The impact of social media influencers on gen z's purchase decisions

Ling, Keng Hong (2025) The impact of social media influencers on gen z's purchase decisions. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

This Final Year Project examines how social media influencers affect Gen Z consumers’ purchase decisions by focusing on five key factors: influencer credibility, social media engagement, sales promotion, product quality, and marketing influence. The study applies Source Credibility Theory to explain how trust, expertise, and persuasive communication shape consumer behavior in digital environments. Quantitative research design is adopted, and primary data are collected through a structured survey questionnaire distributed to 200 Gen Z respondents. The data are analyzed using SPSS through descriptive analysis, reliability testing, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings show that social media engagement is the strongest predictor of Gen Z consumers’ purchase decisions, followed by marketing influence and influencer credibility. These results indicate that interactive content, persuasive messaging, and perceived authenticity play crucial roles in shaping buying behavior. Sales promotion demonstrates a significant but negative relationship in the regression model, suggesting that excessive promotional tactics may reduce perceived value. Although product quality positively correlated with purchase decisions, but it does not significantly predict the buying behavior when digital influence factors are considered simultaneously. Overall, the results confirm that influencer-related factors are influential in shaping Gen Z purchase decisions. The study contributes to academic literature by extending Source Credibility Theory into the context of influencer marketing and offers practical insights for businesses seeking to design effective digital strategies targeting Gen Z consumers. Keywords: Gen Z, Source Credibility Theory, Influencer Credibility, Social Media Engagement, Marketing Influence

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