Mere copycat? The effects of human versus human-like virtual influencers on brand endorsement effectiveness: A moderated serial-mediation model

Abstract

The emergence of virtual influencers, who possess realistic human-like appearances and intelligence, has provided new opportunities for brand endorsement strategy and gradually become an innovative trend. As the effectiveness of influencer endorsement is rooted in parasocial relationships, it remains unknown whether this effect can be extended to virtual influencers. With a focus on endorsement, the current study investigated the impact of human-like virtual influencers on parasocial relationships and their further outcomes. Two scenario-based experiments spanning two cultural contexts (Studies 1 and 2) provided sufficient evidence that users build weaker parasocial relationships with human-like virtual influencers due to the lower emotional engagement involved, which results in lower endorsement effectiveness in terms of brand interest and purchase intention. Moreover, a novel moderation role of influencer post modality (image vs. video) was found to attenuate the negative effect of human-like virtual influencers. The findings contribute to enhancing the understanding of users’ relationship building with virtual influencers, and offer suggestions for influencer endorsements and communication strategies for virtual influencers.