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Content availability on the internet now provides firms strategies in the promotion of their products as well as interacting with consumers worldwide (Rosenthal & Mckeown, 2017; Yi, Jiang, & Benbasat, 2017). This extensive availability of content has also brought about product variation, awareness, and preference for online consumers, thus allowing them to select from different social media (SM) platforms (Coulter et al., 2012).
In order to assist and deliver the right message to consumers, online firms need to have an insight into how online consumers communicate with other users; this is because the success of most e-commerce depends on a well-defined communication (Zhu, Benbasat, & Jiang, 2010). In addition, these consumers can influence other consumers in favor of or against products and brands to be consumed (Silva et al., 2020). Therefore, the provision of detailed product information is crucial to the success of e-business since text and static images cannot express factual information, such as the dynamic characteristics of products (Yi et al., 2017); hence, the use of individuals to promote the brands of online firms on various SM platforms (Rosenthal & Mckeown, 2017). These individuals, usually called influencers, are useful for successful promotion strategies of firms' products (Biaudet, 2017; Roth & Zawadzki, 2018). Influencers are usually endorsed by brands to drive a brand's message on SM platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, in order to reach a firm's target segment (Insights, 2017).
Using Digital Influencers (DIs) is considered an adequate, cost-efficient, and effective marketing trend that promotes most online business. However, most online consumers encounter a number of challenges as far as their online purchasing is concerned (Lim et al., 2017). Information asymmetry is a particular challenge that affects most online consumers (Chasin et al., 2019), and it refers to an uneven distribution of information during a transaction. Unlike most traditional settings, online consumers cannot physically examine the products for sale and usually rely on pictures and descriptions provided by the seller (Wells, Valacich, & Hess, 2011).
In developing countries such as Ghana, the work of the digital fashion influencer and the fashion industry are going through a challenging period due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic (Kassa, 2020; Majumdar et al., 2020). Most Ghanaians are used to traditional marketing settings where the consumer goes to the fashion shop in person, inspects the fashion product (clothing, shoes, or bag), and fits before purchase. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a dramatic change in the way the fashion industry operates. Most consumers cannot visit their favourite fashion shops to select and fit the products they wish to purchase, due to the fear of being infected. As a result, most fashion shops throughout the world are now doing their day-to-day businesses online with the help of DIs.
Most research work on DIs is carried out on DIs who act as brand endorsers (Silva et al., 2020), on analysing SM influencers and trends (Shen, Kuo, & Minh Ly, 2017), and on identifying influencers (Rosenthal & Mckeown, 2017). Not much research has been done on DIs in the fashion industry as far as developing nations are concerned. Africa is now described as “fashion's new frontier” because the fashion industry is said to be emerging on the continent at a swift pace (Langevang, 2017). Despite this, academic research on DIs and their practical implications are relatively scarce. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate DIs in the fashion industry in developing countries and their impact on both the industry and on consumers. The study also explores the challenges of information asymmetry in e-business in the Ghanaian fashion industry. In addition, the study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the fashion industry. The lemon market theory (LMT) is employed as the theory underpinning the study. The overall objectives of the study are as follows: