THE IMPACT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING ON

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' PURCHASE INTENTION DURING

COVID-19 PERIOD IN VIETNAMESE FASHION INDUSTRY

Table of Contents
Introduction 2
1.1 Research Background 2
1.2 Research Importance 3
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 4
Literature Review 4
2.1 Social media marketing 4
2.2 Influencer marketing 5
2.3 Purchase intentions 6
2.4 Overview of the Fashion industry in Vietnam 7
2.5 Research questions 8
Methodology 8
3.1 Research Philosophy 8
3.2 Research Strategies & Approach 9
3.3 Data Collection Instrument: Questionnaire 10
3.4 Data Collection Procedure & Analysis 10
Conclusion 11
4.1 Ethical & Practical Issues 11
4.2 Implications or Limitations 11
Timetable 12
References 13

Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Globally, it is undoubtedly that social media networks have been regarded as one of the best
marketing platforms. With social media channels, people could acquire a large assortment of

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information in many industries such as education, tourism and economics (Chetioui et al.,
2020). The popularity of social media has attracted brands who use social media networks as
means to promote the brand values and achieve their marketing objective (Arora and Sanni,
2019; Kaur and Kumar, 2020). Around ten years ago, the vigorous growth of social media
channels led to a new type of marketing which is digital marketing (Arora and Sanni, 2019;
Kaur and Kumar, 2020). One of the most common types of digital marketing is called social
media influencer marketing (Kaur and Kumar, 2020). Through that method, brands select
influencers on social media channels who could endorse information about brands on their
social accounts to influence their follower’s perceptions and perspectives. Singh, Crisafulli
and Xue (2020) point out that influencer marketing trends are on the increase globally.
Previous literature shows great agreement that the followers seem to be highly affected by
their influencers in several business sectors, and fashion is one industry in which influencer
marketing seems to be widely used and has become of great importance (Anuar et al., 2020).
According to Grand View Research (2021), the global fashion influencer marketing market
size whose value is $1.5 billion in 2019 is expected to experience aggressive growth at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.7 from 2020 to 2027. In Vietnam, influencers
are regarded as one of the fastest-increasing digital marketing tools (Huyen, 2021). Nguyen
(2018) indicates that fashion is significantly affected by influencers. Nguyen (2018)
highlights one symbolic example of influencer marketing and fashion brand in Vietnam is the
cooperation between Biti’s, a Vietnam footwear brand and influencers such as Son Tung
MTP and Soobin Hoang Son, leading and well-known singers in Vietnam. With the excellent
and rational usage of influencer marketing, Biti’s has rebirthed successfully. Therefore, the
importance of influencer marketing in affecting customers’ behaviour, especially their
purchasing intention leads to this study.

1.2 Research Importance

Vietnam experienced remarkable and progressive growth of shopping activities on media
channels and eCommerce platforms (Phi, 2021). People have shown a strong preference
towards shopping online and shifted their attention to marketing activities on social media
channels. Therefore, fashion brands should pay more attention to advertising and promoting
their products on social media channels, and influencer marketing is one of their tools to
boost their brand on social media. Notably, the group of consumers who spend most on the
fashion industry are people ranging from 25 to 34 who interact the most with social media
and therefore, are directly and considerably affected by influencer marketing. In addition,

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Lang and Armstrong, 2018 believe that customers of the fashion industry become more
sensitive to new market trends which explains why their purchasing journey is strongly
affected by the fashion influencers. Pate and Adams (2013) also indicate that customers of
Gen Y and Z are directly affected by influencers in the fashion industry. Additionally, Park
and Kim (2016) also point out that those fashion trends are majorly and popularly led by
influencers who are influential, innovative and famous because they have the potential to
convince their followers and shape a new fashion trend through information they post on their
personal media channels. Despite the importance of influencer marketing in Vietnam,
however, there are few empirical findings that indicate the association between fashion
influencers and consumers' purchase intention, particularly in developing countries (Chetioui
et al., 2020; Phau, Teah, and Chuah, 2015). Therefore, it is of great importance to conduct
this research to analyse the relationship between influencer marketing and the purchase
intention of university students in the Vietnam fashion industry. The research will analyse
five attributes of influencers marketing which are Expertise, Trustworthiness, Brand Attitude,
Information Quality, and Purchase Intention (Jarrar et al., 2020)

1.3 Research Aims and Objectives

As previously stated, there is a lack of literature analysing the correlation between fashion
leadership and customers’ purchase intention (Lang and Armstrong, 2018). In Vietnam, there
is limited research that analyses this relationship in the fashion industry and surveys students'
universities. Therefore, this research hopes to fulfil these gaps by offering an analysis of the
impact of influencer marketing on customers’ intention to purchase fashion items.
Hence, the research’s objective is to investigate the impact of influencer marketing on
university students’ purchase intentions in the Vietnamese fashion industry.
Aims:
This research aims would be:
1) To analyse how different characteristics of influencers affect university student’s
purchasing intentions of fashion items
2) To offer a more profound insight into the literature to fulfil the research gaps of
previous studies
3) To provide a guideline for marketers and advertisers who work in the fashion industry
when selecting appropriate influencers

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 4) To contribute valuable insights on how influencer marketing affects consumer
purchase intention in the fashion industry in Vietnam

Literature Review

2.1 Social media marketing

Social media marketing (SMM) refers to the usage of social media websites and social
networks to advertise and promote products and services of a company, which encourages
traffic to the website and increases the number of bookings (Alves et al., 2016). In the social
media marketing process, marketers will create tailored content for each platform so as to
enhance audience engagement and develop the business. In addition, social media marketing
is about listening and sharing with followers, analysing the result and running advertisements
on social media. The use of social marketing will help connect the customers and the brand,
the customers could obtain a more profound insight into the brand through activities of the
brand on social media channels (Alves et al., 2016). In general, the three most important
benefits of the social media market is to increase brand awareness, generate lead and
conversion rate, and maintain stable and close relationships with customers. Some of the
most popular social media channels in Vietnam are Facebook, Instagram and Youtube
(Nguyen, 2019). Promotion video ads that often last 15 seconds to 1 minute that people could
see before a music video on YouTube is one kind of social media marketing (Nguyen, 2019).
Promotion ads to promote products on Facebook could be another kind of social marketing
(Nguyen, 2019).

2.2 Influencer marketing

Social media influencers (SMIs) according to Freberg et al. (2010) represent a new
type of independent third-party endorsers who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets,
and the use of other social media. According to Kirwan (2018), social media individuals are
personalities who own a large following on their social media accounts, and they will
leverage their accounts to influence and convince their followers to purchase certain kinds of
products and services. The social media influencers are regarded as significantly credible
people in their field and industry so that their followers will have a high likelihood to believe
in products that the influence endorsed with the brand. Social media influencers do not have
to be worldwide famous, they could be influencers that have hundreds, thousands or even

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millions of followers thanks to their charisma, savvy and expertise in one subject. The social
media influencers also charge companies a fee when promoting products, this fee majorly
depends on the size of the followers and the quality of the personal brand.

The appearance and aggressive growth of social media lead to the advent of
influencer marketing (Li and Peng, 2021). This type of new digital marketing approach is
based on the psychology of people that customers tend to value other opinions when selecting
products and services. Influencer marketing refers to the usage of social media influencers to
carry out social media marketing activities. In particular, those influencers will receive a fee
from the brand and then endorse, promote and give favourable feedback about that brand’s
products and services. Influence marketing benefits marketers because they could obtain
more insights into the marketing outcomes such as the number of views, emotional reactions,
and comments on influencers' posts related to the brand’s products (Li and Peng, 2021). In
developing countries, influencer marketing becomes more popular and momentous and
nearly becomes a perfect alternative to traditional forms of marketing communication. Samia
and Khan (2020) analyse the effect of social media influencer marketing in developing
countries in India, they indicated that trustworthiness has a significant impact on influencers’
credibility and consumers’ purchase intention. In addition, Samia and Khan (2020) also point
out that the information provided by the marketing influencers also impacts the followers, in
another word, if this information is understandable and valuable, the followers’ purchase
intention will be positively affected. In the fashion industry, Fashion influencers (FIs) are
individuals who have a wide following of audiences on their personal social media account.
FIs will generate fashion contents in which they could wear clothes of brands and show their
preference towards these products of that brand. FIs are regarded as powerful players in the
fashion industry because they could lead the fashion trend and affect customers with a
passion for fashion items (Park and Kim, 2016). One example of fashion influencer
marketing on Youtube is a music video, in 2017, Biti’s Hunter cooperates with Son Tung
MTP, this singer used Biti’s Hunter when he starred in his music video “Lac Troi” which was
streamed on Youtube

2.3 Purchase intentions

Purchase intention is defined as the plan and willingness of a consumer to buy a certain
product and service from a brand (Huang, 2012). According to Mirabi et al., (2015), purchase
intention is closely associated with the behaviour, perspectives, perceptions and attitudes of

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customers. Brown et al., (2003) also indicate that the buying process could be effectively
predicted by understanding the purchase intention. The intention to purchase could be
affected by several factors such as price, perceived quality, and expected value. The
purchasers could be affected by internal and external motivations. Brown et al., (2003) point
out that the purchasing intention of customers will be significantly and directly impacted by
their attitudes toward a particular brand. If the brand seems to be more trustworthy in the eyes
of customers, the customers will show more willingness to purchase products and services
from that brand. In the marketing context. The effectiveness of influencer marketing in
affecting the purchase intention of customers is acknowledged and proved in prior literature.
Kudeshia and Kumar (2017) emphasize that user-generated positive eWOM on social
networking media, especially Facebook could be noticeable and considerably influence brand
attitudes and purchase intentions.

2.4 Overview of the Fashion industry in Vietnam

Overall, Vietnam is regarded as the promising land for the fashion industry, and the Vietnam
fashion market has proved to have great potential in Southeast Asia. Businesses in the fashion
industry seem to attract great attention from consumers because the living standard of
Vietnamese has been significantly improved. Hence, their needs for fashion become more
complicated and demanding. In recent years, with technological advancement, this industry
seems to be more dynamic and vigorous. According to Statista Research, in 2021, the
revenue of the fashion segment is expected to reach $2,123 million in 2021. It is projected to
have an annual growth rate of 14.90%, hence, in 2025, the market volume will reach $3,701
million. The number of purchasers in the fashion segment in 2025 will amount to 43.3
million. In 2021, there will be 33.5% of user penetration which would hit 42.8% in 2025.
Figure 2: The Revenue of the Fashion Industry from 2017 to 2025

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 Statista, 2021

2.5 Research questions

The two primary questions for this research are:
1) What is the impact of influencer marketing on university students’ purchase intention
in Vietnamese fashion industry?
2) How different characteristics of influencers impact university students' purchase
intention of fashion clothes

Methodology

3.1 Research Philosophy

The methodology of this research will be decided based on the Research Onion (Figure 3).
This research will apply positivism philosophy, deductive approach, quantitative method with
a cross-sectional survey design. The positivism philosophy is used because this research will
focus on data collection and objective interpretation. However, there is a lack of literature
investigating the relationship between influencer marketing and purchase intention in the
context of the Vietnam fashion industry and university students. Therefore, positivism
philosophy is applied so that the researcher could have a more profound understanding of this
context.

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Figure 3: Research Onion

Saunders et al., (2020)

3.2 Research Strategies & Approach

Deductivism is selected as the main approach because the main purpose of the research is to
test hypotheses for further validation and explanation (Bell et al., 2019; Saunders et al.,
2020). The relationship between influencer marketing and purchase intention, therefore the
deductive approach will be selected to further explain this relation in a new context: Vietnam
fashion industry and university students. This research will have a cross-sectional survey that
focuses on collecting a wide range of data at the same time, the data will be collected from
participants from various backgrounds but share similarities such as age range, geographical
areas, education. In this study, respondents have similarities in age range, education level
because they are all university students. This research method will be applied to establish a
correlation between different variables and hypotheses by testing through statistical software
SPSS. In this research, the author wants to identify the relationship between influencer
marketing and customers’ purchase intention in the Vietnam fashion industry by testing
hypotheses, hence, the quantitative method would be the ideal selection for this research.

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3.3 Data Collection Instrument: Questionnaire
The survey will be a questionnaire that contains two parts: demographic information and
questions based on the variables of the study model. The first demographic section will ask
for information about age, gender, Tertiary education, monthly income and their buying
platforms. The second part will ask the respondents to answer the level of agreement based
on the 5-point Likert scales from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1 5-point Likert Scale

Source: Tuckman, 1991

3.4 Data Collection Procedure & Analysis

This proposed research will mainly focus on the primary data rather than using secondary
data. As in the literature review, there is a lack of previous studies analysing the university
students’ purchase intention in the fashion industry, especially, during the Covid-19
pandemic. Therefore, using primary data is perfectly suitable in this case because the author
wants to investigate deeply this certain context. Due to Covid-19, the questionnaire will be
distributed online via social networks channels such as Facebook and Instagram, the author
will send the google docs questions to form to friends and ask for their support by filling all
questions and recommending to their acquaintances to do this survey. Then the data collected
will be tested in SPSS software.

Conclusion

4.1 Ethical & Practical Issues

The first ethical issue this research might concern is the university's student privacy. In this
research, the first part of the questionnaires ask for personal information, therefore the author
will inform the participants of the purpose of this research before asking them to fill in the
questionnaire, the intended results should be transparent to the respondents. To use the

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information, the author must receive the consent of participants. The respondent’s privacy
will be kept private, anonymous and confidential. The record will be maintained precise and
data will be reported in the most careful and objective manner. Secondly, in terms of
intellectual property issues, the author will make certain that all research cited in this study
will be fully cited and referenced. Their intellectual property will be respected. In this
research, especially the literature review, hypothesis development and discussion, a wide
range of previous studies will be analysed, and all other authors will be credited for their
contributions.

4.2 Implications or Limitations

In terms of implications, the research aims to fulfil the research gap in the literature of the
relationship between influencer marketing and consumer purchase intention by investigating
deeply the context of the Vietnam fashion industry and university students. In terms of
practical implications, this research aims to support fashion businesses, especially business
targets to the young customers, in gaining more profound insights into their customers’
behaviours so as to formulate and implement the most practical and appropriate marketing
activities to promote their brand. In more detail, marketers could further understand the
impact of influencer marketing on the purchase intention of university students. In other
words, they will be well aware of how university students react to different attributes of
marketing influencers. Therefore, they could decide which influencers will be well-matched
with the brand, then they could adopt marketing strategy in an appropriate and effective way.
In terms of limitations, given the macro-environmental issue of Covid 19, it is relatively
difficult to achieve questionnaires in person, hence, conducting questionnaires through online
platforms will be the possible method, however, questionnaires alone might not be fully
indicative of the purchase intention. In addition, the results might lack accuracy because the
respondents might fill the questions in a perfunctory manner because they consider that doing
a questionnaire is time-consuming, as they do the survey online so the author could not check
the accuracy of the survey.

Timetable
This research will follow a timeframe as demonstrated in Figure 4. Important, the
questionnaire will be measured in a maximum of 1 month to ensure the accuracy of the

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 research as Sauders et al., (2020) also state that questionnaire should be measured within a
specific timeframe to ascertain the

Activities Period

Meeting with the supervisor to make an

agreement on the topic of the dissertation

Further reading for the topic

Formulating a dissertation outline

Having a detailed draft of the dissertation

Proposing the second meeting with the

supervisor to correct and better the
dissertation, agree on the measurable scales
and questionnaires

Completing the Introduction, Literature

Review, and Research methodology parts

Talking with university students,

distributing the survey and ask them for
fulfilling the questionnaires

Completing the analysing the survey results

Reviewing the survey results

Completing the findings, discussions,

limitations and contributions, and
conclusion part of the dissertation

Proofreading the dissertation

Sending this version for the supervisor for

the last feedbacks

Submitting the last version on deadline

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