How social media influencer attributes shape multidimensional customer commitment

This study examines how perceived influencer trustworthiness, attractiveness, interactivity, and expertise are associated with affective, normative, economic, habitual, and forced customer commitment among predominantly young social media influencer followers. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in Türkiye between January and May 2026 using convenience sampling. The final analytical sample comprised 234 adult followers and was analyzed with reflective partial least squares structural equation modeling, 5,000 bootstrap samples, and cross-validated predictive assessment. Attractiveness was positively associated with affective, normative, and economic commitment; interactivity with affective commitment; and expertise with normative, economic, habitual, and forced commitment. Trustworthiness showed no significant unique direct effects after the other attributes were modeled simultaneously. By distinguishing five bases of commitment, the study moves influencer research beyond purchase intention and global loyalty and shows that similar continuation behavior may rest on relational, utilitarian, habitual, or dependence-based foundations. The findings suggest selecting influencers according to the specific commitment form sought and avoiding the treatment of forced dependence as healthy loyalty. Cross-sectional self-report data and imperfect influencer-brand referent matching limit causal inference.