Parasocial Relationship, Brand Attitude, and Purchase Intention: A Dual Mediation Model

The purpose of this empirical study is to discover the relationship between parasocial relationship (PR) and purchase intention (PI); as well as the relationship between PR and brand attitude (BA), through the mediating effects of perceived influencer credibility (PIC) and brand trust (BT), in the Chinese food industry based on Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model. The study applied non-probability convenience sampling and gathered responses from 428 respondents (268 respondents in the high PR group and 160 in the low PR group). For quantitative data analyses, the study used IBM SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 28.0. Findings revealed that, first of all, a high PR compared to a low PR leads to a higher PI and a higher BA. Second, a high PR leads to a higher PIC as well as a higher BT. Third, both the mediators, PIC and BT, have significant positive correlations with both the dependent variables, PI and BA. Next, it was identified that PIC partially mediates the positive relationships between PR and PI, as well as between PR and BA. Finally, BT was also identified to have partial mediations in the positive relationships between PR and PI, as well as between PR and BA. The contribution of this research is to offer a new insight into the concept of PR and the mediating mechanisms of PIC and BT in the Chinese food industry. In addition, this study extends the current S-O-R framework by incorporating the proposed PIC and BT as two mediators that play pivotal roles in driving PI and BA on Xiaohongshu (RED) platform. This is the very reason why the identification of what distinguishes Xiaohongshu from more globally dominant social media places it at the heart of identifying and emphasizing the cultural and contextual features of this platform, delivering tangible insight for marketers pursuing how trust and authenticity work in social commerce. It contributes to the rather small but growing literature around the realm of influencer marketing on social commerce, therefore, adding to one of its areas of understanding platform-specific consumer behavior.