The Effect of Social Media Influencers’ Attributes on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions among Generations X and Z: The Mediating Role of Brand Attitude

This study investigates the impact of Social Media Influencer (SMI) attributes—trustworthiness, interactivity, and information quality—on consumers’ purchase intentions, with brand attitude as a potential mediator, focusing on Generations X and Z in Egypt. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 26 and AMOS 23 within a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) confirmed the constructs’ reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, while path analysis assessed direct, indirect, and total effects. The findings reveal that interactivity is the most influential driver of both brand attitude and purchase intention, followed by trustworthiness, which demonstrated a weaker yet significant effect. Information quality, however, showed minimal impact. Contrary to traditional models, brand attitude did not mediate the relationships between influencer attributes and purchase intention, suggesting that consumers—particularly Generation Z—are more responsive to interactive and experiential content than to attitudinal alignment with brands.Generational differences were also observed: Generation Z favors interactive, short-form, and entertainment-driven content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, while Generation X values information-rich and credibility-based content on Facebook and YouTube. This study contributes to influencer marketing literature by challenging the assumed mediating role of brand attitude and by integrating generational differences into the analysis. Managerially, the results provide a framework for developing platform-specific and generation-tailored influencer strategies to enhance consumer engagement, purchase intentions, and brand loyalty in the Egyptian market.