Can(’t) touch this: The effect of form realism and product domain in virtual influencer endorsements

Ozan Ozdemir, Feyzan Karabulut and Paul R. Messinger

Journal of Retailing, 2025, vol. 101, issue 2, 298-310

Abstract: The prevalence of virtual agents across various domains has led to the emergence of virtual influencers on social media platforms as computer-generated alternatives to human social media influencers. This research sheds light on the factors that influence virtual influencers’ effectiveness in brand endorsements by examining their form realism and its interaction with the product domain. Four experiments show that virtual influencers’ form realism and the domain (physical vs. non-physical) of the products they endorse affect virtual influencers’ effectiveness as brand endorsers. Virtual influencers with high (vs. low) form realism generate a more positive attitude toward the brand. The underlying process driving this effect is the perceived lack of proximal sensory capabilities of virtual influencers with low form realism compared to those with high form realism. Importantly, there are no differences in brand attitudes for high (vs. low) form realism when virtual influencers endorse products belonging to non-physical (vs. physical) domains, where the proximal sensory capabilities of virtual influencers are less prominent. This research contributes to the literature by examining an emerging influencer type within the brand endorsement context. This research also offers practical implications for retailers regarding selecting the right influencer and crafting effective endorsement campaigns.

Keywords: Virtual influencers; Digital marketing; Influencer marketing; Avatar marketing; Brand endorsement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435925000260
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jouret:v:101:y:2025:i:2:p:298-310

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2025.04.002

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing is currently edited by A. Roggeveen

More articles in Journal of Retailing from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().