Micro-Influencer Credibility in Local Service Markets: Examining Authenticity, Expertise, Local Familiarity, and Consumer Booking Intention

Budi Santoso

Micro-Influencer Credibility in Local Service Markets: Examining Authenticity, Expertise, Local Familiarity, and Consumer Booking Intention

Author(s)	Dr. Budi Santoso
Country	United States
Abstract	Micro-influencers have become increasingly relevant to service businesses that depend on geographically concentrated customer communities, interpersonal trust, and locally meaningful recommendations. Unlike celebrity endorsers or high-reach digital creators, micro-influencers typically operate through smaller audience networks in which perceived familiarity, specialized knowledge, accessibility, and community embeddedness may influence persuasive effectiveness. These characteristics are especially important in local service markets, where consumers frequently face uncertainty before purchasing intangible and difficult-to-evaluate offerings such as restaurants, beauty services, fitness programs, home maintenance, professional services, accommodation, and neighborhood experiences. This study develops a simulation-based framework for examining how micro-influencer credibility affects consumer booking intention in local service settings. Credibility is conceptualized through authenticity, expertise, trustworthiness, and local familiarity, while perceived commercialism is modeled as a potential negative influence. A synthetic dataset representing 360 hypothetical consumers was constructed using seven-point measurement scales. Regression analysis indicates that overall micro-influencer credibility and local familiarity are positively associated with simulated booking intention, whereas perceived commercialism shows a negative relationship. The standardized simulated coefficient for credibility is 0.378 and the coefficient for local familiarity is 0.333, while commercialism produces a coefficient of −0.274. The model explains approximately 42.3% of synthetic variation in booking intention. The findings suggest that micro-influencer effectiveness in local service markets may depend less on audience size than on whether recommendations appear credible, contextually informed, and consistent with the influencer's established identity and community knowledge. The paper contributes a localized credibility framework for subsequent empirical validation and provides practical implications for service businesses seeking responsible, relationship-oriented influencer partnerships.
Keywords	micro-influencers; source credibility; local service markets; influencer marketing; authenticity; local familiarity; booking intention; perceived commercialism
Field	Engineering
Published In	Volume 5, Issue 6, November-December 2024
Published On	2024-12-20

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Micro-Influencer Credibility in Local Service Markets: Examining Authenticity, Expertise, Local Familiarity, and Consumer Booking Intention

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