TITLE:
Building Brand Trust through Food Bloggers in Egypt: The Mediating Roles of Parasocial Relationships and Source Credibility
AUTHORS:
Manar Mohammed Ramadan
KEYWORDS:
Influencer Marketing, Interaction Strategies, Parasocial Relationship, Source Credibility, Brand Trust, Food Bloggers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.10,
October
29,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study examines how food bloggers’ interaction strategies—interactivity (INT) and content quality (CQ)—influence consumer brand trust in the Egyptian fast-food context, via parasocial relationship (PSR) and source credibility (CR). Survey data from 333 consumers were analyzed via SmartPLS 4. Results show that INT enhances both PSR and CR, while CQ only affects CR, not PSR. Both PSR and CR predict brand trust and serve as mediators: PSR mediates the link between INT and brand trust, and CR mediates the link between CQ and brand trust. Serial mediation is partially supported: the cognitive-to-emotional path is significant, while the reverse path is not. This research enriches influencer marketing literature by separating affective and cognitive pathways, and offers insights for Egyptian food bloggers and fast-food brands.