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Abstract

Functional foods are among the fastest-growing segments of the global food and pharmaceutical industry, and influencer marketing increasingly shapes consumers' purchase decisions in this category. Yet the congruence mechanism linking the influencer, the product, and the consumer has not been tested in the functional food context within an emerging market. This study develops and tests an integrated model of three congruence types: influencer-product congruence, consumer-influencer congruence, and consumer–product congruence. In this model, attitude serves as both a direct antecedent and a mediator of purchase intention, and health consciousness acts as a moderator. Survey data from 385 Vietnamese social media users who follow health influencers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). All seven hypotheses were supported. Consumer-product congruence was driven by both source congruences (β = 0.302 and β = 0.241); attitude was the strongest antecedent of purchase intention (β = 0.381) and partially mediated the effect of consumer-product congruence on purchase intention (indirect effect β = 0.127; variance accounted for = 30.8%); and health consciousness positively moderated the formation of consumer–product congruence from influencer–product congruence (β = 0.107). The model explained 29.8% of the variance in purchase intention. The findings indicate that the fit among the influencer, the product, and consumers' health identity, rather than influencer popularity alone, underpins marketing effectiveness in the functional food domain, offering practical implications for firms and health professionals‎.

Keywords: Functional foods, Influencer marketing, Congruence, Purchase intention, Health consciousness

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