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'To trust or not to trust': the impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis

'To trust or not to trust': the impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis
'To trust or not to trust': the impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis

Corporates often partner with social media influencers to bolster brand image after crises. Although existing evidence suggests that influencers have largely positive effects on brands, there is paucity of research on the role of influencers in corporate crisis communications. Across two studies, we examine the impact of influencers on consumers’ perception of corporate brands responding to crises. Drawing on persuasion knowledge theory, we identify issues associated with brands engaging influencers, such as inference of manipulative intent, which negatively affects perceived trustworthiness and corporate reputation. The downside of employing influencers in crisis communications is, however, offset by the influencer and brand communicating values-driven motives of their partnership. Our findings imply that corporate brands should respond to crises through a bolstering strategy promoting existing corporate goodwill, without the influencer's involvement. When leveraging influencers’ support, however, brands should endeavor to inoculate against manipulative inferences by communicating values-driven motives behind the brand-influencer partnership.

Corporate brand crisis, Corporate reputation, Crisis communications, Experiment, Influencer marketing, Persuasion knowledge
0148-2963
464-480
Singh, Jaywant
db6316ed-e404-4c5a-873c-6e97c94fe531
Crisafulli, Benedetta
c2ffc9d5-6e13-4d5e-8402-c62586f1a0d3
Quamina, La Toya
5597b902-b239-4e66-873e-3ef92c04c027
Xue, Melanie T.
23928acd-0e24-4f2a-bfff-0dde9c075e62
Singh, Jaywant
db6316ed-e404-4c5a-873c-6e97c94fe531
Crisafulli, Benedetta
c2ffc9d5-6e13-4d5e-8402-c62586f1a0d3
Quamina, La Toya
5597b902-b239-4e66-873e-3ef92c04c027
Xue, Melanie T.
23928acd-0e24-4f2a-bfff-0dde9c075e62

Singh, Jaywant, Crisafulli, Benedetta, Quamina, La Toya and Xue, Melanie T. (2020) 'To trust or not to trust': the impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis. Journal of Business Research, 119, 464-480. (doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.039).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Corporates often partner with social media influencers to bolster brand image after crises. Although existing evidence suggests that influencers have largely positive effects on brands, there is paucity of research on the role of influencers in corporate crisis communications. Across two studies, we examine the impact of influencers on consumers’ perception of corporate brands responding to crises. Drawing on persuasion knowledge theory, we identify issues associated with brands engaging influencers, such as inference of manipulative intent, which negatively affects perceived trustworthiness and corporate reputation. The downside of employing influencers in crisis communications is, however, offset by the influencer and brand communicating values-driven motives of their partnership. Our findings imply that corporate brands should respond to crises through a bolstering strategy promoting existing corporate goodwill, without the influencer's involvement. When leveraging influencers’ support, however, brands should endeavor to inoculate against manipulative inferences by communicating values-driven motives behind the brand-influencer partnership.

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Singh et al. 2020_JBR - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 28 March 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 April 2020
Published date: 25 November 2020
Keywords: Corporate brand crisis, Corporate reputation, Crisis communications, Experiment, Influencer marketing, Persuasion knowledge

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 439092
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/439092
ISSN: 0148-2963
PURE UUID: 192bbd65-37ce-4d8c-a8e7-b8a044c4ea9d
ORCID for Jaywant Singh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0766-0162

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 03 Apr 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:27

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Contributors

Author: Jaywant Singh ORCID iD
Author: Benedetta Crisafulli
Author: La Toya Quamina
Author: Melanie T. Xue

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