Consumer Behavior

The Interplay of Cause and Fit on Consumer Responses to an Instagram Post

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Abstract

Fashion and beauty influencers have become a strong voice on social media platforms. There is a lack of research that seeks to identify specific social media strategies that includes both cause and fit in generating positive consumer responses. This experimental study is designed to fill this gap by testing the main and interaction effects of fit and cause on consumers’ attitude towards the social media influencer and future intentions. Using a female consumer panel (n= 237), results demonstrate main effects of cause existed on four dependent variables (i.e., authenticity, expertise, intention to follow, and purchase intention), with higher scores for respondents who were exposed to a cause (vs. non-cause) Instagram post. Main effects of fit existed on expertise, intention to follow, and purchase intention, with higher scores for the low-fit group than the high-fit group between the influencer and brand. Interaction effects existed on attractiveness, expertise and intention to follow.

Keywords: Social media, perceived fit, cause marketing, attitudes, future intention, experiment

How to Cite:

Childs, M. L., Smith, S. & Kim, Y., (2022) “The Interplay of Cause and Fit on Consumer Responses to an Instagram Post”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13436