Research On The Impact Of The Social Media Opinion Leaders On Chinese Consumers' Behavior Intention

Recognizing the growing importance of social media opinion leaders in Chinese consumers' daily life,this study explores the cause of the emergence of social media opinion leaders as well as the factors that social media opinion leaders influence Chinese consumers' attitude and purchase intention.In order to achieve the research aims and objectives,a quantitative research was used to test the hypothesis.190 effective questionnaires have been collected and used to process data analysis.The results of the data analysis revealed that consumers' perceptions of the expertise,product involvement,interactivity and popularity of social media opinion leaders all have positive and direct impact on Chinese consumers'trust and purchase intention.At the same time,this study also identified that the homophily between consumers and social media opinion leaders only can moderate the effect of the interactivity of social media opinion leaders on Chinese consumers' trust.Thus,it means that Chinese consumers put more emphasis on the expertise and product involvement of the message sender.Accordingly,this study highlighted the importance of the expertise and product involvement of social media opinion leaders for both consumers and companies.That is,companies should according to the expertise and product involvement level to choose social media opinion leaders as their spokesman to promote products or services.Besides,for the Chinese consumers,shared the same preferences and personality with a social media opinion leader cannot affect their valuation towards the expertise and product involvement of social media opinion leader.