Managing the transparency paradox of social-media Influencer disclosures: How to improve authenticity and engagement when disclosing influencer-sponsor relationships

Nadia Steils, Annabel Martin, and Jean-François Toti

Companies increasingly collaborate with social-media influencers to promote their products and services.
Steils, Martin, and Toti

Management Slant

  • Greater community size first increases and then decreases in relation to consumer engagement.
  • The presence of a disclosure statement inverts the negative impact of community size on consumer engagement.
  • Authenticity mediates the relationship between community size and consumer engagement.
  • The source of the transparency message moderates the relationship between community size and perceived authenticity of the social-media influencer.

Introduction

Social-media influencers are characterized by an important community of followers and engaging content creation (Dost, Phieler, Haenlein, and Libai, 2019; Harrigan, Timothy, Coussement, Lee, et al., 2021). Their reputation depends on...

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