Influencer Marketing Effectiveness Across Generations: Effects on Brand Trust and Customer Engagement in Thailand
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Abstract
Influencer marketing is now a dominant force in digital commerce. Yet how its effectiveness differs across generational cohorts in emerging markets remains poorly understood. This study builds on Parasocial Interaction Theory (PSI), Source Credibility Theory (SCT), and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to examine how influencer marketing effectiveness (IME) relates to brand trust (BT) and customer engagement (CE). It tests generational cohort (Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X) and platform context (TikTok Shop versus Instagram Shop) as structural moderators of both pathways, using data from 450 Thai digital consumers collected via stratified purposive sampling and analyzed with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), including multi-group and platform-subgroup comparisons.
IME was positively associated with both BT and CE. CE emerged as the stronger proximal outcome. Both pathways were moderated by generational cohort: the association was strongest for Gen Z and weakest for Gen X. Platform context added a further layer of differentiation. TikTok Shop showed a stronger IME-to-CE link for Gen Z, and Instagram Shop showed a stronger IME-to-BT link for Millennials. Because the design was cross-sectional, these results should be read as associations, not causal effects. The findings extend PSI and SCT into cross-generational, platform-differentiated social-commerce settings, and point to practical ways of tailoring influencer selection and platform strategy by generational cohort in emerging markets.
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