I Wish I Could Be Like Her/Him! How Self-Congruence Stimulates a Desire to Mimic

Abstract

Influencer marketing acquires customers who follow their favorite celebrities, who have shared beliefs and opinions. This research explores the self-motives and influencer-related factors that lead to influencer congruence. Influenced customers subsequently recommend those influencers to others. No concrete scale of recommendation is available so far. This research also conceptualizes, develops, and validates a scale for recommendations. In this study, 451 respondents answered questions about the influencers they follow. Normality, reliability, and validity were used for hypothesis testing. Results show the positive and direct impacts of all proposed hypotheses. The findings contribute to the literature by presenting a balanced approach to studying two parallel yet integral aspects of influencer marketing: the influencer and the consumer.

Keywords

• motives
• wishful identification
• nostalgia
• self-congruence
• desire to mimic