EXAMINING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTIONS AND PARA-SOCIAL INTERACTION ON CELEBRITY PURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

Presently, social media exerts a profound influence on creating customer impressions of both celebrities and product companies. Moreover, the existence of emotional connections with celebrities often has a significant impact on consumers' intentions to buy. This study examines the relationship between social media interactions, para-social interactions, and celebrity attachment, and how these influence purchase intentions through brand attractiveness as a mediator. A total of 254 participants were selected for this study using the purposive sample strategy, and questionnaires were distributed to collect data. The data analysis technique uses Smart PLS with validity and reliability test analysis and t-test. The research findings indicate that brand attractiveness, celebrity attachment, and para-social interaction have a substantial and favorable impact on the purchase intention variable. Similarly, the factors of celebrity attachment and para-social contact exert a substantial positive impact on the variable of brand appeal. The social media interaction variable, in contrast, does not exert any influence on the variables of brand attractiveness and purchase intention. Furthermore, the mediating variables demonstrate that both para-social interaction and celebrity attachment variables have a substantial and favorable influence on the purchase intention variable via the brand attractiveness variable. Nevertheless, the variable of social media involvement does not exert any influence on the variable of purchase intention through the variable of brand attractiveness. This research is slightly different from previous research which examined brand credibility. Researchers explore and transform variables into brand attractiveness. Researchers also found that celebrity-endorsed purchase intentions increase brand appeal. In previous research two variables acted as mediation, namely para-social interaction and brand attractiveness, whereas in this study the mediating variable used was only brand attractiveness, para-social interaction acted as an independent variable.