The social media influencer (SMI) phenomenon is attracting attention from academia and business. A SMI refers to an individual who has accumulated a sizable social network of followers and thereby has influence over others (Ki et al., 2020). Due to the influence SMIs possess, an increasing number of brands are approaching SMIs and asking them to create and share branded content that includes product placements or brand recommendations. This practice is commonly referred to as influencer marketing. Reflecting the trend of influencer marketing, this study investigated: (1) whether consumers are ‘inspired-by’ SMIs and ‘inspired-to’ adopt the exemplars of SMIs (e.g., SMIs’ lifestyles, styles, and recommendations) as their social defaults that provide desirable standards that consumers will like and follow, and if so, (2) what are its causal factors and effects, and (3) whether the inspiration mechanism between SMIs and consumers differs between male and female consumers. In so doing, we drew on social defaults theory (Huh et al., 2014) and customer inspiration theory (Böttger et al., 2017).

ABSTRACT
1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2. HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
3. METHODS
4. RESULTS
5. DISCUSSIONS
REFERENCES

• Chung-Wha Chloe Ki(The Institute of Textiles and Clothing)
• Sangsoo Park(Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET))
• Youn-Kyung Kim(University of Tennessee, Knoxville)