TikTok Shop Dominates Affiliate Marketing Exposure
Affiliate marketing allows businesses to promote products through content creators, influencers, and other affiliates who share specialized referral links. Affiliates can receive commissions when consumers purchase through those links.
The growth of platforms such as TikTok, Shopee, Facebook, and Instagram has made affiliate marketing increasingly visible to young consumers. Students frequently encounter product reviews, short videos, livestream shopping, and promotional recommendations while using social media and e-commerce applications.
The Gordon College research focused specifically on third- and fourth-year students in its College of Business and Accountancy (CBA) during the 2025–2026 academic year. The researchers noted that consumer trust has become particularly important because promotional content can sometimes appear exaggerated, misleading, or primarily driven by financial incentives.
Among the platforms examined, TikTok Shop was by far the dominant source of affiliate marketing exposure, accounting for 83.44 percent of recorded platform responses. Shopee Live followed at 10 percent, Facebook at 5.63 percent, and Instagram at 0.94 percent. The platform question allowed multiple responses, meaning these percentages represent platform responses rather than individual students.
Despite their exposure to affiliate content, students generally interacted with it at moderate levels. About 40.07 percent reported spending 10–30 minutes per day viewing affiliate marketing content. Interaction, affiliate-link clicking, and purchasing through affiliate links were also most commonly reported at moderate levels.
Researchers Surveyed 287 Gordon College Students
Ayesha Anne R. Abella, Lian Ashley Alabarca, Shawn Arichea, Ariel Balingasa, Renalyn D. Calimlim, Brad Axl Cantero, Joy Ann Ragasa, and Roger Idos conducted a quantitative descriptive-correlational study.
The target population consisted of 1,011 third- and fourth-year CBA students across five degree programs. The researchers selected 287 respondents using stratified random sampling, with 145 third-year students and 142 fourth-year students represented in the sample.
The team used a researcher-developed questionnaire covering exposure to affiliate marketing, affiliate strategies, and consumer trust. Students rated statements using a four-point scale. The questionnaire was reviewed by a marketing expert and research professor and was pilot-tested before the final data collection. The researchers then analyzed the responses using SPSS 23.
Because the research used a correlational design, its statistical relationships should not be interpreted as proof that one factor directly causes another.
Authentic Reviews and Reputation Build Trust
The findings indicate that students value credibility and authenticity when evaluating affiliate recommendations.
For affiliate credibility, the statement that an affiliate’s reputation influences trust received the highest rating, with a weighted mean of 3.27. By comparison, the belief that having more followers automatically means greater credibility received a lower score of 3.17. The result suggests that reputation mattered more to respondents than follower count alone.
Authentic personal experience was another strong factor. The statement that trust increases when an affiliate personally uses the promoted product received a weighted mean of 3.33, the highest score among the review-authenticity indicators. Real product demonstrations also received a high score of 3.31.
The platform itself also mattered. Respondents strongly agreed that short-form videos were effective at encouraging affiliate-link clicks and that in-app shopping increased their likelihood of purchasing. Both indicators received a weighted mean of 3.31.
Affiliate-Link Placement Shows the Strongest Relationship
Among the four major affiliate marketing dimensions, affiliate-link placement had the strongest relationship with consumer trust, recording a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.77.
Review authenticity followed with a correlation of 0.74, affiliate credibility with 0.71, and platform used with 0.69. When the four dimensions were considered together, affiliate marketing strategies had a strong positive relationship with consumer trust, r = 0.78, p = 0.000.
The study also found that all four factors significantly predicted consumer trust. The statistical model reported R² = 0.61, while credibility of affiliates had the largest beta coefficient among the predictors at 0.32. Review authenticity followed at 0.28, platform used at 0.21, and affiliate-link placement at 0.19.
The researchers' interpretation is straightforward: effective affiliate marketing depends on more than simply reaching a large audience. Credible affiliates, authentic product experiences, appropriate platforms, and accessible links all contribute to how consumers evaluate promotional content.
Implications for Businesses and Consumers
For businesses and affiliate marketers, the findings from Gordon College suggest that trust should be treated as a central part of digital marketing strategy. Promotional content can be more persuasive when affiliates provide honest information, demonstrate products through genuine experiences, and make purchasing links easy to find.
The study also highlights the continuing importance of transparency. Although overall consumer trust among respondents was high, with an overall mean of 3.25, students still reported a moderate level of verification before purchasing. This indicates that trust does not eliminate critical evaluation.
For consumers, the findings reinforce the value of checking product information before making a purchase, even when a recommendation comes from a trusted creator. The researchers specifically recommend that students and consumers continue verifying affiliate content before buying.
Ayesha Anne R. Abella and her co-authors at Gordon College also point toward future research involving broader demographic groups and additional factors such as digital literacy, perceived risk, influencer-consumer relationships, and long-term purchasing behavior.
Author Profile
Ayesha Anne R. Abella, together with Lian Ashley Alabarca, Shawn Arichea, Ariel Balingasa, Renalyn D. Calimlim, Brad Axl Cantero, Joy Ann Ragasa, and Roger Idos, is affiliated with Gordon College, Philippines. The published article identifies Abella as the corresponding author but does not provide individual academic degrees or detailed professional biographies for the authors. Their research focuses on areas reflected in the article, including affiliate marketing, digital marketing, social commerce, and consumer trust.
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