Högskolan i Skövde

This study investigates how transparency, evidence-based sustainability claims and message consistency in sustainable content marketing on Instagram and TikTok influence consumer trust, and whether perceived credibility mediates these relationships among young adults in South Africa and Cameroon.

Grounded in Brand Credibility Theory and Organizational Trust Theory, a positivist, cross sectional online survey of 276 Instagram and TikTok users aged 18-35 was conducted. Established Likert-scale measures captured sustainable content attributes, perceived credibility and consumer trust. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, multiple regression, mediation analysis and independent samples t-tests.

Transparency and message consistency significantly and positively predict consumer trust, whereas sustainability claims do not when these attributes are controlled. Perceived credibility partially mediates all three relationships, carrying a particularly large share of the effect of sustainability claims on trust. No significant cross-country differences emerge for transparency, credibility or trust, but Cameroonian respondents report higher perceived message consistency and stronger sustainability claims.

Overall, this study offers one of the first empirically tested models linking sustainable content attributes, credibility and trust on Instagram and TikTok in emerging African markets, highlighting credibility as a central psychological mechanism in sustainability communication to youth.