From Fashion to Finance: Social Media Influencers and the Consumer Adoption of Insurance Products

Abstract

Background: Social media influencers (SMIs) are playing an increasingly prominent role in financial services, yet their influence in credence goods such as insurance remains largely unexplored. Insurance decisions involve high risk and intangibility, making trust, credibility, and clarity central to consumer adoption.
Objective: This study explores how SMIs shape consumer perceptions and product selection in insurance through a two-stage qualitative design.
Methodology: A grounded theory approach based on in-depth interviews with consumers, influencers, and industry professionals identified emergent constructs such as influencer credibility, parasocial closeness, communication clarity, regulatory transparency, and perceived risk reduction. Second, these constructs were organized using Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM), which mapped the relationships among factors into a hierarchical model.
Findings: The findings indicate that influencer credibility and communication clarity serve as foundational drivers, while trust and perceived risk reduction act as mediating mechanisms that ultimately influence purchase intention. The study contributes to influencer marketing research by extending it into the financial services context and by demonstrating the value of combining grounded theory with TISM for theory building. Practically, the results offer insurers a strategic framework for leveraging influencer partnerships to reduce uncertainty and improve consumer engagement.