Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

When Virtual Influencers are Used as Endorsers: Will Match-Up and Attractiveness Affect Consumer Purchase Intention?

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
HCI in Business, Government and Organizations (HCII 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14038))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1027 Accesses

Abstract

In the domain of social media marketing, the influences of virtual influencers on social media have gradually risen and they received widespread attention. The virtual influencers sometimes have similar size of the number of followers with the celebrities. Crises that bring losses to the brand and the company due to the negative news of celebrities often occur. The virtual influencers provide new opportunities for social media marketing, and using virtual influencers as endorsers for advertising to influence consumer behavior has becoming popular in marketing. However, this advertising effect of virtual influencers needs further investigation. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the product-virtual endorsers match and the attractiveness of virtual influencers have an impact on consumers' purchase intention, and to explore whether consumers' familiarity with virtual influencers has a moderating effect on this impact. The results show that the matching of products and virtual endorsers and the attractiveness of virtual endorsers have positive impacts on consumers' purchase intention, while the familiarity of consumers with virtual people negatively regulates this impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arsenyan, J., Mirowska, A.: Almost human? a comparative case study on the social media presence of virtual influencers. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 155, 102694 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkin, C., Block, M.: Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. J. Advert. Res. 23, 57–61 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, M.C., Keller, K.L.: Brand familiarity and advertising repetition effects. J. Consum. Res. 30(2), 292–304 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douyin (2023). https://www.douyin.com/user/MS4wLjABAAAA_hsHsgWtEn6fIAs-1U5uhNNlvjtTDcAQZuApn4s-vCaVQdY6ulIRGeQTyYvJxRSf

  • Gratch, J., Wang, N., Gerten, J., Fast, E., Duffy, R.: Creating rapport with virtual agents. In: Pelachaud, C., Martin, J.-C., André, E., Chollet, G., Karpouzis, K., Pelé, D. (eds.) IVA 2007. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4722, pp. 125–138. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74997-4_12

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu, Y., Chen, H., et al.: The effect of virtual spokescharacter type on online advertisements. Int. J. Electron. Commer. Stud. 9(2), 161–190 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahle, L.R., Homer, P.M.: Physical attractiveness of the celebrity endorser: a social adaptation perspective. J. Consum. Res. 11(4), 954 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamins, M.A.: An investigation into the ‘“Match-up”’ hypothesis in celebrity advertising: when beauty may be only skin deep. J. Advert. 19(1), 4–13 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamins, M.A., Gupta, K.: Congruence between spokesperson and product type: a matchup hypothesis perspective. Psychol. Mark. 11(6), 569–586 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, R.S.S., Young, A.W., Mike Burton, A.: Understanding face familiarity. Cognition 172, 46–58 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J., Thorson, E.: The impact of celebrity-product incongruence on the effectiveness of product endorsement. J. Advert. Res. 48(3), 433–449 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J., Huang, J., et al.: Examining the effects of authenticity fit and association fit: a digital human avatar endorsement model. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 71, 103230 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang, H.L., Yang, F.H.: Are virtual anime endorsers a new type of endorser? examining product involvement as a moderating role. Front. Psychol. 13, 779519 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, M.T., Brock, J.L.: Selecting a female athlete endorser in China: the effect of attractiveness, match-up, and consumer gender difference. Eur. J. Mark. 45(7–8), 1214–1235 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Holzwarth, M., Janiszewski, C., Neumann, M.M.: The influence of avatars on online consumer shopping behavior. J. Market. 70(4), 19–36 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCormick, K.: Celebrity endorsements: Influence of a product-endorser match on Millennials attitudes and purchase intentions. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 32, 39–45 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moustakas, E., Lamba, N., Mahmoud, D., Ranganathan, C.: Blurring lines between fiction and reality: perspectives of experts on marketing effectiveness of virtual influencers. IEEE (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohanian, R.: Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers’ perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. J. Advert. 19(3), 39–52 (1990)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Osei-Frimpong, K., Donkor, G., Owusu-Frimpong, N.: The impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer purchase intention: an emerging market perspective. J. Market. Theory Pract. 27(1), 103–121 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breves, P.L., Liebers, N., Abt, M., Kunze, A.: The perceived fit between instagram influencers and the endorsed brand: How influencer–brand fit affects source credibility and persuasive effectiveness. J. Advert. Res. 59(4), 440–454 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, G., Nan, D., Park, E., Kim, K.J., Han, J., del Pobil, A.P.: Computers as social actors? examining how users perceive and interact with virtual influencers on social media. IEEE (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradhan, D., Duraipandian, I., et al.: Celebrity endorsement: how celebrity–brand–user personality congruence affects brand attitude and purchase intention. J. Mark. Commun. 22(5), 456–473 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sands, S., Campbell, C.L., Plangger, K., Ferraro, C.: Unreal influence: leveraging AI in influencer marketing. Eur. J. Mark. 56(6), 1721–1747 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten, A.P., Janssen, L., et al.: Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit. Int. J. Advert. 39(2), 258–281 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spry, A., Pappu, R., Bettina Cornwell, T.: Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and brand equity. Eur. J. Mark. 45(6), 882–909 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thwaites, D., Lowe, B., et al.: The impact of negative publicity on celebrity ad endorsements. Psychol. Mark. 29(9), 663–673 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, M.T., Huang, Y.Y., Jiang, M.: Relations among attractiveness of endorsers, match-up, and purchase intention in sport marketing in China. J. Consum. Mark. 24(6), 358–365 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Törn, F.: Revisiting the match-up hypothesis: effects of brand-incongruent celebrity endorsements. J. Curr. Iss. Res. Advert. 33(1), 20–36 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yonelinas, A.P.: The nature of recollection and familiarity: a review of 30 years of research. J. Memory Lang. 46(3), 441–517 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant [Number 71831005], and Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen under grant [Number JCYJ20220531095216037].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Yanling Zhang, Duo Du & Jiao Ge

Authors
  1. Yanling Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Duo Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jiao Ge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiao Ge .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Fiona Nah

  2. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Keng Siau

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Zhang, Y., Du, D., Ge, J. (2023). When Virtual Influencers are Used as Endorsers: Will Match-Up and Attractiveness Affect Consumer Purchase Intention?. In: Nah, F., Siau, K. (eds) HCI in Business, Government and Organizations. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14038. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35969-9_33

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35969-9_33

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35968-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35969-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation