“I want to be as trendy as influencers” – how “fear of missing out” leads to buying intention for products endorsed by social media influencers

Purpose As social media use rises, the impact of social media influencers on customer buying decisions increases, due to customers viewing influencers as ideal role models who they try to imitate. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is still under-researched. This study examined the impact of the imitation of influencers on customer buying intention toward endorsed products, which is mediated by social comparison, materialism and the fear of missing out (FOMO). Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 243 respondents was conducted via Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. This study employed structural equation modeling to test for direct and indirect effects among the constructs. Findings The results revealed that imitation of influencers has a significant impact on social comparison, materialism and FOMO, which affect buying intention toward endorsed products. The analysis results highlight the critical role of FOMO in explaining buying intention toward endorsed products in the context of social media influencers. Originality/value This study proposes a new theoretical model and empirically tests the power of influencers to affect consumer buying intention for endorsed products. It also explains the influencers' effects through FOMO, which have hardly been examined in earlier research although it is an important factor in understanding customer behavior. The implications are discussed for the academic literature and for online marketing strategies in marketing and advertising management.