Title: From Likes to Buying: How Instagram Influencers Drive Gen Z’s Impulse Shopping

Level: Bachelor Thesis Business Administration C

Authors: Gabriella Tekin & Lorrence Strand Lindh

Supervisor: Ehsanul Huda Chowdhury

Date: 2025 – January

Aim: The study aims to understand how Instagram influencers' source credibility and parasocial interactions affect Gen Z's impulse buying on Instagram, applying the SOR model.

Method: This study uses a qualitative approach with ten semi-structured interviews of young Swedish Generation Z consumers (ages 18-25). Transcriptions were analyzed using abductive coding to identify themes, which were integrated with the theoretical framework to discuss the empirical findings.

Results & Conclusion: Findings show that influencers' trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness enhance credibility and drive impulse purchases among Gen Z consumers. Social media metrics, such as likes and comments, as well as social networks’ opinions, also affect influencers' credibility. The emotional connections derived from parasocial interactions boost loyalty and responsiveness to endorsements, and in addition to source credibility, collectively encourage impulse buying. Promotions from influencers and the fear of missing out among Gen Z consumers also heighten the impulse to buy. These consumers often research products beyond social media before completing purchases to validate claims.

Implications of the Study: This study connects source credibility and parasocial interactions to impulse buying among Generation Z, examining how influencer marketing affects young consumers' online shopping decisions, especially post-pandemic when online retail increased.

Suggestion for future research: Future research should involve diverse participants, larger samples, mixed-method designs, and explore factors beyond source credibility and parasocial interactions to better understand impulse buying behaviors on social media.

Keywords: Impulse Buying, SOR framework, Source Credibility (SC), Parasocial Interactions (PSI), Social Media Influencers (SMIs), Generation Z.