“Sharing Is Bonding”: How Influencer Self-Disclosure Fuels Word-of-Mouth via Consumer Identification

The growing influence of social media personalities in shaping consumer behavior presents significant opportunities and challenges for marketers. This research integrates Social Identity Theory with the influencer marketing literature to investigate how influencer self-disclosure affects word-of-mouth intentions through consumer identification. Across four experiments (N = 1048), we demonstrate that high influencer self-disclosure consistently increases consumers’ word-of-mouth intentions compared to low self-disclosure. Consumer identification with the influencer mediates this relationship, providing a psychological mechanism through which personal narratives translate into advocacy behaviors. Furthermore, we identify two important boundary conditions: self-concept clarity moderates the relationship between self-disclosure and identification, with stronger effects for consumers experiencing identity uncertainty; and cultural collectivism orientation moderates the identification-to-WOM pathway, with collectivistic mindsets amplifying the translation of identification into advocacy. These findings contribute to both theory and practice by elucidating the psychological processes underlying influencer effectiveness and offer strategic guidance for optimizing influencer communication across diverse consumer segments and cultural contexts.