Abstract:
As a result of widespread use of information technology, there had been a rapid
increase in the number of internet and social media platform users during the last
three decades. At present, social media has become a crucial aspect of people’s daily
life. Athletes, in particular, establish public relationship with their audiences through
social media platforms to manage others’ impressions on their skills, abilities and
experiences. Most of the authors have identified that due to the complexity of human
behaviour, there is a lack of generalizability in this context. On the other hand, some
authors have identified this as an attractive research area due to the scarcity of related
literature. Moreover, many of the previous authors that have been identified were
recommended to do further research on this topic. Therefore, the objective of this
research is to discuss the impact of social media platform, content quality, content
type, advocacy for advertising, life cycle, and performance on the brand image of Sri
Lankan cricketers. Conceptual framework was formulated accordingly. A
quantitative methodology was employed for this study. Data were collected through
online survey method with the help of pre-tested structured questionnaire from 384
social media users in Sri Lanka who actively follow cricketers, using convenience
sampling techniques. Unit of analysis was individual. Both correlation and regression
analyses were employed in data analysis. The study concludes that the brand image
of cricketers on social media is positively and significantly influenced by six key
factors; social media platform, content quality, content type, advocacy for
advertising, lifestyle, and performance. Due to the lack of literature on influence of
social media platform and personal branding, researchers are recommended to do
further research for validating and generalizing their findings.
