Serman, Zehra Ece (2022) Believe it or not: what factors affect the blog readers' perception of bloggers’ credibility and blog readers’ trust in bloggers' recommendations. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
Bloggers have a strong influence on others, such that they have become far more than just a means for recording and sharing personal interests but an effective marketing tool for influencing consumers’ decision-making processes. The main aim of this study is to develop and propose a conceptual framework for assessing the factors affecting the perception of bloggers’ credibility and blog readers’ trust. A review of the existing literature showed that the psychological theory of social attractiveness can provide an explanation of how people can gain the confidence of, and influence over, other people. There is a gap in the literature in terms of examining the effect of influencers from a psychological point of view. Therefore, this research adopts the social attractiveness theory from psychology and extends it within the context of bloggers’ “effectiveness”. A total of 348 questionnaires were distributed to university students in the UK. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was conducted to analyse the collected data. This research offers a conceptual model integrating the factors affecting bloggers’ credibility and blog readers’ trust and willingness to adopt bloggers’ recommendations. This study analyses the effects of social attractiveness, perceived bloggers’ experience, sponsorship, social influence and gender on bloggers’ credibility and blog readers’ trust. The findings show that social attractiveness and perceived bloggers’ experience positively affect bloggers’ credibility and blog readers’ trust in relation to the adoption of recommendations. This study also examines the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between blog readers’ perception of bloggers’ credibility and loyalty in relation to adoption of bloggers’ recommendations. This research contributes to knowledge by proposing a conceptual framework for understanding the effect of blog readers’ trust and bloggers’ credibility in relation to the adoption of bloggers’ recommendations. This research also provides practical contributions that can benefit brands and bloggers. Understanding the effects of trust and credibility can assist both brands and bloggers to apply these strategies to their customers/readers which may increase the possibility of meeting customers’ needs.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Oct 2022 09:40 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2023 15:47 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/49447 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00049447 |
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