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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers’ perceptions of using different types of 3D animated avatars as salespeople based on credibility, homophily, attractiveness and intention to interact. Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey method, participants (n=120) evaluated four types of 3D animated avatars (i.e. human, fantasy, animal and humanoid) based on the supposition the avatars would represent a salesperson for an online retailer. Findings – The results show that avatar type has a significant influence on the perception of credibility, homophily, and attractiveness. Furthermore, credibility, homophily, and attractiveness significantly influence the intention to interact with the avatar. Overall, the human avatar was found to be perceived as the most credible, homophilous, attractive and was regarded as the highest in relation to intention to interact. Originality/value – The practical and theoretical implications are discussed to offer guidance to online retailers, graphic designers, and researchers in the benefits and pitfalls of utilizing 3D animated avatars as salespeople.

This study examined the user gratifications obtained from Pinterest, an image-sharing social networking site, by applying the customary two-study uses and gratifications (U&G) approach. In the first study, using an open-ended questionnaire, a preliminary list of descriptive terms was collected from 27 college students who use Pinterest. From the list, an item analysis extracted 54 descriptive terms, which served as the basis for the item generation in the second study. In the second study, using a quantitative online survey method, data was analyzed from 243 college students who use Pinterest. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed five dimensions of uses and gratifications obtained from the image-sharing SNS.Pertaining to the principle research question, the central findings from this study are the uses and gratifications, or motivations, for using Pinterest. The five main motivations include: 'fashion', 'creative projects', 'entertainment', 'virtual exploration', and 'organization. These findings may suggest that image-sharing SNSs share several key motivational dimensions with SNSs but also have unique factors that were not identified in previous U&G studies pertaining to SNSs.As the factor with the highest total variance, 'fashion' included the following five items: 'style', 'outfits', 'fashions', 'clothing', and 'shop'. This implies that Pinterest users and perhaps other imagesharing SNS users are using their social network to search, or shop, for fashion-related products. For 'creative projects' participants identified five items: 'crafts', 'creating', 'DIY', 'creative', and 'projects'. These findings suggest that participants are motivated to use Pinterest to search, get ideas, and share specific information related to creative projects. The motivational dimension, 'entertainment', was 39

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