Credibility Counts: The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Healthy and Nutritious Food Purchase Intention in Sri Lanka

The study aims to examine the influence of social media influencers' credibility spe-cifically expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness on consumers' purchase inten-tions of healthy and nutritious food in Sri Lanka. As non-communicable diseases con-tinue to rise, understanding how influencers can effectively promote healthier eating choices is critical for marketers and public health professionals. A cross-sectional sur-vey was administered to 385 social media users, with data analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The research is grounded in Oha-nian’s Source Credibility Model, which explores how the credibility dimensions of in-fluencers impact consumers’ purchase intention. The results demonstrate that all three dimensions of influencer credibility significantly affect purchase intentions, with at-tractiveness exerting the greatest influence, followed by trustworthiness and expertise. This highlights the pivotal role influencers play in shaping consumer preferences, par-ticularly in the health and wellness sectors. This study adds to the limited research on the role of influencer marketing in developing markets, specifically Sri Lanka. It offers actionable insights for brands and public health campaigns, emphasizing the im-portance of leveraging credible influencers to encourage healthier consumer habits. The study also opens avenues for future research, including the examination of influ-encer credibility across different industries and the long-term effects of influencer mar-keting on consumer behavior.