Pathways to persuasion: The impact of social media influencers’ self-disclosure and follower size on persuasion outcomes

A 2 (influencer type: nano with 5000 followers vs mega with 1.1 million followers) × 2 (influencer self-disclosure: low depth vs high depth) between-subjects online experiment tested the different pathways social media influencers take to achieve persuasion outcomes in one model. Participants viewed an Instagram influencer’s profile page with either 5000 or 1.1 million followers, and a post from the influencer with either low or high depth self-disclosure. Participants then answered questions regarding social attraction, parasocial relationship, perceived expertise, persuasion outcomes, covariates, and demographic information. Results showed three serial pathways facilitate persuasion: two pathways through self-disclosure depth by way of social attraction and parasocial relationship development and another pathway through follower size by way of perceived expertise. This research advances understanding of the influencing process by using theory and empirical precedent to derive and test an integrated model of the influencing process.