InInvestigating the Influencer’s Review Types on Consumer’s Perceived Diagnosticity and Parasocial Relationship

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates how different types of influencer‘s review, can affect on consumer’s perceived diagnosticity, persuasion knowledge, and review credibility, furthermore on the parasocial relationship. There are four(4) types of reviews: the positive straight, negative straight, positive comparative, and negative comparative. In addition, this study tests the perceived diagnosticity, persuasion knowledge, and review credibility as mediators in the causal pathway between the review types and the parasocial relationship. The 7-point Likert scales were used to measure study variables. The multiple regression analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 to verify which of the four(4) review types shows significance on the mediating variables: perceived diagnosticity, persuasion knowledge, and review credibility. A valid 307 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. As a result, the negative straight review significantly influenced perceived diagnosticity and review credibility. The positive comparative review showed significance on review credibility, while the negative comparative review was significant on the persuasion knowledge. To test the mediating effects, the perceived diagnosticity and review credibility significant intervened in the causal relationship between review types and the parasocial relationship. While the influencer marketing is becoming more dynamic today, the researches on the engagement of different types of reviews on the consumer psychological bonding are not abundant. This exploratory study opens up a new research model which focuses on parasocial relationship and the different review types. The contribution of the study is in pulling up the competency of in the field of influencer marketing today.