The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Consumer Purchase Decisions in India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/jaes.v21i2.16Keywords:
Social media influencers, consumer behaviour, purchase intention, influencer marketing, parasocial interaction, digital trust, Instagram, YouTube, India.Abstract
In recent years, social media influencers have emerged as powerful agents of digital marketing, reshaping how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products. This study investigates the extent to which influencer attributes—such as credibility, parasocial interaction, and content exposure—affect consumer purchase intentions. Drawing on a sample of 300 social media users in India, quantitative methods including correlation analysis and hypothesis testing were employed using SPSS to assess the relationships between influencer engagement and consumer behaviour. Contrary to widely held assumptions, the findings reveal that influencer credibility does not significantly enhance purchase intention, and parasocial interaction may even correlate negatively with brand perception. Moreover, content exposure frequency and platform type (Instagram vs. YouTube) were not found to be decisive factors in influencing consumer decisions. The results suggest that while influencers remain relevant as digital intermediaries, their effectiveness in driving consumer purchases is limited and mediated by deeper trust, content relevance, and contextual factors. The paper offers practical recommendations for marketers to recalibrate influencer strategies toward authenticity, integrated messaging, and audience alignment.
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