TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘To trust or not to trust’

T2 - The impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis

AU - Singh, Jaywant

AU - Crisafulli, Benedetta

AU - Quamina, La Toya

AU - Xue, Melanie

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Business Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Business Research, 119, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.03910.1016/S0370-1573(02)00269-7

PY - 2020/10/1

Y1 - 2020/10/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Corporate reputation

KW - Corporate brand crisis

KW - Influencer marketing

KW - Persuasion knowledge

KW - Crisis communications

KW - Experiment

U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.039

DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.039

M3 - Journal article

VL - 119

SP - 464

EP - 480

JO - Journal of Business Research

JF - Journal of Business Research

SN - 0148-2963

ER -