Title: How does trust and credibility affect consumers' willingness to buy for paid

collaborations with influencers.

Author: Natalie Starcevska & Cornelia Bremer Möller

Tutor: Anna Sörensson

Examiner: Navid Ghannad

Course: Independent thesis in business administration 15hp, international marketing

program, Halmstad University, Spring 2022

Keywords: Influences marketing, Influences, Paid collaborations, Credibility and trust.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how consumers' experience affects their

willingness to buy from paid collaborations. By understanding how consumers perceive

collaborations between companies and influencers, marketing strategies can be created to

improve this form of marketing in the future.

Research questions:

• What factors affect the consumer's willingness to buy from paid collaborations with

influencers?

• How should influencers do their marketing with paid collaboration so that they are

perceived as credible and gain the trust of consumers?

Theory: This chapter consists of relevant theories for previous research that is selected to suit

the study's issues. The chapter begins with how the collaboration between an influencer and a

company works. In order for the study to have a deeper discussion, the study deepened in

various marketing strategies that make up the theory chapter.

Method: The method is based on a quantitative research approach with the help of a survey.

The survey was then analyzed in the statistical data program spss for a deeper analysis of the

data collection. The method chapter is then followed up by a discussion about how the data

was chosen, which was used in the approach. The chapter was then followed up with which

selection method that was carried out throughout the study.

Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that the main factors that affect consumers'

willingness to buy around paid collaborations are trust and word-of-mouth. The study also

confirms that influencers who have recurring collaborations, are "experts" in the field they

market and manage their relationship with the followers are perceived as more credible and

will gain the trust of consumers. By gaining this trust from consumers, the influences will be

able to maintain genuine and secure customer relationships longer.