The Influence of Virtual Idol Characteristics on Consumers’ Clothing Purchase Intention

Qian-Qian Huang, Hong-Jian Qu and Pei Li
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Qian-Qian Huang: College of Textile and Fashion, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China
Hong-Jian Qu: College of Textile and Fashion, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China
Pei Li: College of Textile and Fashion, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-20

Abstract: In the context of a company actively using virtual idols to carry out marketing activities, it is very important to help the company understand the key factors affecting consumer purchase intention. In total, 459 eligible responses were collected via an online questionnaire survey. The psychometric properties of the model were examined by factor analysis, and the multiple regression method was applied to test the hypotheses. This paper empirically analyzes the influence of virtual idol characteristics on consumers’ willingness to buy brand clothing, with consumers’ attitudes as intermediary variables and clients’ involvement in virtual idolatry and adult playfulness as adjusting variables. A quasi-replication study method using both MRA and fsQCA found that the popularity, homogeneity, relevance and anthropomorphism of virtual idols enhance customers’ willingness to buy from big to small. Among them, attitude plays an intermediary role in the influence of popularity on purchase intention, and plays a complete intermediary role in the influence of relevance and homogeneity over purchase intention; consumer idolatry involvement positively regulates the relationship between professionalism, relevance and attitude; consumers’ adult playfulness positively regulates the relationship between popularity and consumer attitude. Finally, from the perspective of improving attitude and purchase intention, we provide suggestions for virtual idol creation applicable by operation teams and clothing brand companies.

Keywords: virtual idol; marketing; attitude; adult playfulness; idolatry; purchase intention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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