The impact of K-beauty social media influencers, sponsorship, and product exposure on consumer acceptance of new products

Abstract

This research identified the different ways in which K-beauty social media influencers (SMIs) impact consumers’ tendencies to accept new products by closely investigating their sponsorship displays and product exposure methods. We conducted an experiment to examine how influencers’ posts affect Chinese millennial consumers’ acceptance of new products. We used a 2 (influencer type: celebrity versus general public) × 2 (sponsorship display status: display versus no display) × 2 (product exposure method: exposure versus no exposure) factorial design. The findings reveal that the social media posts that made consumers most likely to accept a new product were created by a general public influencer and did not include a display of any sponsorship affiliation with the product. Additionally, there was a significant interplay between the influencer type, sponsorship display status, and product exposure method regarding consumers’ acceptance intention toward a new product. A consumer was most likely to accept and purchase a new product when three factors (general public influencer, sponsorship displayed, and product exposed) were combined. Based on the findings, we draw important implications and present marketing strategies for companies in the beauty industry that use SMI marketing.