2,333
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

AI Influencers in Advertising: The Role of AI Influencer-Related Attributes in Shaping Consumer Attitudes, Consumer Trust, and Perceived Influencer–Product Fit

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon

References

  • Ahn, J., J. Kim, and Y. Sung. 2021. “AI-Powered Recommendations: The Roles of Perceived Similarity and Psychological Distance on Persuasion.” International Journal of Advertising 40 (8): 1366–1384. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2021.1982529
  • Ahn, R. J., S. Y. Cho, and W. S. Tsai. 2022. “Demystifying Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) Influencers: The Effect of Perceived Anthropomorphism and Social Presence on Brand Outcomes.” Journal of Interactive Advertising 22 (3): 327–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2022.2111242
  • Arsenyan, J., and A. Mirowska. 2021. “Almost Human? A Comparative Case Study on the Social Media Presence of Virtual Influencers.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 155: 102694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102694
  • Baek, T. H., M. Bakpayev, S. Yoon, and S. Kim. 2021. “Smiling AI Agents: How Anthropomorphism and Broad Smiles Increase Charitable Giving.” International Journal of Advertising 41 (5): 850–867. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2021.2011654
  • Benitez, J., J. Henseler, A. Castillo, and F. Schuberth. 2020. “How to Perform and Report an Impactful Analysis Using Partial Least Squares: Guidelines for Confirmatory and Explanatory is Research.” Information & Management 57 (2): 103168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2019.05.003
  • Blei, D. M., A. Y. Ng, and M. I. Jordan. 2003. “Latent Dirichlet Allocation.” Journal of Machine Learning Research 3: 993–1022.
  • Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
  • Breves, P. L., N. Liebers, M. Abt, and A. Kunze. 2019. “The Perceived Fit between Instagram Influencers and the Endorsed Brand: How Influencer–Brand Fit Affects Source Credibility and Persuasive Effectiveness.” Journal of Advertising Research 59 (4): 440–454. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2019-030
  • Bröhl, C., J. Nelles, C. Brandl, A. Mertens, and V. Nitsch. 2019. “Human–Robot Collaboration Acceptance Model: Development and Comparison for Germany, Japan, China and the USA.” International Journal of Social Robotics 11 (5): 709–726. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00593-0
  • Campbell, M. C., and A. Kirmani. 2000. “Consumers’ Use of Persuasion Knowledge: The Effects of Accessibility and Cognitive Capacity on Perceptions of an Influence Agent.” Journal of Consumer Research 27 (1): 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1086/314309
  • Chetioui, Y., H. Benlafqih, and H. Lebdaoui. 2020. “How Fashion Influencers Contribute to Consumers’ Purchase Intention.” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal 24 (3): 361–380. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-08-2019-0157
  • Choudhry, A., J. Han, X. Xu, and Y. Huang. 2022. ““I Felt a Little Crazy following a ‘Doll’”: Investigating Real Influence of Virtual Influencers on Their Followers.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 6 (GROUP): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1145/3492862
  • Creswell, J. W., and C. N. Poth. 2016. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Croes, E., and J. Bartels. 2021. “Young Adults’ Motivations for following Social Influencers and Their Relationship to Identification and Buying Behavior.” Computers in Human Behavior 124: 106910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106910
  • da Silva Oliveira, A. B., and P. Chimenti. 2021. ““Humanized Robots”: A Proposition of Categories to Understand Virtual Influencers.” Australasian Journal of Information Systems 25: 1–27.
  • Das, S., A. Dutta, T. Lindheimer, M. Jalayer, and Z. Elgart. 2019. “YouTube as a Source of Information in Understanding Autonomous Vehicle Consumers: Natural Language Processing Study.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2673 (8): 242–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119842110
  • Davis, F. D. 1989. “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology.” MIS Quarterly 13 (3): 319–340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008
  • Drenten, J., and G. Brooks. 2020. “Celebrity 2.0: Lil Miquela and the Rise of a Virtual Star System.” Feminist Media Studies 20 (8): 1319–1323. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1830927
  • Duffy, B. R. 2003. “Anthropomorphism and the Social Robot.” Robotics and Autonomous Systems 42 (3-4): 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8890(02)00374-3
  • Edwards, C., A. Edwards, B. Stoll, X. Lin, and N. Massey. 2019. “Evaluations of an Artificial Intelligence Instructor’s Voice: Social Identity Theory in Human-Robot Interactions.” Computers in Human Behavior 90: 357–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.08.027
  • El Hedhli, K., H. Zourrig, A. Al Khateeb, and I. Alnawas. 2023. “Stereotyping Human-Like Virtual Influencers in Retailing: Does Warmth Prevail over Competence?” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 75: 103459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103459
  • Epley, N., A. Waytz, and J. T. Cacioppo. 2007. “On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism.” Psychological Review 114 (4): 864–886. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.864
  • Hair, J. F., J. J. Risher, M. Sarstedt, and C. M. Ringle. 2019. “When to Use and How to Report the Results of PLS-SEM.” European Business Review 31 (1): 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
  • Henseler, J. 2017. “Bridging Design and Behavioral Research with Variance-Based Structural Equation Modeling.” Journal of Advertising 46 (1): 178–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1281780
  • Hoffman, D., M. Haenlein, A. Stephen, J. van Doorn, and M. Leban. 2021. “Robots, AI, and Virtual Influencers, Oh My! The Role of Anthropomorphism and Social Influences on Consumer Response to AI.” In Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Conference 2021: Marketing for Growth [102338] European Marketing Academy, edited by A. Monfort. EMAC. http://proceedings.emac-online.org/pdfs/A2021-102338.pdf
  • Horton, D., and R. R. Wohl. 1956. “Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance.” psychiatry 19 (3): 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049
  • Hovland, C. I., I. L. Janis, and H. H. Kelley. 1953. Communication and Persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Hu, H., D. Zhang, and C. Wang. 2019. “Impact of Social Media Influencers’ Endorsement on Application Adoption: A Trust Transfer Perspective.” Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal 47 (11): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.8518
  • Influencer Hunter. 2021, November 16. “Why Instagram Is the Top Platform for Influencer Marketing.” https://influencehunter.com/2021/11/16/why-instagram-is-the-top-platform-for-influencer-marketing/
  • Influencer Marketing Hub. 2022, November 22. “The Ultimate Virtual Creators Report.” https://influencermarketinghub.com/virtual-creators-report/
  • Influencity. 2021. “10 Virtual Influencers to Keep an Eye on in 2021.” https://influencity.com/blog/en/10-virtual-influencers-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-2021/
  • Jalan, A. 2022. “Meet the 5 Most Realistic Virtual Influencers on Instagram.” https://www.makeuseof.com/popular-virtual-influencers/
  • Janssen, L., A. P. Schouten, and E. A. Croes. 2022. “Influencer Advertising on Instagram: Product-Influencer Fit and Number of Followers Affect Advertising Outcomes and Influencer Evaluations via Credibility and Identification.” International Journal of Advertising 41 (1): 101–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2021.1994205
  • Jin, S. V., A. Muqaddam, and E. Ryu. 2019. “Instafamous and Social Media Influencer Marketing.” Marketing Intelligence & Planning 37 (5): 567–579. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-09-2018-0375
  • Kamins, M. A. 1990. “An Investigation into the “Match-up” Hypothesis in Celebrity Advertising: When Beauty May Be Only Skin Deep.” Journal of Advertising 19 (1): 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1990.10673175
  • Kees, J., C. Berry, S. Burton, and K. Sheehan. 2017. “An Analysis of Data Quality: Professional Panels, Student Subject Pools, and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.” Journal of Advertising 46 (1): 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2016.1269304
  • Koay, K. Y., M. L. Cheung, P. C. H. Soh, and C. W. Teoh. 2022. “Social Media Influencer Marketing: The Moderating Role of Materialism.” European Business Review 34 (2): 224–243. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-02-2021-0032
  • Kock, N. 2015. “Common Method Bias in PLS-SEM: A Full Collinearity Assessment Approach.” International Journal of e-Collaboration 11 (4): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijec.2015100101
  • Kulp, P. 2022. “Samsung’s Live Shopping Event Was Hosted by a Virtual Influencer.” https://www.adweek.com/commerce/samsung-live-shopping-event-virtual-influencer/
  • Kulviwat, S., G. C. Bruner, II, A. Kumar, S. A. Nasco, and T. Clark. 2007. “Toward a Unified Theory of Consumer Acceptance Technology.” Psychology & Marketing 24 (12): 1059–1084. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20196
  • Lim, X. J., A. M. Radzol, J. Cheah, and M. W. Wong. 2017. “The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Purchase Intention and the Mediation Effect of Customer Attitude.” Asian Journal of Business Research 7 (2): 19–36. https://doi.org/10.14707/ajbr.170035
  • Lee, J. A., and M. S. Eastin. 2020. “I like What She’s# Endorsing: The Impact of Female Social Media Influencers’ Perceived Sincerity, Consumer Envy, and Product Type.” Journal of Interactive Advertising 20 (1): 76–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2020.1737849
  • MacKenzie, S. B., and R. J. Lutz. 1989. “An Empirical Examination of the Structural Antecedents of Attitude toward the Ad in an Advertising Pretesting Context.” Journal of Marketing 53 (2): 48–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251413
  • Martínez-López, F. J., R. Anaya-Sánchez, M. Fernández Giordano, and D. Lopez-Lopez. 2020. “Behind Influencer Marketing: Key Marketing Decisions and Their Effects on Followers’ Responses.” Journal of Marketing Management 36 (7-8): 579–607. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1738525
  • McCracken, G. 1989. “Who is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process.” Journal of Consumer Research 16 (3): 310–21. https://doi.org/10.1086/209217
  • Miyake, E. 2022. “I Am a Virtual Girl from Tokyo: Virtual Influencers, Digital-Orientalism and the (Im)materiality of Race and Gender.” Journal of Consumer Culture 23 (1): 209–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405221117195
  • Molenaar, K. 2021. “Discover the Top 15 Virtual Influencers for 2022—Listed and Ranked.” https://influencermarketinghub.com/virtual-influencers/
  • Molin, V., and S. Nordgren. 2019. “Robot or Human? The Marketing Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers: A Case Study about Virtual Influencers’ Parasocial Interaction on Instagram (Dissertation).” http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-388649
  • Mori, M., K. F. MacDorman, and N. Kageki. 2012. “The Uncanny Valley [from the Field].” IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 19 (2): 98–100. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2012.2192811
  • Mosley, M. 2021. “Virtual Influencers: What Are They & How Do They Work?” https://influencermatchmaker.co.uk/blog/virtual-influencers-what-are-they-how-do-they-work
  • Moustakas, E., N. Lamba, D. Mahmoud, and C. Ranganathan. 2020, June. “Blurring Lines between Fiction and Reality: Perspectives of Experts on Marketing Effectiveness of Virtual Influencers.” In 2020 International Conference on Cyber Security and Protection of Digital Services (Cyber Security), 1–6. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/CyberSecurity49315.2020.9138861
  • Munnukka, J., O. Uusitalo, and H. Toivonen. 2016. “Credibility of a Peer Endorser and Advertising Effectiveness.” Journal of Consumer Marketing 33 (3): 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-11-2014-1221
  • Murphy, J., U. Gretzel, and J. Pesonen. 2019. “Marketing Robot Services in Hospitality and Tourism: The Role of Anthropomorphism.” Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 36 (7): 784–795. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2019.1571983
  • Nass, C., and Y. Moon. 2000. “Machines and Mindlessness: Social Responses to Computers.” Journal of Social Issues 56 (1): 81–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00153
  • Ohanian, R. 1990. “Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorsers’ Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness.” Journal of Advertising 19 (3): 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1990.10673191
  • Park, G., D. Nan, E. Park, K. J. Kim, J. Han, and A. P. del Pobil. 2021, January. “Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media.” In 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM), 1–6. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/Imcom51814.2021.9377397
  • Peng, L., W. Zhang, X. Wang, and S. Liang. 2019. “Moderating Effects of Time Pressure on the Relationship between Perceived Value and Purchase Intention in Social E-Commerce Sales Promotion: Considering the Impact of Product Involvement.” Information & Management 56 (2): 317–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.11.007
  • Powers, K. 2019, June 20. “Virtual Influencers Are Becoming More Real—Here’s Why Brands Should Be Cautious.” American Marketing Association. https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/virtual-influencers-are-becoming-more-real-heres-why-brands-should-be-cautious/
  • Research and Markets. 2021. “Global Influencer Marketing Platform Market 2021-2028.” https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5415530/global-influencer-marketing-platform-market-size?utm_source=BW&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=kmmt8s&utm_campaign=1589957+-+Global+Influencer+Marketing+Platform+Market+to+2028%3a+Growing+Deployment+of+Computer-Generated+Imagery+(CGI)-Based+Virtual+Influencers+has+Offered+New+Growth+Prospects&utm_exec=chdo54prd
  • Richards, D., and K. Bransky. 2014. “ForgetMeNot: What and How Users Expect Intelligent Virtual Agents to Recall and Forget Personal Conversational Content.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 72 (5): 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.01.005
  • Robinson, B. 2020. “Towards an Ontology and Ethics of Virtual Influencers.” Australasian Journal of Information Systems 24: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v24i0.2807
  • Röder, M., A. Both, and A. Hinneburg. 2015. “Exploring the Space of Topic Coherence Measures.” In Proceedings of the Eighth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, 399–408. https://doi.org/10.1145/2684822.2685324
  • Rossiter, J. R., and L. Percy. 1987. Advertising and Promotion Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
  • Salem, M., G. Lakatos, F. Amirabdollahian, and K. Dautenhahn. 2015, March. “Would You Trust a (Faulty) Robot? Effects of Error, Task Type and Personality on Human-Robot Cooperation and Trust.” In 2015 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 1–8. IEEE.
  • Santora, J. 2021. “100 Influencer Marketing Statistics for 2021.” Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/
  • Sarstedt, M., C. M. Ringle, and J. F. Hair. 2021. “Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling.” In Handbook of Market Research, edited by Christian Homburg, Martin Klarmann, Arnd Vomberg, 587–632. New York, NY: Springer Cham.
  • Schouten, A. P., L. Janssen, and M. Verspaget. 2020. “Celebrity vs. Influencer Endorsements in Advertising: The Role of Identification, Credibility, and Product-Endorser Fit.” International Journal of Advertising 39 (2): 258–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898
  • Schreier, M. 2014. “Qualitative Content Analysis.” In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, edited by Uwe Flick, 170–183. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
  • Shan, Y., K. J. Chen, and J. S. Lin. 2020. “When Social Media Influencers Endorse Brands: The Effects of Self-Influencer Congruence, Parasocial Identification, and Perceived Endorser Motive.” International Journal of Advertising 39 (5): 590–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2019.1678322
  • Sokolova, K., and H. Kefi. 2020. “Instagram and YouTube Bloggers Promote It, Why Should I Buy? How Credibility and Parasocial Interaction Influence Purchase Intentions.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 53: 101742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.01.011
  • Syed, S., and M. Spruit. 2017. “Full-Text or Abstract? examining Topic Coherence Scores Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation.” In 2017 IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA), 165–174. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/DSAA.2017.61
  • Thomas, V. L., and K. Fowler. 2021. “Close Encounters of the AI Kind: Use of AI Influencers as Brand Endorsers.” Journal of Advertising 50 (1): 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1810595
  • Torres, P., M. Augusto, and M. Matos. 2019. “Antecedents and Outcomes of Digital Influencer Endorsement: An Exploratory Study.” Psychology & Marketing 36 (12): 1267–1276. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21274
  • Van Pinxteren, M. M., R. W. Wetzels, J. Rüger, M. Pluymaekers, and M. Wetzels. 2019. “Trust in Humanoid Robots: Implications for Services Marketing.” Journal of Services Marketing 33 (4): 507–518. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2018-0045
  • Venkatesh, V., and H. Bala. 2008. “Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions.” Decision Sciences 39 (2): 273–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00192.x
  • Walther, J. B., D. DeAndrea, J. Kim, and J. C. Anthony. 2010. “The Influence of Online Comments on Perceptions of Antimarijuana Public Service Announcements on YouTube.” Human Communication Research 36 (4): 469–492. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01384.x
  • Waytz, A., J. Heafner, and N. Epley. 2014. “The Mind in the Machine: Anthropomorphism Increases Trust in an Autonomous Vehicle.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 52: 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.01.005
  • Wibawa, R. C., C. P. Pratiwi, E. Wahyono, D. Hidayat, and W. Adiasari. 2022. “Virtual Influencers: Is the Persona Trustworthy?” Jurnal Manajemen Informatika (JAMIKA) 12 (1): 51–62. https://doi.org/10.34010/jamika.v12i1.6706
  • Xiao, M., R. Wang, and S. Chan-Olmsted. 2018. “Factors Affecting YouTube Influencer Marketing Credibility: A Heuristic-Systematic Model.” Journal of Media Business Studies 15 (3): 188–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1501146
  • Youn, S., and S. V. Jin. 2021. ““In AI we Trust?” The Effects of Parasocial Interaction and Technopian versus Luddite Ideological Views on Chatbot-Based Customer Relationship Management in the Emerging “Feeling Economy.” Computers in Human Behavior 119: 106721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106721
  • Zarouali, B., E. Van den Broeck, M. Walrave, and K. Poels. 2018. “Predicting Consumer Responses to a Chatbot on Facebook.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking 21 (8): 491–497. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2017.0518

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.