Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to uncover how Instagram influencers and their credibility affect consumers’ purchase intention. To do so, the study firstly started with two smaller procedural research questions that had the objective of theoretically explaining both the credibility that is attached to influencers, and also how said credibility could impact consumers’ purchase intention. The third research question had the aim of going from theory to empirical research by examining how actual consumers see the credibility of influencers on Instagram and how that impacts their purchase intention.

Method: The research that has been conducted is based on the qualitative data collection method of focus groups, where 18 consumers, spread across three focus groups, participated in the study. The collected data was subsequently analyzed through pattern matching where the theoretical framework’s predicted themes and patterns were compared to the ones that were found in the data.

Findings: The analysis revealed that consumers on Instagram used all of the five dimensions of source credibility when having to evaluate the credibility of an influencer. Further, it was found that an influencer’s credibility had a positive influence on consumer’s brand attitude, brand credibility, and additionally brand awareness. The latter was an aspect that was not taken into consideration in the proposed theoretical framework. Brand attitude, brand credibility and brand awareness subsequently showed to have a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention.