DAVID Confidence Onyinyechi
Department of Marketing, Faculty of Administration and Management
Rivers State University Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt
NWOKAH N. Gladson
Department of Marketing, Faculty of Administration and Management
Rivers State University Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt
Abstract
The study investigated the relationship between influencer trust and brand success of cosmetic firms in Rivers State. Social identity theory was adopted asthe theoretical foundation. The study adopted a positivist research paradigm and an explanatory research design. The population of the study comprised 19 cosmetic firms; and the entire population was surveyed. Purposive sampling method was used to select marketing, social media and brand managers of the 19 firms. Hence, a total 57 employees of the cosmetics firms provided primary data for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. Out of 67 questionnaire distributed, 50 copies were found useful. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation served as test statistic. The statistical analyses was conducted with the help of Statistical Package of Social Sciences Software (SPSS). The results reveals that influencer trust has a very strong positive relationship with brand awareness; and a strong positive relationship with brand image. The relationships were found to be statistically significant. Therefore, the study concluded that influencer trust relates positively and significantly with brand success of cosmetic firms in Rivers State; and recommends that cosmetic firms in Rivers State should identify and engage influencers who are perceived as credible and authentic by consumers, to endorse or represent their products.
Keywords: Brand awareness, brand image, brand success, influencer trust, social identity theory.