Du Yuetong, Rui Jian Raymond, Yu Nan
Department of New Media and Communication, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Nicolson School of Communication and Media, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 Apr 20;16:1315-1329. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S406558. eCollection 2023.
Social media enable advertisers to promote products by placing ads into videos posted by social media influencers. However, according to psychological reactance theory, any persuasive attempt may evoke reactance. Therefore, how to minimize the audience's potential resistance to product placements is important. This study investigated how the parasocial relationship (PSR) between audiences and influencers as well as the extent to which the influencer's expertise matched the product (termed as influencer-product congruence) shaped audience attitude towards the product placement and their purchase intention through reactance.
The study conducted a 2 (PSR: high vs low) × 2 (influencer-product congruence: congruent vs incongruent) between-subjects online experiment (N = 210) to test hypotheses. SPSS 24 and PROCESS macro by Hayes were used to analyze the data.
The results demonstrate that PSR and influencer-product congruence enhanced the audience's attitude and purchase intention. Moreover, these positive effects were mediated by lowering levels of the audience's reactance. Additionally, we found preliminary evidence suggesting that PSR moderated the effect of perceived expertise of the influencer on reactance. Specifically, this effect was stronger among those reporting a low level of PSR compared to a high level.
Our findings reveal how PSR and influencer-product congruence are intertwined to shape audience evaluation of product placement via social media and highlight the central role of reactance in this process. This study also provides advice on the selection of influencer when promoting product placement on social media.
社交媒体使广告商能够通过在社交媒体有影响力的人发布的视频中投放广告来推广产品。然而，根据心理抗拒理论，任何说服性尝试都可能引发抗拒。因此，如何将受众对产品植入的潜在抗拒降至最低很重要。本研究调查了受众与有影响力的人之间的准社会关系（PSR）以及有影响力的人的专业知识与产品的匹配程度（称为有影响力的人与产品的一致性）如何通过抗拒来塑造受众对产品植入的态度及其购买意愿。
该研究进行了一项2（PSR：高 vs 低）×2（有影响力的人与产品的一致性：一致 vs 不一致）的组间在线实验（N = 210）来检验假设。使用SPSS 24和Hayes的PROCESS宏来分析数据。
结果表明，PSR和有影响力的人与产品的一致性增强了受众的态度和购买意愿。此外，这些积极影响是通过降低受众的抗拒水平来介导的。此外，我们发现初步证据表明，PSR调节了有影响力的人的感知专业知识对抗拒的影响。具体而言，与高水平相比，在报告低水平PSR的人群中这种影响更强。
我们的研究结果揭示了PSR和有影响力的人与产品的一致性如何相互交织，以通过社交媒体塑造受众对产品植入的评价，并突出了抗拒在此过程中的核心作用。本研究还为在社交媒体上推广产品植入时选择有影响力的人提供了建议。
