Abstract
The impact of social media influencers (SMIs) on brand-related outcomes has been well researched, yet whether this influence also impacts political participation and what role the relationship between SMIs and their audiences play has not been sufficiently examined to date. Basing this study on the Balance Model, I investigated the potential of an unlikely vs. a likely source and the role of similarity with a SMI based on a shared topic interest to elicit the intention for political action in an experimental study (n = 222). The perceived similarity with the SMI was examined as a mediator and the role of the shared topic interest with the SMI as a potential moderator. The results indicate that a likely source for political information generated a greater topic fit. The perceived similarity with the source depended on the shared topic interest between the source and the participants. This is a key finding, as perceived similarity with the source in turn predicted the intention to take political action, which positively activated participants who shared the topic interest of the unlikely source even if they did not indicate a topic interest in politics. Thus, a shared interest with a SMI might make even those not interested in politics more open to political participation.
Article Note
I offer an OSF link of the data, so additional comparisons and analyses can be conducted: https://osf.io/6wgx4/?view_only=f41a0064cb7d43c0bbc188aa59498143.
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|
Topic fit |
Perceived similarity |
Intention to take political action |
||||
|
Mean |
SD |
Mean |
SD |
Mean |
SD |
|
|
Likely source |
5.44 |
1.44 |
3.66 |
1.41 |
3.97 |
1.82 |
|
Unlikely source |
4.71 |
1.77 |
3.38 |
1.56 |
3.71 |
1.75 |
|
F(1, 219) = 11.65 p = .001 η² = .05 |
F(1, 219) = 1.92 p = .168 η² = .01 |
F(1, 219) = 1.09 p = .298 η² = .01 |
||||
Note. N = 221; F(3, 217) = 4.13, p = 0.007; Pillai’s V = .05, η² = .05.
|
Variables |
Perceived similarity |
Intention to take political action |
||
|
b |
SE |
b |
SE |
|
|
Unlikely source vs. Likely source |
–0.07 |
0.18 |
0.23 |
0.20 |
|
Topic importance cooking |
0.13+ |
0.07 |
0.06 |
0.08 |
|
Topic importance politics |
0.21* |
0.09 |
0.39*** |
0.10 |
|
Gender female |
–0.01 |
0.19 |
0.30 |
0.21 |
|
Instagram use frequency |
0.08* |
0.03 |
0.07* |
0.04 |
|
Topic fit |
0.22*** |
0.06 |
0.38*** |
0.07 |
|
Unlikely source * Topic interest cooking |
0.24* |
0.10 |
–0.04 |
0.11 |
|
Unlikely source * Topic interest politics |
–0.30* |
0.13 |
–0.02 |
0.14 |
|
Perceived similarity |
0.24** |
0.07 |
||
|
Explained variance |
.23 |
.39 |
||
Note. Macro PROCESS 3, Model 10 with 1,000 bootstrap sample; N = 221; Likely source condition (i. e., environmentalist) inserted as a reference group.
*** p < .001; ** p < .01; * p < .05
Unlikely Source vs. Likely Source → Perceived Similarity →Intention to take political action
|
Topic interest politics |
Topic interest cooking |
b |
SE |
LLCI |
ULCI |
|
–1 SD |
–1 SD |
–0.03 |
0.09 |
–0.20 |
0.15 |
|
–1 SD |
M |
0.12 |
0.07 |
–0.01 |
0.28 |
|
–1 SD |
+1 SD |
0.21 |
0.10 |
0.04 |
0.44 |
|
M |
–1 SD |
–0.15 |
0.08 |
–0.31 |
–0.02 |
|
M |
M |
0.01 |
0.05 |
–0.10 |
0.10 |
|
M |
+1 SD |
0.09 |
0.08 |
–0.03 |
0.27 |
|
+1 SD |
–1 SD |
–0.25 |
0.11 |
–0.46 |
–0.05 |
|
+1 SD |
M |
–0.11 |
0.08 |
–0.27 |
0.04 |
|
+1 SD |
+1 SD |
–0.01 |
0.09 |
–0.20 |
0.19 |
Visualization of the Balance Model based on Russell and Stern, 2006, p. 8.
Conceptual Model.
Account overview for each source condition.
Example post for each source condition.
Target post for each source condition.
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