How does AI-powered virtual influencer's anthropomorphism impact trust and brand love? The moderating role of opinion leadership

IF 12.9 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Pub Date : 2025-07-23 DOI:10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124198

Anisur Rehman , Sushant Kumar , Muhammad Asif Salam , Naveen Virmani

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Virtual influencers (VIs) are a new class of influencers that are recently becoming popular on social media. Brands are also using these VIs for several activities. Yet, limited studies have investigated how these VIs drive trust and brand love among followers. Accordingly, this study aims to understand how anthropomorphism and attitude homophily of VIs drive trust towards VI and brand love. This study utilises a conceptual model developed from the theoretical foundation of Computers are Social Actors (CASA) theory with the intermediate variables of emotional attachment and hedonic experience. Data is collected from 321 respondents from Saudi Arabia through a questionnaire approach. The findings show that anthropomorphism drives emotional attachment and hedonic experience, which subsequently determines trust in VI and brand love. The moderating effects of opinion leadership are also confirmed. Social media managers are suggested to use more human-like characteristics in VIs to make them more appealing and relevant to users.

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人工智能虚拟网红的拟人化如何影响信任和品牌喜爱？舆论领导的调节作用

虚拟网红（Virtual influencers, VIs）是最近在社交媒体上流行起来的一类新的网红。品牌也在一些活动中使用这些VIs。然而，有限的研究调查了这些VIs如何在追随者中推动信任和品牌喜爱。因此，本研究旨在了解VI的拟人化和态度同质性如何驱动VI信任和品牌喜爱。本研究以“计算机是社会行动者”理论为基础，以情感依恋和享乐体验为中间变量，建立了计算机是社会行动者的概念模型。通过问卷调查的方式收集了来自沙特阿拉伯的321名受访者的数据。研究结果表明，拟人化驱动情感依恋和享乐体验，进而决定对VI的信任和品牌喜爱。意见领导的调节作用也得到了证实。建议社交媒体经理在VIs中使用更多类似人类的特征，使其对用户更具吸引力和相关性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Multiple-

CiteScore

21.30

自引率

10.80%

发文量

813

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