Social Media Influencer (SMI) marketing represents a contemporary addition to the arsenal of digital advertising tools. Digital Content Creators are individuals who regularly share a variety of content, including visuals, audio recordings, and updates, across multiple social media platforms to shape consumers’ perceptions of a brand and its products. The focus of this study is to examine how the credibility aspects of social media influencers (expertise, attractiveness, and trustworthiness) influence purchase intention and brand intimacy while also considering the mediating role of consumer engagement. This study used a quantitative, cross-sectional design with convenience sampling targeting social media-active individuals. Data were collected via a questionnaire distributed through email and social media, selecting participants who followed influencers. To gather data, 250 participants were engaged in an online questionnaire distributed via Google Forms. The findings indicate that the credibility dimensions of SMIs, particularly their attractiveness and trustworthiness, positively influence brand intimacy and purchase intention. Furthermore, consumer engagement serves as a critical mediator, connecting the authenticity of social media influencers with purchase intention and brand intimacy. In line with these results, it becomes evident that consumer engagement indirectly influences influencer credibility (trustworthiness and attractiveness), purchase intention, and brand intimacy. Notably, expertise does not exert any discernible impact on either brand intimacy or purchase intention. This study’s outcomes provide valuable insights for marketing managers, underscoring the significance of partnering with influencers who possess a high level of trust within their respective marketing niches.

Advances in technology have led to a spurt in tech-savvy consumers displaying increasingly complex behavior. In the past, consumers concluded their search and purchases at a single physical store. Nowadays, however, they possess a number of digital devices (desktops and/or mobiles) through which they can switch channels seamlessly to search for information and make a purchase. There are very few studies that investigate desktop and mobile channels separately; this is perhaps the first study that examines the effect of chronotypes (evening- and morning-type individuals) on a sample of Chinese university students using online and mobile channels in the omnichannel process. The results from a sample of 311 digital shoppers (desktops and/or mobiles) confirm that the mobile channel offers greater task-technology fit to evening-type respondents and desktop channels present better task-technology fit to morning-type respondents to engage in the omnichannel process. Furthermore, this study discussed contributions and insights for managers to develop an effective omnichannel strategy.