Building Stronger Brand Evangelism For Sustainable Marketing Through Micro-Influencer-Generated Content On Instagram in The Fashion Industry

sustainability
Article
Building Stronger Brand Evangelism for Sustainable Marketing
through Micro-Influencer-Generated Content on Instagram in
the Fashion Industry
Warinrampai Rungruangjit 1, * and Kitti Charoenpornpanichkul 2
1 Faculty of Business Administration for Society, Srinakharinwirot University, 114 Sukhumvit 23,
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
2 The College of Tourism Hospitality and Sports, Rangsit University, 52/347 Muang-Ake, Lak-Hok, Muang,
Pathumthani 12000, Thailand
* Correspondence: r_warinrampai@hotmail.com
Abstract: Micro-influencers have become powerful sources of information for consumers in the
digital age. Marketers have strategically collaborated with micro-influencers as brand endorsers
to generate valuable content, which attract the consumers and encourage them to engage with
micro-influencers, leading to brand evangelism. This reflects the sustainable consumer-brand rela-
tionships. In Southeast Asia, Instagram stands out as the preferred choice for fashion influencers for
sharing product information and boosting consumer engagement. The current study is the first one
incorporating literature-based frameworks, consisting of consumer-based digital content marketing,
information relevance theory, observational learning theory, consumer-influencer engagement behav-
ior, and brand evangelism, into a unified framework to deal with the research gaps. The quantitative
method was applied through using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
The SmartPLS v. 3.3.9 software application was applied to explore the proposed model. The data
Citation: Rungruangjit, W.;
Charoenpornpanichkul, K. Building
were acquired from 499 Thai consumers who have followed and engaged the content with fashion
Stronger Brand Evangelism for micro-influencers on Instagram. The results revealed that the positive effect of topicality of content
Sustainable Marketing through is the strongest antecedent that motivates consumer-influencer engagement, while novelty, under-
Micro-Influencer-Generated Content standability, reliability, interestingness, and influencers’ authenticity of content also have a positive
on Instagram in the Fashion Industry. influence on consumer-influencer engagement. Finally, the findings showed that consumer-influencer
Sustainability 2022, 14, 15770. engagement have vital effects on brand evangelism.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
su142315770 Keywords: brand evangelism; engagement; generated content; information relevance theory; micro-
Academic Editor: Hong-Youl Ha influencer; sustainable consumer-brand relationships
Received: 19 October 2022

Accepted: 22 November 2022
Published: 27 November 2022
1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral Influencer marketing can ensure sustainable marketing and influencers have recently
with regard to jurisdictional claims in strengthened collaborations with brands [1]. The influencer marketing investment amount
published maps and institutional affil-
is globally estimated at USD 15 billion by 2022. The influencer marketing investments are
iations.
increasingly made by marketers, aiming to supplement existing marketing communication
and publicize social media influencer-generated content to followers on social networks
and target customers [2]. Instagram has become the ideal platform for brands to use
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
influencer-based marketing campaigns and paid collaboration between influencers and
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
brands is often found in sponsored content [3]. Instagram was launched in 2010 and has
This article is an open access article
achieved substantial growth due to extensive use and high popularity, especially among
distributed under the terms and young users [4]. The platform provides rich photo and video content, with more than
conditions of the Creative Commons 1 billion monthly active users worldwide in 2021, while half of the users use the platform
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// daily [5]. Being recognized as the fastest-growing social networks in Southeast Asia,
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ Instagram stands out as the primary choice among social media influencers for the purpose
4.0/). of providing product information and promoting consumer engagement [6–8]. In addition,
Sustainability 2022, 14, 15770. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315770 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Sustainability 2022, 14, 15770 2 of 27
Instagram is the most popular platform among influencers in the fashion industry. Since
fashion significantly contributes to the global economy, it is considered one of the most
critical industries [9]. People display their social status through wearing classy attires [10].
As for the clothing inspirations of consumers, the content created by fashion influencers is
used to find inspiration [11]. Consumers are becoming more fashion-conscious and fashion
trends are very influential for buying behaviors [12]. Such trends are mostly stimulated by
fashion influencers. Fashion influencers are those who create fashion content and have the
potential to persuade consumers [13].
Consumers are allowed to access more sources of information that are not restricted to
only brand-generated content and they rely more on product recommendations, content
(such as videos), and information shared by other consumers on social media than product
promotion by brands. The consumers trust other users on social media because they believe
that these contributors share both negative and positive experiences straightforwardly,
without having any commercial interest, thus being neutral to the judgment of products and
services. [14]. In contrast, in the viewpoint of the consumers, brand-generated content is
suspicious [15], and such content would emphasize only positive aspects of their products
to maintain their business benefits [14]. As a result, the brand’s content creation is not as
efficient as it should be, compared to the cost of brand investment [15]. Social media users
can achieve a large number of followers by providing a unique and attractive content and
building a close relationship with their followers. Then, these users become social media
influencers, as well as serving as idols for their followers [16]. Social media influencers have
become sources of information with an influence on digital users [17]. These influencers
provide updates and information about brands and deliver delightful content that is useful
for brands because social media influencers are recognized as reliable experts in their areas
of interest [8]. The consumers usually rely on social media influencers for information and
knowledge regarding their experiences. The content created by social media influencers
is found to have more attractiveness than advertising scripts written by a marketing
professional [18]. Compared to other celebrities, consumers perceived that social media
influencers are more accessible and reliable [19] and that the consumers normally refer to
the information provided by influencers prior to making a purchase [20].
Marketers strategically select social media influencers to endorse their brand and gen-
erate shareable content (including papers, pictures, and video clips) that utilizes popular
social media influencers to build their brand [17]. Recent evidence indicates that brand-
embedded content created by social media influencers efficiently develops positive attitudes
toward both the influencer and endorsed brand. As a result, consumer engagement with
the influencer-created content became increased [21]. Consumer-influencer engagement be-
havior is conceptually a kind of engagement with social media influencers, which describes
the consumer’s intention to consume and contributes to content created by social media
influencers [22]. Consumer-influencer engagement behavior reflects how social media
influencers are popular and powerful, serving as a key factor driving the close relationships
between social media influencers and endorsed brands [21]. Consumer-influencer engage-
ment has been widely interested by both academicians and practitioners. Meanwhile, it
significantly helps facilitate the enhancement of loyalty and brand evangelism [23,24].
According to the literature review, most of the previous studies examined consumer-
influencer engagement, placing emphasis on macro-influencers or celebrities [25–38]. Few
studies have investigated the role of micro-influencers [24,39–42], while recent industry
reports revealed that micro-influencers with small network sizes gained the attention
and achieved higher-quality engagement rates through intimate communication with
a smaller group of followers to a greater extent than macro-influencers [7]. Although micro-
influencers are followed by fewer followers than macro-influencers, the demographic
aspects of the followers of macro-influencers and celebrities are far more diverse. On the
contrary, the followers of micro-influencers are normally more specific in terms of age
groups and gender. A large number of the followers of celebrities are just viewers and
might not pay much attention to the created content. Therefore, micro-influencers tend to
generate more sales opportunities and better conversions, compared to macro-influencers.

In the viewpoint of consumers, they can be perceived as friends, which contribute to the
relationship between the brand and consumers. They are basically specialized experts
who are more energetic [39] and they can communicate product information to their fan
club easily [43], especially among the younger generations. Young social media users turn
their attention to Instagram to seek inspiration from their followed micro-influencers [40].
Micro-influencers can affect consumer engagement and relationships between consumers
and brands [44]. Nevertheless, there have been few studies on micro-influencers build-
ing consumer engagement and sustainable consumer-brand relationships. Therefore, the
main research objective is to identify the role of fashion micro-influencers who gener-
ated content on Instagram in determining consumer-influencer engagement and lead to
brand evangelism.
Considering all the aforementioned significant matters, the objective of this research
study is to examine the role of fashion micro-influencers who generate content on Instagram
in determining consumer-influencer engagement and leading to brand evangelism.
This study proposes an empirical research model based on the consumer-based digital
content marketing concept, information relevance theory, observational learning theory,
consumer-influencer engagement behavior, and brand evangelism to empirically test a con-
ceptual framework, which have disseminated the body of knowledge and fill the research
gaps as follows. A previous study examined from a utilitarian or functional perspec-
tive [45,46], including topicality, novelty, understandability, and reliability, but overlooked
the hedonic perspective. According to the research of Chen et al. [46] and Zhang and
Choi [47], they extended the body of knowledge and include the interestingness of con-
tent as a hedonic aspect of judging the relevance of information theory by studying the
significant impact of influencer-generated content on promoting the relationships between
influencers and their followers. However, it was found that all of the previous three re-
search studies were conducted from only two perspectives: a functional and a hedonic
perspective. In fact, the aspect of an authenticity perspective may also be studied in
the context of influencer-generated content because this factor is the internal motivation
and inner need of influencers that create social media content in order to express their
images [24] and represents the influencers’ trustworthiness perceived by consumers as
a result of their content created to review products that they have tried and liked [48]. The
significance of the authenticity perspective is supported by Hollebeek [49], who identified
the importance of three motives of brand-generated content to the consumers, comprising
the functional motive, hedonic motive, and authenticity motive, according to the consumer-
based digital content marketing concept. The said concept focuses only on the context of
brand-generated content, while there has been no previous study applying this concept
to study in the context of influencer-generated content. Thus, to fill the research gap, this
study is the first one incorporating two theoretical frameworks, consisting of the relevance
of the information theory and consumer-based digital content marketing concept, in or-
der to combine three motive factors (functional, hedonic, and authenticity motive) into
a unified framework.
Moreover, the studies of Chen et al. [46] and Zhang and Choi [47] apply the theory
of information relevance that focuses on the factors including: novelty, understandability,
reliability, and interestingness of content, but the topicality of content is not incorporated
into the theoretical framework. Both studies did not carry out a hypothesis test and there
was no empirical evidence showing the reason why topicality of content should be excluded
from the theory of information relevance in the context of influencer-generated content.
Based on the aforementioned studies, influencers are active in several fields and they create
content mostly based on their own expertise. Therefore, topicality is not included in their
study. From the above statement, it is insufficient to conclude that topicality deserves to be
excluded from the theory of information relevance. This is contrary to the theory stating
that topicality is the most basic condition to which consumers perceived information to be
pertinent to the topic of their current interest and current needs and is the most important
criterion at all the stages of the search process of the content. [45,50]. To address this gap,
this study incorporates the topicality of content into a framework based on the original
theory (the relevance of information).
Finally, given the increasing importance of social media influencer marketing, previous
studies have applied the influencers’ credibility model (i.e., attractiveness, trustworthiness,
expertise) to followers’ purchase intentions [8,26,27], investigated how the social media
micro-influencer characteristics affect brand love and brand engagement [24], numerous
studies have determined match-up congruence between influencers and the product foster-
ing consumer purchase intentions [28–30], and the majority of studies have examined the
parasocial interaction of digital influencers with buying intent [31,32]. Notwithstanding,
the relationship between micro-influencer-generated content with consumer-influencer
engagement behavior and the latter role in driving sustainable brand evangelism remains
an issue in the literature and this study aimed to address this issue. Brand evangelism can
be regarded as a superior stage of word-of-mouth communication among consumers [51],
persuade others to engage with and buy the same brand, discourage others from buying
other brands [52], and even degrade other brands [53]. It is challenging to gain an in-depth
understanding of brand evangelism, which has become increasingly challenging in today’s
business environment [54].
These research findings have offered interesting results that highlight for marketers
seeking to collaborate with fashion micro-influencers and jointly produce attractive content
to boost consumption, support, and create their own content relevant to fashion micro-
influencers’ endorsement on the Instagram platform, which will enhance brand evangelism.
The current study was conducted based on the related studies, research hypotheses, and
conceptual framework. The theoretical model testing was empirically conducted with the
data acquired from a web-based survey of Thai consumers who have experience in follow-
ing fashion micro-influencers on Instagram. In this study, structural equation modeling
(SEM) is used to conduct hypothesis testing. The results, discussion, and conclusion are
presented in the following section, respectively.
2. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development

2.1. The Concept of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a communication strategy in which brand managers and pop-
ular social media influencers in relation to their brand positioning cooperate to promote
brands to target customers [33,55], while key content creators are assigned to initiate an au-
thentic conversation and engagement in the brand’s products and messages [16]. With
a large fan base, influencers can serve as competent marketing agents who regularly create
valuable content on social media for brand endorsement and increase marketing value
through cultivating several followers [20]. Unlike conventional word-of-mouth marketing,
influencer marketing enables marketers to more efficiently handle and understand mar-
keting outcomes. Marketers are allowed to gain access to a certain number of views, likes,
comments, posts of influencers, and feedback toward their products and services [3]. Thus,
influencer marketing has been recognized as an important marketing tool for global brands.
With the current trends and high recognition for platforms, including Instagram, Facebook,
and YouTube, ordinary people are able to serve as social media influencers [56]. Many busi-
nesses have devised influencer marketing strategies to strengthen their relationship with
customers through enhancing customer interaction, while having social media influencers
to encourage the engagement of target buyers with the brand [57].
2.2. Social Media Influencers

Social media influencers are referred to as individuals who can interact with social
media users and promote products to the targeted customers, with many followers on either
one or several social media platforms (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or personal
blogs) [44]. They are considered to be accessible, natural, and genuine to the public eye,
as well as having an informal and casual communicative style; thus, followers feel more
familiar with them than other celebrities and also consider them as more genuine; more
people can be reached by engaging followers and attracting digital natives [18]. Followers
are those who wish to view content from the influencer; they voluntarily interact with the
influencer and other followers who follow the same influencer [58]. They can promote
brands and products to attract potential customers and encourage engagement with the
brand [6]. Influencers are influential and have large audiences, so various brands seek
alliances with influencers [59]. In addition, influencers can be classified by the number
of followers as follows: (1) Mega-influencers are a type of influencers who are followed
by from 1 million to an unlimited numbers of followers; (2) Macro-influencers normally
have from 100,000 to 1 million followers; (3) Micro-influencers are followed by from 1000 to
100,000 followers; (4) Nano-influencers, a new type of influencer with less followers than
micro-influencers, are usually followed by below 1000 followers [60].
2.3. The Role of Micro-Influencer-Generated Content

Micro-influencers receive attention and high-quality engagement rates by communi-
cating intimately with a narrowed group of followers than macro-influencers [7]. They
are basically specific experts who are more strenuous. Therefore, brands can access target
groups if they decide to collaborate with micro-influencers who have the potential to get
in touch with their specific audience [39] and they have been able to create a buzz that is
proved to be more effective and cost-efficient [61], as well as achieving high conversion
rates. They look more natural and seem to treat their followers similar to friends [6],
which contributes to the relationships between the brand and customers [39]. In addition,
consumers consider the content to be preferable to the advertising, especially the content
created by micro-influencers. The information sharing performed by micro-influencers has
a choice of communication tools that marketers use to communicate with consumers [41].
Micro-influencers are appealing because they are able to create premium content [62] and
they certify the brand through uniquely creating personal content. The content is normally
enjoyable, informative, and consistent with their characteristics [58]. Thus, working with
micro-influencers helps brands create genuine content and optimize budgets for customer
engagement. Several fashion, luxury, and beauty professionals choose micro-influencers
because it is believed that these influencers are able to communicate with their audience
more effectively [63].
2.4. Theory of Information Relevance and Observational Learning Theory

From the 1970s, information relevance has been utilized as a criterion for evaluating
whether the information retrieved is relevant to information needs. Because the information
search for decision-making can serve and fulfill utilitarian purposes of users, it can be neu-
trally measured from utilitarian benefits. In this regard, the meanings of multidimensional
cognitive concepts largely depend upon the benefit, value, or utility of a piece of informa-
tion as perceived by users [46]. Past studies have revealed that the information relevance
theory can be evaluated from its topicality, novelty, understandability, and reliability [45].
After that, the research of Zhang and Choi [47] combines the interestingness of content into
the research model to explore the influencer-generated content and influencer popularity
based on the concept of information relevance. They revealed that interestingness should
be classified as a part of information relevance in the influencer marketing context. Inter-
esting content is likely to be another significant informational characteristic that enables
audiences to evaluate information relevance [64]. It can be referred to as the huge impact of
an activity on an individual emerged from the interaction between a person and an activity,
resulting in a positive psychological condition and satisfaction [46]. However, emotional
attachment can also be acquired from information search, leading to hedonic impacts, such
as amusement from viewing content [45]. Reading social media content for pleasure can be
employed as one of the aspects for evaluating information relevance [65].
Consumers are those who actively participate in social media content in order to
satisfy specific requirements, especially, information search [66]. They are unable to view
all content and they are unwilling to view irrelevant content. Therefore, they may evaluate
the benefit of information based on some specific indications so that they are encouraged
to continue reading [67], and the usefulness of information is proven to have an impact on
consumer engagement [68].
Recent studies have found that social media influencer-generated content can fulfill
consumer satisfaction, for example, the information search can strengthen the connection
between social media influencers and customers [69]. As such, social media influencer-
generated content, including blogs, vlogs, and reviews, provide significant messages that
fulfill individual satisfaction and consequently encourage the engagement of consumers
with social media influencer-generated content [2]. Regarding this study rationale, the
theory of information relevance is adopted to identify how consumer satisfaction is proba-
bly influential in encouraging engagement with social media influencer channels. These
intentions are likely to demonstrate in the intention to consume, contribute to social media
influencer-generated content, or create content on social media platforms [22]. Additionally,
the relationships between customer engagement, social media influencer-generated content,
and endorsed brands can be elaborated by the observational learning theory that posits
the consumer attitudes and behaviors derived from social interactions and learning. As
social media influencers are considered as reliable outside parties, the social learning of
consumers happens when social media influencers express their influence through engag-
ing with consumers. The endorsed brand learning of consumers is performed through
the consumption, contribution, and creation of content on social network platforms and
probably builds close relations with the endorsed brands [2,22]. Thus, the association
between information relevance theory and observational learning theory provides support
to an inspection, the links to consumer-influencer engagement behavior, and may develop
brand evangelism that represents sustainable consumer-brand relationships.
2.5. Consumer-Based Digital Content Marketing Concept

Digital content marketing has been utilized across various sectors, comprising durable
goods, consumer packaged goods, and services [49]. This approach is designed to build,
strengthen, or sustain customer relationships, raise brand awareness, encourage engage-
ment, or help develop customer loyalty [70]. Under the context of content marketing, digital
content marketing reveals the execution of activities on digital platforms, for example, the
corporate web page, online communities, blogs, vlogs, social network, and mobile apps [71].
The Uses and Gratification Theory, which explains why individuals select or interact with
specific content or platforms to respond to their needs, is applied in this study, as well
as identifying three consumer-based digital content marketing antecedents, including the
functional motive, hedonic motive, and authenticity motive [49].
The functional motive was defined as the basic requirements of consumers for infor-
mation or learning about brands acquired from digital content marketing. Consumers are
likely to access social media content for practical reasons, aiming to gain insight into brands
so as to properly make a purchase decision [49]. The businesses build brand communities
on social media and use utilitarian informational content to promote consumer-brand and
consumer-consumer interactions, resulting in better engagement [72]. Considering the
context of influencer marketing, social media users wish to acquire useful information
from influencer-generated content, and the cognitions of users have a significant impact on
an influencer’s reputation [47].
The hedonic motive was defined as the underlying emotional requirements of con-
sumers for brand-relatedness, interestingness, amusement, attractiveness, pleasantness,
enjoyment, and relaxation acquired from digital content marketing [73]. The hedonic
motive involves the role of driving consumers’ emotions and experiences in selecting and
interacting with digital content marketing, including a requirement for amusement [49].
Considering the context of influencer marketing, social media users wish to view interesting
content generated by influencers since it affects the emotional attachment and encourages
people to follow influencers and introduce influencers to other people [47].
The authenticity motive was defined as the underlying requirements of consumers

for brand-related righteousness, integrity, and meaning acquired from digital content
marketing [74]. Meanwhile, the functional and hedonic motive of consumers represent
generic antecedents based on U&G Theory. Hollebeek [49] represents the authenticity
motive to adapt the third social driver that reflects requirements of actors for connection
with other people. In the context of influencers, Rapp [48] describes that the authenticity is
defined as the beauty of influencers whose content do not oversell product reviews and
only who only review products that they have tried and liked, as well as providing content
based on their love [75]. Moreover, Pornsrimate and Khamwon [24] refer to the influencers
who use their internal motivation and inner need to create content on social media in order
to express their image or personality.
Based on the association between information relevance theory, and consumer-based
digital content marketing. This study provides the topicality, novelty, understandability,
and reliability of content that are considered as a functional motive for consumers’ underly-
ing utilitarian information; the interestingness of the content is considered a hedonic motive
for consumers’ underlying emotional information and the influencers’ authenticity of con-
tent is considered an authenticity motive, according to the concept of the consumer-based
digital content marketing literature [49].
2.6. Consumer-Influencer Engagement Behaviors

Digital consumer engagement behavior is defined as a behavioral manifestation of
consumers toward social media content. It is widely acceptable that engagement with
the digital behavior of consumers consists of three characteristics as follows: consuming,
contributing, and creating social media content [76]. These three characteristics of digital
engagement behavior indicate low, moderate, and high levels of engagement with digital
behavior [77]. To consume available social media content is considered as the low level
of engagement with digital behavior. In this state, consumers read or view content, but
have no active contribution or creation of content [76]. The consumers have active contri-
butions when commenting and sharing similar opinions, representing a moderate level of
engagement with digital behavior [78]. Creation occurs after consumers upload, publicize,
or create content on the brand platforms. Creation indicates the high level of engagement
with digital behavior [22].
As social media influencers significantly affect the decision-making of consumers,
brands are more likely to share brand-embedded content via channels of social media
influencers [2]. Considering the context of social media influencers, the digital engagement
behaviors of consumers are regarded as consumer-influencer engagement behaviors. As
for the concept of consumer-influencer engagement, it involves the intention of consumers
to engage with content created by social media influencers, and indicates their intention
to consume, contribute, and create content relevant to the brand endorsement of social
media influencers [79]. Brand-related content may be consumed by viewing and looking
for brand-related posts on social media channels of influencers. They have active contri-
butions when they like, comment, and share brand-related posts with similar opinions.
Creation takes place after consumers upload stories and video clips related to influencers
and brands on social media channels [22]. These three consumer-influencer engagement
behavior dimensions indicate the effectiveness of social media influencer-generated content
in consumer engagement [2].
2.7. Brand Evangelism

The term “brand evangelism” was initially mentioned by Kawasaki (1991) to express
strongly sustainable consumer-brand relationships involving a high level of word-of-
mouth communication [51]. Although word-of-mouth and brand evangelism have certain
similarities, brand evangelism is more powerful and extends beyond the sharing of brand-
related content. Brand evangelism can be thought of as an advanced stage of word-
of-mouth, as it helps convince other people to engage with the same brand, encourage
purchasing intentions, and degrade competitors in the market [80]. Thus, brand evangelism
is more emotionally oriented than word-of-mouth [81] and can serve as unofficial brand
ambassadors, as it is considered a marketing tool that is far more effective than positive
word-of-mouth communication [52]. Brand evangelists are willing to convince other people
to pay attention to their affection for a brand’s style and disseminate positive comments
about a brand [82], have deep emotional relationships with a brand, and are sincerely
connected to a brand [83].
The consumers who have become brand evangelists feel compelled to share their
passion for their brand with other people [80], express their dislike of other brands selling
the same product [84], and actively inform others about their good brand experience. They
also show strong support to the brand by not only sharing good recommendations but
also purchasing products, spreading positive feedback, and complimenting the brand
and they have a strong desire to endorse the brand and persuade others to buy it, as
well as criticizing competing products and attempting to defend the brand [85]. The
marketers always prefer to develop such a sustainable bond between brand and consumers
and, as a result, consumers become more loyal to an organization. The consumers assist
marketers in brand promotions and it depends on their willingness to become brand
evangelists [86] and unpaid brand spokespersons [87]. According to the behavioral model
of Becerra and Badrinarayanan [88] adopted in this study, brand evangelism is characterized
by three brand-related behaviors: the desire to buy the brand’s products (purchasing
intentions), the inclination to praise the brand (positive brand referrals), and the proclivity
to make negative comments against competing brands (oppositional brand referrals).
2.8. Research Framework and Formulation of Hypotheses

When searching for information, consumers are encouraged to engage with media
content. The studies propose that consumer motivations for the information search have
a positive relationship with the intent to consume, contribute, and create content on social
media platforms [89]. The consumers are more likely to rely on social media influencers’
advice when making a decision, so they are encouraged to browse and view content,
such as current trends, stories, and updates about brands on social network channels
of influencers [79]. Moreover, information-seeking motives of consumers stimulate the
intent to engage in social media channels of influencers in the form of liking, commenting,
and sharing content generated by the social media influencers [90]. The consumers also
agree to create posts about current trends shared by social media influencers on social
media channels, in order to show that they are prominent and distinctive [21]. Thus, the
combination of information relevance theory, consumer-based digital content marketing,
and consumer-influencer engagement behavior lends support to an examination.
2.8.1. Relationship between Topicality of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

Topicality has been classified as the first and most fundamental condition for rele-
vance [46]. Topicality evaluates the extent to which consumers perceived information
related to their interested topic and current needs [45]. The research of Albassam and
Ruthven [50] found that topicality is the most significant criterion at all stages of search-
ing for video content. Topicality is the matching of information contained in the video
with the search topic or interest of consumers. In the present time when information is
abundant on the online platform, it is difficult for consumers to read every content, and
they refuse to read irrelevant information [67]. Therefore, consumers choose only what
they are interested in. If consumers are confident that the information they have received
or the information they search for is about a topic that they are interested in, their desire
to read or access that information will become increased. If the connection between the
information’s relevancy and the information needs of consumers is high, it represents
topical relevance [45], probably affecting customer engagement. Moreover, according to
the research of Weng and Menczer [91] on topicality and the impact on Twitter, they found
that high topicality diversity is not the factor contributing to the growth of individual social
impact. To concentrate on one or more topics of interest among followers is likely to be

a sign of expertise. The active followers tend to gain several followers by ensuring focused
topical interest. Focused topical preferences enhance the content appeal of common users.
Based on this, the following hypothesis was proposed in order to ensure the influence of
topicality of content on consumer-influencer engagement.
Hypothesis 1. The topicality of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

engagement on Instagram.
2.8.2. Relationship between Novelty of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

The novelty of content refers to at which level the information is perceived to be up to
date [46], uniqueness of the information [92], difference from existing knowledge [45], or
fresh experience, so a novelty of information is identified by new and unusual experiences
that are different from past experiences [93]. If the influencer-generated content have never
been seen or have been rarely seen, it should be easier to draw the attention of consumers
because they are normally attracted to unique and distinctive information [94]. The con-
sumers consider new messages as internal rewards as they are equipped with unusual
and unique information. Such unique and distinctive information draws the attention
of the consumers [92]. In contrast, if consumers have been familiar with the content, it
probably does not cause any intellectual change and will decrease their motivation and
interest in such content [45]. The research of Hamzah et al. [95] found that the novelty of
content significantly affects the engagement of consumers with brand-related posts on so-
cial networks. Moreover, Tafesse [96] investigated audience response on Facebook business
pages, and the results report that brand-generated novel content significantly has a positive
impact on audience’s likes and shares. Similarly, Mendelson [92] revealed that novelty of
the communication can contribute to higher consumer engagement. Consequently, the
following hypothesis was formulated.
Hypothesis 2. The novelty of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

2.8.3. Relationship between Understandability of Content and Consumer-

Influencer Engagement
The understandability of content refers to at which level users are certain that infor-
mation is readable and understandable [45]. Due to the overwhelming amount of online
information, straightforward information can enable users to quickly understand and
process the information as required [97], while users are likely to discard complicated
content publicized on social media [98]. Straightforward information can effectively en-
courage users to be willing to read and have positive emotions that can help strengthen the
emotional relationship between users and influencers [46]. According to past studies, the
understandability of content contributes to the information quality and positively affects
influencer-generated content adoption among users [99]. Additionally, the understand-
ability of content positively connected to the amusement of viewing blogs and the intent
to visit a tourist destination [46] and can also significantly have a positive impact on the
emotional attachment between influencers and their followers [47]. Therefore, the following
hypothesis was created to investigate the association between the understandability of
content and consumer-influencer engagement.
Hypothesis 3. The understandability of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-

influencer engagement on Instagram.
2.8.4. Relationship between Reliability of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

In this study, the reliability of content refers to at which level the information is
considered real, correct, or reliable [45]. If consumers are certain that the content created
by an influencer is reliable, they will admit it and pay greater attention to the content or
influencer. Otherwise, they will not continue to view the content [98]. Influencer-generated
content might affect influencers who are regarded by their followers as opinion leaders [100].
Credible information is more interesting and trustworthy than incredible information
because it can reduce the perceived confusion of consumers about the information and
ensure more effectiveness [101]. The information for consumers provided by a reliable
endorser needs to be trustworthy. It is likely for the influencers who were trusted by their
followers to be able to raise positive attitudes toward the endorsed brands and stimulate
the buying decisions of customers [27]. According to previous studies, the importance of
the social influencer-generated reliability of content contributes to the information quality
and emotional attachment between influencers and their followers. This eventually causes
social media users to follow or introduce influencers to other followers [47]. Based on this,
the hypothesis was established as follows:
Hypothesis 4. The reliability of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

2.8.5. Relationship between Interestingness of Content and Consumer-

The interestingness of content represents the level of attraction perceived from viewing
the content published on social media, including perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and
delight acquired from the content [46]. The interestingness of content enables brands to
develop emotional connections with consumers. The reason is that interesting informa-
tion is more likely to be accepted by consumers, meet the entertainment requirements of
consumers, and stimulate positive emotional conditions [102], and if people perceived
interestingness from the content, they are likely to continue reading it [46]. The consumers
are encouraged to experience a sense of enjoyment by viewing interesting posts created
by social media influencers, such as funny content, or sharing entertaining videos clips
and stories with friends who are of similar opinions [89]. The consumers willingly feel
pleasure and share their experiences with similar-minded friends in the form of liking,
commenting, and sharing the social network content [22]. Previous studies have also
revealed that hedonic motivations affect the intention of consumers to create posts on social
networks and proposed that consumers voluntarily upload content on social networks [78].
Muntinga et al. [76] stated that the seeking of entertaining or interesting content boosts
online engagement (consumption, creation, and contribution). Furthermore, consumers
are more willing to engage with social media influencer-generated content when they
perceived that the content is interesting or entertaining [79]. Thus, the following hypothesis
was formulated.
Hypothesis 5. The interestingness of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-

influencer engagement on Instagram.
2.8.6. Relationship between Influencers’ Authenticity of Content and Consumer-

The influencers’ authenticity of content refers to the fact the influencers use their
internal motivation and inner need to create content in order to express their images,
provide content based on their passion or inspiration, and generate content that they have
tried and liked. Numerous research illustrated that influencers’ authenticity of content
influences consumers’ behavioral intentions, such as the intention to suggest, take advice,
and buy the products [24], as well as affecting the attachment bonds between the influencers
and the followers [103], and engaging them to the brand [104]. Therefore, the following
hypotheses were formulated to explore the association between influencers’ authenticity of

content and consumer-influencer engagement.
Hypothesis 6. The influencers’ authenticity of content has a significant positive impact on

consumer-influencer engagement on Instagram.
2.8.7. Relationship between Consumer-Influencer Engagement and Brand Evangelism

Influencer-generated content can affect the opinions and behaviors of the followers [3].
Influencers provide their followers with knowledge and advice by regularly creating
meaningful content on social media channels. Normally, they are specialized in specific
areas, including fashion, beauty, cuisine, healthy life, lifestyle, or excursion, while trying
to build close, sustainable relationships with them [44]. The marketers strategically select
social media influencers to endorse brands, aiming to generate shareable content that take
advantage of the popular social media influencer for brand development [17]. According
to recent studies, the content sharing by social media influencers efficiently moves positive
attitudes toward the influencers as well as the brands [21]. In addition, the previous results
can also apply to consumer-influencer relationships. If consumers greatly interact with
social media influencers and build a strong emotional connection, they will attempt to
continuously maintain the relationship [7]. Furthermore, as for the concept of consumer-
influencer engagement, it involves the intention of consumers to engage with content
created by social media influencers, and indicates their intent to consume, contribute, and
create content relevant to the endorsement of social media influencers [79]. Consumer-
influencer engagement behavior represents how the popular and powerful social media
influencers significantly develop close relationships between social media influencers and
endorsed brands [21]. Meanwhile, it significantly helps facilitate the enhancement of
loyalty [23] and brand evangelism [24]. Thus, the following hypothesis was formulated.
Hypothesis 7. Consumer-influencer engagement has a significant positive impact on brand evangelism.
Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW In
this study, the conceptual framework was developed according12 toof related
28 research

and theories, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
3. Method
3.1. Sample Characteristics
The target population was Instagram users, aged between 18–30 years old, which is
the largest group of Instagram followers [105], as well as the target group that is following
and engaged with the content of fashion micro‐influencers on Instagram. A micro‐influ‐
3. Method
3.1. Sample Characteristics
The target population was Instagram users, aged between 18–30 years old, which is the
largest group of Instagram followers [105], as well as the target group that is following and
engaged with the content of fashion micro-influencers on Instagram. A micro-influencer
is referred to as an opinion leader who has between 1000 and 100,000 followers [60] and
they habitually post several photos or videos on fashion each week. This study was
conducted with the audience who follow micro-influencers on Instagram because they
can communicate product information to their followers easily [43], especially among the
younger generations [40].
Moreover, the Instagram platform was chosen to be the subject of this study because
Instagram is the fastest growing social networks platform [30] and the number of Insta-
gram users in Thailand is on rising trend [106]. As of June 2022, official statistics from
NapoleonCat [107] show that the estimated number of Instagram users in Thailand were
20,242,500 accounts, representing 28.90% of the Thai population. In addition, this study
focuses on the fashion industry sector because it produces a significant contribution to
the global economy [9]. The consumers are likely to become more sensitive to fashion
and their buying behaviors are largely affected by fashion trends [12]. Instagram is the
platform mostly used by fashion influencers and this popularity tends to exist in the years
ahead. In addition, the engagement rate on Instagram is higher than other social network
platforms [9]. The sample size for structural equation modeling should be at a minimum of
10 times the number of items [108]. As for the proposed model, it comprised seven items of
one dependent variable and thirty-one items of seven independent variables. Therefore,
a sample size at a minimum of 310 was suitable.
3.2. Data Collection Procedure

This method is based on the data collected by HypeAuditor [109], which reports the top
fashion micro-influencers on Instagram in Thailand with followers ranging between 1000
and 100,000. There are a total of 42 accounts of fashion micro-influencers. The researcher
coordinated with 42 fashion micro-influencers to ask for their cooperation to share the
questionnaire online with their Instagram followers. In this regard, there are a total of
16 fashion micro-influencers who cooperated in sharing the questionnaire link. To collect
the cross-sectional data, the respondents were invited to fill in an online survey from fashion
micro-influencers from June to July 2022. The first part of the online survey consisted of
three screening questions aiming to ensure that each respondent was eligible to participate
in this study: (1) Are you currently following fashion micro-influencers? (2) Have you
ever engaged with content of fashion micro-influencers whom you are following? (3) Is
your age between 18 and 30? The respondents were allowed to proceed with the survey
after answering the screening questions. In order to avoid repetitive responses, the same
Internet Protocol address was only permitted to submit data once. At the end of the data
collection period, 545 questionnaires were returned from 16 fashion micro-influencers.
A total of 46 returned questionnaires were discarded because they were not consistent
with the inclusion criteria. Therefore, the data analysis was conducted using the data of
499 respondents.
3.3. Instrumental
The quantitative method and the data acquired from a closed-ended questionnaire
were used to evaluate the constructed model. The first section of the questionnaire con-
tained screening questions. The second section presented personal information. The final
section included the measurement scales adapted from related studies. Similar to many of
the previous studies, a five-point Likert scale of agreement was used in this study, ranging
from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5), to measure thirty-one items corresponding
to eight constructs. The adaptation of the topicality of content measurements was per-
formed based on Xu and Chen [45] and Albassam and Ruthven [50]. The scale to measure
the novelty, understandability, reliability, and interestingness of content were adapted from
Chen et al. [46] and Hollebeek [49]. The scale to measure the authenticity of influencers
was adapted from Rapp [48] and Pornsrimate and Khamwon [24]. The scale to measure
the consumer-influencer engagement was based on the studies of Vale and Fernandes [110]
and Piehler et al. [78]. Finally, the scale to measure brand page evangelism was based
on the studies of Riorini and Widayati [111], Swimberghe et al. [82], Munasinghe and
Dissanayake [112], and Pornsrimate and Khamwon [24].
4. Data Analysis and Results

4.1. Descriptive Analysis
The data in this study were obtained from 499 respondents. Most of the respondents
were 354 females (70.94%), followed by 88 males (17.64%), and 57 LGBTQ+ (11.42%). Of
all the respondents, 245 were between 26 and 30 years old (49.10%). For the educational
background, 414 respondents (82.97%) graduated with a bachelor’s degree. All the 261 re-
spondents were students (52.30%) and 201 respondents earned 10,000–30,000 baht each
month (40.28%). An overview of the demographic characteristics of the respondents is
presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents (N = 499).
Variable Category Frequency Percentage

Female 354 70.94
Gender Male 88 17.64
LGBTQ 57 11.42
18–21 years old 183 36.67
Age 22–25 years old 71 14.23
26–30 years old 245 49.10
Below bachelor’s degree 46 9.22
Bachelor’s degree 414 82.97
Education level
Master’s degree 33 6.61
Doctoral degree 6 1.20
Government officers/employees 38 7.62
Students 261 52.30
Occupation
Private company employees 84 16.83
Business owners 116 23.25
<10,000 baht 185 37.07
10,000–30,000 baht 201 40.28
Income
30,001–50,000 baht 64 12.83
>50,000 baht 49 9.82
4.2. Data Analysis

The optimal approach for responding to the research objectives is SEM because it is
able to analyze indices of fit and relationships between various dependent and independent
variables [113]. In this study, the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-
SEM),using the SmartPLS v. 3.3.9 software application [114], method was adopted for
evaluation of the measurement and structural model, aiming to estimate casual-predictive
relations [115]. PLS-SEM can help clarify and forecast, as well as assuring the practical
relevance of causal explanations and showing that it is more effective than the regression
analysis [116], and predict constructs measured by a large number of indicators and second
order constructs [117]. Moreover, PLS-SEM does not only have high power for small sample
size research, but it is also commonly regarded as the preferred method for studies with
the aim of developing and exploring theory [116].
4.3. Common Method Bias Test

Because the data collection was created from a single survey, the evaluation of a possi-
ble common method bias should be performed [100]. Common method variance can inflate
noticeable correlations, resulting in false support for the tested theories [118]. Therefore,
it is necessary to remove the impact of common method variance in a cross-sectional re-
search design [119]. Harman’s single-factor test [120] was used in this study to examine
CMV. The principal component analysis (PCA) is used to conduct the test as proposed by
Tehseen et al. [121]. Based on the unrotated principal axis factoring analysis, a single factor
indicates 38.466% of the variance (Table 2), which is below 50%. The findings revealed
that every indicator met the pass criteria of the test [122]. In addition, the R2 value is
0.592 (Figure 2), which is below 0.7, and the VIF value is 2.45 (VIF = 1/(1 − R Square). If
all the VIFs derived from a comprehensive collinearity test are equal to or below 3.3, the
model should be without a common method bias, as proposed by Kock [123]. Therefore,
a common method bias was not found in this study, representing that there is no major
problem affecting variable correlation.
Table 2. Common method variance via single factor.
Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loading

Factor
Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
1 12.375 39.918 39.918 11.924 38.466 38.466
2 3.526 11.376 51.293
3 1.363
Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4.395 55.689 15 of 28
4 1.266 4.085 59.774
Extraction method principal axis factoring.

Figure 2. Results of standardized item loadings.
Figure 2. Results of standardized item loadings.
4.4. Multicollinearity Test
When two or more correlated predictors in a model provide redundant information
about the response, multicollinearity occurs. This study tested the multicollinearity be‐
tween the antecedents of endogenous constructs [124] and verified that the inner VIF is
4.4. Multicollinearity Test

When two or more correlated predictors in a model provide redundant information
about the response, multicollinearity occurs. This study tested the multicollinearity between
the antecedents of endogenous constructs [124] and verified that the inner VIF is less
than 5 (Table 3), as recommended by Fernández-Portillo et al. [125]. Thus, there is no
multicollinearity in this study.
Table 3. Collinearity statistics (VIF).
BEV CIE CSM CTB CRT AUT INT NOV OBR PBR PIT REL TOP UND
BEV 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
CIE
CSM
CTB
CRT
AUT 1.897
INT 2.275
NOV 2.099
OBR
PBR
INT
REL 2.242
TOP 1.760
UND 2.054
Inner VIF values.
4.5. Measurement Model Analysis

After 499 respondents completely filled in the questionnaires, the convergent validity
was tested based on the confirmatory factor analysis. The results revealed that the stan-
dardized factor loading of every item was greater than 0.6 [108], as shown in Figure 2 and
Table 4. The Cronbach’s Alpha (CA) values were above 0.7, compared with the model
ranging between 0.712 and 0.940. All the values exceeded the recommended threshold
of 0.7 [126], demonstrating the highly reliable scales. The result of the Average Variance
Extracted (AVE) showed that each component in the model was greater than 0.5; a threshold
value suggested by Fornell and Larcher [127], with values ranging from 0.617 to 0.944. The
Construct Reliability (CR) of each construct was greater than 0.8 and the model ranged from
0.830 to 0.971, which fulfilled the threshold criterion of 0.8 according to Nunnally [128].
Thus, the scale’s convergent validity is at a high level. In summary, the measurements were
authentic and accurate. The results are presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Standardized item loadings, construct reliability, and convergent validity.
Constructs Items Loading CA AVE CR

Topicality of content (TOP) 0.823 0.739 0.895
TOP1: Micro-influencer provides the fashion content that is relevant to
the interested topic of the followers. 0.836
TOP2: Micro-influencer provides the fashion content that is highly 0.878
related to followers’ needs.
TOP3: Micro-influencer provides the fashion content that matches the
0.865
followers’ interests.
Novelty of content (NOV) 0.799 0.617 0.866
NOV1: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is new and up to date. 0.781
NOV2: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is trendy. 0.746
NOV3: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content has a lot of
0.778
information that I had not been aware of before.
NOV4: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is uniquely different
0.834
from others.
Table 4. Cont.
Constructs Items Loading CA AVE CR

Understandability (UND) 0.793 0.827 0.906
UND1: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is understandable. 0.928
UND2: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is easy to read
0.891
or watch.
Reliability of content (REL) 0.809 0.723 0.887
REL1: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is reliable. 0.866
REL2: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is accurate. 0.839
REL3: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is consistent with facts. 0.846
Interestingness of content (INT) 0.764 0.679 0.864
INT1: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is interesting. 0.834
INT2: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is entertaining. 0.796
INT3: Micro-influencer-generated fashion content is attractive. 0.841
Influencers’ authenticity of content (AUT) 0.718 0.623 0.830
AUT1: Micro-influencer uses inner desire, when he/she
0.674
generated fashion
content to represent his/her images.
AUT2: Micro-influencer uses inner desire, when he/she
0.885
generated fashion
content to represent his/her personality.
AUT3: Micro-influencer-generated content only reviews fashion products 0.793
that he/she has tried and liked.
Consumer-influencer engagement (CIE)—Consuming (CSM) 0.931 0.936 0.967
CSM1: I often view pictures or photos posted by fashion
0.967
micro-influencers
on Instagram.
CSM2: I often watch videos posted by fashion micro-influencers on 0.968
Instagram.
Consumer-influencer engagement (CIE)—Contributing (CTB) 0.712 0.773 0.872
CTB1: I often like content posted by fashion micro-influencers on 0.839
Instagram.
CTB2: I often comment on images or videos posted by fashion 0.917
micro-influencers on Instagram.
Consumer-influencer engagement (CIE)—Creating (CRT) 0.858 0.875 0.933
CRT1: I often post pictures or photos related to content posted by 0.934
fashion micro-influencers on Instagram.
CRT2: I often upload videos related to content posted by fashion 0.937
micro-influencers on Instagram.
Consumer-influencer engagement (second-order construct) 0.922 0.727 0.940
Consuming 0.935
Contributing 0.857
Creating 0.957
Brand evangelism (BEV)—Purchase intentions (PIT) 0.882 0.894 0.944
PIT1: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.945
about any brand’s fashion products, I intend to buy that brand’s products.
PIT2: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.946
about any brand’s fashion products, I often buy that brand’s products.
Brand evangelism (BEV)—Positive brand referral (PBR) 0.889 0.818 0.931
PBR1: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.906
about any brand’s fashion products, I will recommend my friends to buy
that brand’s products.
PBR2: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.909
about any brand’s fashion products, I will help share the positive news
about that brand.
PBR3: If my friends would like to buy fashion products, I recommend 0.897
my friends to buy products of the brands that my favorite
micro-influencers, whom I follow, create content for.
Brand evangelism (BEV)—Oppositional brand referral (OBR) 0.940 0.944 0.971
OBR1: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.972
about any brand’s fashion products, I will help edit the information
for that brand in case someone makes a negative comment.
OBR2: If my favorite micro-influencer, whom I follow, creates content 0.971
about any brand’s fashion products, I will help protect that brand
in case of negative mentions.
Brand evangelism (second-order construct) 0.940 0.736 0.951
Purchase intentions 0.897
Positive brand referral 0.961
Oppositional brand referral 0.876
CA = Cronbach’s Alpha, AVE = Average Variance Extracted, CR = Composite Reliability.
To confirm discriminant validity, the cross-loading and the square root of the AVE,
ASV, and MSV were tested. The comparison of the bolded diagonal of each construct
was performed with its correlation coefficients corresponding with other constructs. The
associated correlation coefficient of each construct was less than the AVE square root. It is
advisable that the AVE square root must be higher than the value in each row and column.
The findings revealed that the correlation of each construct is greater than its correlation
with other constructs. Likewise, the maximum shared variance (MSV) should be less than
the AVE, but higher than the average shared variance (ASV). The acquired results revealed
that the scales’ discriminant validity is satisfactory [127]. Based on Table 5, each measured
variable is distinct and discriminant from one another.
Table 5. Discriminant validity.
BEV CIE CSM CTB CRT AUT INT NOV OBR PBR PIT REL TOP UND
BEV 0.858
CIE 0.767 0.853
CSM 0.708 0.704 0.967
CTB 0.682 0.655 0.666 0.879
CRT 0.723 0.644 0.878 0.742 0.936
AUT 0.453 0.349 0.272 0.415 0.293 0.789
INT 0.412 0.341 0.262 0.416 0.280 0.563 0.824
NOV 0.427 0.382 0.311 0.429 0.327 0.520 0.630 0.785
OBR 0.846 0.691 0.642 0.610 0.651 0.391 0.318 0.352 0.971
PBR 0.822 0.722 0.669 0.648 0.673 0.447 0.408 0.417 0.771 0.904
INT 0.556 0.690 0.630 0.611 0.661 0.396 0.398 0.397 0.648 0.826 0.946
REL 0.456 0.364 0.293 0.428 0.299 0.640 0.629 0.550 0.403 0.439 0.405 0.851
TOP 0.401 0.398 0.318 0.468 0.330 0.464 0.559 0.567 0.289 0.400 0.403 0.501 0.860
UND 0.324 0.259 0.196 0.327 0.207 0.504 0.603 0.609 0.211 0.332 0.336 0.590 0.553 0.910
Bold values indicate square root of AVE in the diagonal.
4.6. Path Coefficient and Structural Model Analysis

The evaluation of the structural model was performed using bootstrapping with
5000 subsamples from the original set of data [129]. The coefficient of determination,
denoted R-Squared (R2 ), is a statistical measure in a model that determines how well the
independent variables explain the variance in the dependent variable. This means R2
shows the predictive ability of the model. The R2 value for brand evangelism is 0.592,
which indicates 59.20% of the variance in brand evangelism while the other variables have
an influence on the remaining 40.80%. Moreover, the R2 value for consumer-influencer
engagement is 0.225. All the R2 values met the threshold value of 0.20 according to
Cohen [130]. The correlation between the independent factors and their influence on the
dependent variable were characterized by the structural model (path coefficient). The
SEM method, particularly the maximum likelihood estimation, is able to efficiently assess
complicated models [131]. The detailed path coefficient effect sizes of this model are shown
in Figure 2 and Table 6 and the structural model’s results are demonstrated in Figure 3.
Table 6. Path coefficients and hypotheses testing.
Hypotheses Path Path Coefficients (β) t Statistic p-Value Results

H1 TOP → CIE 0.234 *** 4.135 0.000 Supported
H2 NOV → CIE 0.179 ** 3.248 0.002 Supported
H3 UND → CIE 0.134 * 2.122 0.026 Supported
H4 REL → CIE 0.138 * 2.227 0.041 Supported
H5 INT → CIE 0.159 ** 2.483 0.005 Supported
H6 AUT → CIE 0.110 * 2.042 0.047 Supported
H7 CIE → BEV 0.767 *** 43.428 0.000 Supported
*** = p-value ≤ 0.001, ** = p-value ≤ 0.01, * = p-value ≤ 0.05.
CIE → BEV 0.767 *** 43.428 0.000 Supporte
Sustainability *** = p‐value ≤ 0.001, ** = p‐value ≤ 0.01, * = p‐value ≤ 0.05.
2022, 14, 15770 18 of 27

Figure 3. Results of structural model.
Figure 3. Results of structural model.
The goodness of fit of a variance-based model is identified by SRMR (standardized
root mean square residual). The SRMR is a measure of fit, which is described as the
The goodness of fit of a variance‐based model is identified by SRMR (standar
standardized differentiation between the observed and predicted correlations. The SRMR
root mean square residual). The SRMR is a measure of fit, which is described as the s
has a positive bias, with an increased bias for small N and low df studies. As the SRMR
ardized differentiation between the observed and predicted correlations. The SRM
is an absolute fit measure, a perfect fit is indicated by a value of zero. The SRMR has no
a positive bias, with an increased bias for small N and low df studies. As the SRMR
absolute fit measure, a perfect fit is indicated by a value of zero. The SRMR has no pe
for model complexity. Normally, a good fit is indicated by a value of equal to or les
penalty for model complexity. Normally, a good fit is indicated by a value of equal to or
less than 0.080 [132]. In this study, the results showed an SRMR of 0.066.
4.7. Hypothesis Testing

The entire path coefficients and hypotheses are shown in Figure 2 and Table 6. The
results revealed that topicality, novelty, understandability, reliability, interestingness, and
influencers’ authenticity of content have positive and significant influences on consumer-
influencer engagement (β = 0.234, t = 4.135), (β = 0.179, t = 3.248), (β = 0.134, t = 2.122),
(β = 0.138, t = 2.227), (β = 0.159, t = 2.483), and (β = 0.110, t = 2.042). Therefore, the
hypotheses (H1-H6) were proven and accepted as true. For the hypothesis (H7), the
consumer-influencer engagement positively and significantly affected brand evangelism
(β = 0.767, t = 43.428). Therefore, this hypothesis was accepted.
5. Discussion and Implications

5.1. Discussions
This research explored the impact of fashion micro-influencer-generated content,
which has become a major marketing tool for brands all over the world. The results of this
research reveal that fashion micro-influencer-generated content has a substantial impact on
consumer-influencer engagement since it contributes to brand evangelism. This reflects the
sustainable consumer-brand relationships. The first significant finding is that the topicality
of content has a greater impact on consumer-influencer engagement (H1). This finding
expands the existing body of knowledge in the context of influencer-generated content,
according to the studies of Chen et al. [46] and Zhang and Choi [47], which were conducted
in the same context and ignored the topicality of content into the theoretical framework. If
the consumer-perceived information related to their interested fashion topic, they will pay
more attention to consume the influencers’ content (e.g., watch fashion videos), contribute
to the influencers’ content (e.g., comment on fashion images/videos), or publicize the
related influencers’ content to other followers (e.g., post photos, upload fashion videos).
Secondly, the findings reveal that the novelty of content has an impact on consumer-
influencer engagement (H2). This research finding expands the existing body of fact of
Zhang and Choi [47] that the novelty of content contributes to consumers’ emotional at-
tachments to influencers, while this study found that the novelty of content can build
the consumer-influencer engagement. Accordingly, micro-influencers should attentively
consider whether the fashion content is up to date, trendy, and different from other influ-
encers because if the influencer-generated content is neither inventive nor notable among
users, it will be denied. Moreover, if the micro-influencer-generated fashion content has
a large amount of information that has never been unveiled to consumers, they will be
excited about the new content and have a stimulated interest in following the content and
promoting the consumer-influencer engagement.
Regarding the third finding, it is indicated that the understandability of content has
an impact on consumer-influencer engagement (H3). This research finding expands the
existing body of work by Zhang and Choi [47] that indicates that the understandability of
content contributes to consumers’ emotional attachments to influencers, while this study
found that the understandability of content is influential to consumer-influencer engage-
ment. The reason could be because consumers are likely to search for useful information
instantly and that comprehensible information can enable users to save their resources and
time in a dynamic, changing, and information-abundant environment [99]. This finding
can assist influencers in generating content. Furthermore, the reliability of the content is
found to have a positive impact on consumer-influencer engagement (H4). If consumers
are certain that the content created by an influencer is reliable, correct, and conforms to
facts, they will admit it and focus more on the content of the influencer. Subsequently, they
will have more engagement with the fashion content of micro-influencers. Otherwise, they
will not read the content further [98].
In addition, the fifth crucial finding showed that the interestingness of content has
a positive influence on consumer-influencer engagement (H5). This result expands the
existing body of knowledge of Xu and Chen [45], which examined the characteristics
of information relevance based on a functional perspective but overlooked a hedonic
perspective. The interestingness of content is considered a hedonic motive for consumers’
underlying emotional requirements. Considering the social media context, consumers are
stimulated to experience a sense of enjoyment by viewing interesting posts created by social
media influencers, such as funny content or sharing entertaining video clips and stories
with similar-minded friends [89], and have more engagement with the micro-influencers’
content about the brands or products that they are interested in or entertained by. This
justifies the importance of the interestingness of content in driving consumer-influencer
engagement behavior.
Moreover, this study provides primary evidence that influencers’ authenticity of con-
tent has significantly affected consumer-influencer engagement (H6). This result expands
the existing body of knowledge of Xu and Chen [45], which only focused on a functional
motive, as well as the studies of Chen et al. [46], which studied a functional motive and a he-
donic motive in the context of influencer-generated content, but overlooked the authenticity
motive. Authenticity is important for social media influencers [133]. Consumers prefer to
engage with micro-influencers and use inner desire when they generate fashion content to
represent their images or personality, because the consumers can feel the true identity of
micro-influencers rather than macro-influencers or celebrities. Internet celebrities are regu-
larly reconciling between their own reliability and the sponsored content they create [75].
Due to this issue, celebrities look for authenticity by means of “staging” [134,135]. More-
over, the consumers pay more attention to engage with micro-influencers if they review the
fashion product that has actually been consumed and admired. Consumers need attractive
social media influencers serving as a credible source of information and they also need
an endorser who is able to provide authentic information through communicating with
them in a friendly manner [27].
Finally, the significant findings suggest that enhancing followers’ engagement with
influencers can increase brand evangelism (H7). This finding expands the existing body
of knowledge of influencer marketing. Micro-influencer-generated content can contribute
to fashion brand evangelism more effectively if there is a stronger followers’ engage-
ment between micro-influencer-generated content on Instagram and followers. Consumer-
influencer engagement behavior reflects that the popular and powerful social media influ-
encers serve as a key factor driving close relationships between social media influencer-
endorsed brands [21]. Brand evangelism strongly reflects sustainable consumer-brand
relationships [88]. The marketers should develop such a strong sustainable bond between
the brand and consumers and maintain long-term consumer-brand relationships, which has
become increasingly challenging in today’s fashion business on social media networking.
5.2. Theoretical Contributions

Firstly, given the increasing importance of social media influencer marketing, previous
studies have applied an influencers’ credibility model on followers’ purchase intentions, the
social media micro-influencer characteristics affecting brand love and brand engagement,
match-up congruence between influencers and the products fostering consumer purchase
intentions, parasocial interaction of social media influencers with purchase intentions,
influencer-generated content contributing to emotional attachment and information qual-
ity, and influencer travel blog content affecting perceived enjoyment. Nevertheless, this
research expands the scope of studies to include social media micro-influencer marketing
in relation to the relationship between micro-influencer-generated content and consumer-
influencer engagement behavior by proposing an empirical research model based on
a consumer-based digital content marketing concept, information relevance theory, obser-
vational learning theory, consumer-influencer engagement behavior, and brand evangelism
to empirically test a conceptual framework. This has extended the body of knowledge.
Second, the previous research of Hollebeek [49] developed the concept of consumer-
based digital content marketing (including functional, hedonic, and authenticity motives) in
the form of the generation and publicizing of relevant and meaningful brand-related content
to existing or future customers on digital platforms to boost proper brand engagement.
Meanwhile, this article develops and extends the said research by applying the consumer-
based digital content marketing concept to the context of influencer-generated content,
aiming to foster consumer-influencer engagement.
Third, prior studies of Xu and Chen [45] explored the attribute of information rele-
vance in only one aspect considered as a functional motive, including topicality, novelty,
understandability, and reliability. Meanwhile, Chen et al. [46] and Zhang and Choi [47]
conceptualized two aspects of a functional and a hedonic motive, including novelty, un-
derstandability, reliability, and interestingness, but they did not include topicality into the
theory of information relevance. However, the results of this study revealed that topicality
of content is a variable that has the most influence over consumer-influencer engagement.
Thus, this study extends the body of knowledge that includes the topicality of content into
the information relevance theory. If consumers are confident that the information they
have received or the information they search for is about a topic that they are interested
in, their desire to read or access that information will increase. If the connection between
the information’s relevancy and the information needs of consumers is high, it represents
topical relevance [45]. It is difficult for consumers to read all the content and they refuse to
read irrelevant information [67], thus, the content that draws interest from consumers is
supposed to have an impact on consumer-influencer engagement.
Furthermore, this article reinforces the current body of knowledge of Xu and Chen [45]
in the context of influencer-generated content by highlighting the importance of the interest-
ingness of content that it should be included as a hedonic motive for judging the relevance
of information theory. The interestingness of content is likely to be another significant
informational characteristic that enables audiences to evaluate information relevance [64].
In addition, based on the consumer-based digital content marketing concept, this research
aims to expand the existing body of fact and the research results found that an authenticity
motive should be considered as a component of the relevance of information theory. In
summary, this study intends to extend the body of fact to identify the importance of the in-
formation relevance theory into three perspectives, comprising a functional, a hedonic, and
an authenticity motive by exploring the significant impact of micro-influencer-generated
content on the enhancement of consumer-influencer engagement.
Finally, most research focuses on studying consumers’ engagement in social media that
influences customer satisfaction, commitment, brand trust, brand affect, word-of-mouth, or
brand loyalty. However, this research places emphasis on brand evangelism, which is vital
in social media networking sites because brand evangelism reflects that consumers strongly
embrace the brand in a sustainable manner and develop a profound emotional bond with it.
Brand evangelists can be seen as an advanced level of positive word-of-mouth because they
intend to convince others to buy the brand, deter others from buying competing brands,
and may even degrade the competitors of their cherished brands.
5.3. Managerial Implications

The results of this study encourage marketers and social media influencers to jointly
create valuable content to stimulate consumption and contributions to content created by
social media influencers. In addition, the content also stimulates consumers to generate
their own content relevant to the endorsement of social media influencers on Instagram
or other social network platforms, causing the brand evangelism to become strengthened.
This reflects the sustainable consumer-brand relationships. The results provide practical
implications for both influencers and brands intending to cooperate with micro-influencers.
Furthermore, marketers are able to inspect whether the micro-influencer-generated content
can draw consumers’ attention during the process of selecting influencers, especially
from the perspective of users’ information requirements. Since micro-influencers obtain
information from marketers and share such information with other users, they are able to
play a critical role in providing propaganda for the brand. The marketers need to consider
whether their strategies of using micro-influencers in digital marketing campaigns can
effectively build sustainable brand evangelism.
In addition, to build brand evangelism, marketers must first understand the moti-
vational factors that influence distinct consumer-influencer engagement behaviors. Once
customers turn into brand evangelists, they are eager to act as a brand’s unpaid spokesper-
son, actively disseminate favorable brand experiences to their friends, urge others to buy
the same brand, and discourage others from buying competing brands. As a result, it is
a difficult task for competing brands to attract their attention. The motivational factors aim
to foster consumer-influencer engagement as follows:
First of all, the topicality of content has the greatest impact on consumer-influencer en-
gagement in fashion products. Thus, the marketers should focus on studying the customer
insight in relation to consumers’ current interests in the fashion design, style, and trends in
order to cooperate with micro-influencers in providing the fashion content that is highly
related to consumers’ needs and matches the consumers’ interests.
Second, the novelty of content also has a greater impact on consumer-influencer
engagement in the fashion industry. Accordingly, micro-influencers should focus more on
considering whether the influencers’ content is innovative, up-to-date, fresh, and creative
because if the influencer-generated content is neither inventive nor notable among users, it
will be denied. Meanwhile, brands should opt to collaborate with micro-influencers that
are uniquely different from others (such as macro-influencers or mega-influencers) so as
to stimulate consumers’ interests in the content and differentiate the brand, encouraging
consumers to consume the influencers’ content (e.g., watch fashion videos), contribute to
the influencers’ content (e.g., comment on fashion images/videos), or share the related
influencers’ content to other followers (e.g., post photos, upload fashion videos).
Third, the understandability of content also plays an important role in consumer-
influencer engagement, thus influencer-generated content should be straightforward, par-
ticularly in the fashion field with specific expertise that is not familiar to consumers.
Meanwhile, micro-influencers can provide explanations when they create content in order
to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the fashion content, as well as the trust of con-
sumers. Most importantly, the marketers and influencers should consider and ensure the
content to be presented to consumers be consistent with the facts, causing the information
to be shared to other consumers properly.
Moreover, the results reveal that the interestingness of content is important to driving
the consumers’ intent to consume, contribute, and generate content that is initially created
by social media influencers. Therefore, it would be beneficial if marketers and micro-
influencers create entertaining and attractive content for the purpose of communicating
brand-related stories, including pictures, animation, and video clips, that may be used
to enhance the communication of brand-related information. Finally, marketers should
collaborate with micro-influencers in presenting content that uses inner desire to represent
the influencers’ images and personality through the influencers’ own words, pictures, or
videos in a unique manner. Most importantly, they should express sincerity by providing
honest content through friendly communication.
5.4. Limitations and Future Research

This research has studied only the scope of micro-influencer-generated content on
Instagram, so the acquired data may be limited to Instagram users only. At present,
consumers access various types of content through a variety of social media platforms, such
as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and others. Therefore, future research on consumer-
influencer engagement may be conducted on a variety of social media platforms. Moreover,
this study explores the association between influencers and social media users from the
perspective of users’ information requirements. Next, research should integrate other
moderating variables, such as gender or generation cohort, into the connection between
influencer-generated content and consumer-influencer engagement. Secondly, the impact

of influencer-generated content on consumer-influencer engagement is evaluated in this
study. Next, research should examine whether influencer-generated content affects the
attitudes of consumers toward influencers. Thirdly, the samples in this study were users
with a Thai nationality, so the results are likely to be different in other countries due to
differences in cultural values.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, W.R.; methodology, W.R. and K.C.; software, W.R.; val-
idation, W.R.; formal analysis, W.R.; investigation, W.R. and K.C.; resources, W.R. and K.C.; data
curation, W.R. and K.C.; writing—original draft preparation, W.R.; writing—review and editing,
W.R. and K.C.; visualization, W.R and K.C.; supervision, W.R.; project administration, W.R.; funding
acquisition, W.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by Business Administration for Society, Srinakharinwirot Univer-
sity in Thailand.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki and approved by Ethics in Human Research Committee of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat
University (certificate number: HE-234-2021, and date of approval: 24 December 2021).
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement: Data available on request due to privacy restrictions.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Building Stronger Brand Evangelism For Sustainable Marketing Through Micro-Influencer-Generated Content On Instagram in The Fashion Industry

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Building Stronger Brand Evangelism For Sustainable Marketing Through Micro-Influencer-Generated Content On Instagram in The Fashion Industry

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sustainability

Received: 19 October 2022

Sustainability 2022, 14, 15770. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315770 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

generate more sales opportunities and better conversions, compared to macro-influencers.

2. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development

2.2. Social Media Influencers

2.3. The Role of Micro-Influencer-Generated Content

2.4. Theory of Information Relevance and Observational Learning Theory

2.5. Consumer-Based Digital Content Marketing Concept

The authenticity motive was defined as the underlying requirements of consumers

2.6. Consumer-Influencer Engagement Behaviors

2.7. Brand Evangelism

2.8. Research Framework and Formulation of Hypotheses

2.8.1. Relationship between Topicality of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

impact. To concentrate on one or more topics of interest among followers is likely to be

Hypothesis 1. The topicality of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

2.8.2. Relationship between Novelty of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

Hypothesis 2. The novelty of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

2.8.3. Relationship between Understandability of Content and Consumer-

Hypothesis 3. The understandability of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-

2.8.4. Relationship between Reliability of Content and Consumer-Influencer Engagement

Hypothesis 4. The reliability of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-influencer

2.8.5. Relationship between Interestingness of Content and Consumer-

Hypothesis 5. The interestingness of content has a significant positive impact on consumer-

2.8.6. Relationship between Influencers’ Authenticity of Content and Consumer-

hypotheses were formulated to explore the association between influencers’ authenticity of

Hypothesis 6. The influencers’ authenticity of content has a significant positive impact on

2.8.7. Relationship between Consumer-Influencer Engagement and Brand Evangelism

Hypothesis 7. Consumer-influencer engagement has a significant positive impact on brand evangelism.

3.2. Data Collection Procedure

4. Data Analysis and Results

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents (N = 499).

Variable Category Frequency Percentage

4.2. Data Analysis

4.3. Common Method Bias Test

Table 2. Common method variance via single factor.

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loading

4.4. Multicollinearity Test

Table 3. Collinearity statistics (VIF).

4.5. Measurement Model Analysis

Table 4. Standardized item loadings, construct reliability, and convergent validity.

Constructs Items Loading CA AVE CR

Constructs Items Loading CA AVE CR

Table 5. Discriminant validity.

4.6. Path Coefficient and Structural Model Analysis

Table 6. Path coefficients and hypotheses testing.

Hypotheses Path Path Coefficients (β) t Statistic p-Value Results

4.7. Hypothesis Testing

5. Discussion and Implications

5.2. Theoretical Contributions

5.3. Managerial Implications

5.4. Limitations and Future Research

influencer-generated content and consumer-influencer engagement. Secondly, the impact

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