Results & Discussion

This study sought to understand the effects of sponsorship disclosures and Instagram influencers on consumer behaviors and attitudes. Two sets of Instagram photos were posed in this survey, one set containing a disclosure statement in each photo, and one set without a disclosure statement in either photo. The data generated in this survey analysis revealed important key information regarding the relationship between sponsored Instagram content and consumers.

Consumer's brand attitudes are not affected by the presence or lack of a disclosure statement.

Results from this survey indicate that the inclusion of a disclosure statement does not have a significant impact on consumers’ ability to recognize an influencer’s post as sponsored content, with a majority of respondents, about 91% (n=91), being able to recognize content that is sponsored, even without a disclosure statement present. This could be due to the fact that sponsored content is becoming a widely popular way for brands to market their products, therefore, consumers have encountered this type of content several times and are able to recognize the elements of sponsored content. The results in Table 1 help to illustrate these findings.

The results also illustrate that consumer’s attitudes towards a brand do not tend to change based on sponsored Instagram posts. When asked about their feelings towards the brands in the sponsored Instagram posts without disclosure statements, 45% of the participants (n=45) recorded that their opinions did not change towards these brands after viewing the two Instagram posts. As for the set of posts that did include a disclosure statement, the numbers were roughly the same, with the majority, about 40%, recording their opinions did not change (n=39). These findings address the research question, “Are sponsored Instagram posts that include a disclosure statement more positively related to a consumers’ brand attitude than a post that does not,” but do not support the hypothesis, “Sponsored Instagram posts that present a disclosure statement are positively related to a consumer's brand attitude”, which predicted that consumers would have more positive attitudes towards brands that disclose their sponsored content.

Consumer's perceptions of influencer authenticity is fully dependent on their participation in sponsored marketing, regardless of their use of disclosure statements.

While analyzing the results from the survey section about influencer authenticity, the recorded results indicate that regardless of their inclusion of a disclosure statement, influencers who participate in sponsored brand deals are viewed as untrustworthy. The results show that over half of respondents (n=59) state they do not trust influencers who do not use disclosure statements to give an honest and unbiased product review and over 50% (n=55) also stating they do not trust influencers who do provide disclosure statements. Many consumers follow influencers on Instagram and tend to rely on these influencers to review products and report back their findings, but often feel misled. The rise of influencer marketing put a different perspective on influencers authenticity. Influencers also partake in several different product reviews revolving around their own personal brand. For instance, a beauty influencer will often try new makeup or skincare products, products they have knowledge on, therefore consumers are more inclined to trust what these influencers are saying, despite the presence of a sponsorship disclosure. The results in Table 4 help to identify the impact sponsorship disclosures have on consumer trust in Instagram influencers.

Participants were asked about their level of agreement with the notion that influencers who do not use disclosure statements exaggerate their feelings towards an endorsed product because they are getting paid to do so. The results show that nearly all of the respondents, about 90%, agree with this statement (n=86). The same question was asked about influencers who include disclosure statements in their post and the majority of respondents’ agreed (n=83). The results are illustrated in table 6. The overall results from this section address research question two, “Are sponsored Instagram posts that include a disclosure statement more positively related to consumers' perceived authenticity of the influencer than posts that do not include a disclosure statement,” and do not fully support the hypothesis “Instagram posts that include a disclosure statement are more positively related to consumers' perceived authenticity of the influencer than posts that do not include a disclosure statement.

Consumers are almost always able to activate their conceptual persuasion knowledge when encountering sponsored content.

This study aims to analyze if consumers are able to properly activate their persuasion knowledge when they come across sponsored content, based on the inclusion of a disclosure statement (Pfeuffer & Huh, 2021). Results from this survey analysis indicate that respondents are able to identify the use of Instagram influencers and sponsored Instagram content as a form of marketing and advertising. The results also indicate that this activation of persuasion knowledge is not dependent on the inclusion of a disclosure statement. As stated previously, influencer marketing is becoming widely popular and easily recognizable across various social media platforms. Since sponsored content is more common, consumers are able to understand what content is sponsored even without a disclosure statement. When reviewing the influencers’ Instagram posts that do not contain a disclosure statement, participants were asked to state their level of agreement with recognizing these posts are advertising. The results show that almost all of the respondents, about 92% (n=92), strongly agree. Participants were asked the same question for the two posts that contained a disclosure statement. Results show that a majority of respondents (n=90) agree. These results are illustrated in Table 8.

For the set of posts containing sponsorship disclosures, participants were required to state their level of agreement with the following statement, “The first thing I notice about this post is the ‘paid partnership’ tag”. The results indicate that more than half of the respondents (n=72) agree with this statement. This cross tabulation studies the amount of Instagram use and the impact this has on consumers’ abilities to recognize sponsorship disclosures. These results are illustrated in Table 9. These findings addressed the research question “Is sponsored content on Instagram less likely to activate consumers' conceptual persuasion knowledge if not accompanied by a disclosure statement,” but does not support the hypothesis “Sponsored content on Instagram is more likely to activate consumers’ conceptual persuasion knowledge if a disclosure statement is not present”.

Consumer's attitudinal persuasion knowledge is not impacted by sponsored content or disclosure statements.

This survey aimed to determine which type of persuasion knowledge is activated through sponsored Instagram content, either conceptual or attitudinal. Results from this analysis show that the inclusion of a disclosure statement, of lack thereof, in sponsored content does not impact consumers’ attitudinal persuasion knowledge. After reviewing the set of Instagram posts without a disclosure statement, more than 50% of respondents (n= 56) determined that their attitudes did not change after viewing this sponsored content. The results were similar for the posts that included a disclosure statement with nearly half of respondents recording that their attitudes did not change (n=48). This could be a result of a lack of dependence on sponsored content and influencer opinions. Studies show that consumers follow influencers for entertainment or simply because they enjoy what the influencer posts, but do not change their purchase intentions and behaviors based on what kinds of products these influencers promote (Lou, et al., 2021). The results are illustrated in Table 10. These findings address the research question, “ Is sponsored Instagram posts from an influencer more likely to activate consumer's attitudinal persuasion knowledge than conceptual persuasion knowledge,” but do not support the hypothesis “Consumers are more likely to activate their attitudinal persuasion knowledge rather than their conceptual persuasion knowledge after interacting with sponsored content on Instagram”.