IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijimad/v23y2025i3p233-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can virtual, CGI-generated, influencers help sell products on Instagram? Effects of perceived realism and disclosure on brand-related attitudes and behavioural intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Joe Phua
  • Nathaniel J. Evans
  • Youngjee Ko
  • Jeonghyun Lee

Abstract

Virtual influencers, CGI-generated avatars with fabricated personalities, are increasingly being used by brands to advertise products on social media platforms. Applying theoretical frameworks including the match-up hypothesis (Kamins, 1990), parasocial identification (Horton and Wohl, 1956; Rubin and Perse, 1987), source credibility (Ohanian, 1990) and the persuasion knowledge model (Friestad and Wright, 1994), the current study assessed effects of perceived realism (high versus low) and disclosure (yes versus no) of a virtual influencer in an Instagram brand ad on perceived brand credibility, brand attitude, purchase intention and eWOM intention. Using a two (realism: high versus low) x two (disclosure: yes versus no) between-subjects experiment, results revealed that perceived realism exerted a significant main effect on the dependent measures, and also interacted with disclosure to influence brand-related outcomes. Further, perceived prosocial characteristics of the virtual influencer also mediated between realism and the dependent measures. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Joe Phua & Nathaniel J. Evans & Youngjee Ko & Jeonghyun Lee, 2025. "Can virtual, CGI-generated, influencers help sell products on Instagram? Effects of perceived realism and disclosure on brand-related attitudes and behavioural intentions," International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 23(3), pages 233-254.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijimad:v:23:y:2025:i:3:p:233-254
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=148678
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    for a different version of it.

    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:ids:ijimad:v:23:y:2025:i:3:p:233-254. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=84 .

    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.