INFLUENCER MARKETING IN PALESTINE

Abstract

In the marketing world, influencer marketing has become incredibly popular as a powerful strategy adopted by businesses worldwide. While this marketing approach has gained global appeal, its specific impact on online consumer’s purchase intention in the Palestinian context remains understudied. The main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social media influencers on the purchase intentions of online consumers in Palestine. The research framework analyzed various traits of social media influencers, including credibility, expertise, trustworthiness and argument quality, homophily, interactivity, and popularity to determine their effects on consumers’ purchase intentions. The main contribution of this thesis lies in integrating the social media influencers model with variables such as price orientation, convenience orientation, and brand orientation to investigate their collective impact on purchase intention. A convenience sampling method is employed, targeting Palestinians who use social media for making purchases. The questionnaire was designed and distributed in the Southern West Bank, Palestine. Based on data collection from 311 respondents, the results of the study reveal that social media influencers’ credibility, expertise, homophily, trustworthiness-argument quality, interactivity, and popularity have positive impact on followers’ online purchase intention, Furthermore, incorporating the social media influencers model with price orientation, convenience orientation and brand orientation enhances the purchase intention of online consumers in Palestine. The present thesis sought to provide greater knowledge in the field of social media influencers, managers can make conscious decisions when determining which characteristics to look for when deciding to collaborate with social media influencers. Keywords: Social Media Influencers; Influencer Marketing; Purchase Intention; Palestine.