Brand-related social media influencers as spokespersons after a corporate greenwashing crisis. Implications of parasocial interactions and wishful identification on the perception of the brand image

Corporate crisis communication, like many other areas of strategic communication, is becoming increasingly relevant on social network sites (SNSs). This change has created a new type of spokesperson: social media influencers (SMIs). These individuals are already known as brand ambassadors, and their role in this function has so far been studied primarily in the context of marketing. Our study examines the use of SMIs as spokespersons after a corporate greenwashing crisis, focusing on their perceived similarity to stakeholders - a critical factor identified for the effectiveness of other spokespeople in strategic communications. In a one-factor, two-level between-subject design online experiment ( N = 183), we manipulated the similarity and can show that it promotes parasocial interactions between stakeholders and SMIs. This psychological involvement results in a more elaborate processing of the crisis communication, which increases the perception of hypocrisy and consequently leads to a worse evaluation of the brand. In contrast, if the perceived similarity leads to a wishful identification with the SMI, a positively biased processing presumably takes place, which benefits the brand evaluation. Due to a direct positive effect of similarity on the brand image and a stronger indirect effect via wishful identification, the use of SMIs in crisis communication is generally beneficial, but also a more complex topic due to the reactions they trigger among stakeholders. • The study explores the use of influencers in crisis communication. • The perceived similarity of influencers improves brand image. • This effect is meditated by wishful identification and corporate hypocrisy. • The use of influencers in crisis communication is complex & needs further research.