Religious Influencers on Social Media: Do They Really Affect Followers� Religiosity and Intention to Donate?

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of religious influ- encers� credibility on followers� religiosity, social media engagement, and dona- tion intention. Primary data was acquired through online surveys to 204 Instagram and TikTok followers of the religious influencers. PLS-SEM technique was utilized to assess the structural model in the study. The results show that the credibility of religious influencers, respectively, has a direct and significant effect on followers� religiosity, social media engagement, and donation intention. Followers� religios- ity significantly mediates the effect of religious influencers� credibility on follow- ers� social media engagement. In addition, followers� social media engagement appears to be a significant mediating variable of the effect of religious influencers� credibility on followers� donation intention.