The reason the influencer is attractive to companies is that unlike traditional advertising media, there are already people ready to receive messages. It is also said that they can quickly deliver the messages they want through convincing influencers. Influencers are content creators who communicate with the public using their own content, so they have a lot of desire for self-expression. Self-expression needs can be described as the desire to inform others of their experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc., including information about themselves, and to be evaluated. The influence of the influencer's self-expression is transmitted to consumers through the influencer's actions, words, and gestures. And the consumer's perception of them leads to the formation of the consumer's attitude toward the influencer. In addition, it is estimated that the attitude of consumers formed on the social influencer will affect the perception of the contents provided by the influencer. In previous studies on self-expression, the method of expressing oneself from the listener's point of view is described as the audience pleasing self-expression, and the way of expressing oneself from the standpoint of the speaker is called self-centered self-expression.
In this study, these two types of self-expression were set as public self-consciousness and narcissism propensity, respectively. The concept of public self-consciousness is to recognize oneself as a social object in relation to others. Therefore, the stronger the public self-consciousness, the greater the tendency to pay attention to other people's evaluations of self. On the other hand, narcissism refers to a tendency to be perceived as a special and ideal being by overestimating oneself and being intoxicated with oneself. Therefore, it is highly likely to provide exaggerated or stimulating information to attract the attention and attention of many people. The interest and attention of others is essential to the existence and role of the social influencer. Therefore, influencers prefer a listener-oriented self-expression method that pays attention to other people's evaluations to maintain a lasting relationship with many followers. Alternatively, in order to draw attention from the public through discriminatory activities or to emphasize their authenticity, they can communicate in a self-expressing manner that is somewhat stimulating and exaggerated with a strong narcissistic tendency. Either way, consumers will perceive him through the influencer's self-expression method, such as the influencer's various actions, language, gestures, and images, and will form an attitude toward the influencer based on his perception. As an influential communicator, social influencers need to have expertise as a competent source of information, such as insight and communication. It has already been confirmed that consumers are greatly influenced by the professionalism of the advertising model, the information carrier, in the communication process. Social influencers with high public self-consciousness are highly likely to fulfill their role as an influencer as a professional information producer and information communicator because they value the followers' evaluation and recognition of themselves. On the other hand, a social influencer with a high tendency to narcissism is likely to act as a low-professional information source that produces and delivers exaggerated and stimulating information to attract other people's attention. Based on the above discussion, the hypothesis can be summarized as follows.
Hypothesis 1. Narcissistic tendency perceived by social influencers negatively affects the perception of professionalism of influencers Hypothesis 2. The public self-consciousness perceived by the social influencer positively affects the perception of professionalism of influencers In previous studies on advertising models and advertising effects, it is explained that the professionalism and reliability of the advertising model has an important effect on the advertising effect. In other words, consumers are more likely to change their attitudes and beliefs using the information as they perceive that the advertising model can provide accurate information and have the ability to solve problems. In studies of the role and impact of influencers, it is confirmed that expertise and reliability are derived as important attributes of influencers, and these attributes have a positive effect on consumer fanship, purchase intention, and brand authenticity. Influencer's expertise can be defined as the ability to make consumers easily immersed in and empathize with their own materials, perspectives, and stories.
Therefore, the more the social influencer is recognized as professional, the more reliable the content provided by the influencer can be estimated. Also, elements of interest can be easily found in famous influencers. Therefore, it can be estimated that the higher the professionalism of the influencer is evaluated using his own interesting and differentiated story, the more positively the entertainment elements of the contents provided by the influencer will be recognized. Based on the above discussion, the relationship between the perception of professionalism of the social influencer and the content attributes provided by the social influencer is hypothesized as follows.
Hypothesis 3. The professionalism perceived by the social influencer has a positive effect on the perceived reliability of the content provided by the influencer Hypothesis 4. The professionalism perceived by the social influencer has a positive effect on the perceived entertainment of the content provided by the influencer Data for hypothesis verification were collected through a internet-survey of people with experience in social influencers. A total of 190 copies of valid samples were collected. Respondents consisted of 83 males (43.7%) and 107 females (56.3%) by gender, with an average age of 30 (min 20, max 54), 96 in their 20s (50.5%), There were 86 in their 30s (45.3%) and 8 in their 40s (4.2%). Reliability verification for the measurement items was performed by verifying the average variance extraction (AVE) and composite reliability (ICR) values and Cronbach Alpha coefficients for each concept. As a result of the verification, the average variance extraction value of all construct is above the standard value of 0.5, the composite reliability value is above the reference value of 0.7, and the Cronbach Alpha coefficient is also calculated above 0.7, indicating that all construct were measured at a reliable level.
The verification of the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement was conducted through confirmatory factor analysis. The relationship (λ loading) between all construction concepts and measurement variables was statistically significant, confirming the convergent validity of the measurement. In addition, since the confidence interval (Φ±2SE) of the Φ coefficient indicating the correlation between the constituent concepts was not included 1, the discriminant validity between the constituent concepts was also confirmed.
For the empirical analysis for the hypothesis verification, a covariate structural equation model was used. Prior to the verification of the individual hypotheses, the goodness-of-fit index of the empirical model was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the χ2 value (=155.544), which represents the overall goodness-of-fit index of the empirical model, was significant (d.f.=85, p=0.00). However, other goodness-of-fit indexes (GFI=0.903, AGFI=0.863, RMR=0.073, NFI=0.915, IFI=0.960, CFI=0.959, RMSEA=0.066) that are relatively stable than χ2 values were found to be appropriate overall. Accordingly, it can be judged that the empirical model suitability is an appropriate level.
As a result of the analysis of individual hypotheses, narcissism perceived for the influencer has a negative effect on the perceived professionalism of the influencer as estimated in Hypothesis 1. The effect of public self-consciousness perceived on the influencer on the influence of influencer expertise was positive as predicted by the hypothesis (Hypothesis 2). The relationship between the perception of professionalism of social influencers and the perception of reliability of contents was also found to be positive as expected (Hypothesis 3). Lastly, the relationship between the perception of professionalism of social influencers and the perception of entertainment of content (Hypothesis 4) was found to be a positive relationship like the content and direction of the hypothesis.
This study can find theoretical significance in that it looks at the consumer's attitude toward the social influencer, the source of information, from the perspective of the influencer's self-expression propensity and charm, unlike previous studies related to communication and advertisement. The practical implications are as follows. First, companies can strengthen their personality by collaborating with influencers who have a self-expression tendency that is highly suited to their personality. In addition, brand personality can be used to quickly establish a consumer-brand relationship with the followers of the influencer.
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