Anatolia

An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research

ISSN: 1303-2917 (Print) 2156-6909 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rana20

The impact of social media influencers in tourism

Francesca Magno & Fabio Cassia

To cite this article: Francesca Magno & Fabio Cassia (2018): The impact of social media
influencers in tourism, Anatolia, DOI: 10.1080/13032917.2018.1476981

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2018.1476981

Published online: 24 May 2018.

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ANATOLIA
https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2018.1476981

RESEARCH NOTE

The impact of social media influencers in tourism

Francesca Magnoa and Fabio Cassiab
a
Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy;
b
Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 9 January 2018; Accepted 12 May 2018

Introduction
In the past decade, extensive research has been conducted on the effects of user-generated content
(UGC) on consumers’ travel-related attitudes and decisions (Filieri, 2016; Howison, Finger, &
Hauschka, 2015; Park, Xiang, Josiam, & Kim, 2014). However, to date, the mechanisms through
which content generated by the specific type of users known as social media influencers or digital
influencers (Kapitan & Silvera, 2016; Zhang, Moe, & Schweidel, 2017) affects followers have been
overlooked in tourism studies (Ge & Gretzel, 2018).
Social media influencers represent “a new type of independent third-party endorser who
shapes audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media” (Freberg,
Graham, McGaughey, & Freberg, 2011, p. 90). Recognized as opinion leaders, they are able to
increase the influence of the information they receive and transmit to others (Jalilvand, 2017;
Uzunoğlu & Kip, 2014). Studies in fields other than tourism, such as culture (Magno, 2017) and
fashion (Halvorsen, Hoffmann, Coste-Manière, & Stankeviciute, 2013), have documented the
increasing relevance of digital influencers and the mechanisms through which they affect the
formation of their followers’ attitudes and decisions. This research note intends to advance
knowledge on this issue in tourism.

Methodology
We developed a model (Figure 1) that drew on available findings related both to the effects of UGC
on tourists’ choices (Sparks, Perkins, & Buckley, 2013) and to the effects of content generated by
social media influencers on their followers in fields other than tourism (Cosenza, Solomon, & Kwon,
2015). Based on previous evidence, we modelled perceived influencer’s trustworthiness (Liljander,
Gummerus, & Söderlund, 2015) and perceived information quality (Magno, 2017) as antecedents of
the impact of social media influencers on their followers’ travel-related behavioural intentions. Of
the many types of such influencers, this research focused on travel bloggers. Specifically, we
contacted members of the Italian Association of Travel Bloggers that includes the most influential
tourism bloggers in Italy and asked for their assistance in distributing our questionnaire. Three
social media influencers responded and agreed to post a link to the questionnaire on their blogs.

Results
In total, we collected 164 questionnaires; however, we excluded questionnaires completed by
respondents who declared that they had low familiarity with the blog through which they

CONTACT Francesca Magno francesca.magno@unibg.it Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative

Methods, University of Bergamo, Via dei Caniana, 2, 24127 Bergamo, Italy
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 F. MAGNO AND F. CASSIA

Figure 1. The suggested model.

had accessed the link to the questionnaire. The final sample comprised 129 respondents.
Seven-point, agreement–disagreement Likert-type scales were used to measure blogger
trustworthiness (my perception of the blogger is that he/she is trustworthy/is sincere/
inspires trust), information quality (the information provided by this blogger is accurate/
updated/of high quality) and behavioural intentions (when I have to make travel-related
decisions, I will take suggestions from this blogger; I am likely to visit the places reviewed
by this blogger; I am likely to consider this blogger’s travel experiences when making my
travel decisions).
We used covariance-based structural equation modelling to test both the measurement model
and the structural model. The measurement model showed adequate fit: χ2 (df = 24) was equal to
46.14, p < .01, χ2/df value was 1.92, the confirmatory fit index (CFI) was .97 and the root mean
squared error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.08 (pclose = .06). Both convergent validity and
discriminant validity were met.
In relation to the structural effects (see Table 1), it was found that a follower’s intention
to adopt the travel suggestions provided by the blogger depended significantly on the
perceptions of both the blogger’s trustworthiness and of the quality of the information the
blogger provided.

Table 1. The structural model.

Estimated Model
Unst. Coeff. SE Std. Coeff.

Blogger trustworthiness → Behavioural intentions 0.405** 0.115 0.395

Information quality → Behavioural intentions 0.381** 0.119 0.357
Model fit
Chi-square 46.14, df = 24, p < 0.01
RMSEA 0.08 (pclose = 0.06)
CFI 0.97
SRMR 0.04
**p < 0.01.
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Conclusion
The presented findings offer some preliminary evidence on the mechanisms though which social media
influencers (in this case, travel bloggers) affect their followers’ travel-related intentions. Further research
on this topic is needed not only to overcome the limitations of this study (e.g. the choice to collect
information only from users that consistently visit a travel blog) but also to address several other research
questions. First, future research should seek to clarify whether travel bloggers and other social media
influencers only affect their loyal followers or whether they also affect the larger public. In addition, the
magnitude of this influence needs to be assessed. Further, the interplay between customer reviews and
the information passed by the influencers requires in-depth examination. Future research should seek to
examine whether, for example, the two sources of information have different effects depending on the
stage of a tourist’s decision-making process. Such studies could provide information that assists tourism
organizations in deciding whether to cooperate with digital influencers.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Francesca Magno, Ph.D. in Marketing, is an assistant professor at the University of Bergamo (Italy). Her academic
and research interests include services management and marketing, tourism and hospitality marketing, product
crises and brand management.
Fabio Cassia, Ph.D. in Marketing, is an assistant professor at the University of Verona (Italy). His research interests
are related to services management and marketing, service logic, tourism and hospitality marketing, business-to-
business relations.

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