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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

In this part of the study, the researchers aim to provide a general overview of the

problem and its setting. This chapter begins with a discussion on the fundamental

knowledge, background and rationale of the study. Details are then provided for the

statement of the problem with the identified key research questions as the foundation and

guide of the study. The chapter then provides a brief explanation of the conceptual

framework and the research paradigm. Then, it discusses the significance and the scope

and delimitation of the study. The chapter concludes with some operational definition of

terms for the convenience of the readers.

Background of the Study

Social media influencers belong to the daily media diet of many people,

particularly adolescents. They seem to play a crucial role in the identity development and

growth of their audiences, in particular value to young people in an utterly diversified

world as they are surrounded by multitude of identities in a stage of life in which they

have to make sense of who they are and where they belong. In the age of social media,

enormous amount of time is spent online; young audiences tend to turn to influencers not

only for entertainment but also for information, advice, company and comfort. However,

it appears there is no clear and comprehensive understanding on the role of these social

media influencers particularly in the behavior and lifestyle of a younger range of

audiences. While academic works exists as to how social media influencers, their content

and credibility, appears to attract wide variety of audiences and their ability to influence
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their personalities and perception, little is known and very limited in its ability to provide

a comprehensive understanding of how social media influencers affect the behavior and

lifestyle of younger audiences, particularly students.

Social media influencers are defined as content generators with domain expertise,

who can shape followers’ attitudes and purchase decisions (Freberg et al., 2011; Lou and

Yuan, 2019).

Social media influencers have power especially over young people’s behavior.

Almost half of the young respondents say that the influencers’ content has affected their

behavior not only in everyday decisions but also in topics such as climate change,

education, career choices and elections. Older generations feel that influencers don’t have

that much influence in social matters (Reinikainen, 2019).

Specifically, four key themes for research are identified. First, influencers are

assumed to be so appealing because they are similar to their audiences. They are often

perceived as 'the boy or girl next door' with whom identification is easy. However, there

are probably more reasons for the attraction of influencers. Research is needed to unravel

the underlying psychological mechanisms that explain the appeal of social media

influencers.

Second, the impact of social media influencers on minors may have both desirable

and undesirable consequences. Influencers may inspire minors to behave pro-socially or

healthier, but they may also show bad examples of smoking, drinking, or even criminal

behavior. In addition, influencer content may also affect minors' psychological well-

being, materialism, body satisfaction.

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Third, because social media influencers are assumed to have impact on their

audiences, they are also used by third parties for commercial purposes. For example,

brands pay influencers to promote products in content that influencers create. Similarly,

Governments or NGO's turn to influencers to promote healthy, social, or environmental

friendly behavior among minors. Despite the popularity of so-called influencer

marketing, theoretical or empirical insights into whether and why influencers are

persuasive among minors and which (psychological) mechanisms underlie this, are

limited.

Fourth, some social media influencers are minors themselves. With major brands

signing up for paid partnerships, a growing number of child and adolescent influencers

(and their parents) are striving to make a profit, which leads to important legal, ethical

and philosophical questions (Woudenberg et al., 2018).

Indeed, influencers’ popularity among these young digital natives has been

increasing exponentially in the past few years (Sehl, 2018). For instance, 70% of

adolescent YouTube subscribers say they relate to influencers more than to traditional

celebrities (O’Neil-Hart and Blumenstein, 2016), and 63% of Generation Zers preferred

to see influencers in ads (Mediakix, 2017). One of the reasons for this trend can be that,

social media influencers are considered as more “relatable” trendsetters than traditional

celebrities, and they can spread advertising messages to the viewers in a more authentic

and natural way (Mediakix, 2018b; Lou and Yuan, 2019).

While social media influencers constitute an undeniable part in adolescents’ social

media use and daily lives, limited is known and has the ability to explain the appeal of
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influencers among young audiences, how they may affect a

student’s behavior and lifestyle in particular, and the possible changes this may bring

forth as they participate in the real world.

How teenagers identify themselves, and choose to identify themselves in online

communities and social networks, are heavily influenced by the identity cues they pick up

from social media influencers. Sometimes these cues come with positive

outcomes and others with negative. This study seeks to assess, evaluate and explain how

these cues influences the different aspects of a student’s behavior, and how these in turn

create changes in their lifestyle. The findings of the study will be meaningful in

formulating strategic actions as to how to improve what students could potentially draw

from the contents of their materials.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of the study is to assess and evaluate how social media influencers

may affect the behavior and lifestyle of the accountancy students of Wesleyan

University-Philippines.

The study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How may the profiles of the students be classified according to:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Sex; and

1.3 Year level?

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2. How may the social media influencers affect the behavior and lifestyle of

the accountancy students of Wesleyan University-Philippines in terms of the

following aspects:

2.1 Time Management;

2.2 Personal Dialogue;

2.3 Social Connection;

2.4 Attitude and Perception;

2.5 Personal Choices; and

2.6 Pattern of Consumption?

3. Which among these given aspects of their behavior and lifestyle was greatly

influenced and changed by the social media influencers?

4. What are the possible actions or solutions to effectively improve what

students could potentially draw from the contents of SMI's materials?

Conceptual Framework

Adolescents, particularly students, are keen users of social media. In recent years,

visually oriented platforms in particular, such as YouTube and Instagram, have gained

increasing popularity among students all over the world, and have surpassed the more

‘traditional’ social networking sites such as Facebook.

While social media is claimed to be all about conversation (Wright, Khanfar,

Harrington, & Kizer, 2010), social media influencers (SMIs) are claimed to be all about
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interaction (Uzunoǧlu & Kip, 2014). An SMI is often referred to as a third-party

individual with high social status (Lu, Li, & Liao, 2010) and strong social influence (Li,

Lee, & Lien, 2014). Social influence means that individuals can adapt or change their

decisions, thoughts and actions as a result of the interaction made with people they

believe have the same interests as themselves, such as SMIs (Li et al., 2014). Abidin

(2016) argues that as the popularity of social media increases, so does the number of

SMIs. Through time, SMIs have grown to become an important marketing tool for

companies to be able to advertise their products to consumers (Jaakonmäki et al., 2017).

Forbes (2016) claims that a social media influencer (SMI) can shape the attitudes,

opinions, actions as well as purchase decisions of its followers. The author explains that

this is due to their influential power and their ability to participate in conversations and

interactions with their followers. SMIs are also known to have the ability to master the e-

WoM, which has been found to have a great impact on the purchase decisions of

consumers (Freberg et al., 2010; Li, Lee, & Lien, 2014; Nejad, Sherrell, & Babakus,

2014). The reason behind this is that the e-WoM that comes from an SMI is considered to

be more powerful and convincing than the e-WoM that comes from companies

themselves (Uzunoǧlu & Kip, 2014). While SMIs have the ability to master e-WoM,

researchers have acknowledged several factors that have emerged as a result. These

factors are also claimed to be reason why consumers see SMIs as very influential

individuals. These factors include content, expertise, attractiveness, social identity and

trust.
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Social media have previously been found to play an important role in students'

identity development, a crucial and central developmental phase which affects many

aspects of a person’s life. Social media offer students the opportunity to get in touch with

others from a wide variety of backgrounds. With influencers being central players on

many social media platforms, their role in the student's behavior and lifestyle needs

further investigation. It is therefore important to know who these influencers are, and

what content they produce that adolescents or students can borrow from. While social

media influencers are gleaning increasing trust and nourishing relationships with their

audience and followers, insights on the role of influencers in adolescents’ and student’s

relationship formation and consumption behaviors are still rare. Drawing on the

literatures of a person’s time management, personal dialogue, social connection, attitude

and perception, personal choices and pattern of consumption, this study proposed a

conceptual model that expounds the appeal of influencers among students.

Time Management

Personal Dialogue

Social Connection

Attitude and Perception

Personal Choices

Pattern of Consumption

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

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Firstly, the research paradigm or worldview of the research needs to be decided

upon, as it lends to the overall view, methodology and outcomes of any research study

(Quinlan 2011; Saunders et al. 2016).

As the study’s objective is to provide a clear and comprehensive understanding

about how social media Influencers affects the different aspects of a student’s behavior

and lifestyle, the interpretivist approach is deemed as the most suitable for the paradigm.

According to Saunders, Interpretivism aims to delve deeper into understanding the social

realities of humans and views people as subjective beings, whose individual social

worlds, feelings, opinions and viewpoints hold value and meaning. The study takes into

consideration the fact that responses will be subjective and therefore cannot be

generalized for the whole population.

The illustration shows the existing relationship between social media influencers

and the students. One may clearly identify the flow, as represented by the lines, of how

these two parties affects each other and though may be differently, both representation is

needed for an understanding of the whole phenomenon. This study aims to explore

opinions and experiences, and to present a clear interpretation of what might really be

happening in the world of students’ engagement with SMI's and how it affects the

specifically identified aspects of their behavior and lifestyle.

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Significance of the Study

This study will be a substantial endeavor in providing a clear and comprehensive

understanding of how social media influencers affect the behavior and lifestyle of

students, particularly the Accountancy students of Wesleyan University-Philippines.

Furthermore, the researchers firmly believe that the findings of the study will be

meaningful in formulating strategic actions as to how to improve what students could

potentially draw from the contents of social media influencers' posts, videos, photos, and

any similar medium or materials.

Students. This study will be beneficial for the students to have better and clear

understanding of how the social media influencers affect their behavior and lifestyle. The

outcome of this study may help the students be able to distinguish whether or not the

social media influencers are significantly affecting them in a positive manner. It will also

help them assess whether or not they are gaining awareness, advantage knowledge and

new ideas.

Parents. This will also be significant for the parents of the students, as well as the parents

of a wide range of social media audiences where parental guidance and intervention is

still necessary, considering that this research can be an essential tool for them to know if

watching or engaging with social media influencers will assuredly benefit their children

and not the otherwise. Moreover, it will also give them a more comprehensive

examination of some variables that may possibly cause change in their children's

behavior.
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Social Media Influencers. This study will also be beneficial to the social media

influencers in a way that they may set forth additional precautionary measures when it

comes to choosing what content they will be uploading to ensure that it will bring more

benefit to the audience, especially to the younger ones.

Researchers. It will also be significant to the researchers, considering that this research

can be an essential tool not just for the accomplishment of their studies but also for their

personal growth and advancement. Furthermore, the study can also be a basis for further

researches in the future

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of the study will be limited to assessing and evaluating how social

media influencers affect the behavior and lifestyle of the Accountancy students of

Wesleyan University-Philippines.

The study will be conducted on the second semester of the Academic Year 2019-

2020. The respondents of this study will be limited to 86 Accountancy students of

Wesleyan University-Philippines, Cabanatuan City.

The respondents will answer the questionnaire formulated by the researchers to

determine how social media influencers affect the behavior and lifestyle of the students,

and to what extent are the students aware of the effects and changes it brings about.

Specific aspects of students' behavior and lifestyle were identified to examine

more comprehensively how these are influenced and in what ways. These aspects

include, and are limited to, a person’s time management, personal dialogue, social

connection, attitude and perception, personal choices and pattern of consumption.

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Definition of Terms

To provide clarity and understanding to the readers as they are utilizing this study,

the following terms are defined.

Attitude. It refers to the set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors, toward a particular

object, person, thing, or event. Attitude can greatly influence the behavior of the students.

Attitude is one way to evaluate a person, things, or ideas.

Behavior. It is the actions that students use to adjust and to live within its environment.

Behavior can be influenced by a number of factors beyond attitude, including

preconceptions about self and others, monetary factors, social influences, and

convenience.

Consumption Pattern. It refers to the expenditure pattern of income of the students

within categories of products, such as food, clothing, and discretionary items.

Lifestyle. It refers to the way of living of every individual on a day-to-day basis. It is

expressed in both work and leisure behavior patterns and in activities, attitudes, interests,

opinions, values, and allocation of income. Healthy lifestyle is very important for the

students because they can experience performance pressure. It reflects their self-image

and self-concept; the way they see themselves and believe they are seen by others.

Media. It is a various means of communication like news, entertainment, data,

promotions, and many more. Media is used by the students to facilitate active learning

strategies (for better learning).

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Perception. It refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and

consciously experienced. Student’s perception on situations, places, and things reflects

the way we view the world that influences the conclusions and decisions students make.

Personal choice. It provides pathways for students to fully, genuinely invest themselves

in a quality works that matters.

Social Connection. The feeling of belongingness wherein you feel generally close to

other. It provides health and well-being benefits which involves of feeling loved, cared

for, and valued.

Social Media. It is an online technology platform that helps connect people together.

Social media helps the students to have access on the basic information quickly.

Social Media Influencers. It represents the new type of independent third party endorser

who shapes audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media.

They can boost the internet presence effectively.

Time Management. It refers on managing time effectively allowing the students to

assign specific time slots to activities according to their importance

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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This literature review aims to build a greater and much comprehensive

understanding of the current knowledge relating to the key areas of the research question,

the impact of social media influencers in the several aspects of a student’s behavior and

lifestyle. The context will be provided first by building an understanding of the

relationship between students and social media influencers, and of how the latter reaches,

and therefore becomes a significant part of the former’s behavior and lifestyle. This is

followed by a substantial overview of the different aspects of a student’s behavior and

lifestyle, and the identified ways of how these aspects are then driven by these influential

powerhouses.

Social Media Influencers

Social Media Influencers (SMIs) are an independent third party endorser, who

through postson blogs, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media, express their

experience and opinions,shaping the public attitude towards brands, causes and such

other matters (Freberg et al, 2011; Muntinga et al., 2011).

Influencers are considered to be a particular type of active social media user, and

are defined as “opinion leaders who can use their online platforms to diffuse information

and affect the attitudes and behaviours of their audiences” (Moreno et al., 2015).

De Veirman et al (2017) proposed that if an influencer has a large following, they

can be perceived as opinion leaders. The concept of someone being a perceived opinion

leader leads to the topic of credibility.

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The concept of influencers is not new. Its origin can be traced to traditional media

and the presence of opinion leaders who for the purpose of persuasion lead discussions on

specific topics related to their expertise (Zhao et al., 2018). Extending this definition to

social media, users who started as a regular person or are famous in a field and who have

accumulated a large number of followers on one or more of the online media platforms

(e.g., Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) and often persuade followers through their authentic

messages are considered as social media influencers (Lou and Yuan, 2019). Social media

influencers often have gained popularity on these media for their expertise or interest in

some areas, such as food, fashion, or lifestyle (Lou and Yuan, 2019). The influencers can

have followers from anywhere in the tens of thousands (micro-influencers) to the millions

(celebrity influencers).

The power and reach of a consumers’ opinion or reviews online means they have

the ability to automatically influence thousands of other consumers, thus giving a reason

for the growth of influencer marketing (Yusuf et al. 2018). Social media influencers are

now an influential powerhouse of “somebodies” who hold “immense growth and

increasing power” (Booth and Matic 2011: 184/190).

Barnes (2015) explained that Millennials’ filtering of digital advertisements could

be because they view themselves as proactive agents. They have well-developed

approaches to assessing advertising, basing judgements not just on standard advertising

of a brand, but the wider peer review of that brand. This provides insight into the

millennial obsession with social media influencers.

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“Influencers” are so called because they impact learning and, thus, cognitions and

behaviors via “modeling, reinforcement, and social interaction” (Folkvord et al., 2019; p.

79). Social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, encourage users to engage via liking

and/or commenting on people’s posts. Such interactions tend to build social bonds among

the users and increase their attachment and emotional belongingness to the community.

Adolescents often build strong relationships with the influencers, and one “with whom

you have strong relationships are usually not expected to have ulterior motives” (Zeng et

al., 2017).

Moreover, many times, because of the influencers’ initial roots as regular users,

followers tend to relate to them easily and find them credible (Swant, 2016) to the extent

that many users consider social media influencers as their peers (van Dam and van

Reijmersdal, 2019).

Children are suggested to find influencers more relatable and credible, often

aspiring to achieve their lifestyles (De Jans et al., 2018). These influencer messages are

also considered by children to be more trustworthy and honest than other commercial

messages (Paek et al., 2011; De Jans et al., 2018).

Time Management

The popularization of Social Media networks such as YouTube and Google Video

are responsible for the reaching power of consumer-generated production. Most of the

studies suggest that Gen Y actively contributes to Social Media content, either creating it

or mashing it and that they are always looking for social media platforms where they can

contribute and be part of it (Bolton et al, 2013). In counterpoint, Bolton (2013) also
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points out to studies that suggest that Millennials spend a considerable amount of time

just consuming content like any other generation. However, as many studies suggest that

Millennials would rather create advertisements instead of watching them, organizations

can exploit their willingness to write reviews to leverage their businesses.

Social network site (SNS) has become the most dynamic Web 2.0 application

which enables students not only to socialize with friends but also interact with lecturers.

The growing popularity of the sites is further influenced by the free access for whomever

that desire to interact with friends and lecturers with a view to generating collective

knowledge. (Hamat et al., 2012) According to Camus (2017), in the digital shift, the

Philippines has taken the global lead in at least one measure: time spent on social media.

The report, called Digital in 2017, showed that Filipinos spent an average of 4 hours and

17 minutes per day on social media sites such as Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter.

Social media use has become especially habitual among adolescents, which also

means that they are exposed to many native advertisements on a daily basis (Lou and

Yuan, 2019). Influencer posts are a form of native advertising because the intent of

commercial persuasion is masked by personal message curated by the social media

influencer (van Dam and van Reijmersdal, 2019).

An argument can be made that the time spent using social media is not beneficial

to the users, especially in the long term. Popular news outlets frequently report on stories

involving negative outcomes of social media usage. For example, though people with low

self-esteem consider Facebook an appealing venue for self- disclosure, the low

positivity/high negativity of their disclosures elicited generally negative feedback from

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others (Forest & Wood, 2012). This cycle can lower users’ happiness from not receiving

the encouragement and positive feedback that they were hoping for. Also, extended use

of a technology can lead to greater stresses. These technostresses can lower an

individual’s well-being.

There has been consistent evidence demonstrating that people who spend more

time on social media platforms, specifically Facebook, report higher addictive tendencies

(Hong, Huang, Lin, & Chiu, 2014; Koc&Gulyagci, 2013; Pornsakulvanich, 2018). A few

studies have examined the problematic use of social media more generally (Bányai et al.,

2017; Wu, Cheung, Ku, & Hung, 2013), and reported similar findings.

Millennials use technology and the internet not only to dealwith their daily

activities but also for commercial purposes.Although they use traditional means to access

the internet, like laptops and desktops,Millennials tend to connect on social networks

from their mobile phone, which makes themhave it strongly intersected with their day-

by-day activities (Moore, 2012).

The habit of using the Internet constantly changes the way by how this generation

interactswith media. This generation was born into a world of two-way communication

interactivity.With information circulating freely online, Millennials reject one-way

marketing andadvertising (Serazio, 2015; Kotler, 2017). This generation is often

enthusiastic to give their feedback about the brands orproducts they use (eMarketer,

2011). They are more likely to value others opinions in socialmedia (eMarketer, 2011;

Smith, 2011), so it is natural that they believe that their opinion isalso important. Smith

(2011) argues that Millennials usually feel comfortable giving theiropinion about
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products, for instance writing reviews and helping the consumer-generated product to be

shaped.

Personal Dialogue

Bandura, the social-science theorist responsible for much of our understanding of

how people reacting social situations, wrote, “In the social learning system, new patterns

of behavior can be acquired through direct experience or by observing the behaviors of

others (Bandura, 3). This explanation can help one understand why influencers are so

“influential.” Bandura explained, “On the basis of informative feedback, they

(consumers) develop thoughts or hypotheses about the types of behavior most likely to

succeed. These hypotheses then serve as guides for future actions”. To put this into

simpler terms, people learn from example, and influencers lead by example for those who

“follow” them. By observing examples through social media, people are more likely to

adopt the behaviors exhibited by the influencer (Forbes, 2016). Companies are using their

resources via social media influencers in hopes that the experience that a consumer has

withan influencer allows the behavior of the influencer to be adopted, that is, copied by

the consumer (Forbes, 2016).

It has been found that when a consumer is highly involved, they are less likely to

notice the persuasive attempt, yet their subconscious allows the attempt to impact their

attitudes, even if they do not necessarily remember (Matthes et al. 2007).

One of the reasons influencers have such outstanding rapport with their followers

is because they establish expertise in niches that appeal to a hyper-targeted audience.

Influencers drive the language of the niche–the jargon used regularly, the hashtags
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favored, the critical conversations, and the overall trends. Followers recognize

influencers’ expertise within the niche and follow their social media updates with avid

interest. In turn, influencers aim to cater to the fervid interests of their followers and

tailor their posts accordingly, while sticking to that which represents their own values and

personality (Mediakix, 2019)

Social media networks allow us the opportunity to share opinions with a far wider

audience. Another big change that has occurred is that there is now no filter on the way

we speak. In the past, unless you spoke to people directly, you had no way to get your

message across regardless of your freedom of speech. Now we can use social media to

get our messages out to thousands or even millions of people uncensored. Figure 3: A

Picture Really Does Paint 1000 Words. Photo Courtesy istockphoto.com

It can also be argued that social networks have affected our communication by the

way we converse and in our writing techniques. The social web has changed the written

word in a couple of crucial ways: Writing is more summarized: However, this has

allowed for shorter sentences or paragraphs and made way for neglecting correct

grammar use. Abbreviations are more prevalent: People who communicate via social

media or text message aren’t necessarily spelling things incorrectly; they are speaking a

new language entirely. “TTYL” (Talk to You Later) is commonly used to let someone

know you will talk to them later. In today’s world, abbreviations are now so common

that we do not even have to think twice about what they stand for.
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Pattern of Consumption

Social media is connecting individuals all over the world, where the power of

interaction and information sharing has shifted from companies to consumers. Since

companies now have a harder time reaching out to consumers, social media influencers

have been used as a solution to influence the purchase decisions of consumers and

thereby drive purchases.

Richard Sedley’s definition of engagement through social media, which he gave

during an interview with David Chaffey, was "Repeated interactions that strengthen the

emotional, psychological or physical investment a customer has in a brand.” High levels

of engagement for an influencer can indicate how devoted their followers are and hence,

indicate how influential they are as a source of advertising (Hurst 2016). Pansari and

Kumar (2017) present the idea that “when a relationship is satisfied and has emotional

bonding, it then progresses to the stage of engagement” (p.295). This suggests that

consumers' engagement on influencers' posts indicate that not only has a relationship

been initiated between influencer and consumer, but also that the influencer is potentially

a powerful source of advertising.

Engagement has been found to impact future sales (Guesalaga 2016) and brand

usage intent by consumers (Bolton et al. 2013), but most importantly for this study,

engagement with other customers has been found to impact purchase intention (Husnain

and Toor 2017). The intention to purchase by consumer can be used to predict their actual

buying behavior (Sethi et al. 2018).

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Bruns (2018) has proposed a model to explain how Trust and Perceived

authenticity are connected to the purchasing intention of Generation Z. The Bruns-

Siddiqui Intention to by model concept is that Social Media Influencer Marketing driven

leads to purchasing intention when consumers perceive an Influencer as authentic. The

model also explains how trust is only built when consumers perceive an Influencer as

authentic, and trust as well leads to intention to buy.

Trust, a dimension of credibility, was found to impact consumers’ long-term sales

and brand relationships (Sudha& Sheena, 2017) while expertise impacts the influencers’

reputation (De Veirman et al. 2017).

Bruns-Siddiqui intention to buy model (2018) connects perceived authenticity of

Influencer marketing driven to Intention to buy a product. It is natural that more authentic

are commendation feels, more the public get motivated to buy it.The perceived

authenticity of a recommendation through the public perception of good intention and

truth at the moment of reviewing a product is found in previous literature to enhance

purchase intention (Chen et al, 2015).

Social media has grown dramatically over the past decade with estimates of more

than 32% of the global population using social media platforms in 2016 (Emarketer,

2016). The advent of targeted advertising on social media platforms such Facebook and

Twitter, has spawned more interest, yet many industries continue to suffer from a lack of

knowledge regarding the marketing purpose of social media, and many flounder in fear of

adoption (Kacker and Perrigot, 2016).

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The rapid rise of social media channels has attracted interest from both academe

and industry, keen to understand its nuances and how to strategically adopt, implement

and manage for desired results. The emergence of social media platforms and increasing

customer adoption of these platforms has significantly altered the way customers

communicate and interact with each other and with businesses. Technological

developments have introduced significant changes to the way in which organisations

interact with existing, and prospective customers (Siamagka et al., 2015). The interactive

properties of social media have transformed consumers from passive observers of content

to active participants who create vast quantities of user-generated content through their

conversations, interactions and behaviors online.

Personal Choice

Consumers have been relying on opinion leader recommendations to make

choices about product quality and purchases for a long time. It is even more prominent

now with the prevalence of influencers on social media platforms. The problem is, when

there is a wide variety of the same product, consumers question if a positive

recommendation is based on quality or personal preferences. Nearly 50% of consumers

rely on digital influencers and 40% make purchases because of them, but it is important

to note opinion leaders' recommendations are influenced by both product quality and

their individual preferences (Sciencedaily, 2019).

The study, "Opinion Leaders and Product Variety," conducted by Dmitri Kuksov

of the University of Texas at Dallas and Chenxi Liao of The Chinese University of Hong

Kong, found that consumers discount a positive influencer recommendation more when it
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is about a product that has a large variety. Researchers say increasing product variety

does two things: it increases the likelihood of a positive expert opinion, but it also

decreases the consumer certainty that the quality of the product is good based solely on

the expert opinion. "When many types of a product are available, consumers may expect

an expert to find a better fit, and this consideration would then reduce consumer

expectations of the product quality” (Sciencedaily, 2019).

There are at least 2.3 billion registered users for the ten most popular social

networking websites worldwide combined (Socialnomics.net., 2011). Given this

enormous population of users, it comes as no surprise that Facebook.com and

YouTube.com are the two most-visited sites on the web, as of August 2014, and that

social media usage has become the most common activity on the web (Socialnomics.net.,

2012). Due to its ease of use, speed, and reach, social media is fast changing the public

discourse in society and setting trends and agendas in topics that range from the

environment and politics, to technology and the entertainment industry

(Asur&Huberman, 2010).

Social media sites are frequently accessed both at home and at work. Though

individuals can maintain a cognitive difference between personal life and professional

life, these two aspects are both a part of the whole that is the individual. Understanding

effects to both sides of a person’s life is important for gaining a holistic picture of the

individual. Sharing media content can profoundly impact attitudes and behaviors in large

groups (Kim, 2015, Lee, 2018, Bae, 2017, Berger, 2014, Meng, 2018). For sharing
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decisions, behavioural research has shown that social influences affect the interpretation

and perceived importance of media content and vice versa (Bae, 2017).

However, social commerce assists the individuals in decision making and buying

activities within online communities and market place because it involves social media

and web 2.0 which facilitate the social interaction with user-generated content (Huang

and Benyoucef, 2013, Zhang et al., 2014).

Furthermore, Social media has become a huge motivator for people and their

career choices. As social media platforms of social interaction, communication, and

marketing are growing (Dwivedi, Kapoor, & Chen, 2015), increasing number of

businesses including educational firms are now starting to look into social media

platforms for interacting more with the customers (Alalwan, Rana, Dwivedi,

&Algharabat, 2017).

Attitude and Perception

Researchers have used Attitude as a way to measure the effectiveness of Social

Media Influencers (SMIs) in past studies (De Veirman et al, 2017; Korotina and

Jargalsaikhan,2016; Lu et al, 2014; Jatto, 2014). In the Bruns-Siddiqui intention to buy

model Attitude is related to Intention to buy a product (Bruns, 2018). Previous studies

have also connected positive attitude towards a person/brand/product to Authenticity (Lu

et al, 2014), Expertise (Guadagno and Cialdini, 2005) and Popularity (De veirman et al,

2017). The reason for attitude being a good way to measure purchase intention is that

attitude towards a brand or product influences the buyer decision-making (Fill, 2009).
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Social media influencers, also known as micro-celebrities, are notorious for

creating a perfect image of themselves online and using that image to attract attention

(Chae, 2017). Defined as “individuals who are in a consumer’s social graph and have a

direct impact on the behavior of that consumer” (Brown & Hayes, 2008), micro-

celebrities have a unique role being so close to consumers and their job description

relying so heavily on disseminating marketing messages (Ge&Gretzel, 2017). ‘The

development of micro-celebrities is mostly evident through Instagram, but they also exist

on YouTube, Twitter and other social platforms’ (Djafarova&Trofimenko, 2018), and

seem to exercise the kind of luxurious lifestyle ordinary women could only aspire to

(Chae, 2017). Instagram is a breeding ground where this comparison between social

media influencers and adolescents thrive. Because Instagram is ‘currently one of the most

dominant social media platforms for influencer marketing with more than 600 million

active users’ (Evans, Phua, Lim, & Jun; 2017), the photo and video-sharing site is a

strong medium for young people to strive for social media fame and become fixated on

images at the expense of substance, leading to the development of a self-absorbed youth

culture” (Djafarova&Trofimenko, 2018).

According to French and Raven’s (1960) framework of power bases, one of the

key elements to perceived power lies in expertise. A blogger that focuses on one

particular subject, let’s say cooking, will be perceived to have more authority when it

comes to a particular brand of food (as opposed to a technology or sport blogger). This

authoritative position is further strengthened by a game of sheer numbers: a large number

of followers, shares, and likes will provide viewers with a form of social proof. The
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notion that others value the opinion of an influencer, and adhere to their judgments,

assures viewers that doing so is okay. If the majority is doing something, they must be

right.

Then there’s the matter of attractiveness. This is a strategy that marketers have

already been using for ages — I’m sure you can think of numerous examples of

advertisements featuring some handsome Hollywood actor recommending a certain

luxury product. As humans are susceptible to attractiveness bias, we subconsciously

attribute attractive or charismatic people with many other qualities simply because they

are good looking. Furthermore, this could lead to positive associations between the

person and the brand as well. These opinions influence the subconscious of the viewer,

potentially priming them when faced with a product-related decision

(Djafarova&Trofimenko, 2018).

But, what really sets social media influencers apart from other types of endorsers

is their relatability. Despite having a large popularity and internet following, influencers

are still perceived as mostly normal, down-to-earth people. They post about their

everyday life, stay connected with their followers, and are able to interact directly with

them. Plus, they often share the same age group, demographics, interests, and behaviors

of their target audience (Djafarova&Trofimenko, 2018).

This ties in closely to social identity theory, the part of psychology that deals with

how people view themselves as belonging to a group of similar individuals, and basing

part of their personal identity on their membership to said group. Naturally, the opinions

of members of the same group are worth more to people than those of a different group.
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More importantly, most influencers belong to the younger age group of

millennials, a demographic that is notoriously difficult to reach for marketers. They’re a

group that places strong value on forming their own identity, one of the most important

parts of growing up. To do so, teens often look up to role models to shape their own

behavior. Having a role model that is relatable and easy to identify with makes it all the

more likely that teens will copy their behavior (Djafarova&Trofimenko, 2018).

Social Connections

Social Media Influencers (SMIs) play a key role in affecting the way users

interact on social media, and organizations have learnt to leverage on this group when

they prepare their communication and public relations plans (Freberg et al., 2011;

Moreno et al., 2015; Li, 2016; Ge and Gretzel, 2018; Ong and Ito, 2019).

In the available studies, an influencer is defined as someone who has been

empowered by their network, is extremely active on social media and so makes a

significant impact (Li, 2016).

There is the widespread recognition that social media users play different roles

within social media platforms based upon their level of engagement with the production

and consumption of information (Shao, 2009; Muntinga et al., 2011; Austin et al., 2012;

Li, 2016; Ge and Gretzel, 2018).

Messages proclaimed by social media influencers are often perceived as more

reliable and compelling to consumers, and have been substantiated by 82% of

followers' polls, in which consumers are reported to be more likely to follow their

favorite influences' recommendations (Talaverna 2015).

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The life of their favourite influencers is a lot different than what it is portrayed-

they too have their struggles, weaknesses and days when they do not look their best but

their social media is structured in a way to portray only the brighter side. The problem

begins when there is a failure to recognize this truth and teenagers start comparing the

highlights and the ‘picture perfect’ moment of such people to their everyday life which

might not seem as glamorous in comparison. This life of constantly feeling ‘not good

enough’ or ‘not content’ with yourself leads to various other problems that highlight the

third issue is revolving around the overuse of social media. Teens addicted to social

media are found to be more susceptible to grave issues such as depression and others

such as body dysmorphia and a complete lack of communication skills due to a cut off

from the real world (Gordon, 2018).

Social media has also changed the way that we interact, mainly the way we have

lost some of our social skills. Some people are completely incapable of carrying on a

normal conversation or interacting with people in person because of the dependency of

social media. Social networks are becoming one of the dominant ways we communicate.

People are more obsessed with checking their smart phone every 2 minutes than engaging

in meaningful conversation with their child or spouse. Social media and technology are

double-edged swords. It’s awesome to have and can really help us, but it also distracts us

to the point of being blind and deaf to everything else going on (Sabramanian, 2017).

Before social media, we were extremely limited in our means to interact with

others and we were limited largely to the people that we knew in-person. There were

things we (those my age and older) had to deal with that millennials do not have to, your
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significant other’s parent answering the phone when you called, waiting for a letter in the

mail, waiting a week to get your pictures that you sent off to be developed, and so on.

The internet and social media has drastically changed the way people all over the world

interact and communicate. One of the biggest positive changes in the way that we

interact, due to social media networks, is the sheer number of people that we can interact

with. Because of social media networks, we are now able to interact with thousands of

people all over the world – this is why we see people who have thousands of Face book

friends or tens of thousands of Twitter followers. Without social media, that would be

impossible (Sabramanian, 2017).

Literature Conclusion

The literature review contextualized the framework of the study and presented the

key concepts and ideas underlying the study that will be further tested and analyzed as

the researchers continue to delve deeper to find answers for the research question, how

social media influencers affect several aspects of student’s behaviour and lifestyle. It was

shown that though substantial amount of previous literatures exists to provide adequate

information about social media influencers and their relation to consumers, little is

known and is capable of providing a clear and comprehensive understanding of the

effects of social media influencers when it comes to the different aspects of a student’s

behaviour and lifestyle. And, although secondary data in consideration to social media

and its impact on users are derived from previous literatures, it can only provide certain

amount of information in relation to the topic. To achieve more profound understanding,

it is therefore necessary to go further in the study.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents and discusses the research methodology adopted in the

study. In more details, in this part the researchers will describe the methods used in

collecting and analyzing data. This chapter begins with an introduction that describes the

research design employed in the study. A comprehensive justification of both the method

and design will then be provided. Other topics of discussion involved in conducting the

study includes the detailed explanation of the sample and sampling procedures, the

method of data collection, and the method and application of the data analysis. This is

later followed by a brief description of the locale of the study.

Research Design

According to Malhotra (2004), research design is a framework or blueprint for

conducting the research project and it will specify the details of the procedures necessary

for obtaining the confirmation needed to structure and solve the research problems. A

traditional research design is a blueprint or detailed plan of how a research study is to be

completed; operating variables for measurement, selecting a sample, collecting data and

analyzing the results of interest to the study, and testing the hypotheses. In the most

elementary sense, the design is the logical sequence that connects the empirical data,

research questions and conclusions (Yin, 2002).

According to Kothari (2010), research can be classified into three basic

categories: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research. The researchers chose
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the quantitative method of research for this study as they deem it most appropriate and

effective to answer the research questions objectively, accurately, economically and with

validity. Quantitative data can be transposed into numbers, in a formal, objective,

systematic process to obtain information and describe variables and their relationships.

Quantitative research can be further classified as either descriptive or

experimental research. The study used the quantitative descriptive method of research

since this method describes what is, and with emphasis on what actually exist such as

current conditions, practices, situations, or any phenomenon that would be necessary for

the study as a whole. According to Alfonso (2012), as expounded from Calderon and

Gonzales (1993), a descriptive research is a purposive process of gathering, analyzing,

classifying, and tabulating data about prevailing conditions, practices, beliefs, processes,

trends, and then making adequate and accurate interpretation about such data with or

without the aid of statistical methods. The purpose of descriptive studies is to describe,

and interpret, the current status of individuals, settings, conditions, or events (Mertler,

2014). Two commonly used quantitative descriptive research designs are observational

research and survey research.

The researchers chose the survey method as its approach in conducting this

quantitative descriptive study. It is primarily a quantitative research technique in which

the researcher administers some sort of survey or questionnaire to a sample—or, in some

cases, an entire population—of individuals to describe their attitudes, opinions,

behaviors, experiences, or other characteristics of the population (Creswell, 2005).

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Burns and Grove (2011:223) state that designing a study helps researchers to plan

and implement the study in a way that will help them obtain the intended results, thus

increasing the chances of obtaining information that could be associated with the real

situation. The researchers believe that the research designs used in the study can provide

substantial information to achieve the goal of becoming more familiar with the

phenomena, gaining new insight, and formulating more specific research problem or

hypothesis in the future.

Sample and Sampling Procedure

A sample with a strong representation of target groups, gives confidence in the

generalizability of the study’s findings (Graziano and Raulin 2010). Therefore, the

chosen participants must closely resemble the target group under investigation. Since the

main objective of the study is to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of how

social media influencers affects the different aspects of students' behavior and lifestyle,

the students under the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy of the Wesleyan University-

Philippines were chosen to be the target group of the study.

The total amount of people of interest must be defined, in order to give it the first

cut of the population (Oliver, 2014). Out of the total number of 516 Accountancy

students of Wesleyan University-Philippines, an optimal sample size is computed to be

the respondents of the study which is equivalent to eighty-four (84) students. The sample

size was computed using the Slovin's Formula, where N represents the total number of

population, and e represents the margin of error which is 0.1 or 10% with the confidence
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level being 90%. The respondents were selected in a systematical random to ensure a

more accurate representation of the population, and to ensure that all the members of the

population has been granted the chance to be part of the sample. It would be inconvenient

and inefficient to survey a whole population, hence, no sampling technique will be able to

guarantee perfect representation. The researchers believe that it is imperative to use

systematical random sampling to improve the probability of reliable results.

As have mentioned in many previous studies, the larger the sample size, the more

statistically relevant it is. However, as the sample size increases, so does the operational

challenges. The sample size was narrowed down to eighty-four 84to make sure that

results will be more relevant and accurate as possible and will not happen just by

coincidence, without sacrificing practicability.

The table below presents the total population of the accountancy students of

Wesleyan University-Philippines.

Table 1. The Total Population of the BSA Students

College Level Number of Population of the
Respondents
st
1 Year 285
2nd Year 193
rd
3 Year 0
4th Year 38
TOTAL: 516
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Instrumentation

Questionnaire

a. Description

A questionnaire, as defined by Saul McLeod (2018), is a research

instrument consisting of a series of questions for the purpose of gathering

information from respondents, with space provided for indicating response to

each question, intended for submission to a number of persons for reply.

The researchers chose to administer questionnaires as the instrument of the

study because it is simple and less expensive to administer, respondents can

remain anonymous, data may be collected on a broad range of topic even with a

limited period of time, and the format isapplicable to almost all subjects. In this

questionnaire, the statements require the respondents to respond from a

predetermined set of responses.

b. Design

This study used a structured, self-administered questionnaire design which

will take approximately five (5) to ten (10) minutes to be completed. The structure

of the questionnaire was prepared in three different portions. The first partof the

questionnaire contains the letter requesting active and honest participation from

the respondents, and an assurance of confidentiality.

The second part, being the preliminary survey portion, collects

demographic information about the respondents such as age, sex, and year level.
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It also contains inquiries about the engagement of the students with the

social media and the social media influencers, such as the time spentand their

familiarity with both.

The third part of the questionnaire consisted of statements which can be

answered with verbal and numerical responses depending on the intensity or

degree of their agreement. This part of the questionnaire is the most important

part as it provides the necessary data to be examined and analyze. The

questionnaire was based on a five-point Likert scale to assess the degree of

agreement.

c. Response Mode

Itemized scale ratings, specifically, the Likert-type scale was applied

to the third part of the research questionnaire. The main advantage of Likert

scaling is that it is easy to construct and understand as well as effective toolin

gathering information from raw data. The main objective of the questionnaire

is to get first-hand information from the respondents in the most convenient

and efficient way.

The researchers made use of 5 rating scale or Likert scale according to

intensity of feeling, emotion or attitude under the purpose of gathering

specific kind of data needed which is deemed as an appropriate measure inthe

assessment of the problem under study.

To describe the assessment of how social media influencers affect the

different aspects of behavior and lifestyle of Accountancy student of

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Wesleyan University-Philippines, the following numerical and verbal

description were used:

Numerical Verbal
5 Strongly Agree (SA)
4 Agree (A)
3 Moderately Agree (MA)
2 Moderately Disagree (MD)
1 Strongly Disagree (SD)

d. Development

The questionnaire, consisted of a total of thirty statements, was answered

in numerical and verbal responses. Since the study sought to answer specific

questions, the questionnaire was divided into six parts namely, the Time

Management, the Personal Dialogue, the Social Connection, the Attitude and

Perception, the Personal Choices, and the Pattern of Consumption. Each part of

the questionnaire has five (5) statements.

e. Reliability

To ensure the reliability of the questionnaire, the researchers administered

the questionnaire to a set of thirteen (13) Bachelor of Science in Accountancy

students of Wesleyan University-Philippines. The questionnaire was statistically

analyzed for reliability through Cronbach’s Alpha in IBM SPSS, Statistics

Software. The following table shows the results of the reliability statistics

generated by IBMM SPSS Statistics software:

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Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Cronbach's N of
Alpha Alpha Based Items
on
Standardized
Items
.836 .818 43
Table 2. Cronbach's Alpha in IBMM SPSS

The aim of the study is to be as transparent as possible to ensure reliability

and accuracy, and to provide other researchers a stepping ground for future

replication of the study. According to Duignan (2016), Cronbach’s alpha is one of

the most common method to examine the reliability of the research by testing its

internal consistency. If the Cronbach’ alpha value of a research is between 60%-

70%, then the research will be questionable and most likely need to be

redesigned. If it is between 70%-80%, it means the internal consistency is

acceptable. If it is between 80-90% or 90-100%, then it shows the internal

consistency is good or excellent.

Data Gathering Procedure

The study used different courses of action to gather substantial amount of

information necessary for the completion and accomplishment of the study. After the

initial pilot test and all necessary modifications, the questionnaires were administered

directly to the actual respondents of the study. Eighty-four (84) copies of the

questionnaire were given out directly to collect primary data from the respondents.
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The researchers formulated a number of statements to suffice the need of accurate

and reliable answer to the problem. The researchers measured the validity and reliability

of the instrument by conducting a try-out survey to randomly selected Accountancy

students of Wesleyan University Philippines to make sure that the instrument will also be

applicable to the target respondents of the study. The researchers made it a point that the

try-out respondents will not be mistakenly added or included in the actual respondents.

After ensuring the reliability and validity of the instrument, the finalized instruments

were then administered to the target respondents. The obtained data from the returned

instruments was used as basis for statistical analysis.

Data Analysis

The primary challenge of the study with respect to the analysis of data gathered

was to explore and determine which among the specified aspects of the students' behavior

and lifestyle is ultimately affected by the social media influencers. These aspects were

identified and limited after an in-depth consideration, and each was assessed

independently.

The data gathered were tabulated, tallied and ranked using the following methods

of analysis: Frequency distribution, Percentage, Weighted mean, and Average. According

to Creswell (2010), the analysis of the data can be performed through descriptive

statistics. One of the initial steps is to perform frequency distribution, which summarizes

the data and displays the number of the observations into distinct classes or categories for
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each distribution. For this study, graphical and data analysis were performed with the use

of Microsoft Excel.

The weighted mean for the aspects and statements will be interpreted using the following

scale:

Values Verbal Interpretation

1.0-1.79 Strongly Disagree
1.8-2.59 Disagree
2.6-3.39 Moderately agree
3.4-4.19 Agree
4.20-5.0 Strongly Agree
Table 3. Verbal Interpretation of Weighted Means

Locale of the Study

Written below was the brief information about the Wesleyan University-

Philippines where the researchers conducted their study. Wesleyan University-

Philippines was opened last 1946 by a group of Methodist laymen led by Carlos

Mañacop, Sr. Wesleyan University-Philippines (WU-P) is a private, non-stock, non-profit

and non-sectarian university located in Mabini Ext., Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija,

Philippines and run by the United Methodist Church (UMC). Founded in 1946 as the

Philippine Wesleyan College, it is named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.

The university offers pre-elementary, grade school high school, undergraduate, and

graduate programs.
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Wesleyan University-Philippines ‘map

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