IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v194y2025ics0148296325001857.html

Is it real or not? construction of meaning and identity in virtual influencer marketing

Author

Listed:
  • Thompson, Jamie
  • Igarashi, Reika
  • Krowinska, Agata
  • Logan-McFarlane, Ashleigh

Abstract

Virtual influencers (VIs) are an emerging type of social media influencer. Through a sequential mixed-method research design, this research employs the theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism to explain how social media users construct meaning for the identity of VIs and how this guides their interactions and engagement with VIs. Study 1 explores the construction of meaning by analysis of 573 posts and 57,086 social media comments. Based on the symbolic interactionism and shared reality theories, Study 2 tests the relationship between key concepts (i.e., anthropomorphism, shared reality, digital escapism, and positive affect) using an online survey collected from 209 VI followers. This study shows that consumers negotiate the reality of VIs in the comments section with an emphasis on anthropomorphizing. Furthermore, the results of structural equation modelling suggest that followers’ perceptions of VIs’ moral and cognitive anthropomorphism influence perceived shared reality, which ultimately results in positive affect and VI engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Thompson, Jamie & Igarashi, Reika & Krowinska, Agata & Logan-McFarlane, Ashleigh, 2025. "Is it real or not? construction of meaning and identity in virtual influencer marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:194:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325001857
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296325001857
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115362?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heising, Luca M. & Ou, Carol X. J. & Verhaegen, Frank & Wolfs, Cecile J. A. & Hoebers, Frank & Jacobs, Maria J. G., 2024. "Trust in Artificial Intelligence in radiotherapy : A survey," Other publications TiSEM 870b35f8-ded2-401e-b228-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Baboo, Shabanaz & Nunkoo, Robin & Kock, Florian, 2022. "Social media attachment: Conceptualization and formative index construction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 437-447.
    3. Fujita, Momoko & Harrigan, Paul & Soutar, Geoffrey N. & Kumar Roy, Sanjit & Roy, Rajat, 2020. "Enhancing member-institution relationships through social media: The role of other-user engagement behavior and similarity perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 642-654.
    4. Oecd, 2024. "Artificial intelligence, data and competition," OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers 18, OECD Publishing.
    5. Murtarelli, Grazia & Gregory, Anne & Romenti, Stefania, 2021. "A conversation-based perspective for shaping ethical human–machine interactions: The particular challenge of chatbots," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 927-935.
    6. Jung In Park, 2024. "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Promote Health Equity," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 33(7), pages 507-508, September.
    7. Oecd, 2024. "Artificial Intelligence and tourism: G7/OECD policy paper," OECD Tourism Papers 2024/02, OECD Publishing.
    8. Rybin A. I. (Рыбин, А. И.) & Chashhukhin E. O. (Чащухин, Е. О.), 2024. "Artificial Intelligence and Inequality: A Legal Aspect [Искусственный Интеллект И Социальное Неравенство: Философско-Правовой Аспект]," Theoretical and applied law, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, issue 4, pages 56-67.
    9. Hall-Phillips, Adrienne & Park, Joohyung & Chung, Te-Lin & Anaza, Nwamaka A. & Rathod, Sandra R., 2016. "I (heart) social ventures: Identification and social media engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 484-491.
    10. Thompson, Jamie & Taheri, Babak, 2020. "Capital deployment and exchange in volunteer tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Yu, Joanne & Dickinger, Astrid & So, Kevin Kam Fung & Egger, Roman, 2024. "Artificial intelligence-generated virtual influencer: Examining the effects of emotional display on user engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    12. Rossignac-Milon, Maya & Pillemer, Julianna & Bailey, Erica R. & Blaine Horton Jr., C. & Iyengar, Sheena S., 2024. "Just be real with me: Perceived partner authenticity promotes relationship initiation via shared reality," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Stathakopoulos, Vlasis & Kottikas, Konstantinos G. & Painesis, Grigorios & Theodorakis, Ioannis G. & Kottika, Efthymia, 2022. "Why shape a market? Empirical evidence on the prominent firm-level and market-level outcomes of market-driving strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1240-1254.
    14. Koles, Bernadett & Audrezet, Alice & Moulard, Julie Guidry & Ameen, Nisreen & McKenna, Brad, 2024. "The authentic virtual influencer: Authenticity manifestations in the metaverse," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    15. Yan, Ji & Xia, Senmao & Jiang, Amanda & Lin, Zhibin, 2024. "The effect of different types of virtual influencers on consumers’ emotional attachment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Dabiran, Ehsan & Farivar, Samira & Wang, Fang & Grant, Gerald, 2024. "Virtually human: anthropomorphism in virtual influencer marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Yuan, Chun Lin & Kim, Juran & Kim, Sang Jin, 2016. "Parasocial relationship effects on customer equity in the social media context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3795-3803.
    18. Oecd, 2024. "Governing with Artificial Intelligence: Are governments ready?," OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers 20, OECD Publishing.
    19. Oecd, 2024. "Regulatory approaches to Artificial Intelligence in finance," OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers 24, OECD Publishing.
    20. David Mark, 2024. "Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Cybersecurity in Nigeria," American Journal of Computing and Engineering, AJPO Journals Limited, vol. 7(4), pages 1-11.
    21. Laor, Tal, 2022. "My social network: Group differences in frequency of use, active use, and interactive use on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    22. Aw, Eugene Cheng-Xi & Chuah, Stephanie Hui-Wen, 2021. "“Stop the unattainable ideal for an ordinary me!” fostering parasocial relationships with social media influencers: The role of self-discrepancy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 146-157.
    23. Das, Gopal & Wiener, Hillary J.D. & Kareklas, Ioannis, 2019. "To emoji or not to emoji? Examining the influence of emoji on consumer reactions to advertising," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 147-156.
    24. Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia & Guerreiro, João & Japutra, Arnold, 2021. "How escapism leads to behavioral intention in a virtual reality store with background music?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 288-300.
    25. Golossenko, Artyom & Pillai, Kishore Gopalakrishna & Aroean, Lukman, 2020. "Seeing brands as humans: Development and validation of a brand anthropomorphism scale," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 737-755.
    26. Sands, Sean & Ferraro, Carla & Demsar, Vlad & Chandler, Garreth, 2022. "False idols: Unpacking the opportunities and challenges of falsity in the context of virtual influencers," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 777-788.
    27. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Olya, Hossein & Shah, Zahra & Li, Huaiyu, 2024. "Virtual influencers and pro-environmental causes: The roles of message warmth and trust in experts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    28. Kim, Inhwa & Ki, Chung-Wha & Lee, Hyunhwan & Kim, Youn-Kyung, 2024. "Virtual influencer marketing: Evaluating the influence of virtual influencers’ form realism and behavioral realism on consumer ambivalence and marketing performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Yan & Xiang, Xiaofang & Wu, Ruijuan, 2026. "Display advertising or social media post? The impact of endorsement execution form on the effectiveness of virtual influencers’ advertising endorsements," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Audrezet, Alice & Koles, Bernadett & Moulard, Julie Guidry & Ameen, Nisreen & McKenna, Brad, 2025. "Virtual influencers: Definition and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    3. Guan, Biyu & Li, Xin & Zeng, Shiyu & Liu, Pei & Sun, Hailong, 2026. "The power of influencers: How moral image drives suboptimal food consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Liu, Fanjue, 2026. "Who and how to pair with a virtual influencer? The impact of co-endorser type, perceived distance, and gender congruence on consumer responses in virtual influencer collaborations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).
    5. Cao, Yijia & Yao, Yongheng (Angus) & Wang, Fang, 2026. "Anthropomorphism of virtual influencers: A congruence perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Radeef Chundakkadan & Subash Sasidharan & Kausik Chaudhuri, 2025. "Automation, firm performance, and employment: Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 873-900, November.
    2. Ahmed Chafai & Rym Oueslati & Hatem Salah, 2025. "Innovation Activities and Sustainable Firm Growth in Arab Countries: The Role of Bank Funding, Institutional Quality and Bank Competition," Working Papers 1819, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Dec 2025.
    3. Junhui Jeff Cai & Xian Gu & Liugang Sheng & Mengjia Xia & Linda Zhao & Wu Zhu, 2025. "AI as "Co-founder": GenAI for Entrepreneurship," Papers 2512.06506, arXiv.org.
    4. P. Pushparaj & Bijay Prasad Kushwaha & Sanjeev Prashar, 2025. "A systematic literature review of virtual influencers in marketing using bibliometric analysis," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 22(3), pages 631-662, September.
    5. Grzegorz Czapski & Mariusz Pyra, 2026. "Artificial Intelligence in Economic Education: Adoption, Uses and Student Perceptions in Higher Education," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 551-568.
    6. Yang ZHANG & Ziang QIU Ziang & Donghyun PARK & Shu TIAN, 2026. "Role of Artificial Intelligence in Finance: Selective Literature Review and Implications for Asia's Financial Stability," Working Papers wp61, South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre, revised Feb 2026.
    7. gert Bijnens & Joep Konings & Aaron Putseys, 2025. "Unveiling the J-curve: How Intangibles Drive Productivity Mismeasurement," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 779815, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    8. repec:aou:nszioz:y:2025:i:4:p:57-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ofori, Isaac K. & Veling, Louise & Cullen, John, 2026. "Frontier Technology Adoption and Inclusive Green Growth in the EU: A Double-edged Sword?," EconStor Preprints 335106, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Sigale Dadirai Mweha, 2026. "Operationalising Ethical AI: A Governance Framework for Generative AI Adoption in Sub-Saharan African SMEs," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(1), pages 1245-1257, January.
    11. Yan-Mei Li & Hui-Min Lin & Hong-Yu Wu & Yi-Fan Gu, 2026. "How Business Model Innovation Affects Carbon Performance of Mobile Phone Industry Chain Enterprises: The Mediating Role of Artificial Intelligence and Green Technology," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 16(2), pages 1-5.
    12. Guo, Zhiwei & Yang, Hongtao & Yang, Wang, 2025. "A new social media programme for brands? A study of the relationship between virtual influencers and brand followers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Alexandrov, Georgii A., 2025. "When does artificial intelligence replace process-based models in ecological modelling?," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 499(C).
    14. Wang, Ying & Huam, Hon Tat & Hamid, Abu Bakar Abdul, 2026. "Emotional divergence among virtual avatar types: A topic-based study using LDA and DistilBERT," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Brodzicki, Tomasz, 2024. "Heterogeneous Firms and AI Adoption. Dynamic Insights into Market Structure and Global Trade," MPRA Paper 127767, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Apr 2025.
    16. Cao, Yijia & Yao, Yongheng (Angus) & Wang, Fang, 2026. "Anthropomorphism of virtual influencers: A congruence perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).
    17. Padma Angmo & Rachna Mahajan & Antonio Batista Silva Oliveira, 2025. "Do they look human? Review on virtual influencers," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 2425-2457, September.
    18. Anna Katashvili & Eka Gegeshidze, 2025. "AI-Powered HR Platforms: Transforming Workforce Management Through Intelligent Systems," International Journal of Business and Management, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 12(2), pages 13-23, October.
    19. Weber, Karl Matthias & Dachs, Bernhard & Rozgonyi, Krisztina & Zweifler, Zoe & Beckert, Bernd & Gruber, Sonia & Hummler, Andreas & Kroll, Henning & Neuhäusler, Peter & Rothengatter, Oliver & Schwäbe, , 2026. "Wege zur Stärkung der Forschung und Anwendung von künstlicher Intelligenz in Europa," Studien zum deutschen Innovationssystem 6-2026, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin.
    20. Audrezet, Alice & Koles, Bernadett & Moulard, Julie Guidry & Ameen, Nisreen & McKenna, Brad, 2025. "Virtual influencers: Definition and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    21. Safari, Ashkan & Oshnoei, Arman & Blaabjerg, Frede, 2025. "A review of recent AI applications in next-generation power electronics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 402(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:194:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325001857. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.