| Abstract [eng] |
138 pages, 17 tables, 6 figures, 191 references. The main objective of this master thesis is to identify the different types of congruence (between influencer-consumer-brand) and the moderating influence of consumers' personal factors (fear of missing out and hedonic motivation) on the intention to buy a brand promoted by an influencer. The thesis consists of three main parts: the literature review, the empirical study and its results, conclusions and suggestions. The literature review provides an overview of influencer marketing. It reviews the theories explaining the research design and consumer behaviour in influencer marketing - cognitive dissonance, congruence, balance and planned behaviour theories. The influence of the types of congruence between consumer-influencer, consumer-brand and influencer-brand is discussed. The selected personal factors of the consumer - fear of missing out and hedonic motivation - are reviewed. After analysing the literature and designing the research methodology, the author conducted a pilot study that revealed the brand's (mis)congruence with the influencer, and then developed a questionnaire that aimed to determine how the types of congruence between consumer-influencer-brand and the consumer's personal factors, such as the fear of missing out and the hedonic motivation, affect the intention to buy the influencers advertised brand. As a methodological instrument for collecting data a questionnaire-based, online survey was used in the paper with 276 respondents. The results of the study showed that the congruence between the consumer and the influencer has a positive impact on the consumer's perceived behavioural control, attitude towards the brand and subjective norms. The consumer-brand congruence has a positive effect on the consumer's attitude towards the brand promoted by the influencer and on the consumer's subjective norms, whereas no significant effect was found between the consumer's perceived behavioural control and this type of congruence. It was also found that the congruence between the influencer and the brand has a positive effect on the consumer's attitude towards the brand promoted by the influencer. Subjective norms were found to have a stronger positive influence on purchase intention than attitudes towards the brand, and in this case perceived behavioural control had no significant influence on purchase intention. In terms of moderating factors, hedonic motivation was found to have a negative influence on the relationship between brand attitude, perceived behavioural control and intention to buy the brand promoted by the influencer. Conversely, fear of missing out negatively moderates the relationship between subjective norms, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0.0.0 was used to calculate the results of the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data, Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated to test the reliability of the scales, which showed that all the selected constructs were reliable, and regression and moderation analyses were used to confirm the hypotheses. Based on the literature analysis and the results of the study, the paper concludes with conclusions and recommendations for both further research on the topic and for business organisations that would benefit from considering the results of this study. |
