johti Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Issues 2687-5543 Sedat ÇELİK 10.51525/johti.1667053 Gastronomy Food Marketing Gastronomi Gıda Pazarlaması The Role of Content Strategies in Affecting Chefs’ Recognition on Instagram: Multiple Regression Analysis on Perceptions of Trustworthiness and Attractiveness Mutfak Şeflerinin Instagram’da Tanınırlığını Etkileyen İçerik Stratejilerinin Rolü: Güvenilirlik ve Çekicilik Algıları Üzerinden Çoklu Regresyon Analizi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6997-2188 Arkan Galip Tunca İSTANBUL BİLGİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4896-5533 İnce Karaçeper Ecem İSTANBUL KENT ÜNİVERSİTESİ 06 30 2025 7 1 46 66 03 27 2025 05 25 2025 Copyright © 2019, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Issues 2019 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Issues

This study investigates how social media marketing activities—particularly those focused on word-of-mouth (WOM) and trending content—implemented by a chef influencer operating in the gastronomy sector on Instagram influence followers’ perceptions of credibility (trustworthiness + expertise) and attractiveness, and how these perceptions, in turn, affect the chef’s recognition. Data was collected through an online survey from 332 followers of a macro-influencer chef, using a convenience sampling method. The findings reveal that WOM and trending-oriented posts significantly and positively impact both credibility and attractiveness, while these two factors also exert a positive influence on the chef’s recognition. Aligned with Social Exchange Theory, the results underscore the effectiveness of influencer marketing in the gastronomy field. However, the failure of personalization and interaction dimensions to emerge as separate constructs in the exploratory factor analysis highlights the need for refined measurement scales in future studies. Overall, the findings suggest that chef influencers can enhance their credibility and recognition by effectively utilizing WOM and trend-based social media strategies in their gastronomic content.

Bu çalışma, gastronomi alanında faaliyet gösteren bir şefin Instagram üzerinden uyguladığı sosyal medya pazarlama faaliyetlerinin (WOM ve trend boyutları) takipçiler nezdindeki güvenilirlik (güven+uzmanlık) ve çekicilik algılarına etkisini inceleyerek, bu algıların şefin tanınırlığı üzerindeki yansımalarını ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Kolayda örnekleme yöntemi kullanılarak, makroinfluencer konumundaki bir şefin 332 takipçisinden çevrimiçi anketle veri toplanmıştır. Analizler sonucunda WOM ve trend odaklı paylaşımların hem güvenilirlik hem de çekicilik algısını istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde artırdığı; güvenilirlik ve çekicilik boyutlarının ise şefin tanınırlığı üzerinde pozitif bir etki yarattığı belirlenmiştir. Bulgular, Sosyal Değişim Teorisiyle uyumlu olup, gastronomi sektöründe influencer pazarlamasının etkililiğini vurgulamaktadır. Ancak kişiselleştirme ve etkileşim gibi boyutların açımlayıcı faktör analizinde ayrı faktörler olarak ayrışmaması, gelecekteki araştırmalar için ölçek iyileştirme gerekliliğine işaret etmektedir. Sonuçlar, özellikle gastronomi alanında faaliyet gösteren şeflerin, WOM ve trend gibi sosyal medya pazarlama stratejilerini etkin kullanarak güvenilirlik ve tanınırlıklarını artırabileceklerini göstermektedir.

 Sosyal medya pazarlaması WOM trend şef influencer gastronomi güvenilirlik tanınırlık Social media marketing WOM trending content chef influencer gastronomy credibility recognition Ao, L., Bansal, R., Pruthi, N. & Khaskheli, M. (2023). Impact of social media influencers on customer engagement and purchase intention: A meta-analysis. Sustainability, 15(3), 2744. Atherton, J. (2023). Social media strategy: A practical guide to social media marketing and customer engagement (2th. Ed.), Kogan Page. Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. Wiley. Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1(3), 185–216. Brown, J., Broderick, A. J. & Lee, N. (2007). Word of mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 21(3), 2–20. Byrne, E., Kearney, J., & MacEvilly, C. (2017). The role of influencer marketing and social influencers in public health. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 76(OCE3), E103. Campbell, C. & Farrell, J. R. (2020). More than meets the eye: The functional components underlying influencer marketing. Business Horizons, 63(4), 469–479. Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2020). Influencers on Instagram: Antecedents and consequences of opinion leadership. Journal of Business Research, 117, 510-519. Cheung, C. M. K. & Thadani, D. R. (2012). The impact of electronic word of mouth communication: A literature analysis and integrative model. Decision Support Systems, 54(1), 461–470. Chu, S. C. & Kim, Y. (2011). Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites. International Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 47–75. Coutinho, F., Dias, A. & Pereira, L. F. (2023). Credibility of social media influencers: Impact on purchase intention. Human Technology, 19(2), 220–237. Cropanzano, R. & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. DeVellis, R. F. (2017). Scale development: Theory and applications (4th ed.). Sage Publications. De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V. & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through Instagram influencers: The impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798– 828. Djafarova, E. & Rushworth, C. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 1–7. Emerson, R. M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 335–362. Erkan, İ. & Evans, C. (2016). The influence of eWOM in social media on consumers’ purchase intentions: An extended approach to information adoption. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 47–55. Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4. Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). Sage Publications. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2014). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Education Limited. Hıra, A., & Karabulut, A. N. (2021). Nüfuzlu pazarlamanın satın alma niyetine etkisi: Gastronomi alanında bir uygulama. Journal of Tourism and Gastronomy Studies, 9(1), 59-73. Homans, G. C. (1958). Social behavior as exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 63(6), 597–606. İnan, D. İ., Hidayanto, A. N., Juita, R., Puteri, A. R., Romauli, İ. P. & Putri Kinanti Ramadhani, B. (2022). Because follower experience matters: The continuance intention to follow recommendation of the influencer. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2022(1), 3684192. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3684192 Instagram. (2020). Business tools for creators. https://about.instagram.com. Jin, S. V. & Ryu, E. (2020). “I'll buy what she's #wearing”: The roles of envy toward and parasocial interaction with influencers in Instagram celebrity based brand endorsement and social commerce. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102121. Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31–36. Kaplan, A. M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68. Khamis, S., Ang, L. & Welling, R. (2017). Self branding, ‘micro celebrity’ and the rise of social media influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191–208. Khan, M. R., Iqbal, M., & Lodhi, A. J. (2021). Influencer Marketing in Instagram: Effects of promotional posts on purchasing behaviour of consumers. J. Pol. Stud., 28(1), 119-132. Ki, C. W., Cuevas, L. M., Chong, S. M. & Lim, H. (2020). Influencer marketing: Social media influencers as human brands attaching to followers and yielding positive marketing results by fulfilling needs. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102133. Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54(3), 241-251. Koay, K. Y., Teoh, C. W. & Soh, P. C. H. (2021). Instagram influencer marketing: Perceived social media marketing activities and online impulse buying. First Monday, 26(9). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v26i9.11598 Lee, S. W. & Tao, W. (2022). Chef’s role in building restaurant brand trust on social media. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 99, 103066. Lou, C. & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19, 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501 Lou, C. (2022). Social media influencers and followers: Theorization of a trans-parasocial relation and explication of its implications for influencer advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(1), 4-21. Mabkhot, H., Isa, N. M. & Mabkhot, A. (2022). The influence of the credibility of social media influencers (SMIs) on the consumers’ purchase intentions: Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability, 14(19), 12323. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912323 McFarland, L. & Ployhart, R. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653–1677. McGregor, S. C. (2018). Personalization, social media, and voting: Effects of candidate self personalization on vote intention. New Media ve Society, 20(3), 1139–1160. McLachlan, S. (2023, 28 Kasım). The complete Instagram marketing strategy guide. Hootsuite Blog. https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-marketing/. Miles, J. (2014). Instagram power: Build your brand and reach more customers with visual influence. McGraw Hill. Moore, A., Yang, K., & Kim, H. M. (2018). Influencer marketing: Influentials’ authenticity, likeability and authority in social media. In International Textile and Apparel Association annual conference proceedings, 75(1). Iowa State University Digital Press. Nafees, L., Cook, C. M., Nikolov, A. N., & Stoddard, J. E. (2021). Can social media influencer power impact consumer attitudes? The mediating role of perceived influencer credibility. Digital Business, 1(2), 100008. Neher, J. (2014). Visual social marketing for dummies, John Wiley ve Sons. Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers’ perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39–52. Reinikainen, H., Munnukka, J., Maity, D., & Luoma-aho, V. (2020). “You really are a great big sister” – parasocial relationships, credibility, and the moderating role of audience comments in influencer marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 36(3-4), 279-298. Rowe, P. & Grady, E. (2020). I see your expertise and raise you mine: Social media foodscapes and the rise of the celebrity chef. In Deborah L. & Zeena F. (Edits.) Digital food cultures (ss.114–128). Routledge. Saima, & Khan, M. A. (2020). Effect of social media influencer marketing on consumers’ purchase intention and the mediating role of credibility. Journal of Promotion Management, 27(4), 503–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2020.1851847 Sánchez Fernández, R. & Jiménez Castillo, D. (2021). How social media influencers affect behavioural intentions towards recommended brands: The role of emotional attachment and information value. Journal of Marketing Management, 37(11–12), 1123–1147. Shah, S. A., Shoukat, M. H., Jamal, W. & Ahmad, M. S. (2023). What drives followers influencer intention in influencer marketing? The perspectives of emotional attachment and quality of information. SAGE Open, 13(2), 21582440231179712. Sheldon, P. & Bryant, K. (2016). Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 89–97. Sokolova, K. & Kefi, H. (2020). Instagram and YouTube bloggers vs. celebrities: The perceived authenticity and its effect on purchase intentions. Computers in Human Behavior, 89, 272–282. Sreejesh, S., Paul, J., Strong, C., & Pius, J. (2020). Consumer response towards social media advertising: Effect of media interactivity, its conditions and the underlying mechanism. International Journal of Information Management, 54, 102155. Statista. (2024, 11 Kasım). Social media in Turkey – Statistics and facts, https://www.statista.com/topics/9412/social-media-in-turkey/#topicOverview. Sudha, M. & Sheena, K. (2017). Impact of influencers in consumer decision process: The fashion industry. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 14(3), 14–30. Upananda, D. R. P., & Bandara, D. M. D. (2022). Impact of influencer marketing on social media users’ travel intention. Sri Lanka Journal of Marketing, 8(1), 154-174. Virtanen, M., Björk, P. & Sjöström, E. (2017). Follow for follow: Marketing of a start up company on Instagram. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24(3), 468–484. Vrontis, D., Makrides, A., Christofi, M., & Thrassou, A. (2021). Social media influencer marketing: A systematic review, integrative framework and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4), 617-644. Yadav, M. & Rahman, Z. (2017). Measuring consumer perception of social media marketing activities in e commerce industry: Scale development ve validation. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1294–1307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.06.001 Yoo, B. & Donthu, N. (2001). Developing and validating a multidimensional consumer based brand equity scale. Journal of Business Research, 52(1), 1–14. Zengin, G. & Zengin, B. (2017). Sosyal medya platformlarında hashtag (#) kullanımı ve iletişim boyutu. Gazi İletişim Dergisi, 29, 211–230.