CONGRUENCE BETWEEN ENERGY DRINK BRANDS AND ENDORSERS:

The effect of congruence on influencer credibility, brand attitudes, and consumer

willingness to purchase

Venla Virolainen

International Business
Bachelor's Thesis

Supervisor: Srdan Zdravkovic

Date of approval: 3 April 2023

Aalto University
School of Business
Bachelor´s Program in International Business
Mikkeli Campus
AALTO UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT OF
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS BACHELOR’S THESIS
Mikkeli Campus

Author: Venla Virolainen

Title of thesis: Congruence between energy drink brands and endorsers: The
effect of congruence on influencer credibility, brand attitudes, and consumer
willingness to purchase
Date: 3 April 2023
Degree: Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration
Supervisor: Srdan Zdravkovic
Objectives
The main objective of the study was to investigate whether the congruence
between an energy drink brand and an influencer affected the effectiveness of
the marketing strategy of an energy drink brand. Moreover, the study
investigated how the perceived congruence between the energy drink brand
and an endorser affected influencer credibility, consumer attitudes towards the
promoted products, and willingness to purchase.

Summary
Social media influencer marketing has become a popular phenomenon among
energy drink brands as it has been discovered a very effective way to promote
products. However, to make the marketing strategy the most effective, brands
need to work with congruent influencers having similar characteristics and
mindset as the endorsed brand.

Conclusions
It was found that a highly congruent influencer brand fit scenario led to higher
influencer credibility as well as consumer attitudes towards the brand.
Despite high credibility of an influencer was expected to indicate better
purchase intentions among customers, there was no significant evidence that
the highly fitting scenario led to better purchase intentions among the
respondents.
Key words: Marketing, social media, social media influencers, congruence,
energy drinks, advertising, purchase intention, influencer credibility
Language: English
Grade:
 AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS OUTLINE
Bachelor´s Program in International Business Bachelor’s Thesis
Mikkeli Campus

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background of Energy Drinks .......................................................................................... 1
1.2. Research Problem ............................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Research Objectives and Questions ............................................................................... 2
2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................3
2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3
2.2. Two-way Social Media ........................................................................................................ 4
2.2.1. Social Media Marketing .............................................................................................. 5
2.2.2. Influencer Marketing on Social Media ..................................................................... 6
2.2.3. Sponsorship on Social Media ................................................................................... 9
2.3. Influencer Brand Fit .......................................................................................................... 11
2.3.1. Consumer Brand Relationship................................................................................ 13
2.3.2. Influencer Credibility................................................................................................. 14
2.3.3. Consumer Purchasing Behavior ............................................................................ 15
2.3.4. Electronic Word of Mouth ........................................................................................ 17
2.4. Conceptual framework ..................................................................................................... 18
2.5. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 19
3. METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................................................20
3.1. Research Method and Data Collection .......................................................................... 20
3.2. Research Design ............................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1. Pre-test ........................................................................................................................ 21
3.2.2. Survey Design and Data Collection ....................................................................... 22
4. DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS ........................................................................................23
4.1. Respondent Demographics............................................................................................. 23
4.2. Reliability analysis ............................................................................................................ 26
 4.3. Manipulation of Conditions ............................................................................................. 29
4.4. Regression Analysis ......................................................................................................... 30
4.4.1. Individual Measures as Predictors of Brand Attitudes ...................................... 31
4.4.2. Credibility as a Predictor of Brand Attitudes ....................................................... 33
4.4.3. Individual Measures as Predictors of Purchase Intention ................................. 34
4.4.4. Credibility as a predictor of Purchase Intention .................................................. 36
5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS .........................................................................................37
6. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................40
6.1. Main Findings..................................................................................................................... 40
6.2. Implications for International Business ........................................................................ 41
6.3. Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 42
6.4. Suggestions for future research .................................................................................... 43
7. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................44
8. APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................50
 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of Energy Drinks

Nowadays when brands are increasingly working more with social media influencers, the
congruence between a brand and an influencer has become very important for brands’
marketing strategies. To support this statement, previous research has shown how higher
levels of congruence between a brand and an influencer can positively lead to higher
levels of brand trust, credibility, and purchase intention. On the other hand, influencers
endorsing too many products or being involved in negative events can affect the attitudes
towards the endorser also negatively. (Jin & Phua, 2014)

The congruence between a brand and an influencer applies to any products advertised
by celebrities or influencers, and this research aims to focus on the congruence between
an energy drink brand and an influencer. The energy drink industry has experienced
exponential growth since the first introduction of energy drinks in Austria in 1987 by Red
Bull (Buchanan et al., 2018) and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate
of 8,3% from 2022 to 2030 (Grand view research, 2018). According to Grand view
research (2018), these energy drinks have been marketed as functional beverages
boosting consumer physical and cognitive performance, and the consumption has been
connected to various situations such as working, exercising, or doing free time activities.

According to Buchanan et al. (2018), energy drinks are nonalcoholic beverages or dietary
supplements that contain stimulants such as caffeine, taurine, sugar or artificial
sweeteners, and other ingredients such as vitamins or minerals depending on the
product. To increase popularity, companies have developed unique combinations of
ingredients to control both the taste as well as the intensity of the energy boost provided
by the beverages (Hutak et al., 2022). These beverages fulfil the demand for instant
hydration offering nutrients for the well-functioning of the body and therefore are preferred
over other soft drinks by consumers.

Despite the popularity of energy drinks, their consumption has been a health concern
among children, adolescents, and young adults as they may contain several health

1
problems such as dental, cardiovascular, and neurological issues (Alsumni, 2015; Racheli
et al., 2015). To address the health concerns regarding energy drink consumption as
some of these beverages may include lots of sugar and calories, companies have
launched both sugar-free and low-calorie energy drinks (Grand view research, 2018).
These beverages have become especially trendy among people preferring healthier
options for energy drinks and athletes. Energy drinks are nowadays strongly related to
sports, and many athletes work as ambassadors for energy drink brands. The energy
drink culture is very much present in sports as exercising may require a lot of physical as
well as mental strength, and these functional drinks can give them extra boost whenever
needed.

1.2. Research Problem

As brands are increasingly using endorsers to promote their products on social media,
influencer marketing has become a very essential part of companies’ marketing
strategies. To make marketing the most effective, companies must be working with right
influencers to ensure that there is a good fit between the influencer and the brand (Jin &
Phua, 2014). Based on prior studies, this research also proposes that the right fit between
an influencer and a brand increases positive attitudes and purchase intentions towards
the promoted products and brands. Even though social media influencers, sponsorship,
and consumer decision-making process have been extensively researched, this research
takes different influencer characteristics into account to analyze what kind of influencers
work best for a specific energy drink brand. This study aims to measure the congruence
between energy drink brands and endorsers as well as to analyze the effects of
congruence by comparing two completely different scenarios. Consequently, the
perceived influencer credibility and consumer attitudes towards purchasing products will
be measured.

1.3. Research Objectives and Questions

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The objective of the study is to examine whether an influencer endorsing a highly
congruent energy drink brand is more effective and considered more credible in endorsing
the brand than another influencer endorsing a less congruent brand. Topics such as the
congruence between a brand and an influencer, influencers’ credibility, consumer-brand
relationships, and consumer purchase-decision making will be covered in the literature
review section forming a basis for this research. The literature review will be followed by
a survey examining the validity of the brand influencer fit as well as influencer credibility
and consumer willingness to purchase. Finally, the results of the study are discussed
along with limitations and suggestions for future research.

The three research questions for this study are:

RQ1: How does the brand personality determine what type of influencers they collaborate
with?

RQ2: How well does the energy drink brand personality and characteristics match with
an influencer promoting their products on social media?

RQ3: How does the perceived fit affect influencer credibility and consumer attitudes
towards the brand?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

The purpose of this literature review is to connect the current research to a larger existing
knowledge about what is already known about the topic. This literature review will focus
on analysing previous research about social media influencers and branding as well as
factors affecting consumer decision-making. Many recent studies have focused on social
media influencers and how their content influences the consumer decision-making
processes, while this research focuses on different influencers having different
characteristics, and how the congruence affects attitudes towards the influencers as well
as consumer decision-making. There is not much research done regarding the influencer

3
brand congruence in the energy drink industry, and this type of research is important as
energy drinks use social media influencers and these platforms very actively to advertise
their products.

The literature review will begin by explaining briefly what social media marketing and
different social media influencers are. Secondly, the literature review will analyse
congruence between a brand and an endorser as well as its effects on consumer attitudes
and purchase intentions. The literature review will be concluded with a conceptual
framework that will guide this research forward.

2.2. Two-way Social Media

According to Valencia (2022), traditional media refers to traditional methods of mass

communication including both print and broadcast media. Newspapers, magazines, and
books are considered as print media whereas television and radio as broadcast media.
One of the main characteristics of traditional media is one-way communication, meaning
that the content is primarily controlled by the sender with no feedback from the receiver
(Al-Quran, 2022).

Developments in technology have allowed new and better forms of media to emerge over
the past years posting great challenges to these old traditional media outlets (Al-Quran,
2022). New media that is mainly driven by user-generated content has begun to displace
traditional media in terms of how consumers learn and consume products and services,
and therefore, social media represents a popular trend that should be of interest to
companies especially operating online (Dewan & Ramaprasad, 2014).

According to Al-Quran (2022), social media refers to digital technology that enables users
to share information simultaneously across different platforms and has become one of
the most significant new media sources today. Moreover, it has become a very essential
marketing and advertising tool for many companies over the past decades as it provides
various new and unique ways to connect and reach out to targeted audiences. The
increased use of new media has overtaken traditional media channels causing a decline

4
in both print readership numbers and television viewing (Jung & Im, 2020; Al-Quran,
2022).

Al-Quran (2022) highlights that the main difference between traditional and social media
is that while traditional media operates as a one-way marketing communication where
information flows from the sender to the recipient without any response from the recipient,
social media on the other hand, operates as a two-way communication channel allowing
recipients to provide feedback to the sender. There are several advantages of using social
media over traditional media as it is less expensive, creates more interaction between the
users, has the potential to achieve higher global reach, and can target specific groups or
individuals (Al-Quran, 2022, Yoon & Kim, 2001).

2.2.1. Social Media Marketing

According to Khan (2014), marketing mix is one of the most important concepts of
marketing that involves all the tools a company utilizes in creating a desired response in
the target market. Khan (2014) refers to promotion being a very important part of market
communication that can be achieved by doing various activities such as personal selling,
advertising, direct marketing, and sponsorship. Khan (2014) highlights how promotion is
a very important part of the marketing mix as it helps to create awareness of different
products, provides information, persuades target customers of the advantages of the
products as well as encourages customers to make purchases. That said, the purpose of
promotion is to influence consumers’ way of thinking, appeal to their emotions, as well as
to influence their purchasing. These types of product advertisements can be delivered in
through individual salespeople, tv, internet, magazines, and social media.

Several studies conducted in the past have remarkably noticed the importance of social
media for different businesses and people today. There has been a strong switch from
using traditional media to online advertising on different social media platforms such as
Instagram and TikTok especially among Generation Z, referring to people succeeding
millennials (Haenlein et al., 2020). According to Haenlein et al. (2020), the switch can be
explained as instead of watching TV or listening to the radio, Generation Z watches Netflix

5
or listen to Spotify. The increased use of online social media platforms was discovered
by Statista (2022), as young adults belonging to Generation Z, spent an average of three
hours per day on social media compared to Millennials spending 2,25 hours and Gen X
spending 1,5 hours per day on social media platforms.

According to Haenlein et al. (2020), TikTok and Instagram tend to stand out among the
other popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as having significantly
attracted the youngest user base compared to the other mediums. The study reveals that
60% of Instagram users are under 34 years old, and nearly 40% of TikTok users in the
United States are between 10 and 19 years old. Due to the young customer base, the
platforms can engage users with different, new forms of communication. The new media
outlets, mainly referring to the internet and social media, offer consumers more
accessible, useful, and engaging information very easily compared to the traditional
media, referring to forms of print and broadcast media, including newspapers, magazines,
books, television, and radio (Al-Quran, 2022). For example, Instagram and TikTok can
provide users with more engaging content including stories and videos in addition to
traditional photos, making these platforms highly suitable for influencer marketing
(Haenlein et al., 2020). As a result of convenience, companies are increasingly starting
to employ social media influencers to market their products and services more efficiently.

Hanaysha (2022) mentions in his research paper how the growth in mobile devices has
allowed social media sites to emerge and become very convenient for the customer. He
highlights how consumers have increased their interest towards looking for information
about brands and products online through social media. Overall, social media has
become a very popular place for companies as well as for customers to increase
awareness and search for information about any brand or product.

2.2.2. Influencer Marketing on Social Media

Ohanian’s (1991) study regarding source credibility discovered that celebrity endorsers
who were perceived as experts in promoting specific products were considered more

6
persuasive, resulting in more positive brand attitudes among consumers compared to
noncelebrity endorsers. Previous literature also has found celebrities featuring
advertisements to both capture consumer attention better and to generate higher
intentions to try and purchase the promoted products (Sliburyte, 2009). This is mainly due
to their professional achievements and fame, which can have a boosting effect on
celebrities’ credibility leading to greater influence on customers.

Traditionally, actors, athletes, singers, and models have been considered typical celebrity
endorsers. However, since the rise of social media, it has become a common
phenomenon that ordinary people can also become influential and famous people (Zhang
& Wei, 2021). Nowadays, influencer marketing and social media are closely related to
each other’s, as influencers rely on various social media platforms for visibility and
exposure, and most of the platforms offer them opportunities for that (Haenlein et al.,
2020).

Influencer marketing is a strategy used by advertisers and brands where they collaborate
with popular social media users to promote their products and brand messages (Alassani
& Göretz, 2019; Fermenia-Serra & Gretzel, 2019; Kim, 2021; Wies et al., 2022). Influencer
marketing has seen rapid growth over the past years due to its perceived credibility as a
more natural and less invasive form of advertising compared to traditional ads (Boerman
& Willemsen, 2017; Haenlein et al., 2020). It allows consumers to identify themselves with
the influencers and therefore, view them as more relatable than traditional celebrities.
This often leads to stronger parasocial interaction with influencers having a positive
impact on consumers’ decision-making (Kim, 2021). According to Haenlein et al. (2020),
celebrities such as footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and singer Selena Gomez as well as
social media stars Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian all have over 100 million followers
on social mediums, while other popular social media persons such as the dancer Charli
d’Amelio, singer Loren Grey and filmmaker Zach King have all more than 40 million
followers on TikTok. As an example, the TikTok star, Charlie d’Amelio became famous
by going viral on TikTok only in 2019 and is one of the most influential people on the
internet nowadays.

7
Supporting the rapid growth of influencer marketing, the industry has grown from 1,7
billion to 16,7 billion industry between 2016 and 2022 has more than doubled over the
past few years (Santora, 2023; Statista, 2022). The industry has become very important
for firms, especially operating in business-to-consumer environments as brands are
interested in creating more and more personal connections with their customers (Chavla,
2022).

Abidin (2018) explains how social media influencers represent celebrities who often make
their living by posting content on the internet. A crucial part of being an influencer is that
they are willing to share a significant part of their lives on social media, which also can
have its downsides (Haenlein et al., 2020). In principle, any ordinary person who does not
have a celebrity status beforehand can turn out to become a microcelebrity without any
special expertise. Typical characteristics of a microcelebrities are that they are usually
well known to a niche group of people, they present themselves as public personas, they
enjoy creating affective ties with their audience, and consider their followers as fans
(Marwick, 2017). These people usually have a large and engaged follower base of
between 10 and 100 thousand followers (Morais et al., 2019). Both Haenlein et al. (2020)
and Morais et al. (2019) state that influencers can also be athletes, singers, or celebrities
who have gained their popularity from somewhere else than on the platform itself.

Haenlein et al. (2020) refers to Cristiano Ronaldo being one of the world’s most-followed
people who has gained most of his popularity and followers from playing football,
however, being still an influencer due to his tremendous and engaged follower base.
According to Kim (2021), the most popular influencer’s fame is dependent on what they
do instead of what they are, and for that reason, influencers are operating in several
different areas from beauty to fitness. Therefore, an influencer can be anyone having an
interest towards sharing information about their lives and abilities to influence their
followers on the internet (Hu & Yao, 2021).

The large follower bases that influencers have can attract advertisers and marketers who
wish to collaborate with some of these influencers to spread positive word of mouth about
brand’s products (Haenlein et al., 2020). When looking for the perfect influencers to
endorse a product, brands must consider different types of influencers based on the

8
objectives of the campaigns. Both micro and macro influencers are used in raising
awareness among potential customers by brands. According to Alassani and Göretz
(2019), micro-influencers are experts in a specific area having thousands to tens of
thousands of followers on social mediums but still smaller than macro influencers whose
follower numbers are often in the six- and seven-digit rates making them very well-known
people. Due to the smaller follower bases, micro-influencers can usually engage and
influence their followers much better than macro-influencers as they also have fewer fans
to interact with.

Two studies conducted by Haenlein et al. (2020) and Wies et al. (2022) agree with
Alassani and Göretz’s (2019) study as they state that even though more popular
influencers have more followers and can reach larger audiences, smaller influencers can
still create closer and more meaningful relationships with their followers and consequently
lead to better purchase intentions. Another recent report discovered that large influencers
on Instagram had relatively small engagement rates compared to smaller influencers
operating on the same medium (Santora, 2022). On the other hand, the same study
conducted by Santora (2022) revealed that large TikTok influencers having more than 1
million followers surprisingly had the highest engagement rate being 13,70% while small
influencers had the lowest engagement rate being 12,43% on TikTok in 2021.

2.2.3. Sponsorship on Social Media

Gur et al. (2021) highlight in their research paper how sponsorship has been a very
profitable marketing strategy with the main goal to spread awareness and recognition of
a brand. According to them, these contract-based marketing agreements usually have
consisted of a firm paying money or value-in-kind products or services to associate their
brand with an organization, event or individual. Large sponsoring partnerships especially
in sports can be very advantageous for companies as they get a significant amount of
visibility at a sports venue, on TV and online. Additionally, when a company sponsors an
athlete or a sports club, it is possible to create a strong connection between the sponsor
and the athlete, and the brand will often be emotionalized. This means that fans can

9
transfer their positive associations about an athlete to the brand as well as raise
awareness of the brand (Infront, 2022).

According to Boerman and Willemsen (2017), spreading commercial content on social

media through influencers has become very appealing to brands as they can send
commercial messages directly or indirectly without it being directly recognized as an
advertisement. This is a clever strategy as marketers have noticed a decrease in
consumers’ trusting perceptions about traditional advertising, and consumers have
become increasingly wary of these companies’ believability (Boerman & Willemsen).
Sponsored content, also referred to as native advertising (Kay et al., 2020), refers to
promotional messages social media influencers post on their channels besides their
ordinary content and non-commercial updates. These sponsored posts often follow great
similarity regarding the format and style of their usual posts, and therefore, it has become
very difficult for a consumer to tell the difference between sponsored content created by
the brands and content created by ordinary users (Boerman and Willemsen, 2017; Hu
and Yao, 2021).

Marketing on social media through influencers enables companies to market their brands
without customers necessarily noticing it as an advertisement (Alassani & Göretz, 2019).
Not being able to distinguish whether an ad is commercial or not can influence how
consumers react to a message they see online as advertisements can also be confused
with word of mouth if they are not properly disclosed. Additionally, it has been discovered
that sponsorship disclosure may result in negative brand attitudes and a reduction in
intention in word of mouth (Kay et al., 2020).

As a result of native advertising, regulatory and policy changes are requiring social media
influencers to disclose their sponsored content to their followers (Kay et al., 2020). To
protect consumers from misleading practices and help them to recognize any sponsored
content, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has set up regulations to disclose any
advertising on social media (Boerman & Willemsen, 2017). Also, the European
Parliament states that the Consumer Rights Directive applies to influencers acting as
sellers online giving them obligations to disclose information to customers (European
Parliament, 2022). Additionally, Stubb et al. (2019), highlight how YouTube’s ad policies

10
state that creators and brands are required to disclose any sponsored content promoted
on channels.

A study done by Kim (2021) revealed how consumers perceive a heightened social
presence by being exposed to influencers’ daily life updates and personal stories,
additionally blurring the line between paid content and ordinary updates. Consumers are
less likely to see paid partnerships as advertisements, decreasing the negative
perceptions and purchase intent of the brand. Furthermore, consumers are more likely to
connect psychologically with influencers they like and consider sponsored content more
favourable as they see influencers as role models (Kim, 2021). On the other hand, Kim
(2021) highlights how sponsorship disclosure might have a negative impact on brand
attitudes and influencer credibility.

Hudders et al. (2020) discovered that consumers engaged better, indicating more positive
attitudes towards sponsored posts made by an influencer compared to the official brand
posts. Their research paper covered several characteristics and aspects that affected the
persuasiveness of the sponsored content stating that influencer trustworthiness,
attractiveness, similarity, and likability all affected the followers’ trust regarding the
sponsored content. This was also supported by Jung and Im (2021) stating that when
consumers had a positive attitude towards an influencer, the same attitude was likely to
be transformed into the product that had been promoted. Overall, the trust and credibility
of an influencer affected the attitudes towards the sponsored products, and if consumers
believed that an influencer was honest, it also reflected positively towards the
advertisement (Jung & Im, 2021).

2.3. Influencer Brand Fit

Kim and Kim (2021) refer congruence being the degree of similarity between two objects
or activities. They highlight how the congruity principle emphasizes that congruent
information is more easily recalled and preferred over incongruent information, which
results in greater activation and accessibility of attitude in memory. Kim and Kim (2021)
also mention the importance of congruence between the endorser and the product as it
11
has been proved to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisement as well as product
evaluation in line with earlier studies (Hunt, 1998; Till & Busler 2000). Additionally,
Belance et al. (2021) points out how consumer’s positive attitudes towards products
influences positively customer’s behavioural intentions such as willingness to purchase,
recommend the product to other customers or to pay premium prices.

A study done by Kamins and Gupta (1944) examined the congruence between a
spokesperson and a product, and they discovered that increased congruence between
the spokesperson and a product increased the believability and attractiveness of the
spokesperson as well as indicated more favourable brand attitudes. According to
Haenlein et al. (2020), a common issue among influencers is that they partner easily with
too many brands in which some of which are not as suitable for the influencer’s image.
Brands partnering with influencers who are unable to deliver the message to the right
target audience can lead to a very ineffective marketing campaign.

According to Sammut-Bonnichi (2015), a brand is defined as tangible and intangible

attributes that distinguish it from competitors and is recognizable by potential customers.
Brand personality, on the other hand, is a concept that has been discovered already in
the 1950s, however, a more accurate definition was developed in 1997 by Jennifer Aaker.
After the development of the concept, brand personality has been able to gain strength
and importance in marketing research. According to Aaker (1997), brand personality
refers to human characteristics associated with a brand image and identity. She highlights
that the symbolic use of brands is used to satisfy brands with human personality traits,
and therefore, consumers might think about brands if they were celebrities or historical
figures.

Brand personality can be spread either indirectly using the brand name and logo or
directly using influencers or brand ambassadors (Yanhui et al., 2020). To communicate
most efficiently and authentically, the influencer’s characteristics and personality traits
must match with the endorsed brand. Till and Busler (2000) agree with other studies that
endorsers are more effective when there is a good fit between the endorser and endorsed
product. Belance et al. (2021) mention how congruity theory aims to explain changes in
attitudes due to search for congruence. This can be noticed when a consumer likes a

12
specific influencer who likes a particular product, the consumer will most likely feel that
they need to like that product too. Partnering with endorsers who are perceived as being
like the consumers regarding their appearance concerning their cultural background,
values or demographics has been discovered to increase the effectiveness of advertising
(Munnukka et al., 2016). Kim and Kim (2020) also discovered that a great product-
influencer fit does not only foster more positive product attitudes but also reduced
consumers’ perceptions that the promotion is advertising.

When influencers promote products that align with the desired image they hope to convey
to their audience, and if these consumers encounter these endorsements on social
media, it is likely to create positive links between the consumers and promoted products
(Belanche et al., 2021). This leads to the assumption that high congruence between an
influencer and a product should lead the consumer to evaluate the promoted products
more positively (Breves et al., 2019). Additionally, Llanos (2022) mention in his research
paper how the great congruence between consumer and brand characteristic will
additionally lead to a more positive evaluation of the brand compared to when there is
incongruence. That said, people buy products from brands that are like their own
characteristics, for example, consumers valuing exclusivity and elegance will prefer
brands with these characteristics (Llanos, 2022).

2.3.1. Consumer Brand Relationship

Hanaysha (2022) mentions in his paper how the growth in mobile devices and technology
has allowed social media sites to emerge and become very convenient for customers and
companies. He highlights how consumers have increasingly become interested in looking
for information about brands online through different social media channels. Maintaining
strong consumer-brand relationships and a positive image of their products online has
become very important for brands as people are relying on other people’s experiences.
According to Thellefsen and Sørensen (2015), influencers and celebrities can cause
important brand associations towards endorsed products and brands. These brand
associations are viewed as informational nodes that are linked to the brand node stored

13
in the consumer’s memory, representing the significance of a brand (Belén del Río et al.,
2001). Thellefsen and Sørensen (2015) use George Clooney and Nespresso as an
example of creating associations about a brand via a celebrity. Firstly, they noticed an
association of resemblance as both the brand and the celebrity are recognized
separately. Secondly, there is an association of congruity as both are recognized within
the same context. Finally, there is an association of interest as consumers may be willing
to buy Nespresso to imitate and obtain similar habits to what George Clooney
communicates.

Marketers are increasingly focusing on maintaining positive consumer-brand

relationships on social media to take an advantage of its interactive and engaging nature
(Hudson et al., 2016). A study done by Hanaysha (2022) concluded that social media has
provided a great place for companies to create brand trust with their customers as the
younger generations rely increasingly on social media and use different platforms
actively. Hudson et al. (2016) found that consumers who interact with their favourite
brands on social media have stronger relationships with those brands compared to
consumers who prefer not to engage with their favourite brands online. Therefore, the
correct relationship between an influencer and a brand is essential for building strong
connections. Having established a strong influencer-brand fit allows consumers to
increase their awareness and behavioural intentions towards a brand directly as well as
indirectly through the influencer’s created credibility and trustworthiness (Breves et al.,
2019).

Influencers who have a credible image as communicators are often believed to be

persuasive brand ambassadors (Breves et al., 2019). Therefore, positive word of mouth
and consistent branding can boost consumers’ perceptions and trust in a brand, however,
if consumers’ trust in a brand decreases, it can have a negative impact on their purchasing
decisions and vice versa. (Hanaysha, 2022)

2.3.2. Influencer Credibility

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According to Munnukka et al. (2016), the use of endorsers in advertisements is a common
practice for boosting the credibility and effectiveness of the message being conveyed. An
endorser can either be an ordinary person, or a popular influencer promoting and
enhancing the effectiveness of an advertisement. Celebrities are most often used as
endorsers as they can improve brand recognition and recall easily, however, they are not
always the most credible option. Munnukka et al. (2016) mentioned how Dove used
ordinary endorsers in one of their campaigns to promote a product in which none of the
women was a professional model or celebrity which improved the trustworthiness and
credibility of the campaign. The campaign was a success and gained a lot of attention.
Breves et al. (2019) agree with Munnukka et al. (2016) that the right fit between an
influencer and a product is essential for how their expertise and trustworthiness are
perceived by consumers. They discovered that having a strong fit between an influencer
and a brand can increase consumers’ attitudes and behavioural intentions both directly
and indirectly through the influence of the influencer’s perceived credibility.

The same study conducted by Breves et al. (2019) examined the relationship between an
influencer and the advertised brand using automobiles as an example. The study showed
that when the participants knew that the influencer liked and had actual knowledge about
automobiles, they considered them to be more trustworthy and credible. Consumers
should maintain an image that an influencer promotes a product because they enjoy using
it, not because of the compensation they get after having spread positive word of mouth
about it. Also selecting credible influencers and creating credible content is beneficial for
the brand’s image creating more positive associations between consumer attitudes and
their behavioural intentions (Breves et al., 2019). This indicates that influencers should
only promote brands and products that fit their area of expertise and interests to maintain
their authentic reputation and to create positive brand attitudes (Breves et al., 2019;
Evans et al., 2022).

2.3.3. Consumer Purchasing Behavior

15
Karimi et al. (2015) highlights how consumer purchase decision is defined as the
behavioural patterns of consumers who determine and follow a decision process that
included several stages before reaching the choice. The classic purchase behaviour
model includes the need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives,
purchase, and post-purchase stages. Also, Salem (2018), investigating consumer
purchasing behaviour and the elements behind decision-making states how the
consumer’s purchasing process involves a series of choices before making the purchase
decision. Based on his research, the decision-making process includes all the activities
from identifying the customer’s needs and generating options to selecting a certain
product and brand. According to Hanaysha (2022), a purchase decision has previously
been defined as a person’s decision to select a product introduced by a company over its
competitors.

According to his research, consumer purchase behaviour and purchase decision can be
influenced by several internal factors such as beliefs and attitudes, knowledge,
personality, perception, lifestyle, roles, and status. Additionally, consumer purchase
decisions can be influenced by external factors such as culture and social class. Also,
Park et al. (2021) state that there are several attributes affecting consumer decision-
making and behavioural intentions including gender, age, income, and education. The
purchase behaviour is usually formulated based on the customer’s previous experiences
with the product and perceptions about how well the product has satisfied the customer’s
needs (Hanaysha, 2022).

Hanaysha (2022) also found the importance of brand trust in predicting the customer’s
purchase decision. Maintaining trust in a brand is very important in preserving strong and
long-lasting relationships between customers and service providers. Moreover, the
results from his study indicated that social media interactions influence purchase
decision-making positively through brand trust. As consumers spend significant time with
virtual service providers, creating brand trust through social media has become very
important for companies.

16
2.3.4. Electronic Word of Mouth

Firms and consumers can easily share information about new products and their
experiences online with everyone due to the development of the internet and different
forums (Nguyen & Chaudhuri, 2019). This is why, brands are increasingly focusing on
gaining earned media, where consumers function as the main communication channels
when they talk about their experiences, rather than focusing on paid media (Hudson et
al., 2020; Nguyen & Chaudhuri, 2019).

This information sharing about products is often referred to as word of mouth, meaning
that consumers provide information about a specific product, service, or brand to other
consumers via online channels without any commercial implications (Rosario et al.,
2016). It has been researched that word of mouth and peer-to-peer communication
enables better spread of information and can therefore influence and increase product
adaption and sales as well as reduce uncertainty about an endorsed product (Apkinar &
Berger, 2017; Hudson et al., 2020). Fermenia-Serra and Gretzel (2019) in line with
Apiknar and Berger (2017) both agree on how companies have adopted this type of
marketing communication also due to it being a more affordable and effective way of
marketing.

The quick and easy spread of word of mouth can also have its downsides as research
has found that negative reviews have a stronger impact on sales than positive reviews
mainly because humans are more conscious about risks (Yin et al., 2016). Research
conducted by Ohlson, and Ahluwalia (2021) mentioned how past research suggests that
when consumers shared some of their experiences with a product or a brand, they were
usually negative. Spreading negative comments and reviews about a product typically
discourages other people from using that product, whereas spreading positive feedback
about a product usually encourages other people to use them as well.

The research done by Ohlson and Ahluwalia (2021) found that people might not express
their honest thoughts about a specific product as they may have intentions to think only
about themselves. Consumers might for example talk good things about poor products

17
that others would go through the same bad choices. However, the study found that
consumers involved in activities like this tent to feel guilty.

Nguyen and Chaudhuri (2019) mention how electronic word of mouth is easily spread on
several platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, where the information gets
shared among the members of a social network. Furthermore, anonymous consumers
tend to write about products on different forums and spread word of mouth about their
experiences. They also highlight how word of mouth helps consumers to choose the right
products as people share information and their experiences about specific products
consumers can reduce uncertainty about a product as well as reduce the perceived risk
of making an incorrect choice. This is also supported by Park et al. (2021) as they state
that consumers need information and opinions from others to increase their awareness
of a specific brand. Positive word of mouth is important, especially when introducing
innovations and products when the products have not established strong brand
associations yet to reduce the perceived performance and financial risk of a new product.
(Nguyen & Chaudhuri, 2019).

2.4. Conceptual framework

A significant amount of research regarding social media influencer marketing and

consumer purchasing behaviour have been conducted in the past, however, a study done
by Kumar et al. (2023) suggested future research to focus on investigating personality
attributes of influencers to construct a personality archetype and compare it to different
brands. Inspired by that, the focus of this study is to investigate how the perceived fit
between a brand and an influencer affects the credibility of the influencer, attitudes
towards the endorsed brand, and finally how it affects consumer willingness to purchase.
The conceptual framework (Figure 1) aims to explain how the congruence affects
influencer credibility, brand attitudes as well as consumer willingness to purchase
products promoted by social media influencers. The following three hypotheses were
created to help further guide this research.

18
H1: Influencer in good fit condition would be rated significantly higher in appropriateness
and the fit compared to the poor fit influencer.

H2: Congruence between an endorser and a brand will positively influence credibility of
the relationship.

H3: Credibility of the relationship will positively influence the dependent variables such as
consumer attitudes towards the brand and purchase intentions.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

2.5. Conclusion

The purpose of this literature review was to combine already existing literature regarding
social media, influencer marketing, and congruence between endorsers and brands to
form a basis for the research. The literature covered different aspects of social media,
social media influencers as well as factors affecting on consumer purchasing behaviour.
Additionally, the popularity of influencer marketing as brand’s marketing strategies were
highlighted in several of the research papers. The literature took a close look at
influencers, brands, and how congruence affected the credibility of an influencer, brand
attitudes as well as consumer decision-making. Finally, the conceptual framework, which
helps to guide this research successfully forward was introduced.

19
3. METHODOLOGY

The research design, chosen methods and the reasoning behind that will be discussed in
the following section. Additionally, the collection of the data and a proper analysis will be
conducted.

3.1. Research Method and Data Collection

The literature review gathered information from existing literature to get a comprehensive
understanding about social media influencer marketing. As shown on the conceptual
framework and the hypotheses presented, the focus of this study was on the congruence
between an influencer and a brand as well as its effects on influencer credibility and
consumer attitudes towards the endorsed products. Therefore, the dependent variable of
the study was the consumer intentions to purchase a promoted product.

To analyse the relationship between a brand and an endorser as well as to find answers
to research question 1 (RQ1), a comprehensive investigation of existing energy drink
brands and their ambassadors was conducted. This was conducted prior the pre-test that
investigated whether influencers having certain characteristics worked better in endorsing
specific brands than others.

A quantitative pre-test survey was conducted with a small sample (n=21) in a form of
online survey. Four fictional scenarios were created for the pre-test, with two of the
scenarios designed as highly fitting, and the two other scenarios as not fitting. The reason
for using fictional scenarios has been suggested in previous literature as it minimizes the
opportunity for unintended misleading associations (Till & Busler, 2000). The main
purpose of doing this pre-test was to investigate whether the fit between the influencer
and the brand was found being good or not as good. This was done prior conducting the
main study designed to find answers to research question 2 (RQ2).

Second, the main survey was created after the pre-test. The purpose of this
comprehensive survey was to compare the results of both scenarios (highly congruent

20
and incongruent scenarios) and to look for differences in credibility, consumer attitudes
and purchase intention between the scenarios to test the conceptual model. This
questionnaire was created to find answers to the research question 3 (RQ3).

3.2. Research Design

The following section will cover more deeply the research design of secondary data
analysis of existing energy drinks and their ambassadors as well as both quantitative
research methods.

3.2.1. Pre-test

Prior to the quantitative survey, information regarding existing energy drink brands as well
as influencers had been collected by looking at energy drink websites, Instagram pages
and other social mediums. Additionally, information about the brand ambassadors,
athletes and social media influencers had been searched to get a good understanding of
different brand associations, characteristics, and what kind of people different energy
drink brands worked with. The information about 13 different energy drink brands had
been gathered in Excel, and based on this collected information, four different fictional
scenarios were created to test the fit between the brand and an endorser in each scenario.

It was found that people who collaborated with brands such as Red Bull or Monster, were
highly involved in sports that involved speed, danger, excitement, and roughness. For
example, Red Bull has previously worked with Formula One drivers, alpine skiers, base
jumpers, and boulderers (www.redbull.com). All the athletes are all similar in a way that
they are all known, successful, fearless, and involved in extreme sports. Red Bull has a
very extreme, fearless, and powerful brand image, and therefore many of the athletes are
also involved in extreme sports. On the other hand, another energy drink company named
Celsius has very different brand image as it is often connected to fitness athletes and
collaborating with several influencers who are very interested in fitness

21
(www.celsius.com). That said, these two very different energy drink companies would
most likely not partner with athletes or influencers having characteristics appealing more
to the opposite brand.

As mentioned earlier, the pre-test scenarios were created based on the information
collected from already existing data. Each pre-test scenario was built differently, and all
the scenarios were followed with five questions measuring the fit between the brand and
the endorser. The purpose of the pre-test was to manipulate the independent variable
with higher versus lower congruence scenarios. The first and fourth scenario were
purposely created to indicate a good fit between the brand and the endorser while the
second and third were created to indicate poor fit. The two fitting scenarios were created
to indicate good fit based on fictious brand characteristics such as energetic,
adventurous, and rough, and the endorser was created around the brand that they could
indicate a good fit. To test the congruence between the brand and the endorser, five
questions measuring the influencer-brand congruence adapted from Wei et al. (2022)
were asked. Each item was tested by presenting questions such as “I think the influencer
is compatible with the brand he/she endorses?” with a 5-point Likert-type scale from
“Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”.

The pre-test was shared among 21 of the researcher’s fellow undergraduate students.
Based on the results of the pre-test, the best and worst fitting relationships were used to
run the main study that examined whether the perceived fit lead to higher influencer
credibility, more positive attitudes towards the endorsed brand, and increased willingness
to purchase endorsed products.

3.2.2. Survey Design and Data Collection

The main survey questionnaire was designed to find answers to the research questions
and hypotheses introduced earlier in the conceptual framework section. The main
purpose of this questionnaire was to measure whether the fit relationship (high or low
level of congruence) between the influencer and the brand affected influencer credibility
and its effects on consumer attitudes and purchasing behaviour. To conduct the study,

22
the Webropol 3.0 (2022) program was used for creating the questionnaire. The survey
respondents were collected in March 2023. The sample chosen for the study was a
convenience sample as the survey was distributed through several WhatsApp groups as
well as different social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. The
respondents were mainly found from researchers existing networks on different platforms.

The first questions concerned the respondent’s familiarity and usage of energy drinks,
familiarity of social media influencers, and willingness to purchase based on an
influencer’s recommendation. The following part of the survey included two different
scenarios in which one of them presented a highly fitting relationship, and the other a
poor relationship concerning a brand and an influencer. These scenario questions were
randomized, indicating that some respondents received the highly fitting scenario
whereas some received the poorer condition. Slightly less than half of the respondents
received the highly fitting scenario, and just more than half of the respondents received
the poorer condition. Apart from the scenario questions, all the other questions were same
to everyone. The overall number of respondents was 72 in which 35 people had the highly
congruent scenario, and 37 respondents had the incongruent scenario. Full questionnaire
is in Appendix B.

4. DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

The following section will explain the findings of the quantitative data collected via a
survey. Firstly, demographic questions are explored and further analyzed, followed by an
analysis of the manipulation of the two different conditions by conducting independent
samples T-tests. Finally, regressions are analyzed to see if consumer attitudes and
willingness to purchase were dependent on influencer credibility, trustworthiness,
knowledge, or attractiveness.

4.1. Respondent Demographics

23
Altogether 72 subjects participated the survey (n=72). It is significant to notice that 52
(72%) out of 72 respondents identified themselves as female and only 19 (26%)
respondents identified themselves as male. One respondent identified themselves as
other.

Figure 2. Gender frequencies

The respondents consisted of participants between the ages of 17 to 49, median being
21 and average being 21,8. The 17-year-old respondent was deleted from the analysis
due to it being an outlier. Based on the age distribution, we can conclude that most of the
respondents are in their early twenties. The young age of respondents can probably be
explained by the researcher young network connections.

24
Figure 3. Age distribution

As expected, due to the researcher’s mostly Finnish networks, the survey respondents
were mostly from Finland (59). Other nationality groups that included at least 2 people
were Germany, Kazakhstan, USA, and Vietnam. The data was cleaned to rectify some
responses, as some of them included typos or required rewording.

Figure 4. Nationality frequencies

25
4.2. Reliability analysis

All measures apart from questions regarding whether the respondents were familiar with
energy drinks and influencers were either directly borrowed or adapted from previous
research papers. The first measure utilized were the Cronbach’ alphas of all subscales,
and they ranged from .826 to .984 indicating that they were all highly reliable.

First questions in the survey tested the respondent’s familiarity with energy drinks and
social media influencers to get an understanding of how different people might have
answered the following questions. Questions measuring why people consumed energy
drinks were adapted from Buxton and Hagan (2022) with a 5-point Likert-type scale from
“Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”. Additionally, questions measuring why
respondents followed social media influencers were adapted from Lee et al. (2021) also
with a 5-point Likert-type scale from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”. Purchase
frequency measuring how often respondents purchased products or brands endorsed by
a social media influencer was also adapted form Lee et al. (2021) with a 7-point Likert-
type scale from “Never” to “Very frequently”.

The figure below shows the distribution of how often people purchase products
recommended by social media influencers. The median as well as average for the
distribution was surprisingly low, median being 2.0 and average 2.7. These underlying
assumptions regarding consumer willingness to purchase products social media
influencers have advertised, might influence how they responded to the manipulation of
the two scenarios discussed more detail in the findings section.

26
Figure 5. Consumer willingness to purchase

Despite the relationships between a brand and an endorser were already pretested to
ensure a strong fit manipulation, respondents also evaluated the perceived fit and
appropriateness of a brand and an endorser in this study. The questions measuring the
appropriateness were adapted from Till and Busler (2013). An appropriateness subscale
was created (2 items: α=.826), consisting of two 9-point semantic differential items that
were anchored by (1) Inappropriate/appropriate, (2) Ineffective/effective.

A second subscale measuring fit (3 items: α=.984) was created, consisting of three 9-
point semantic differential items that were anchored by (1) Endorser does not go well with
the brand/goes well with the brand, (2) Endorser does not go together with the
brand/endorser goes together with the brand, (3) Endorser does not fit together with the
brand/ endorser fits together with the brand. The questions were also adapted from Till
and Busler (2013).

Questions regarding influencer credibility were divided into three subscales,

trustworthiness (4 items: α=.912), knowledge (3 items: α=.871) and attractiveness (one
item) of the influencer. All the questions were adapted from Ohanian (1990) research
consisting of eight 7-point semantic differential items. 4 questions measuring
trustworthiness were anchored by (1) dishonest/honest, (2) untrustworthy/trustworthy, (3)
insincere/sincere, (4) unreliable/reliable. The three questions that measured the

27
knowledge were anchored by (1) unqualified/qualified, (2) unskilled/skilled, (3) not an
expert/expert. One question measuring attractiveness was anchored by (1)
Unattractive/attractive. Additionally, all these questions were combined into one scale
measuring the source credibility consisting of all the eight items measuring credibility (8
items: α=.932) indicating that this subscale was also highly reliable.

The next five questions created another subscale measuring brand attitudes (5 items:
α=.973) that were adapted from Spears and Singh (2004). These questions measured
the respondent’s feelings towards the brand after having read the scenario. The subscale
also consisted of 7-point semantic differential items anchored by (1)
Unappealing/appealing, (2) Bad/good, (3) Unpleasant/pleasant, (4) Unlikable/likable, (5)
Unfavourable/favourable.

Finally, a subscale (3 items: α=.966) was created to examine the purchase intention. The
items were adapted form Till and Busler (2013). The subscale consisted of a 9-point
semantic differential items, also anchored by (1) Unlikely/likely, (2) Definitely would
not/definitely would (3) Improbable/probable. The questions referred to the likeliness to
purchase advertised products, e.g., “Based on the scenario, how likely is it that you would
consider purchasing this energy drink?”.

Scale Items Cronbach alpha Item means &

Standard Deviation
Appropriate scale 1. .826 M=4.83 SD=2.61
2. M=5.22 SD=2.60
Fit scale 1. .984 M=4.99 SD=2.72
2. M=5.01 SD=2.61
3. M=5.01 SD=2.72
Trustworthy scale 1. .912 M=3.90 SD=1.65
2. M=3.86 SD=1.72
3. M=3.90 SD=1.59
4. M=3.80 SD=1.58
Knowledge scale 1. .871 M=4.31 SD=1.80
2. M=4.57 SD=1.57
3. M=4.04 SD=1.85
Brand attitude scale 1. .973 M=3.61 SD=1.64
2. M=3.85 SD=1.53

28
 3. M=3.75 SD=1.66
4. M=3.86 SD=1.69
5. M=3.56 SD=1.65
Purchasing scale 1. .966 M=3.54 SD=2.39
2. M=4.00 SD=2.26
3. M=3.90 SD=2.30
Table 1. Subscales, Cronbach alphas and Item Means & Standard deviations.

4.3. Manipulation of Conditions

Manipulation of the of the two different conditions presented to respondents was tested
with independent samples t-tests. Each subscale was as well as condition was measured
separately. The main purpose of this test was to compare the means of the two
independent groups (good fit and poor fit scenario) to determine whether there is
statistical evidence that the population means differ significantly between the groups.

Scale Good fit condition Poor fit condition T-value

Appropriate scale M=6.37 (SD=2.00) M=3.82 (SD=2.08) 5.291**
Fit scale M=6.93 (SD=1.98) M=3.18 (SD=1.75) 8.543**
Trustworthy scale M=4.49 (SD=1.34) M=3.28 (SD=1.33) 3.824**
Knowledge scale M= 5.05 (SD=1.48) M=3.60 (SD=1.30) 4.415**
Attractiveness scale M=4.91 (SD=1.59) M=3.49 (SD=1.57) 3.841**
Brand attitude scale M=4.25 (SD=1.65) M=3.23 (SD=1.29) 2.943*
Purchasing scale M=4.18 (SD=2.38) M=3.47 (SD=2.07) 1.355
Credibility scale M= 4.75 (SD=1.27) M=3.43 (SD=1.20) 4.555**
**p<.001 *p<.05

Table 2. Results of T-tests between the groups.

It can be clearly noticed form the table above that the manipulation between the good and
bad scenario in influencer appropriateness and fit has been successful as influencer in a
good fit scenario is rated significantly better in appropriateness (M = 6.3714, SD = 2.00)
compared to the poor fit influencer (M = 3.8243, SD = 2.08), t(70) = 5.291, p<.001. Similar
differences can be found form fit scale as good fit condition (M = 6.9333, SD = 1.978) is
significantly different form bad fit scenario (M= 3.1802, SD= 1.747), t(70) =8.543,

29
p<.001.This proves that there is a statistical difference between the two scenarios, and
therefore, the H1 is confirmed.

Influencer credibility, which was measured with 8 items ranging from 1 to 7 using, higher
numbers indicating higher credibility. The results from t-test shows how influencer
endorsing a product in a good fit condition (M = 4.7500, SD = 1.27114) compared to the
poor fit condition (M = 3.4291, SD =1.18971), t(70) = 4.555, p<.001. The results indicate
statistical significance that influencers are considered more credible when endorsing a
highly congruent product. This finding is in line with previous studies investigating the
influencer credibility which also confirmed the second hypothesis H2.

Thirdly, consumer attitudes towards promoted brand were analyzed. It was expected that
higher influencer brand fit would lead to more positive brand attitudes. By conducting the
t-test, it was found out that in a good fit scenario, people considered the brand more
favorable and had more positive attitudes towards the endorsed brand (M = 4.2514, SD
= 1.65020) compared to poor fit condition (M = 3.2270, SD = 2.38269), t(70) = 2.943,
p=.002. The results indicate that the significance between the scenarios is lower than
other scales measured above, however, since the p value is still less than .05, it can be
concluded that there is statistical difference between the scenarios.

The final manipulation condition between the 2 scenarios intended to measure whether a
highly congruent influencer brand fit would lead to better consumer purchase intentions.
Based on the results of the t-test, it was found that there was only a small difference
between the means of good (M = 4.1810, SD = 2.38369) and poor fit condition (3.4685,
SD = 2.07492), t(70) = 1.355, p=.090. This indicates that even though there was a good
fit between an influencer a product they endorse, it did not lead to significantly better
purchase intentions among consumers.

4.4. Regression Analysis

Regression analysis was conducted to look for causality between the influencer’s
perceived credibility on attitudes towards the brans as well as on purchase intention. It

30
was expected that high credibility would positively influence brand attitudes and purchase
intention. Additionally, it was tested whether following social media influencers on social
media or purchasing based on influencers’ recommendations had effect on dependent
variables such as influencer credibility, brand attitudes or purchase behavior. Statistical
significance towards consumer purchasing behavior was found when analyzing
consumer purchasing behavior based on influencers’ recommendations (R square=.088,
F=(1,70)=6.729, p<.012). This indicates that purchasing based on influencer’s
recommendations had a statistically significant effect on willingness to purchase.

4.4.1. Individual Measures as Predictors of Brand Attitudes

Model summaries

R R square Adjusted R Std. Error of

square the Estimates
a. Predictors: 0.700a 0,490 0,482 1,11785
(Constant),
Endorser
trustworthiness
a. Predictors: 0.652a 0,425 0,417 1,18657
(Constant),
Endorser
knowledge
a. Predictors: 0.584a 0,341 0,332 1,27016
(Constant),
Endorser
attractiveness
Table 3. Model summaries

Table 3 compares each independent variable’s R value as well as R square value that
shows how much variation of the interaction can be explained by endorser
trustworthiness, knowledge, and attractiveness. It can be noticed from the table above by
looking at the R square value that 49% of the variation can be explained by influencer
trustworthiness (R square= .490, F(1, 70) = 67,161 , p= <.001). When looking at the

31
endorser knowledge, it can be found that 42,5% of variation can be explained by the
endorser knowledge (R square = .425, F(1, 70) = 51,733 , p= <.001). Finally, it can be
noticed that 34,1% of variation can be explained by endorser attractiveness (R square =
.341, F(1, 70) = 36,238 , p= <.001). All the R squares indicate moderate relationship,
trustworthiness indicating the highest number as a predictor for brand attitude.

Coefficients a: Trustworthiness as a predictor of brand attitudes

Unstandardised Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) ,835 ,376 2,219 ,030
Endorser ,747 ,091 ,700 8,195 <,001
Trustworthiness
a. Dependent Variable: Brand attitudes
Table 4. Coefficients a: Trustworthiness as a predictor of brand attitudes

Coefficients a: Knowledge as a predictor of brand attitudes

Unstandardised Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) ,925 ,414 2,235 ,029
Endorser Knowledge ,650 ,090 ,652 7,193 <,001
a. Dependent Variable: Brand attitudes
Table 5. Coefficients a: Knowledge as a predictor of brand attitudes

Coefficients a: Attractiveness as a predictor of brand attitudes

Unstandardised Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.

32
 (Constant) 1,523 ,395 3,852 <,001
Endorser ,527 ,088 ,584 6,020 <,001
Attractiveness
a. Dependent Variable: Brand attitudes
Table 6. Coefficients a: Attractiveness s as a predictor of brand attitudes

Table 4, 5 and 6 show the coefficients between brand attitudes and social media
influencer trustworthiness, knowledge, and attractiveness. As shown on the table above,
the beta values are .700 for trustworthiness .652 for knowledge and .584 for
attractiveness indicating that the independent variables affect attitudes that amount for
each 1-unit increase. From the coefficients table, it can be concluded that influencer
trustworthiness (β=.700, p<.001), knowledge (β=.652, p<.001), and attractiveness (β
=.584, p<.001) affect all significantly on brand attitudes.

4.4.2. Credibility as a Predictor of Brand Attitudes

This section is like the previous one, however all the individual measures (trustworthiness,
knowledge, and attractiveness) are combined into one scale, influencer credibility. The
purpose of combining all the measures is to see whether it influences the dependent
variables or not.

Model summary
R R square Adjusted R Std. Error of the
square Estimates
0.730a 0.533 0.527 1.06878
a. Predictors: (Constant), Endorser
credibility
Table 7. Model summary

The table 7 above indicates how the R square value ,533 implicates that 53,3% of the
variation can be explained by social media influencer credibility (R square= .533, F(1,70)=
80,044, p=.001). The R square indicates significant relationship.

33
 Coefficients a: Credibility as a predictor of brand attitudes

Unstandardised Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) ,042 ,392 1,026 ,308
Endorser credibility ,816 ,091 ,730 8,947 <,001
a. Dependent Variable: Brand attitudes
Table 8. Coefficients a: Credibility as a predictor of brand attitudes

Table 8 shows the coefficients between brand attitudes and social media influencer
credibility. As shown on the table above, the beta value is ,730 indicating that credibility
affects attitudes by .73 units for each 1-unit increase. From the coefficients table, it can
be concluded that influencer credibility affects significantly on brand attitudes (β=.730,
p<.001). The combination of individual measures indicates better significance than the
three individual measures.

4.4.3. Individual Measures as Predictors of Purchase Intention

This section analyses the causality of influencer attractiveness, knowledge, and

attractiveness on consumer willingness to purchase advertised products. Like the
previous sections, it was also expected that high influencer credibility would lead to better
purchase intentions.

Model summaries

R R square Adjusted R Std. Error of

square the Estimates
a. Predictors: 0.509a 0,259 0,248 1,94516
(Constant),
Endorser
trustworthiness
a. Predictors: 0.472a 0,223 0,212 1,99122
(Constant),

34
 Endorser
knowledge
a. Predictors: 0.456a 0,208 0,197 2,01085
(Constant),
Endorser
attractiveness
Table 9. Model summaries
R square value table 9 above indicates that there is a weak relationship between
trustworthiness, knowledge and attractiveness in predicting consumers’ willingness to
purchase as only 25,9% of variation can be explained by trustworthiness (R square =
.259, F=(1, 70)=24,435, p<.001), only 22,3% of variation can be explained by knowledge
(R square= .223, F(1,70)=20,117, p<.001) and only 20,8% of variation can be explained
by endorser attractiveness (R square=.208, F(1,70)=18,366, p<.001). In other words, only
a small number of variations can be explained with trustworthiness, knowledge, and
attractiveness.

Coefficients a: Trustworthiness as a predictor of purchase intention

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) 0,782 ,655 1,194 ,237
Endorser ,784 ,159 ,509 4,943 <,001
Trustworthiness
a. Dependent Variable: Purchase intention
Table 10. Coefficients a: Trustworthiness as a predictor of purchase intention

Coefficients a: Knowledge as a predictor of purchase intention

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) 0,884 ,694 1,274 ,207
Endorser Knowledge ,681 ,152 ,472 4,485 <,001

35
 a. Dependent Variable: Purchase intention
Table 11. Coefficients a: Knowledge as a predictor of purchase intention

Coefficients a: Attractiveness as a predictor of purchase intention

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) 1,333 ,626 2,129 ,037
Endorser ,594 ,139 ,456 4,286 <,001
Attractiveness
a. Dependent Variable: Purchase intention
Table 12. Coefficients a: Attractiveness as a predictor of purchase intention

Tables 10, 11, and 12 above show the coefficients between willingness to purchase and
influencer trustworthiness, knowledge, and attractiveness. As shown on the table above,
the beta values for trustworthiness is .509, for knowledge .472, and for attractiveness
.456 indicating that the individual measures affect attitudes that many units for each 1-
unit increase. It can also be noticed that trustworthiness (β=.509, p<.001), knowledge
(β=.472, p<.001) and attractiveness (β=.456, p<.001) indicates significance despite the
weak relationship.

4.4.4. Credibility as a predictor of Purchase Intention

Model summary
R R square Adjusted R Std. Error of the
square Estemate
0.535a 0.286 0.276 1.90848
a. Predictors: (Constant), Endorser
credibility
Table 13. Model summary

36
Table 13 indicated that the R square value is close to moderate regression, however still
lower than expected. Only 28.6% of the variation can be explained with endorser
credibility (R square=.286, F(1,70)=28,100, p<.001).

Coefficients a: Credibility as a predictor of purchase intention

Unstandardised Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta
B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) ,300 ,700 ,428 ,670
Endorser credibility ,863 ,163 ,535 5,301 <,001
a. Dependent Variable: Purchase intention
Table 14. Coefficients a

It can be interpreted from the table above how the beta value is .535 implicating that
endorser credibility affects purchase intention by .535 units for each one-unit increase.
The relationship is moderate and higher than trustworthiness, knowledge, or
attractiveness, and is statistically significant (β=.535, p<.001).

5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

The findings discovered in previous sections are mostly in line with previous literature, as
expected. The first research question was about how brand personality determined the
type of influencers they collaborated with, and the answer was already discovered during
the secondary data analysis stage. The stage included examining altogether 13 brands
and their personalities by following Kapferer’s brand identity prism model. Six different
brand dimensions such as brand physique, personality, and feelings about the brand were
analyzed to get an understanding about the different brands. Moreover, existing
influencer brand relationships and several different influencer characteristics such as their
personalities, interests, and background information were analyzed to get an
understanding of the type of influencers working with a certain brand. As mentioned

37
already in literature review, it was found very important that influencers worked with
congruent brands to get the most out of influencer marketing.

To answer the first research question (RQ1), the brand personality and characteristics
determine the type of influencers brands collaborate with, and the influencers should
really be interested and compatible with the brand as also discussed in the literature
review section. Brands collaborating with incongruent influencers having different values
and lifestyles might not only affect the effectiveness of the marketing strategy but also
might hurt the brand image and the influencer trustworthiness.

It was significant that the scenario with better congruence between the influencer and the
brand indicated much better results in appropriateness and fit. As mentioned earlier, the
scenarios had been pre-tested before conducting the actual survey and the relationships
between existing brands and influencers had been comprehensively examined to ensure
a strong manipulation between the conditions. Additionally, earlier studies (Till & Busler,
2013), had examined similar fit relationships between endorsers and a brand, and the
results of this study were in line with many of their findings. The comparison between the
two scenarios was conducted via an independent samples t-test that compared means
between the two scenarios. The second research question (RQ2) was answered during
the pre-test scenario where two highly fitting as well as two poorly fitting scenarios were
created and tested with a small sample. Influencers having similar characteristics to the
endorsed brand were considered as the most congruent endorsers for the brand. The
more congruent influencer-brand scenario was also expected to indicate higher credibility
as well as higher consumer purchase intentions.

Finally, the main survey analyzed whether the fit affected influencer credibility and
consumers’ attitudes towards the endorsed products. The test whether influencer
credibility led to better attitudes and higher purchase intent was conducted by doing
several regression analyses. Additionally, the regression analyses examined the
trustworthiness, knowledge, and attractiveness of the influencer and their effect on
consumer attitudes and purchase decision. The results of the regression analysis were
all significant indicating that they affected the causal relationship between the measured
independent and dependent variables.

38
However, the t-tests between the highly and poorly fitting scenarios indicated no statistical
difference between the groups concerning brand attitudes and consumers’ willingness to
purchase. This means that the respondents who initially received the more highly fitting
scenario, most likely considered the influencer as a better and a more credible influencer
for the brand compared to the other scenario. However, a surprising finding was that
these respondents who had received the more highly fitting scenario were still not
significantly more interested in purchasing an energy drink promoted by the influencer
than the other group. This could possibly be explained as many of the respondents were
not interested in purchasing anything a social media influencer had advertised in overall.
Also as previously discussed in the results section, the mean and average for purchasing
something an influencer had promoted were surprisingly low, mean being only 2 and
median 2.7. Additionally, it was tested whether following social media influencers would
affect brand attitudes as well as willingness to purchase, and none of the results were
discovered as statistically significant. Significance was found only when measuring
causality between the interest towards purchasing something influencers had promoted
and willingness to purchase promoted energy drink.

All the regression analysis tests for the independent as well as dependent variables were
found significant indicating that the independent variables influenced the dependent
variables such as brand attitudes and purchase decision.

Hypotheses Statistical test Results

1. Influencer in good fit T-test appropriateness Confirmed
condition would be T-test fit
rated significantly
higher in
appropriateness and
the fit compared to
the poor fit
influencer.
2. Congruence between T-test credibility Confirmed
an endorser and a
brand will positively
influence credibility
of the relationship.

39
 3. Credibility of the Linear regression analysis Confirmed
relationship will
positively influence
the dependent
variables such as
consumer attitudes
towards the brand
and purchase
intentions.
Table 15. Hypotheses, tests, and confirmations.

6. CONCLUSION

6.1. Main Findings

The main findings of this research are mainly related to the differences between the
scenario conditions. It was expected that there should be a difference between the
independent and dependent variables and the scenario conditions. The results of the
tests showed that the two scenarios indicated different outcomes regarding
appropriateness, fit, brand attitudes, and purchase decision. It was discovered that the
more congruent scenario resulted in much better outcomes as the poorly fitting scenario
as expected.

Apart from willingness to purchase based on influencer’s recommendation, all the other
variables were found statistically significant. When comparing means between the
scenarios, it was found that the manipulation of the conditions did not significantly affect
purchase intentions, as the means of each group were highly similar. Despite perceived
credibility of an influencer affected the attitudes towards the brand significantly indicating
a high beta number, the credibility did still not have a strong relationship on willingness to
purchase. This was a surprising finding as previous literature has found high influencer
credibility leading to higher purchase intent. There are some possible explanations for
this finding that will be covered in the limitations section.

Another important finding was that influencer credibility indicated better and more
significant regression to predict brand attitudes and consumer willingness to purchase

40
compared to any of the three individual measures (trustworthiness, knowledge, and
attractiveness). Within the three individual measures, trustworthiness indicated highest
causality between the variables, whereas attractiveness indicated the most insignificant
results.

The research revealed the importance of congruence between the influencer and the
brand as it affected significantly on consumer attitudes towards the endorser as well as
the brand. The research also covered what types of influencers worked well with a specific
brand based on their personalities and physical characteristics. As influencer marketing
and especially energy drink marketing on social media has become very common
nowadays, it is important that brands are working with the right influencers to get most
out of their marketing and promoting activities.

6.2. Implications for International Business

As social media has become more common place for people and businesses,
increasingly more companies are utilizing the services of social media to increase brand
awareness and recall among people. To do this effectively, they enjoy collaborating with
social media influencers having strong and committed follower bases. However, the
brands need to carefully consider what type of influencers they wish to collaborate with.
This survey investigated the influencer brand congruence and its effects on attitudes
towards influencers, endorsed brands, and consumer purchase decision.

It is crucial that there is fitting relationship between the influencers and the brands working
together to make the collaboration effective and appealing to customers. These
influencers should maintain similar personality characteristics and traits to the brands they
work with to attract the right audiences. By understanding and really investigating the
possible candidates to endorse a product would be very beneficial to a company to avoid
any problems that could occur if working with incongruent influencers.

Even though a lot of research regarding social media and influencer marketing has been
conducted in the past, social media marketing has become such an important

41
phenomenon that more research about consumer attitudes and motivations should be
made to keep up with the newest trends. This research also specifically investigates the
energy drink industry and social media influencers within the industry as it has become
moderately easy to become an ambassador for an energy drink company nowadays.
Many of these companies are looking for potential ambassadors from various social
media channels. There are some companies that are willing to collaborate with very small,
local influencers who do not have much influence within their community, however some
companies, especially several known fitness drink companies are much stricter
considering the type of influencers they aim to collaborate with. All in all, it is important
that companies are working with influencers that are congruent and compatible with the
brand and endorsed products to get the most out of influencer marketing.

6.3. Limitations

Despite this research aimed to provide valuable data for brands working with social media
influencers, especially regarding energy drink brands, there are several limitations that
should be taken into consideration. Limited time and resources affected some
demographics, such as gender distribution and nationality since most of the respondents
were Finnish female. The information collected could have been more reliable with a
greater number of respondents and if there had been approximately same amount of
female and male respondents.

The fictional scenarios were created only for manipulation condition purposes, one being
highly fitting scenario and the other being poorly fitting scenario. The highly fitting scenario
was written being more masculine, focusing heavily on extreme sports. The fictional
influencer chosen for the scenario was a masculine skydiver who was not afraid of speed
and danger. The other scenario was about an unhealthy and sugary energy drink that
was often associated with partying and alcohol drinking. The endorser chosen for the
scenario was a world-class cross-country skier who lived a healthy and athletic lifestyle,
taking good care of his health.

42
The unique influencer characteristics in the first scenario matched well with the endorsed
brand characteristics, whereas a world-class cross-country skier living a healthy lifestyle
was not a good match with a brand having an image of unhealthiness, partying and
alcohol drinking. These scenario conditions could possibly have resulted in more reliable
result if the scenarios had been more similar to each other by only modifying the influencer
characteristics in each scenario to create better or worse fitting relationship between the
influencers and the endorsed brands.

Additionally, since most of the respondents identified themselves as female, the scenarios
could have been more appealing to respondents if female endorsers and more feminine
brands had been introduced. For example, people who saw the better fitting scenario,
could have though that it was a highly fitting scenario, and the influencer was credible,
however, they still did not consider purchasing that kind of energy drink as they were not
personally interested in extreme sports and did not relate to the endorser. Another factor
that might have influenced consumer willingness to purchase is that they do not consume
energy drinks often or follow recommendations by social media influencers.

6.4. Suggestions for future research

Future research could look more in detail how different social media influencer
characteristics such as popularity, influencer background, demographics, and what social
mediums they use to get more comprehensive understanding of perfect endorsers for
brands. This research could be conducted with a larger survey that would be sent to a
significantly larger group of different people. This could make the research more credible
and trustworthy. Future research could also look at celebrity endorsers such as athletes
and compare them with ordinary social media influencers and search for differences
between the groups.

Additionally, the scenario conditions could be built differently, perhaps including more
than just two scenario conditions to get a better understanding of what kind of influencer-
brand fit relationship would be the most effective and promising. Instead of only describing

43
the scenario conditions, pictures could be also included that the respondent could see the
different characteristics the influencers had and compare those to brand characteristics.

Finally, some qualitative interviews could be conducted to investigate what type of

influencers certain energy drink brands collaborated with. These interviews could be done
by interviewing marketing managers as well as few of these brands’ ambassadors.

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8. APPENDICES

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 A. Pre-test Scenarios

Scenario 1

Gladiator is a well-known energy drink brand having a brave, adventurous, and daring
brand personality. This brand is associated with adjectives such as speed, power, and
roughness and has previously been working with several successful and known athletes.
They have just partnered with a new endorser who has a reasonably healthy lifestyle and
has just begun her studies as a dance teacher. She enjoys creating social media content
and shares a significant part of her life on her several channels. Additionally, her life is
very aesthetic, and she spends a lot of time capturing perfect pictures of herself either at
the dance studio or at home making delicious meals. She is young and sweet and hopes
to become a choreographer one day.

Scenario 2

Energy drink brand B has a fierce and strong personality. The brand is easily associated
with speed, danger, aggressivity and courage and is involved in several extreme sports.
The brand has previously partnered with several athletes practising motocross, BMX,
surf, and skate, and has now expanded into skydiving. Their newest endorser is a young
skydiver who is definitely not scared of heights or speed. He has become very followed
person on his social media platforms as he uploads breath taking content from the sky.
He loves the adrenaline boost skydiving allows him to experience and is willing to risk his
life every time he steps out from the plane.

Scenario 3

Energy drink brand C is known for increasing consumer mental focus to concentrate when
needed. The brand has gained recognition among computer gaming as it requires players
to concentrate well. The brand could be described as creative, nerdy, casual and
energetic. These energy drinks include extra amount of caffeine to keep the user active
and to reduce tiredness. This brand entered a partnership with a micro influencer having
more than 20 000 followers on TikTok creates content around studying. She posts great

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advice and videos of how to study efficiently but also about how to make studying fun
mainly for high school and university students. She herself is an extremely motivated
student who enjoys young people to study hard and is able to give a lot of visibility for the
brand.

This energy drink brand has recently become popular among young people and is often
associated with alcohol drinking. The brand has advertised itself as a go to beverage to
keep people awake through the night when partying. Therefore, the brand has a wild,
crazy, energizing, and cool brand personality. Several cool, known and outgoing
influencers have advertised this brand lately but they have now partnered with a world
class cross country skier who is an athlete by profession and maintains a healthy lifestyle
by eating clean food, exercising five times per week and invests in the quality of sleep.
This athlete has also previously partnered with other brands that sell protein bars and
vitamins.

Scenario 4

BeFit is and energy drink brand that maintains very athletic, beautiful, healthy and
energetic brand personality. The drink is marketed towards young adults having a healthy
lifestyle who are interested in exercising and good aesthetics. This energy drink is
considered being a healthier option as it includes zero sugar or calories and contains
several vitamins. This brand collaborates with several endorsers who are especially
interested in health and fitness. This brand has now recruited a new ambassador who
practises very hard with clear goals to compete in bikini-fitness competition next year.
This type of sport requires dedication, hard work, as well as outstanding physique. She
is very motivated, has a healthy lifestyle and takes care of her physical appearance.
Additionally, she loves being in front of the camera and has a large follower base in which
most of them consider her as a role model and dreams to be like her.

Questions after each scenario:

1. I think there is a good fit between the influencer and brand he/she endorses.
2. I think the influencer is compatible with the brand he/she endorses.

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3. I think the influencer is congruent (consistent) to the brand he/she endorses.
4. I think the influencer is relevant to the brand he/she endorses.
5. I feel it makes sense that this influencer endorses the brand.

B. Survey

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