Social media influencers on brand equity and brand credibility in HongKong’s sports industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the popularity and expertise of social mediainfluencers (SMIs), as well as their similarity with consumers, affect brand equity and brand credibilityin Hong Kong’s sports industry.

Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data. A total of 247valid responses were obtained via an online platform. The questionnaire included 16 questions relatedto respondents’ perceptions of SMI, brand equity, and brand credibility.

Findings: The reliability of the data was examined by Cronbach’s alpha which was over 0.7. Pearson’scorrelation coefficients among all variables are over 0.3 and p-value are lower than 0.001, so it reflectsthat all variables are positively related. In addition, the p-value of corrected regression model issignificant. Thus, it was concluded that the popularity and expertise of SMIs positively affected brandequity, whereas their expertise and similarity positively affected brand credibility.

Research limitation: This cross-sectional study focuses on Hong Kong’s sports industry. Futureresearch should investigate other industries and locations, which could provide additional insights intothis field.

Practical implications: Social media is used worldwide, and SMIs’ opinions influence consumerdecisions. This study can help businesses identify SMIs for collaboration, benefiting their promotionand marketing activities.

Originality/value: SMIs’ influence on brand equity and brand credibility in Hong Kong’s sportsindustry has rarely been discussed or investigated. This study helps fill this gap in the literature.