Annotated Bibliography Sample: Influencer Marketing and Consumer Trust

Model Answer

Scope and Focus

This annotated bibliography draws together ten sources on influencer marketing and consumer trust, addressing the research question: which influencer, message and disclosure factors most strongly predict consumer trust in influencer-endorsed brand content, and with what consequences for purchase intention? Sources are predominantly peer-reviewed marketing and advertising journal articles published between 2017 and 2021, spanning experimental, survey-based, qualitative and mixed-methods designs, and are supplemented by one cross-national industry report that situates the academic findings within a broader consumer trust landscape. Sources were selected to cover three linked strands of the literature: influencer and message characteristics that shape perceived credibility; the psychological mechanisms, such as authenticity and identification, that convert credibility into trust; and the regulatory dimension of sponsorship disclosure, which increasingly governs how influencer content can lawfully be presented to UK and European consumers. All sources are referenced in Harvard style throughout, matching the dissertation’s wider referencing convention. Where possible, more recent studies were prioritised over older work to ensure the bibliography reflects platform features, such as sponsored-content labelling tools, that have changed markedly since the earliest influencer-marketing research was published.

Annotations

De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V. and Hudders, L. (2017) ‘Marketing through Instagram influencers: the impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude’, International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), pp. 798–828.

This experimental study manipulates follower count and product–influencer fit to test their combined effect on consumer brand attitude, finding that influencers with very large followings are perceived as less likeable, which can reduce persuasive impact unless product fit is strong. The experimental design supports causal claims more confidently than the correlational studies common elsewhere in this literature, and the use of validated brand attitude scales strengthens measurement reliability. A limitation is the use of a single product category, which may limit generalisability across sectors. The study is central to this bibliography because it complicates a simplistic ‘bigger reach equals more trust’ assumption, directly informing the argument that influencer authenticity, not scale alone, drives consumer trust outcomes, a theme that recurs throughout the sources reviewed below.

Lou, C. and Yuan, S. (2019) ‘Influencer marketing: how message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media’, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), pp. 58–73.

Using a large-scale survey and structural equation modelling, Lou and Yuan test how perceived informativeness, entertainment value and influencer credibility jointly shape consumer trust in influencer-generated branded content, and how that trust subsequently affects purchase intention. The quantitative rigour and large sample give the findings strong statistical credibility, and the structural model usefully distinguishes the separate contributions of message quality and source credibility, which prior literature had often conflated. A limitation is the reliance on self-reported behavioural intention rather than observed purchase behaviour. This is one of the most directly relevant sources in the bibliography, providing the core theoretical model — credibility and message value as antecedents of trust — that structures the review’s central argument.

Djafarova, E. and Rushworth, C. (2017) ‘Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users’, Computers in Human Behavior, 68, pp. 1–7.

This qualitative study uses focus groups with young female Instagram users to explore how perceived expertise, trustworthiness and physical attractiveness of online celebrities shape purchase decisions, finding that trustworthiness is consistently rated as more influential than either expertise or attractiveness. The qualitative approach yields rich explanatory detail absent from purely quantitative studies, though the narrow demographic sample limits how far the findings can be generalised to other age groups or markets. Its relevance to this bibliography lies in giving a consumer-side account of what trust in an influencer actually consists of, complementing the more structural, marketer-focused sources elsewhere in this collection and grounding the later theoretical constructs in participants’ own language.

Schouten, A.P., Janssen, L. and Verspaget, M. (2020) ‘Celebrity vs influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and product–endorser fit’, International Journal of Advertising, 39(2), pp. 258–281.

This experimental comparison of celebrity and social media influencer endorsements finds that consumers identify more strongly with influencers, and that this identification, rather than perceived expertise alone, drives higher credibility and more positive brand attitudes for influencer-endorsed products. The between-subjects experimental design allows reasonably confident causal inference, and the inclusion of product–endorser fit as a moderating variable adds nuance often missing from earlier endorsement research. A limitation is that the study uses hypothetical rather than real endorsement scenarios, which may understate real-world scepticism towards sponsored content. This source is relevant because it helps explain why influencer marketing has grown relative to traditional celebrity endorsement, a trend central to this bibliography’s topic.

Jin, S.V., Muqaddam, A. and Ryu, E. (2019) ‘‘Instafamous’ and social media influencer marketing’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(5), pp. 567–579.

This experimental study compares consumer responses to identical product posts attributed to an ‘Instafamous’ influencer versus a traditional celebrity, finding that influencer-attributed posts generate higher perceived source credibility and more positive purchase intention among younger consumers specifically. The controlled experimental manipulation strengthens internal validity, and the focus on a clearly defined younger demographic gives the findings practical relevance for brands targeting that segment. A limitation is that the single-post exposure does not capture the cumulative effect of sustained influencer relationships that many real campaigns rely on. The study is relevant to this bibliography because it provides direct comparative evidence for why brands have shifted spend toward influencer marketing among younger audiences, reinforcing the demographic pattern implicit in several of the other sources reviewed here.

Audrezet, A., de Kerviler, G. and Guidry Moulard, J. (2020) ‘Authenticity under threat: when social media influencers need to go beyond self-presentation’, Journal of Business Research, 117, pp. 557–569.

Combining qualitative interviews with influencers and a consumer survey, this mixed-methods study identifies two distinct authenticity strategies — passionate and transparent authenticity — and tests their differing effects on consumer trust when sponsorship disclosure is present. The mixed-methods design is a particular strength, allowing the influencer-side motivations identified qualitatively to be tested quantitatively for consumer impact. A limitation is that the influencer sample is drawn from a single national context, which may limit cross-cultural generalisability. This source is highly relevant to the bibliography because it directly addresses how sponsorship disclosure, a growing regulatory requirement, interacts with perceived authenticity to shape consumer trust.

Breves, P.L., Liebers, N., Abt, M. and Kunze, A. (2019) ‘The perceived fit between Instagram influencers and the endorsed brand: how influencer–brand fit affects source credibility and persuasive effectiveness’, Journal of Advertising Research, 59(4), pp. 440–454.

This survey-based study tests perceived influencer–brand fit as a predictor of source credibility and downstream purchase intention across a range of real Instagram influencer accounts and their sponsored posts. The use of real rather than hypothetical influencer content increases ecological validity relative to several purely experimental studies in this bibliography, though the correlational design limits the strength of causal claims that can be drawn. The large and varied sample of influencer–brand pairings is a notable strength. This source is relevant because it operationalises ‘fit’ as a measurable construct, supporting the bibliography’s argument that trust in influencer marketing is conditional rather than automatic.

Kim, D.Y. and Kim, H.-Y. (2021) ‘Influencer advertising on social media: the multiple inference model on influencer–product congruence and sponsorship disclosure’, Journal of Business Research, 130, pp. 405–415.

This study tests how sponsorship disclosure interacts with influencer–product congruence to shape consumers’ persuasion knowledge and resulting brand trust, proposing a multiple inference model that distinguishes several simultaneous consumer judgements. Its theoretical contribution is a strength, offering a more granular account of the cognitive process than earlier single-mechanism models, and its experimental design supports reasonably confident causal claims. A limitation is the artificial disclosure format used, which may not fully reflect the varied and sometimes ambiguous disclosure practices seen on real platforms. This source is relevant to the bibliography’s regulatory dimension, since sponsorship disclosure rules are central to how trust in influencer marketing is currently governed, and its multiple-inference framework helps explain why disclosure alone does not always resolve consumer scepticism.

Evans, N.J., Phua, J., Lim, J. and Jun, H. (2017) ‘Disclosing Instagram influencer advertising: the effects of disclosure language on advertising recognition, attitudes, and behavioral intent’, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 17(2), pp. 138–149.

This experimental study compares consumer responses to different sponsorship disclosure formats, such as ‘#ad’ versus ‘#sponsored’, finding that clearer disclosure language increases advertising recognition without significantly harming brand attitude, provided the influencer content is otherwise well received. The controlled manipulation of disclosure wording is methodologically precise and directly policy-relevant, informing UK Advertising Standards Authority guidance on influencer disclosure. A limitation is that the study measures short-term attitudinal response only, not longer-term trust or loyalty effects. This source is relevant to the bibliography because it provides direct evidence that transparent disclosure need not undermine consumer trust, qualifying concerns raised elsewhere in this collection and offering a practical, evidence-based basis for disclosure wording that marketers can defensibly adopt.

Edelman (2022) Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and the Creator Economy. Chicago: Edelman.

This industry report surveys consumers across multiple markets on trust in social media creators and influencers relative to traditional advertising and journalism, situating academic findings on influencer credibility within a broader, cross-national trust landscape. As an industry rather than peer-reviewed source it lacks the methodological transparency of the academic studies above, and its commercial sponsorship should be read as a potential source of framing bias. Its scale, however, gives it a breadth that individual academic studies cannot match. It is relevant to this bibliography as corroborating, market-level evidence that the trust dynamics identified in controlled academic studies are also visible in real-world, cross-market consumer sentiment data, lending external validity to the more tightly controlled experimental findings summarised above.

Overall Relevance

Read together, these ten sources indicate that consumer trust in influencer marketing is driven less by follower count or celebrity status than by perceived authenticity, influencer–brand fit and transparent sponsorship disclosure. The experimental studies establish that identification with an influencer, rather than raw reach, is the stronger predictor of credibility, while the mixed-methods and qualitative sources explain the underlying psychological mechanism through constructs such as passionate and transparent authenticity. The disclosure-focused studies further show that clear, consistent labelling need not undermine trust provided the underlying content is well received, a finding with direct relevance for UK Advertising Standards Authority compliance. This synthesis directly supports the dissertation’s central argument and provides the conceptual foundation for its subsequent methodology chapter, which will test several of these relationships empirically. It also points to a clear gap that the primary research is well placed to address: most of the sources above rely on cross-sectional or short-term experimental designs, so longitudinal evidence on whether influencer trust, once established, persists or decays over a sustained brand relationship remains comparatively scarce.