Relationship building is the heart and soul of social media

: A study on followers' relationships to influencers and how they can influence purchase intentions

Abstract

During the last decades' social media has become an integrated part of our daily
lives. Influencer marketing has become one of the most significant and effective
digital marketing methods. Hence, social media is a powerful tool and proliferating, and it is essential to understand how influencers influence followers. Relationships are complex and unique, and previous literature lacks the perspective of different types of PSR between followers and influencers. Additionally, the literature lacks qualitative research that captures the followers' own opinions, mindsets, and stories. Furthermore, it lacks the perspective on how different types of PSR influence purchase intentions.
This thesis aims to increase the understanding of how parasocial relationships
between followers and influencers differ and how the relationships can influence
followers´ purchase intentions in the Swedish market. In order to do this, a typology for different types of PSR will be developed. The parasocial theory explains the interactions and the one-sided relationships between followers and influencers. The PSI-process scale measured three physiological responses, cognitive, affective, and behavioral. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 informants selected by purposive sampling to answer the research question. The findings were then analyzed with thematic analysis and were made depending on whether intensive or low responses were dominant, together with a weighted assessment of the findings. The findings indicated extreme variation and, therefore, cannot PSR only be treated as one relationship. Four types of different PSR were discovered and were differently influenced by the purchase intentions.

Date of Award	2022-Jun
Original language	English
Supervisor	Lisa Källström (Supervisor) & Jens Hultman (Examiner)