Impact of influencer marketing on University of KwaZulu-Natal students’ perceptions of brands and purchase behaviour.

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the impact of influencer marketing on consumers’ perceptions of brands and purchase behaviour from a University of KwaZulu-Natal student perspective. This study uncovered the effect that influencer marketing has on attitudes towards brands, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived brand quality and brand switching. It further investigated students’ perceptions of influencer credibility and influencer marketing’s impact on students’ purchase behaviour. This research was crucial as there is a small pool of studies that have been done in this area of research from a South African perspective. It also aimed to determine whether influencer marketing enhances brand appeal of products and services and to assess influencer credibility and the impact of influencer attributes on consumers’ purchase intentions and brand perceptions. The factors that were focused on under this theory are attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise/skills, homophily, popularity and product expertise of influencers. Consumer decision-making and the influence on consumer purchases through eWOM and effective online brand content during the Covid-19 pandemic was also explored. A sample of size of 306 students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Westville Campus was drawn using the convenience sampling technique. The data was collected through online questionnaires, which were analysed accordingly using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study showed that there was a significantly positive relationship between the effect of influencer marketing on students’ attitudes towards brands, in creating brand equity, on brand switching, the impact of influencer credibility on students’ purchase decisions, the effectiveness of influencer brand communication content on students’ purchase decisions, the influence of electronic word of mouth through content sharing on students’ purchase decisions and effectiveness of influencer content on students’ purchase decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recommendations from the results of the study provide insights for businesses into how creative influencer marketing strategies that marketers can adopt for active engagements with university students.