TikTok Comments as a Collective Credibility Filter: Social Proof and Purchase Decisions among Peruvian Gen Z Consumers

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-803-0_17How to use a DOI?

Keywords

TikTok; Influencer advertising; Comments; Social proof; Credibility; Purchase decision; Generation Z

Abstract

This study examines the role of TikTok comments in the collective construction of credibility and their influence on purchase decisions among Peruvian Generation Z consumers exposed to influencer advertising. While TikTok has become a central platform for product discovery and digital persuasion, the comment section operates as an additional layer of social evaluation where users validate, question, or reinterpret promotional messages through social proof. Methodologically, the study is based on 21 semi-structured interviews with Peruvian TikTok users aged 18 to 25, analyzed through thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s procedure. The findings show that comments function as a collective credibility filter. Participants do not rely only on the influencer’s message or on the volume of reactions; instead, they prioritize argumentative quality, repeated experiences, visual evidence, and negative comments when assessing product reliability. The study identifies three decision trajectories shaped by comments: informed purchase, substitution, and rejection. It also shows that humor, emojis, and comment reactions operate as attention and consensus cues, but become persuasive only when combined with useful information. The paper contributes to research on platform-based advertising, electronic word-of-mouth, and social proof by showing how TikTok comments can reinforce, modify, or reverse purchase intention among young consumers.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nicol Munayco
AU  - Francisco Arbaiza
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/16
TI  - TikTok Comments as a Collective Credibility Filter: Social Proof and Purchase Decisions among Peruvian Gen Z Consumers
BT  - Proceedings of the VI International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2026 (ICOMTA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 170
EP  - 180
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-803-0_17
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-803-0_17
ID  - Munayco2026
ER  -