A Multidimensional Analysis of Factors Influencing the Intention to Follow Travel Influencer Recommendations
Downloads
This study examined the factors influencing social media users' intentions to follow travel destination recommendations provided by travel influencers in the context of digital tourism in Indonesia. The study integrated selected constructs from three theoretical perspectives: attitude from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB); information value and entertainment value from Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT); and attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise from Source Credibility Theory (SCT). Data were collected from 471 respondents residing in the Greater Jakarta metropolitan area (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, or Jabodetabek) through an online questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that attitude toward travel influencers (B = 0.442) and parasocial relationships (B = 0.399) were the strongest direct predictors of the intention to follow travel recommendations. Source credibility had a substantial positive effect on parasocial relationships (B = 0.620; f² = 0.626), while parasocial relationships mediated the relationship between source credibility and behavioral intention (B = 0.247). Among the content-related variables, information value emerged as the strongest predictor of attitude (B = 0.297), followed by content factors (B = 0.219) and entertainment value (B = 0.213). In contrast, perceived congruence did not significantly predict attitude (B = 0.056; p = 0.138). These findings suggested that, in a high-involvement decision-making context such as travel, audiences placed greater emphasis on the informational value and credibility of influencers than on perceived similarity or identity congruence. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlighted the importance of prioritizing source credibility, trustworthy recommendations, and practical travel information rather than relying primarily on visual attractiveness or follower counts to encourage audiences to follow travel destination recommendations.
Absharina, N., Nugraha, A. R., & Wulandari, D. A. (2021). The influence of influencer credibility and parasocial interaction on purchase intention in Instagram. Journal of Marketing Innovation.
Absharina, Z. B., Yuriani, A. D., & Hendriana, E. (2021). The effectiveness of fashion influencers in influencing the purchase interest of millennial generation consumers in Indonesia. Journal of Business and Management Studies, 3(2), 152-161.
Acikgoz, F., & Burnaz, S. (2021). The influence of “influencer marketing” on YouTube influencers. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 15(2), 201.
Ahmad, S. N. B., Malik, I., Sondoh Jr., S. L., & Mahmod, N. A. (2024). Social media influencer’s content credibility on information adoption and purchase intention of beauty products among Generation Z in Malaysia. Proceedings of ICGMSI 2023, 282, 118-127.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
AlFarraj, O., Alalwan, A. A., Obeidat, Z. M., Baabdullah, A., Aldmour, R., & Al-Haddad, S. (2021). Examining the impact of influencers’ credibility dimensions: Attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise on the purchase intention in the aesthetic dermatology industry. Review of International Business and Strategy, 31(3), 355-374.
Altexsoft Editorial Team. (2024). Travel affiliate programs: How they work and how to create one. AltexSoft.
American Express Travel. (2023). 2023 global travel trends report.
Asim, J., Hussain, A., Gul, R., Khan, M. U., & Pervaiz, A. (2023). Impact of social media influencers on purchase intention. Journal of Marketing Research and Case Studies, 2023, 1-12.
Audrezet, A., de Kerviler, G., & Moulard, J. G. (2020). Authenticity under threat: When social media influencers need to go beyond self presentation. Journal of Business Research, 117, 557-569.
Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., Flavián, M., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2021a). Understanding influencer marketing: The role of congruence between influencers, products and consumers. Journal of Business Research, 132, 186-195.
Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., Flavián, M., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2021b). Building influencers’ credibility on Instagram: Effects on followers’ attitudes and behavioral responses towards the influencer. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102585.
Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139-168.
Chavez, L., Ruiz, C., Curras, R., & Hernandez, B. (2020). The role of travel motivations and social media use in consumer interactive behaviour: A uses and gratifications perspective. Sustainability, 12(21), 8789.
Chekima, B., Chekima, F. Z., & Adis, A. A. (2020). Social media influencer in advertising: The role of attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness. Journal of Economics and Business, 3(4).
Chen, W., Silaban, P. H., Hutagalung, W. E., & Silalahi, A. D. K. (2022). How Instagram influencers contribute to consumer travel decision: Insights from SEM and fsQCA. Emerging Science Journal, 7(1), 16-37.
Chetioui, Y., Benlafqih, H., & Lebdaoui, H. (2020). How fashion influencers contribute to consumers’ purchase intention. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 24(3), 361-380.
Choi, S. M., & Rifon, N. J. (2012). It is a match: The impact of congruence between celebrity image and consumer ideal self on endorsement effectiveness. Psychology and Marketing, 29(9), 639-650.
Claide, A. (2024). The power of social media influencers in the travel industry. BNESIM.
CNN Indonesia. (2024). Riset: Sebagian besar influencer tak verifikasi fakta sebelum posting.
Cooksey, R. W. (2014). Illustrating statistical procedures: Finding meaning in quantitative data. Tilde Publishing.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V., & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through Instagram influencers: The impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798-828.
Djafarova, E., & Trofimenko, O. (2019). “Instafamous” credibility and self presentation of micro celebrities on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 22(10), 1432-1446.
Dwiphala, F., & Astuti, R. D. (2024). The role of source credibility and fairness on the formation of parasocial relationships and product interest and their influence on purchase intention and e-WOM of beauty brands in Indonesia. Eduvest Journal of Universal Studies, 4(8), 7056-7073.
Escalas, J. E. (2004). Narrative processing: Building consumer connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(1-2), 168-180.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.
Gopakumar, S., & Dananjayan, G. (2024). Impact of influencer brand congruence on consumer response. Journal of Digital Marketing & Social Media, 6(1), 52-67.
Gopi, M., & Sam, M. F. M. (2020). The influence of influencer content on followers’ perception and engagement in social media marketing. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 9(3), 456-460.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701-721.
Gross, A. G. (2025). How travel brands in Southeast Asia can expand reach and revenue with influencer marketing. impact.com.
Hair, J. F. (2018). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). SAGE Publications.
Hartanto, P. (2025). Model of increasing purchase intention through influencer engagement on social media. Jurnal Manajerial, 12(2).
Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication and para-social interaction. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215-229.
Ilieva, G., Yankova, T., Ruseva, M., Dzhabarova, Y., Klisarova-Belcheva, S., & Bratkov, M. (2024). Social media influencers: Customer attitudes and impact on purchase behaviour. Information, 15(6), 359.
Immanue, D. M., & S, A. B. H. (2021). The impact of using influencer on consumer purchase intention with attitude towards influencer and brand attitude as mediator. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 19(4), 766-781.
Iqbal, A., Aleem, U., Quratulain, S., & Sufyan, M. (2023). Investigating the influence of trust, attractiveness, perceived expertise, and perceived credibility on attitude towards the influencer. KASBIT Business Journal.
Jin, S. V., Muqaddam, A., & Ryu, E. (2021). Instafamous vs. social media influencer: The effects of profile labels and followings on consumers’ psychological responses and attitudes toward influencers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102322.
Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratifications research. Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(4), 509-523.
Kemp, S. (2024). 5 billion social media users. DataReportal.
Kim, D., & Wang, Z. (2024). Comparing marketing effectiveness between human and virtual influencers: Role of not for profit message in perceived authenticity and credibility. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 2(2), 100100.
Koay, K. Y., Cheah, C. W., & Yap, J. Y. (2023). Self influencer congruence, parasocial relationships, credibility, and purchase intentions: A sequential mediation model. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 23(1), 1-20.
Kong, H., & Fang, H. (2024). Research on the effectiveness of virtual endorsers: A study based on the match up hypothesis and source credibility model. Sustainability, 16(5), 1761.
Kumar, R., & Singh, A. (2022). Trustworthiness, attractiveness, prestige and BFI with parasocial relationship: A mediation analysis. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 26(5), 1-7.
Labrecque, L. I. (2014). Fostering consumer brand relationships in social media environments: The role of parasocial interaction. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), 134-148.
Lawrence, C., & Meivitawanli, B. (2023). The role of parasocial relationships, congruence and source credibility in Indonesia: A study on TikTok live streaming commerce in the cosmetics industry. Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal, 17(5), 39-51.
Lee, S. S., Chen, H., & Lee, Y. (2021). How endorser product congruity and self expressiveness affect Instagram micro celebrities’ native advertising effectiveness. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 31(1), 149-162.
Lim, X. J., Radzol, A. M., Cheah, J. H., & Wong, M. W. (2017). The impact of social media influencers on purchase intention and the mediation effect of customer attitude. Asian Journal of Business Research, 7(2), 19-36.
Lin, C. A., Crowe, J., Pierre, L., & Lee, Y. (2021). Effects of parasocial interaction with an Instafamous influencer on brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Social Media + Society, 10(1), 55-78.
Liu, W. (2015). A historical overview of uses and gratifications theory. Cross-cultural Communication, 11(9), 71-78.
Lou, C., & Kim, H. K. (2019). Fancying the new rich and famous? Explicating the roles of influencer content, credibility, and parental mediation in adolescents’ parasocial relationship, materialism, and purchase intentions. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Lou, C., & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 58-73.
Lund, N. F., Cohen, S. A., & Scarles, C. (2018). The power of social media storytelling in destination marketing. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 8, 225-232.
Luong, T., & Ho, C. (2023). The influence of food vloggers on social media users: A study from Vietnam. Heliyon, 9(7), e18259.
Magano, J., Au-Yong-Oliveira, M., Walter, C. E., & Leite, Â. (2022). Attitudes towards fashion influencers as a mediator of purchase intention. Information, 13(6), 297.
Malhotra, N. K., & Birks, D. F. (2007). Marketing research: An applied approach (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
Min, J. H. J., Chang, H. J. J., Jai, T. C., & Ziegler, M. (2019). The effects of celebrity brand congruence and publicity on consumer attitudes and buying behavior. Fashion and Textiles, 6(1).
Miranda, S., Cunha, P., & Duarte, M. (2019). An integrated model of factors affecting consumer attitudes and intentions towards YouTuber generated product content. Review of Managerial Science, 15(1), 55-73.
Moin, S. M. A., Hosany, S., & Aziz, S. (2020). More than a brand: Consumer desire and brand storytelling. Journal of Brand Management, 27(3), 247-263.
Moon, J., & An, Y. (2022a). Scale construction and validation of uses and gratifications motivations for smartphone use by tourists: A multilevel approach. Tourism and Hospitality, 3(1), 100-113.
Moon, J., & An, Y. (2022b). Uses and gratifications motivations and their effects on attitude and e-tourist satisfaction: A multilevel approach. Tourism and Hospitality, 3(1), 116-136.
Munar, A. M., & Jacobsen, J. K. S. (2014). Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media. Tourism Management, 43, 46-54.
Nguyen, T. M. N., Le, B. N., Leenders, M. A., & Poolsawat, P. (2024). Food vloggers and their content: Understanding pathways to consumer impact and purchase intentions. Journal of Trade Science, 12(2), 117-133.
Ong, Y. X., Sun, T., & Ito, N. (2022). Beyond influencer credibility: The power of content and parasocial relationship on processing social media influencer destination marketing campaigns. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism (pp. 110-122).
Patrício, G. A. (2024). The effects of consumer influencer parasocial interactions on purchase intentions [Master’s thesis, University of Porto].
Perdana, C. C., Mustikarini, C. N., & Parega, E. (2023). The impact of social media influencers and content quality: Unraveling the mediating role of trust on purchase intention. SEIKO: Journal of Management & Business, 6(1), 263-270.
Putri, N. R. N., & Handriana, T. (2023). The role of product influencer congruence, influencer credibility, and attitude toward advertising on purchase intention. Southeast Asian Business Review, 1(1), 1-18.
Ramos, W. J. (2024). Precursors of consumer attitude towards vlogger recommendations and its impact on purchase intention. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 14(2), 98-114.
Ratna. (2025). Influencer marketing di Indonesia: Tren, tantangan, dan peluang. Lead Innovation Acceleration.
Rodrigues, M. A., Carvalho, M. A., Oliveira, L., & Barbosa, A. (2024). How digital influencer content and characteristics influence Generation Y persuasiveness and purchase intention. Tourism & Management Studies, 20(2), 25-38.
Rungruangjit, W. (2022). What drives Taobao live streaming commerce? The role of parasocial relationships, congruence and source credibility in Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions. Heliyon, 8(6), e09676.
Seçilmi?, C., Özdemir, C., & K?l?ç, ?. (2021). How travel influencers affect visit intention? The roles of cognitive response, trust, COVID-19 fear and confidence in vaccine. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(17), 2789-2804.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Shmueli, G., Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Cheah, J. H., Ting, H., Vaithilingam, S., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM: Guidelines for using PLSpredict. European Journal of Marketing, 53(11), 2322-2347.
Silaban, P. H., Chen, W., Nababan, T. S., Eunike, I. J., & Silalahi, A. D. K. (2022). How travel vlogs on YouTube influence consumer behavior: A use and gratification perspective and customer engagement. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2022, 1-16.
Sokolova, K., & Perez, C. (2020). You follow fitness influencers on YouTube. But do you actually exercise? How parasocial relationships, and watching fitness influencers, relate to intentions to exercise. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102276.
Song, H. G., Kim, Y., & Hwang, E. (2023). How attitude and para social interaction influence purchase intentions of mukbang users: A mixed method study. Behavioral Sciences, 13(3), 214.
Sutiono, A. B., Susanto, A., & Nugroho, Y. (2022). Parasocial interaction as a mediator: Unraveling the influence of social media influencers on purchase intentions. Journal of Marketing Research, 14(2), 45-60.
Truyols, M. (2024). Positive and negative effects of social media on the tourism industry. Mize.
Tukachinsky, R., & Stever, G. S. (2019). Theorizing development of parasocial engagement. Communication Theory, 29(3), 209-228.
van Laer, T., de Ruyter, K., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The extended transportation imagery model: A meta analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 797-817.
Venciute, D., Mackeviciene, I., Kuslys, M., & Correia, R. F. (2023). The role of influencer-follower congruence in the relationship between influencer marketing and purchase behaviour. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 75, 103506.
Vero. (2024). The impact of Indonesian influencers: A survey about creators by Vero and YouGov.
Weismueller, J., Harrigan, P., Wang, S., & Soutar, G. N. (2020). Influencer endorsements: How advertising disclosure and source credibility affect consumer purchase intention on social media. Australasian Marketing Journal, 28(4), 160-170.
Xiao, L., Li, X., & Zhang, Y. (2021). I wish I could be like her/him! How self congruence stimulates a desire to mimic. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(4), 691-709.
Yuan, C. L., Kim, J., & Kim, S. J. (2016). Parasocial relationship effects on customer equity in the social media context. Journal of Business Research, 69(9), 3795-3803.
Yuan, S., & Lou, C. (2020). How social media influencers foster relationships with followers: The roles of source credibility and fairness in parasocial relationship and product interest. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 20(2), 133-147.
Y?lmazdo?an, O. C., Do?an, R. ?., & Alt?nta?, E. (2021). The impact of the source credibility of Instagram influencers on travel intention: The mediating role of parasocial interaction. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 27(3), 299-313.
Zhang, X., Zhang, Y., & Li, J. (2022). The influence of travel influencer credibility on parasocial relationship and visit intention. Journal of Travel Research.
Zheng, X., Luo, J. M., & Shang, Z. (2022). Effect of parasocial relationship on tourist’s destination attitude and visit intention. PLoS ONE, 17(4), e0265259.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andreas Christianto Wibowo, Latisa Safa Maura, Rafi Arafah Putra, Amalia E. Maulana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA). that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
