The role of social media influencers on the consumer{u2019}s buying decision process in the light of advertising literacy : A study on instagram / Lama Atef Atta Atta Bicher ; Supervised Hanan Gunied , Hayat Badr

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Mass Communication - Department of Advertising and Public Relations

This paper aims to investigate the role of Egyptian social media influencers on Instagram on the buying decision process of Egyptian Millennial consumers. Furthermore, the paper examines the influence of advertising literacy as a skill possessed by Egyptian Millennial consumers as intermediate variable on the influence of Egyptian social media influencers on the buying decision process of the Egyptian consumers.Eventually, it develops a conceptual model that illustrate and explains the interactions between the influence of social media influencers and their advertising messages on the buying decision process of Egyptian Millennial consumers in the light of advertising literacy as a skill possessed by them.The research depended on qualitative methods, which are focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, to collect data to investigate the research problem and achieve the research objectives. Findings from data collections methods indicate that Egyptian social media influencers on Instagram have exhibited low influence on the buying decision process of the middle and upper middle class of Millennial Egyptian consumers (research sample) who follow them on Instagram, through the exposure to their advertising messages in form of endorsements & recommendations on Instagram. In addition, the research sample demonstrated high level of advertising literacy as a possessed skill; despite the majority of them are from a non-media background and not aware of {u2018}advertising literacy{u2019} as a terminology. Advertising literacy as a skill possessed by the research sample interfered in the influence of Egyptian social media influencers on the buying decision process of those Egyptian consumers (research sample) too. Despite their low influence, social media influencers have a varied influence on the five stages of the decision-making process inside the consumer{u2019}s black box. Moreover, females are more influenced by social media influencers on Instagram comparing to the males. Egyptian social media influencers should be used among other promotional tools within a campaign. Furthermore, there should be rules and regulations that manage this new industry in Egypt, in order to benefit from its advantages and eliminates the disadvantages

Issued also as CD