RESEARCH THE AUDIENCE’S UNFOLLOW DECISION FOR THE INFLUENCERS ON YOUTUBE PLATFORM

Author: Nguyen The Hung

ABSTRACT

Many previous studies have confirmed the important role of influencers play in the marketing strategies of companies. However, there is little document on the negative impact of influencers on brands and the causes of this impact. This study investigates the factors that lead to unfollowing YouTube influencer behavior and discusses as well as makes recommendations on the issue. The factors examined in the article include influencers’ negative information, lack of interaction, false advertising, and uncreative content. All of them were predicted to strongly encourage unfollow behavior. The authors used two background theories to support the article including the Theory of Rational Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Research data was collected from 300 survey participants ranging between the ages of 18 and 45. The data analysis techniques used were to evaluate the reliability of the scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and linear regression analysis. The research results support all the hypotheses that the authors have proposed. In other words, this article has confirmed the positive impact of factors including negative information, lack of interaction, false endorsement, and uncreative content on unfollowing YouTube influencers’ behavior. Overall, the paper has academic implications and provides important guidance for marketers to select the right influencers for product endorsements.

Keywords: Influencer, False endorsement, Negative information, Rational action, Planned behavior, Electronic word-of-mouth

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