Promoting the energy saving behavior on Instagram: The role of the influencer’s expertise and popularity

ABSTRACTThis research is grounded into the social learning and influence framework. On the basis of the literature review, it has been noted that promoting a sustainable behavior, such as energy saving, is deemed to be an outcome of a psychological process that may be triggered by social influence attempts on social networks. A set of source-related features, such as the influencer’s popularity and expertise, and the followers’ psychological reactions are conceived to illustrate the energy saving promotion on Instagram. A quantitative approach based on an a 2 × 2 experiment and a survey was implemented. The findings show that the influencer’s popularity and expertise are key drivers that trigger a psychological mechanism leading to a high intention to save energy among followers.KEYWORDS: Credibilityenergy savingexperimentsocial influencesustainability Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Summary statement of contributionThis research brings additional insights to the theories of social learning and provides a new psychological mechanism of learning on social networks. Our research depicts the relevance of social media networks, as well as the influencer’s characteristics in promoting energy saving as a sustainable behavior among followers. Governments and professionals, should rely on popular and expert influencers to carry out effective awareness-raising campaigns regarding energy saving.