Mere copycat? The effects of human versus human-like virtual influencers on brand endorsement effectiveness: A moderated serial-mediation model

Citations

Cited by:

1. Deng, Fengyi & Tuo, Muyuan & Chen, Si & Zhang, Zichen, 2024. "Born for marketing? The effects of virtual versus human influencers on brand endorsement effectiveness: The role of advertising recognition," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
2. 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.
3. Joel-Edgar, Sian & Chowdhury, Soumyadeb & Nagy, Peter & Ren, Shuang, 2025. "Virtual influencers in social media versus the metaverse: Mind Perception, blame judgements and brand trust," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
4. Yao, Yuexin & Liu, Qihua & Guo, Mengqian, 2025. "Virtual influencers in brand image recovery: A comparative study of younger and older brands after celebrity endorsement crises," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
5. Akhtar, Naeem & Hameed, Zahid & Islam, Tahir & Pant, Manoj Kumar & Sharma, Anshuman & Rather, Raouf Ahmad & Kuzior, Aleksandra, 2024. "Avatars of influence: Understanding how virtual influencers trigger consumer engagement on online booking platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
6. Zhao, Taiyang & Ran, Yaxuan & Wu, Banggang & Lynette Wang, Valerie & Zhou, Liying & Lu Wang, Cheng, 2024. "Virtual versus human: Unraveling consumer reactions to service failures through influencer types," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
7. Wang, Bin & Han, Yao & Kandampully, Jay & Lu, Xiaoli, 2025. "How language arousal affects purchase intentions in online retailing? The role of virtual versus human influencers, language typicality, and trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
8. 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).
9. Li, Zhiwen & Owusu, Prince & Wang, Baojiao & Lu, Fang, 2025. "The impact of strategic influencer interaction styles on consumer decision-making: An elaboration likelihood model perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
10. Deng, Guangkuan & Kang, Jiayi & He, Lijuan & Xu, Ying, 2025. "Endorsing alone or with humans: Investigating the impact of virtual influencers’ presentation formats on endorsement effectiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
11. Zhao, Tong & Shi, Qiumei & Zhang, Xingnian & Zhang, Tianyi, 2024. "Decoding green food safety information dependency in the digital era: An intelligent validation using SEM-ANN framework," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
12. Xie, Jifei & Wu, Haoyu & Liu, Kexi & Cui, Yunce & Zhang, Xiaofei, 2024. "Is virtual streamer useful? Effect of streamer type on consumer brand forgiveness when streamers make inappropriate remarks," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
13. Yao, Ruiqi & Qi, Guijie & Sun, Hua & Sheng, Dongfang, 2025. "A double-edged sword: Exploring the effectiveness of expressed subjectivity in virtual influencer endorsements," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
14. You, Leping & Liu, Fanjue, 2024. "From virtual voices to real impact: Authenticity, altruism, and egoism in social advocacy by human and virtual influencers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
15. Liu, Fanjue & Wang, Rang, 2025. "Fostering Parasocial Relationships with Virtual Influencers in the Uncanny Valley: Anthropomorphism, Autonomy, and a Multigroup Comparison," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
16. Laghari, Amjad Hussain & Ping, Han & Memon, Shabana & Makhdoom, Zohaib Hussain, 2025. "Human vs. virtual influencers in Crisis: How attribution and crisis response shape brand trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
17. Xia, Hui & Zhang, Longyun & Chen, Junjie & Wang, Xinchun, 2025. "Decoding virtual influencer endorsement using machine learning: The role of virtual influencer, posting, and disclosure characteristics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
18. Nadroo, Zeeshan Majeed & Lim, Weng Marc & Naqshbandi, Mohd Asif, 2024. "Domino effect of parasocial interaction: Of vicarious expression, electronic word-of-mouth, and bandwagon effect in online shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
19. 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).
20. Cheah, Chee Wei & Koay, Kian Yeik & Lim, Weng Marc, 2024. "Social media influencer over-endorsement: Implications from a moderated-mediation analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
21. Xia, Hui & Yang, Yuqing & Wang, Xinchun, 2025. "Too pretty to resist? Exploring the impact of virtual influencers’ beauty level on consumer reactions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
22. 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).
23. Yao, Ruiqi & Qi, Guijie & Wu, Zhiqiang & Sun, Hua & Sheng, Dongfang, 2024. "Digital human calls you dear: How do customers respond to virtual streamers’ social-oriented language in e-commerce livestreaming? A stereotyping perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
24. Yang, Defeng & Zhang, Jiaen & Sun, Yu & Huang, Zan, 2024. "Showing usage behavior or not? The effect of virtual influencers’ product usage behavior on consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
25. 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).
26. Rehman, Anisur & Kumar, Sushant & Salam, Muhammad Asif & Virmani, Naveen, 2025. "How does AI-powered virtual influencer's anthropomorphism impact trust and brand love? The moderating role of opinion leadership," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).