluenceritcouldberevealedthatsponsorshipdisclosureseemstohaveamorenegativeinfluenceintheonecaseandamorepositiveinfluenceintheother.Iflawswouldforceinfluencersandbusinessestodisclosesponsorship,itwouldstillnotnecessarilyleadto a reduced effect of influencermarketing on Instagram. Since there are people asking formoredisclosureofsponsorshiponsocialmedia,itisadvisedthatcompaniesfollowthisrequest,asthisdoesnotseemtobeanymorenegativethannodisclosure,atleastconcerningmicro-celebrities.Also,thiswouldpreventanyjudicialconsequencesforthecompaniesastheywouldnolongerengageinlegallimbo and potential covert advertising. It is also recommended to businesses to not desist fromengagingininfluencermarketingwithmicro-celebritiesasamatterofprinciple,eventhoughthestudy

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generallyshowedslightlybetterresultsforcelebritiesasinfluencers.Thatisbecause,whilethefindingsofthisresearchstresshowimportantthechoiceoftheinfluenceris,thewayasponsoredInstagrampostisperceivedalsoseemstodependonattributesoftheinfluencer.Itisthusadvisednottochooseinfluencersbasedon their labelingaseither celebrityormicro-celebrity,but ratherbasedon theirindividualattributesorcharacteristics.Chahal (2016)supportsthisbysummarizingthat influencersandtheironlineactivitieswillcontinuetogrow,butthatitiscrucialthattheinfluencerandthebrandmatch.UpcomingresearchshouldthereforefocusonattributesofinfluencersonInstagram,which,nexttocredibility,couldgeneratemorepositiveconsumerresponsesto(sponsored)Instagramposts.Marketerscanthenaddthesetotheirselectioncriteriaforafittinginfluencer.Concerningpracticalimplicationsfortheinfluencerssomethingsimilarasforthecompaniesisadvised.The results showneither anegative correlationnor apredicting relationshipbetween sponsorshipdisclosure and source credibility. Consequently, micro-celebrities do not need to fear that theircredibilitywillbeharmedthroughthedisclosedsponsorship.Andsinceengagingincovertadvertisingcouldhavejudicialconsequencesfortheinfluencersaswell,itisadvisedthattheseinfluencersshouldindependentlyaddasponsorshipdisclosuretotheirsponsoredpostsorifsettingupacontractwithabrandtheyshouldinsistonbeingallowedtodisclosesponsorship.Consumers, on the other, hand should remain skeptical and they should critically question theintention and validity of Instagram posts. At least as long as it is not a prescription to disclosesponsorshiponInstagramorsocialmediaingeneral,theyhavetoassumethattherearestillsponsoredposts,whicharenotdisclosedassuch.Theyshouldbeawareandconsiderthattheymightbetriedtobepersuadedtobuyacertainproductandshouldconsequentlyponderwhethertheyreallyneedit.Sofar,researchconcerninginfluencermarketingonInstagramislimitedandmoreinsightintowhichaspects aremost important andmost influential has tobe gained,whichwill then lead to furtherpracticalimplications.

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8 Conclusion Influencermarketingisafairlynewmarketingstrategyandexpectedtopersist.Inordertounderstandwhatmakesiteffective,itisimportanttoinvestigatehowconsumersreacttoit.Forthispurpose,anonline experiment was conducted focusing on the effects of the type of influencer, sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacementonmessagecredibility,brandattitudeandpurchaseintention.Thefindingssuggest thatsponsorshipdisclosure isnot inevitablyharmful forcompaniesor influencers.Whetherasponsoredpostwillbeeffectivejustseemstodependonitssetupandthecompositionof,thetypeof influencer,sponsorshipdisclosureandproductplacement.Inthisregard,theinfluencerstillseemstobeoneofthemostimportantchoicesmarketershavetomake,inwhichthecredibilityofthesourceappearstobeanimportantselectioncriterion.Anotherinterestingfindingisthat,whilesponsorshipdisclosuregeneratedmorenegativeresponsesinthecelebrityconditions,theoppositewastrueforthemicro-celebrityconditions.Atthesametime,persuasionknowledgewasgenerallyhighacrossallconditionsandwasnottriggeredbysponsorshipdisclosure.Therefore, it isassumedthatitdoesnotnecessarilymatterwhetherthehashtag#sponsoredisaddedtoanInstagrampostornotinorderforpeopletobeawareofthepersuasiveintentofthemessage.ThesefindingsgivereasontofurtherinvestigatetheeffectsinfluencermarketingonInstagramhasonconsumerresponses.Nexttoidentifyingotherimportantcomponentsthatdeterminewhethera(sponsored)Instagrampostiseffective,themaininterestoffutureresearchshouldbethecharacteristicsofsuccessfulinfluencers,theexactroleandtriggerofpersuasionknowledgewithininfluencermarketingonInstagram,alongwiththeeffectofdifferenttypesofsponsorshipdisclosure.Furthermore,itshouldbeexaminedwhyexactlysponsorshipdisclosurehasvaryingeffectsfordifferenttypesofinfluencers.Thisstudylaysafoundation for future research,which can hopefully lead to an even better understanding of howsponsored posts on Instagram need to be created in order to be profitable for businesses andinfluencersand,atthesametime,fairandtransparenttoconsumers.

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AppendixAppendixA–surveyThe followingsurveywasshowntoeachof theparticipants.Though, theyeither receivedaversiondealingwithArianaGrandeorDagiBeeandtheyonlygottoseeoneoftheeightdifferentscreenshots.Here,alloftheseconditionsweremergedintoonesurveyonlyforthesakeofconvenience.Dearparticipant, thank you for takingpart in this research,whichwill helpmegraduate from theUniversity of Twente! The study deals with the perception of Instagram posts and it will takeapproximately5-10minutestofill inthesurvey.Atfirstyouwillgettoseeashortdescriptionofaperson, followed by an Instagram post of that respective person. I kindly ask you to read thedescription and look at the post really carefully before you proceed to answer the subsequentquestions.Thesurveywillendwithacoupleofdemographicquestions.Yourdatawillbeprocessedanonymously;participationisvoluntaryandyoucanwithdrawfromtheresearchatanygiventime.Ifyouhaveanyquestions,pleasefeelfreetocontactmevian.l.ewers@student.utwente.nl.Kindregards,NoraEwersm IunderstandtheinformationaboveandagreetoparticipateinthestudyAreyoufamiliarwithDagiBee/ArianaGrande?m Yesm NoDisplayThisQuestion: If“AreyoufamiliarwithDagiBee/ArianaGrande?”YesIsSelectedIfindDagiBee/ArianaGrande

1 2 3 4 5

unattractive m m m m m attractive

notclassy m m m m m classy

ugly m m m m m beautiful

elegant m m m m m plain

Notsexy m m m m m sexy DisplayThisQuestion:If“AreyoufamiliarwithDagiBee/ArianaGrande?”YesIsSelectedIconsiderDagiBee/ArianaGrandeas

1 2 3 4 5

undependable m m m m m dependable

dishonest m m m m m honest

unreliable m m m m m reliable

sincere m m m m m insincere

untrustworthy m m m m m trustworthy

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DisplayThisQuestion:If“AreyoufamiliarwithDagiBee/ArianaGrande?”YesIsSelectedIconsiderDagiBee/ArianaGrandeas

1 2 3 4 5

notanexpert m m m m m anexpert

inexperienced m m m m m experienced

unknowledgeable m m m m m knowledgeable

qualified m m m m m unqualified

skilled m m m m m unskilledPleasereadthefollowingdescriptioncarefullyandfollowtheinstructionsonthenextpage.DagiBeeisaGermanYouTuber.Since2012sheproducesanduploadsvideosonherownYouTubechannel.Mostofthevideosdealwithanythingaroundbeauty,fashionandlifestyle./ArianaGrandeisanAmericanactressandsinger.ShehasbeenpartofaBroadwayplay,severalTVproductionsandmusicals.In2011,shesignedarecordcontractandhasreleased3albumssincethen.Atthispointthestimulusmaterialwasshowntoparticipants.ThiscanbefoundinAppendixB.IkindlyaskyoutoimaginethatyoufollowDagiBee/ArianaGrandeonInstagramandwhilebrowsingthrough the news feed you see the following post. Please look at the post really carefully as thefollowingquestionswilldealwithwhatyouhaveseen.YouwillnowseeacoupleofgeneralstatementsabouttheInstagrampost.Pleaseindicatetowhatextentyou(dis)agreewitheachofthefollowingstatements.

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stronglydisagree disagree

neitherdisagreenor

agreeagree strongly

agree

DagiBee/ArianaGrande

indicatedthatthepostwassponsored.

m m m m m

Thecaptionofthepost

containedthehashtag

#sponsored.

m m m m m

DagiBee/ArianaGrandewascompensatedbythebrandforcreatingthispost.

m m m m m

TheInstagrampostwas

advertising.m m m m m

InthepostDagi

Bee/ArianaGrandeshares

herownpersonalopinion.

m m m m m

ThebrandVelvetypaid

DagiBee/ArianaGrandetopublishthis

post.

m m m m m

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Pleaseindicatetowhatextentyou(dis)agreewitheachofthefollowingstatements.

stronglydisagree disagree

neitherdisagreenor

agreeagree stronglyagree

DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisfamous.

m m m m m

DagiBeeisknownforher

YouTubevideos/

Amongotherthings,ArianaGrandeisknownforsinging.

m m m m m

DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisunknown.

m m m m m

DagiBee/ArianaGrandeisacelebrity.

m m m m m

Pleaseindicatetowhatextentyou(dis)agreewitheachofthefollowingstatements.

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stronglydisagree disagree

neitherdisagreenor

agreeagree stronglyagree

TheproductDagi

Bee/ArianaGrandewasreferringtowasvisibleinthepicture.

m m m m m

DagiBee/ArianaGrande

showedtheproductshewasreferring

to.

m m m m m

DagiBee/ArianaGrandewasholdingalipbalminher

hand.

m m m m m

ThelipbalmDagi

Bee/ArianaGrandewasreferringtocouldnotbeseeninthepicture.

m m m m m

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PleasestateyourpersonalopinionaboutDagiBeebelow.IfindDagiBee/ArianaGrande

1 2 3 4 5

unattractive m m m m m attractive

notclassy m m m m m classy

ugly m m m m m beautiful

elegant m m m m m plain

Notsexy m m m m m sexyIconsiderDagiBee/ArianaGrandeas

1 2 3 4 5

undependable m m m m m dependable

dishonest m m m m m honest

unreliable m m m m m reliable

sincere m m m m m insincere

untrustworthy m m m m m trustworthyIconsiderDagiBee/ArianaGrandeas

1 2 3 4 5

notanexpert m m m m m anexpert

inexperienced m m m m m experienced

unknowledgeable m m m m m knowledgeable

qualified m m m m m unqualified

skilled m m m m m unskilledThestatementsbelowrefertothecaptionaswellasyouroverallimpressionoftheInstagrampost.Again,pleaseindicatetowhatextentyou(dis)agreewitheachofthestatements

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ThestatementDagiBee/ArianaGrandemakesinherInstagrampostis

stronglydisagree disagree

neitherdisagreenor

agreeagree strongly

agree

credible m m m m m convincing m m m m m honest m m m m m

questionable m m m m m authentic m m m m m trustworthy m m m m m reasonable m m m m m plausible m m m m m

InmyopiniontheInstagrampostis

1 2 3 4 5

good m m m m m bad

unfavorable m m m m m favorable

unpleasant m m m m m pleasant

negative m m m m m positiveThenextpartisaboutthebrandVelvety.InmyopinionthebrandVelvetyis

1 2 3 4 5

unappealing m m m m m appealing

bad m m m m m good

likable m m m m m unlikable

pleasant m m m m m unpleasant

favorable m m m m m unfavorable

expensive m m m m m cheap

alowqualitybrand m m m m m ahighqualitybrand

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ThenexttimeyouneedtobuyalipbalmwouldyouchoosealipbalmfromVelvety?

1 2 3 4 5

unlikely m m m m m likely

possible m m m m m impossible

definitely m m m m m never

certainlynot m m m m m certainlyyes

Towhatextentdoyou(dis)agreewiththefollowingstatements?

stronglydisagree disagree

neitherdisagreenor

agreeagree stronglyagree

Iliketouselipbalm. m m m m m

Usinglipbalmisimportant

tome.m m m m m

Idislikewhenmylipsfeelrough.

m m m m m

Whenmylipsfeelrough,Ifeeltheneedtouselipbalm.

m m m m m

NowIwouldliketoaskyoutoanswerthefollowingquestionsaboutyourself.Whatisyourgender?m Malem FemaleHowoldareyou?Whatisyournationality?m Germanm Dutchm Other:____________________

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Whatisyourhighestlevelofeducation(completed)?m SecondarySchoolm Bachelor´sdegreem Master´sdegreem Apprenticeship/Berufsausbildung/Beroepsopleidingm Other:____________________DoyouhaveanInstagramaccount?m Yesm NoAlmostdone!PleasenotethattheInstagrampostwasdesignedonlyforthepurposeofthisresearchandisnotbasedonanexistingpostfromDagiBee/ArianaGrande!Furthermore,Velvetyisafictivebrand.Beforeyouclosethewindowpleaseclickon>>onemoretimeinorderforyouranswerstobesubmitted.Thankyouforyourparticipation!

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AppendixB–Stimulusmaterial

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