Digital Influence and Market Position: The Role of Social Media Influencers in Shaping Brand Equity within an Emerging Market Insurance Sector

Abstract

Social media platforms have reshaped marketing practices worldwide, with social media influencers (SMIs) occupying an increasingly prominent role in shaping consumers‘ perceptions of brands. This paper investigates whether SMIs serve as viable entrepreneurial marketing instruments capable of generating brand equity and, by extension, strengthening business performance within Zimbabwe's short-term insurance sector. Drawing on survey data from 169 managers and executives distributed across all 20 registered insurers, structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to examine the proposed relationships. The analysis yielded robust findings: SMI engagement exerted a meaningful positive influence on brand equity (β = 0.45, p < 0.001), while brand equity, in turn, significantly predicted business performance (β = 0.34, p < 0.001). Mediation testing confirmed that brand equity fully transmits the effect of SMI engagement on performance outcomes, with no significant direct path remaining once the mediator was accounted for. These results enrich entrepreneurial marketing scholarship by demonstrating, empirically, that influencer partnerships are not merely awareness-generation tactics but foundational contributors to brand-building in an under-researched financial services context. Practical guidance for insurers seeking to leverage influencer partnerships more strategically is discussed.