“Stop the unattainable ideal for an ordinary me!” fostering parasocial relationships with social media influencers: The role of self-discrepancy

The unprecedented interactivity of social media has empowered social media influencers to develop close relationships with their followers, and such relationships carry important marketing implications for social media influencers and brands. The present study examines the antecedents and outcomes of followers’ parasocial relationships with social media influencers. Drawing upon the theoretical lens of parasocial interaction theory, influence framework, and attribution framework, the study proposes and empirically tests the effects of social media influencers’ influence attempts on parasocial relationships, and the subsequent downstream outcomes of perceived endorser motives and consumer purchase intentions. Using a survey-based approach, the study collected 361 usable responses, and data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The study found that (1) influence attempts (i.e., attractiveness, prestige, and expertise) positively influence parasocial relationships, whereas (2) parasocial relationships negatively influence perceived endorser motive (self-serving), which in turn (3) reduces purchase intention, and (4) self-discrepancy moderates the relationships between influence attempts and parasocial relationships. Two post-hoc exploratory analyses uncovers the impacts of number of followers and gender in the proposed relationships. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.