Kim, H. (2022, March) Sustainable influencers for CSR campaigns: The effects of influencer-cause fit and the mediating role of altruistic motive and parasocial interaction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Advertising, St. Petersburg, FL

A between-subject online experiment (N = 178) was conducted to examine how activist influencers can partner with brands to promote CSR initiatives. A sequential mediation model revealed that influencer-cause fit predicts eWOM intent to promote a brand’s CSR initiative through perceived altruistic motives and subsequent parasocial interaction. That is, activist influencers’ areas of expertise and the identity they create on Instagram should be closely related to the cause the brand supports to evoke an altruistic motive; however, the perceived altruistic motive does not mediate the relationship between influencer-cause fit and eWOM intention alone and PSI should be taken into account to successfully promote CSR initiatives when partnering with influencers.