The Effect of Social Media Influencers’ Trustworthiness on Customers’ Perceived Brand Value, and Purchase Intention: A Perspective of Gen Z

This chapter aims to explore the impact of perceived trustworthiness toward Gen Z social media influencers on Gen Z restaurant customers’ perceived brand value and purchase intentions. This study collected online survey data from 312 Gen Z restaurant customers in the United States in the spring of 2023. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data and concluded that Gen Z customers’ perceived high trustworthiness toward Gen Z social media influencers had a positive impact on increasing brand value perception and purchase intentions. This study did not identify the significant effect differences between the social influencer’s follower group and the non-follower group. The results of this chapter provide a better understanding of Gen Z consumer behavior and how their consumption behavior is influenced by social media influencers in the same generation.