TRUST AS MEDIATION OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY, SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS AND ADVERTISING TO PURCHASE INTENTIONS OF PRODUCTS PROMOTED BY TRASH TASTE PODCAST

Abstract

Influencer marketing has now become an important component of digital marketing strategies, serving as an effective means to connect with target audiences. social media influencers, yield more influence than traditional celebrities. This quantitative study aims to find out the influence of source credibility and source attractiveness in a influencer-followers relationship, including trust development, expertise, authenticity, homophily, physical attractiveness, and the mediating effect of trust on credibility, source attractiveness, and purchase intention. Independent variables in this study are expertise, authenticity, physical attractiveness, and homophily. The object of this study is Trash Taste Podcast, with anime product. The sample of this research are people on Trash Taste Reddit aged 18 or older from active members in the subreddit. Data obtained from a web-based questionnaire was processed by using the structural equation model (SEM) using the PLS-SEM which is available on the Smart PLS. The data was processed with both PLS algorithm and bootstrapping. This research result: influencers’ expertise, and homophily play a significant role in building follower trust and create purchase intention. There isn’t significance between both authenticity and physical attractiveness to trust.