Will you buy if your favorite podcaster recommends it: through a lens of self-congruity, credibility and culture

Sammanfattning

Self-congruity has been widely studied in the influencer market, but its role in the podcastmarket remains unexplored. This study investigated the influence of listeners' self-congruity withpodcasters on listeners' purchase intentions, as well as the role of credibility (perceivedauthenticity and expertise). A questionnaire survey was conducted among Swedish and Chineselisteners, and it was analyzed using regression, mediation and moderation analysis. The resultsfirst show that self-congruity directly and positively affects purchase intentions. We then foundthat credibility partially mediates this effect. We also explored the influence of culture (Swedenvs. China). When listeners come from collectivist societies (e.g. China), the influence ofself-congruity on their purchase intentions is stronger. The study contributed to podcast andinfluencer marketing research by conceptualizing podcasters as influencers and extending theself-congruity theory to the podcast context. The finding also suggested the important roles of psychological congruence, credibility and culture background in influencing podcast listeners’purchase intention.