BRAND AUTHENTICITY, INFLUENCER MARKETING AND CONSUMER TRUST IN THE CREATOR ECONOMY: WHETHER MICRO-INFLUENCERS ARE MORE TRUSTED THAN MACRO-INFLUENCERS — AND WHY IT MATTERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The emergence of the creator economy over the past decade has introduced one of the most profound transformations in commercial communication since the invention of television advertising. As of 2023, the global influencer marketing industry was valued at approximately $21.1 billion, reflecting a compound annual growth rate that has consistently outpaced conventional advertising channels (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2023). This growth has been driven in no small part by a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour: audiences today are increasingly sceptical of traditional advertising, preferring instead to receive brand recommendations from individuals they perceive as credible, relatable, and genuine.

At the core of this transformation lies the concept of brand authenticity — the degree to which a brand, as communicated through a spokesperson or content creator, is perceived as truthful, transparent, and consistent with its stated values (Morhart et al., 2015). In the context of influencer marketing, authenticity manifests in how genuinely an influencer integrates a brand into their existing content, narrative, and personal identity. Consumers are remarkably adept at detecting promotional intent, and when they sense that an endorsement is primarily financial rather than genuinely experiential, trust erodes rapidly (Freberg et al., 2011; Audrezet et al., 2020).

Within the broad category of influencers, researchers and marketing practitioners have developed a taxonomy primarily based on follower count. Nano-influencers have fewer than 10,000 followers, micro-influencers typically command audiences between 10,000 and 100,000, macro-influencers range from 100,000 to one million followers, and mega or celebrity influencers exceed one million followers (Childers et al., 2019; Kay et al., 2020). Each tier possesses distinct characteristics in terms of audience reach, engagement rate, perceived credibility, and commercial value. While macro-influencers and celebrities offer unparalleled reach, micro-influencers have been noted for generating significantly higher engagement rates — often four to six times those of larger accounts — and for cultivating more intimate, community-like relationships with their followers (Schouten et al., 2020).

The distinction between these categories is not merely quantitative. It carries substantial implications for how consumers process brand-related messages and form trust judgements. Para-social interaction theory (Horton & Wohl, 1956), applied to digital media contexts by Chung and Cho (2017), suggests that audiences develop one-sided yet psychologically real relational bonds with media personalities. The strength of these para-social relationships is theorised to be inversely related to audience size: as influencer followings grow, the sense of personal connection perceived by individual followers tends to diminish (Jin et al., 2019). This may help explain why micro-influencers, with their smaller and more engaged audiences, are often perceived as more authentic and trustworthy brand advocates.

In the Nigerian context, social media adoption has surged dramatically in recent years. Nigeria ranks among the top ten countries globally by number of active social media users, with Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter (now X) commanding particularly high engagement among the 18–35 age demographic (DataReportal, 2024). Nigerian consumers are sophisticated digital citizens who navigate multiple influencer communities simultaneously, and who increasingly base consumption decisions on online reviews and influencer endorsements rather than traditional advertising. Yet there remains a relative paucity of empirical research examining how this population specifically evaluates influencer authenticity and how that evaluation affects trust formation — a gap this study seeks to address.

The question of whether micro-influencers are more trusted than macro-influencers is, therefore, more than an academic curiosity. It has direct implications for how marketing budgets are allocated, how campaign effectiveness is measured, and how brands in emerging markets can build sustainable, trust-based relationships with digitally native consumers. Understanding the mechanisms through which influencer type affects consumer trust, with brand authenticity as a critical intervening variable, is essential for both academic completeness and practical strategic decision-making.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite the exponential growth of influencer marketing, brands and marketing managers frequently struggle to make evidence-based decisions about influencer selection. The prevailing tendency to equate reach with effectiveness — favouring macro-influencers and celebrities because of their large follower counts — may be misaligned with what actually drives consumer trust and purchase behaviour.

Several problems converge to make this a pressing issue. First, there is the problem of authenticity inflation: as influencer marketing has matured, consumers have become increasingly adept at recognising sponsored content and discounting it accordingly. This has widened what Kim and Kim (2021) describe as the "authenticity gap" — the discrepancy between the authentic self-presentation that originally attracted followers to an influencer and the commercialised persona that emerges as brand deals multiply. Macro-influencers, who typically carry more brand partnerships simultaneously, may be disproportionately affected by this phenomenon.

Second, existing empirical research on influencer marketing and consumer trust has been conducted largely in Western consumer contexts — notably the United States, United Kingdom, and Western Europe — and results may not be directly transferable to African or specifically Nigerian consumer settings, where cultural attitudes toward celebrity, community, and peer recommendation may operate differently (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019; Duffett, 2017).

Third, while numerous studies have examined either brand authenticity or influencer trust in isolation, relatively few have rigorously examined the mediating role of perceived brand authenticity in the relationship between influencer type (micro vs. macro) and consumer trust, particularly in relation to purchase intention. This represents a structural gap in the literature that limits the practical utility of existing findings for brand managers operating in contexts like Nigeria.

This study therefore addresses the following central problem: to what extent does influencer type — operationalised as micro versus macro — affect consumer trust, and how is this relationship shaped by perceived brand authenticity? Answering this question empirically, within the Nigerian university student population, will generate context-specific insights that add both theoretical and practical value to the field.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine the relationship between influencer marketing typology (micro versus macro), brand authenticity, and consumer trust in the creator economy.

The specific objectives are:

1. To ascertain whether micro-influencers generate higher levels of consumer trust compared to macro-influencers among social media users.

2. To examine the relationship between perceived brand authenticity and consumer trust in influencer marketing.

3. To determine the extent to which perceived authenticity influences consumer purchase intention in influencer-mediated brand communications.

4. To assess the mediating role of brand authenticity in the relationship between influencer type and consumer trust.

5. To identify the key characteristics of influencer content that consumers associate with authenticity and trustworthiness.

1.4 Research Questions

This study is guided by the following research questions:

6. Are micro-influencers perceived as more trustworthy than macro-influencers by social media users?

7. What is the relationship between perceived brand authenticity and consumer trust in influencer marketing?

8. To what extent does perceived authenticity influence consumer purchase intention?

9. Does brand authenticity mediate the relationship between influencer type and consumer trust?

10. What content attributes do consumers most associate with authentic influencer behaviour?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

In alignment with the study objectives and research questions, the following null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance:

H01: There is no significant difference in the level of consumer trust between micro-influencers and macro-influencers.

H02: There is no significant positive relationship between perceived brand authenticity and consumer trust in influencer marketing.

H03: Perceived authenticity does not significantly predict consumer purchase intention in influencer-mediated marketing contexts.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research holds significance at multiple levels — theoretical, practical, and policy-oriented.

From a theoretical standpoint, the study contributes to the evolving literature on influencer marketing by providing empirical evidence on how influencer typology interacts with brand authenticity to shape consumer trust. By integrating Elaboration Likelihood Model, Source Credibility Theory, and Para-social Interaction Theory within a unified framework, the study offers a more holistic theoretical account of the psychological mechanisms underlying consumer responses to influencer content than single-theory approaches allow.

For marketing practitioners and brand managers, particularly those operating in Nigeria and other emerging African markets, the findings offer actionable guidance on influencer selection strategy. Specifically, the study addresses the frequently encountered dilemma of whether to allocate budgets toward a smaller number of high-reach macro-influencers or a larger number of niche-focused micro-influencers, and provides empirical grounding for that decision.

For digital marketing agencies, the findings will aid in developing more effective influencer vetting frameworks that incorporate authenticity assessment alongside traditional reach and engagement metrics. For brands seeking to enter or strengthen their presence in the Nigerian youth market, the study provides culturally situated insight into what drives trust in influencer communications.

Finally, for academic researchers and students, this work provides a methodologically rigorous template for investigating consumer behaviour in digital marketing contexts, and generates a set of empirically tested propositions that can be extended, refined, or challenged in future studies.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is delimited to undergraduate and postgraduate students across three federal universities in the South-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria: the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), and Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). The target population comprises students who are active social media users and have been exposed to influencer marketing content, specifically on platforms including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter/X.

The study focuses on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and lifestyle product categories — specifically fashion, beauty, food and beverage, and health and wellness — as these are the sectors in which influencer marketing is most prevalent and in which the Nigerian student population is most actively engaged as consumers. The study does not examine B2B influencer marketing, political influencer campaigns, or influencer activity on closed platforms such as WhatsApp or LinkedIn.

Data collection was conducted between January and March 2025, and the findings reflect conditions as of that period. Given the rapidly evolving nature of the creator economy, some contextual factors may shift subsequent to data collection.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

The researcher acknowledges the following limitations, which should be borne in mind when interpreting the findings:

Sampling limitations: The study used a convenience sampling approach augmented by purposive selection, drawing exclusively from three universities in South-West Nigeria. This may limit the generalisability of findings to northern regions of Nigeria or other African countries with different social media usage patterns and cultural orientations toward influencer authority.

Self-report bias: Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires, and respondents may have provided socially desirable responses rather than genuine reflections of their trust and purchase behaviour. While the Likert scale reduces the likelihood of extreme response bias, it does not eliminate it.

Temporal limitation: The influencer marketing landscape is subject to rapid change, influenced by platform algorithm updates, emerging content formats, and evolving follower dynamics. The cross-sectional design of this study captures a snapshot of attitudes at a single point in time and cannot account for longitudinal shifts in consumer trust.

Definitional ambiguity: The boundary between micro and macro-influencers is not universally agreed upon in the literature. This study adopted the 10,000–100,000 and 100,000+ follower thresholds respectively, consistent with the majority of recent empirical studies, but respondents may not have clearly differentiated between influencer tiers in their self-reports.

1.9 Operational Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined as they are used in this study:

Brand Authenticity: The extent to which a brand, as communicated through an influencer, is perceived by consumers as genuine, transparent, and consistent with its stated values and identity.

Influencer Marketing: A form of social media marketing that involves partnering with individuals who have established credibility and audience reach in specific content niches, to promote products, services, or brand messages.

Micro-Influencer: A social media content creator with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers, typically operating within a defined niche and characterised by high audience engagement and perceived relatability.

Macro-Influencer: A social media content creator with a follower count exceeding 100,000, typically known for broad reach, high production value, and multiple brand partnerships.

Consumer Trust: The degree to which a consumer believes in the reliability, integrity, and benevolence of a brand or its spokesperson, and is willing to act on that belief in making purchase decisions.

Creator Economy: The ecosystem of independent content creators, curators, and community builders who generate income primarily through digital platforms, brand partnerships, and audience monetisation.

Para-social Interaction: A one-sided relational bond perceived by an audience member toward a media personality, characterised by feelings of familiarity, intimacy, and emotional connection despite the absence of genuine reciprocal interaction.

Purchase Intention: A consumer's self-reported likelihood of buying a product or service following exposure to a brand communication, including influencer-endorsed content.

Engagement Rate: The ratio of an influencer's interactions (likes, comments, shares) to their total follower count, used as a measure of audience responsiveness and relational intimacy.