{"title":"Instagram用户与虚拟网红的准社会互动:人类相似性、感知相似性和一厢情愿认同的中介作用","authors":"","doi":"10.55057/ijbtm.2023.5.2.11","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"With technological developments, virtual influencers have been created and are experienced by social media users and practitioners. As it is a relatively new topic, existing research on users’ para-social responses toward virtual influencers is currently insufficient. Therefore, this study conducted an online experiment (N = 211), comparing Instagram users’ para-social interactions with virtual or human influencers. After participants were exposed to images of human and virtual influencers, they were asked to complete the questionnaires. The results showed a significant difference between the users’ para-social responses to the two groups. Additionally, four relevant mediator variables were examined. “Mental human-likeness” and “wishful identification” were found to have significant negative mediating effect on the relationship between influencer type and users’ para-social interactions. The results have important implications for media psychology and contribute to studies on virtual influencers.","PeriodicalId":253813,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Business and Technology Management","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Instagram Users’ Para-Social Interactions with Virtual Influencers: The Mediating Role of Human-Likeness, Perceived Similarity, and Wishful Identification\",\"authors\":\"\",\"doi\":\"10.55057/ijbtm.2023.5.2.11\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"With technological developments, virtual influencers have been created and are experienced by social media users and practitioners. As it is a relatively new topic, existing research on users’ para-social responses toward virtual influencers is currently insufficient. Therefore, this study conducted an online experiment (N = 211), comparing Instagram users’ para-social interactions with virtual or human influencers. After participants were exposed to images of human and virtual influencers, they were asked to complete the questionnaires. The results showed a significant difference between the users’ para-social responses to the two groups. Additionally, four relevant mediator variables were examined. “Mental human-likeness” and “wishful identification” were found to have significant negative mediating effect on the relationship between influencer type and users’ para-social interactions. The results have important implications for media psychology and contribute to studies on virtual influencers.\",\"PeriodicalId\":253813,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"International Journal of Business and Technology Management\",\"volume\":\"9 1\",\"pages\":\"0\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-06-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"International Journal of Business and Technology Management\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2023.5.2.11\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"\",\"JCRName\":\"\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Business and Technology Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2023.5.2.11","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
Instagram Users’ Para-Social Interactions with Virtual Influencers: The Mediating Role of Human-Likeness, Perceived Similarity, and Wishful Identification
With technological developments, virtual influencers have been created and are experienced by social media users and practitioners. As it is a relatively new topic, existing research on users’ para-social responses toward virtual influencers is currently insufficient. Therefore, this study conducted an online experiment (N = 211), comparing Instagram users’ para-social interactions with virtual or human influencers. After participants were exposed to images of human and virtual influencers, they were asked to complete the questionnaires. The results showed a significant difference between the users’ para-social responses to the two groups. Additionally, four relevant mediator variables were examined. “Mental human-likeness” and “wishful identification” were found to have significant negative mediating effect on the relationship between influencer type and users’ para-social interactions. The results have important implications for media psychology and contribute to studies on virtual influencers.