实践者和学者越来越关注影响者如何与追随者交流和接触。本研究探讨社交媒体影响者的亲密自我表露( SMIs’ISD )如何塑造对其可信度的感知。一个实验考察了追随者的关联需要满足和信源可信度如何受到影响。一般来说,人们觉得高SMIs的ISD水平比低亲密自我表露水平对其可信度的损害更大。边界条件是在自我表露的适当性中确定的。也就是说,当参与者觉得SMIs的ISD合适时,通过追随者关联需要满足的内在机制,可以增强对SMIs可信度的感知。结果有助于更好地理解亲密自我披露在数字营销中的应用,并提高我们对影响SMIs在社交媒体消费环境中披露高水平亲密关系的边界条件的认识。这些发现也与试图通过追随者的关联需要满足和信源可信度来增强产品促销的说服力的公司直接相关。

Practitioners and academics have increasingly paid attention to how influencers communicate and engage with their followers. This research explored how social media influencers' intimate self-disclosure (SMIs' ISD) can shape perceptions of their credibility. An experiment examines how followers' relatedness need fulfillment and source credibility are affected. In general, people perceived high levels of SMIs' ISD as more damaging to their credibility than low levels of intimate self-disclosure. Boundary conditions are identified in the appropriateness of self-disclosure. That is, when participants felt that SMIs' ISD was appropriate, perceptions of SMIs' credibility were enhanced through the underlying mechanism of followers' relatedness need fulfillment. Results contribute to a better understanding of the application of intimate self-disclosure in digital marketing and advance our knowledge of the boundary conditions that affect the disclosure of high levels of intimacy by SMIs in a social media consumption context. The findings are also of direct relevance to companies attempting to enhance the persuasiveness of product promotions via followers’ relatedness need fulfillment and source credibility.