#Gifted: the impact of influencer gifting strategy in influencer marketing

Influencer gifting strategy, whereby brands provide influencers with their products as gifts, is widely used in influencer marketing. However, there remains a limited understanding of (i) its effect on downstream consumer behaviors such as social media engagement and purchase intention, (ii) how perceptions of influencers’ communal intent and product quality mediate such effects, and (iii) the moderating role of influencer size (i.e. number of followers). Empirical analysis using an Instagram dataset reveals that influencer gifting amplifies social media engagement and the effect was moderated by the influencer size. Two additional online experiments from different categories (beauty and food) show a consistent mediation pathway via perceived communal intent and the mediation was positively moderated by small influencer size. The moderated mediation via perceived product quality was only supported by the experiment from the food category. These findings offer valuable insights for influencers and brand marketers looking to utilize their influencer marketing strategies.