How TikTok Food Influencers Shape Young Consumers’ Purchase Intentions: The Mediating Roles of Credibility and Parasocial Interaction

Abstract

Social media influencers have become increasingly important in digital marketing through interactive and personalised content. This study investigates how TikTok food influencers’ attributes influence young consumers’ purchase intentions through the mediating roles of credibility and parasocial interaction (PSI). Drawing upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and PSI theory, this research examines how physical attractiveness, social attractiveness, and attitude homophily function as persuasive cues that shape consumers’ credibility-based evaluations and perceived interpersonal involvement with influencers. Data were collected from 403 young consumers in China with experience engaging with TikTok food influencer content and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal two distinct but complementary mechanisms: credibility-based evaluation and parasocial interaction. Physical attractiveness is primarily associated with credibility, social attractiveness with PSI, while attitude homophily contributes to both, with a stronger association with PSI. PSI also demonstrates a stronger influence on purchase intention than credibility, highlighting the importance of perceived interpersonal involvement in short-form influencer marketing. This study extends influencer marketing research by showing how different influencer-related cues operate through credibility and PSI within TikTok’s interactive media environment and provides practical implications for effective influencer marketing strategies.