Purpose

Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship. Drawing from cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning theory, the current study aims to examine how this relationship is shaped across three time periods (before the allegation is leveled, after the allegation is leveled, and when the allegation is found to be baseless).

Design/methodology/approach

We study comments posted by followers of two falsely alleged social media influencers (SMI) on their YouTube and Instagram channels. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) followed by netnography is used for thematic analysis. LDA is a social media topic modeling method that processes a statistically representative set of words to explain the tone and tenor of qualitative conversations. A sentiment analysis of the comments is done using SentiStrength.

Findings

When an allegation is leveled initially, the response from followers is overwhelmingly negative toward the influencer owing to moral coupling. However, when the allegations are proven to be false, the followers return to a positive opinion of the influencer, owing to feelings of dissonance and guilt.

Practical implications

The study contributes to the fields of influencer marketing, cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning. It highlights how endorsers can take advantage of the positive sentiment that arises once an accused SMI’s transgression is proven false.

Originality/value

This study introduces the concept of “Sentiment Reversal,” which is exhibited in the social media space. In this phenomenon, sentiments move from negative to positive toward the falsely accused SMI as they are vindicated of the previous charge.

中文翻译：

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“我很抱歉评判你”：在被错误指控的社交媒体影响者违规行为的情况下，概念化追随者的情绪逆转

 目的

影响者的违规行为可能会让他们的追随者失望。然而，关于虚假指控对影响者-追随者关系的影响尚不清楚。借鉴认知失调和道德推理理论，本研究旨在研究这种关系在三个时间段（指控被提出之前、指控被提出之后以及发现指控毫无根据时）是如何形成的。

设计/方法/方法

我们研究了两名被虚假指控的社交媒体影响者 （SMI） 的追随者在其 YouTube 和 Instagram 频道上发布的评论。潜在狄利克雷分配 （LDA） 后跟 netnography 用于主题分析。LDA 是一种社交媒体主题建模方法，它处理一组具有统计代表性的单词来解释定性对话的语气和基调。使用 SentiStrength 对评论进行情绪分析。

 发现

当最初提出指控时，由于道德耦合，追随者对影响者的反应绝大多数是负面的。然而，当指控被证明是虚假的时，由于不和谐和内疚感，追随者会回到对影响者的积极看法。

 实际意义

这项研究为影响者营销、认知失调和道德推理领域做出了贡献。它强调了代言人如何利用被指控的 SMI 的违规行为被证明是虚假的后出现的积极情绪。

 原创性/价值

本研究引入了“情绪反转”的概念，该概念在社交媒体空间中得到了展示。在这种现象中，对被诬告的 SMI 的情绪从消极转变为积极，因为他们被证明之前的指控是正确的。