Assessing the impact of social media influencers on purchase intention of male cosmetics: mediating role of desire to mimic

As men become more conscious of their looks and grooming requirements, the Indian cosmetics market is growing to include items for men’s skincare. Using the source credibility model, this investigation tries to explore how source characteristics (i.e., attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness) of Instagram influencers and the congruence between the influencer and follower influences the desire to mimic and how desire to mimic impacts the purchase intention of cosmetic products among GenY and GenZ male consumers in a developing country context. Data for the study was gathered through non-probabilistic purposive sampling method using Google form since target comprises Generation Y and Z males who are considered as digital natives. After gathering data from 250 males between the age 18 to 42 years in India, the study utilized PLS-SEM technique for analyzing the structural relationships among the constructs. Findings revealed that attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness are significantly related to Desire to mimic and Purchase intention. Congruence was not related to Purchase intention but had a significant impact on Desire to mimic. Moreover, Desire to mimic played a mediating role between independent and dependent variables. The study provides important theoretical and practical implications to existing literature and practitioners respectively. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore dimensions of source credibility model on desire to mimic and purchase intention of male cosmetics among GenY and Z in developing country context.