Why Micro-influencers are Sharing Digital Brand Content in a B2B Context

This research aims to contribute in understanding micro-influencers’ behaviour in sharing digital brand content by focusing on business networking sites (LinkedIn, Xing). This choice was influenced by two considerations: first, marketing influence literature which is highly dominated by studies of B2C digital context to the detriment of B2B digital context despite their crucial importance in the marketing arena. And second, given their particularity, micro-influencers are more likely to have motivations that are totally or partially different from what the literature suggests for all influencers in general. Based on a mixed-technique analysis (MLM) and bias-corrected bootstrap method, this research was conducted by administering a large survey to 312 micro-influencers, who were selected according to a new methodological algorithmic approach called metric-behavioural. The results not only cover the identification of salient drivers that lead the sharing of digital brand content by micro-influencers in a specific area but also validate the robustness of the use of the theory of planned behaviour in a B2B social media context. By considering these results, the paper provides a practical guidance for companies, urging them to tailor their influence marketing strategies for effective engagement in B2B and B2G contexts.