Are top influencers always good? Study on how travel influencers’ follower size affects consumers’ engagement intention

This study, based on social impact and regulatory mode theories, investigates the mechanisms of engagement intention through scenario experiments. The results indicate that: (1) there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between travel influencers' follower size and consumers' predictive expectations, as well as engagement intention; (2) predictive expectations serve as an instantaneous mediator; (3) compared to the locomotion-mode consumers, assessment-mode consumers enhance the inverted U-shaped relationship as described above. This study offers a novel theoretical perspective on marketing undertaken by travel influencers and provides specific recommendations which tourism companies can use in relation to influencer marketing.