Unveiling The Intellectual Structure And Research Frontiers of Influencer Marketing: A Bibliometric And Science Mapping Analysis Using Vosviewer
TL;DR
The temporal mapping suggests that influencer marketing is increasingly evolving from a promotional strategy into a broader digitally mediated social influence phenomenon involving interactions among influencers, consumers, brands, platforms, algorithms, and emerging technologies.
Abstract
The rapid development of social media and the creator economy has positioned influencer marketing as an increasingly important phenomenon in contemporary digital society. However, the rapid expansion of research in this field has resulted in a fragmented body of knowledge, making it necessary to identify its intellectual structure and emerging research frontiers. This study aims to map the intellectual structure, thematic relationships, and temporal development of research on influencer marketing. A bibliometric analysis and science mapping approach was employed using publications indexed in Scopus from 2000 to 2026, with VOSviewer used to analyze keyword co-occurrence, thematic clusters, density, and temporal trends. The findings indicate that influencer marketing, social media, influencers, purchase intention, engagement, consumption behavior, and commerce constitute the central themes shaping the intellectual structure of the field. The analysis further reveals a thematic shift from conventional consumer-oriented research toward emerging issues involving virtual influencers, artificial intelligence, generative AI, creator economy, social commerce, green marketing, sustainable consumption, transparency, privacy, and kidfluencers. The temporal mapping suggests that influencer marketing is increasingly evolving from a promotional strategy into a broader digitally mediated social influence phenomenon involving interactions among influencers, consumers, brands, platforms, algorithms, and emerging technologies. From a social sciences perspective, these findings highlight the need to examine influencer marketing through broader theoretical lenses, including social influence, parasocial relationships, digital identity, platform society, digital labor, human–AI interaction, social norms, and digital governance. This study contributes by providing a comprehensive map of the evolution of influencer marketing and identifying future research directions at the intersection of marketing, technology, and digital social transformation.