Influencing a Field: The Role of Influencers in the Cosmetics Industry

The study explores the influx of influencers in the markets and how they change the practices of consumers by employing practice theoretics as enabling lens. It focuses on cosmetics industry by employing a multi-method qualitative approach including archival research, observational netnography and interview with consumers as well as professionals in the industry including influencers; brand owners and managers; marketing, talent and influencer agency professionals; makeup artists and lastly; a cosmetics magazine editor. Our preliminary findings consist of two level of change introduced by the influx of influencers to the market. The first one is practice entity changes including complexification of practice entities and valorization of new goals/meanings. Entity level changes are available to grasp or ignore by consumers and they are observed at the market level. On the other hand, consumer performance changes are the responses of consumers to practice entity changes. They are diversification, perfecting and rejecting strategies to plug and unplug changes into cosmetics practices. Therefore, the research aims to explain now only the institutional change brought by the influx of the influencers in the markets but also how consumption practices are shaped by consumers by responding to those changes in their daily routines. The study offers theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions.