Motives for Following Social Influencers and Electronic Word-of-Mouth: The Role of Social Capital

Given the increasing popularity and significance of social influencer marketing phenomenon, it is important to understand why people follow social influencers and what gratification they get. Guided by theories of uses and gratification and social capital, this study examines the key motives of following social influencers and the relationship between the motivations and consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), along with social capital. The results show that self-oriented motivations (i.e., entertainment, information, and self-presentation) are positively related to bridging social capital, while other-oriented motivations (i.e., empathy, recognition) are positively related to bonding social capital. In addition, both bridging and bonding social capital are positively associated with eWOM. Managerially, the findings of this study can help provide marketing practitioners with insights of incorporating social influencers in their marketing strategy.