Florian Gasser2023-11-232023-11-232023https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/118728This research contributes to the current state of the literature by giving new insights into the effect of sponsored content of social media influencers (SMI) in the leisure context. A 2x3 be-tween-subject experimental design was conducted based on the current state of the art of social media influencing, revealing that advertisement recognition and purchase intention have an inverse full serial mediation effect between sponsorship disclosure and purchase decision in a leisure context. These findings reveal numerous research gaps, serve as a reference point for future research efforts, and help marketers shape impactful SMI marketing campaigns that sup-port future sales and marketing practices and shape innovative business models in the sphere of SMI utilization. For the underlying context, this approach was one of the first attempts in the still relatively young SMI research field to successfully prove the effects of influencer categori-zations and sponsorship disclosure beyond classic operationalizations like brand attitude and purchase intention and strengthen the findings in connection with actual – not just intended – purchase behavior.en-USsocial media influencer (SMI)persuasiondigital marketingsponsorship disclo-surepurchase decisionadvertisement recognitionconference contribution