Impact of Celebrity, Micro-Celebrity, and Virtual Influencers on Chinese Gen Z’s Purchase Intention Through Social Media

Abstract

Social media advertising strategies, including using traditional celebrity endorsers and micro-celebrity influencers, are prevalent marketing tools. However, the trend of using virtual influencers to endorse products is a novel potential way to attract young consumers. This present study aims to analyze the influence of the three types of endorsers (traditional celebrity, micro-celebrity, and virtual influencers) source credibility (i.e., physical attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness) on the purchase intention of the Chinese Generation Z, under varying levels of product involvement, through the mediating effect of emotional attachment. The Hayes Process Macro was used as a statistical analysis tool for our research propositions. Overall, our findings highlight the effectiveness of attachment theory in social media endorsement advertisements. Furthermore, these findings can guide marketers, who desire to respond to the purchase trends of Generation Z, to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.

A Literature Analysis on the Relationship between AI Influencers’ Perceived Credibility and Purchase Intention: Product-Endorser Fit with the Brand as a Moderator

“…This is because the attractiveness of AI promoters as sources of information enhances the effectiveness of communication between the brand and the consumer, thereby increasing the willingness of the recipient of the information to purchase the brand's products (Robinson, 2020). Chiu and Ho (2023) confirmed this viewpoint and found a positively significant relationship between attractiveness and purchase intention. However, Kim and Park (2023) demonstrated that attractiveness had no direct effect on purchase intention, but the relationship became significant when mediated by imitation desire and brand attachment.…”

Political news on Instagram: influencer versus traditional magazine and the role of their expertise in consumers’ credibility perceptions and news engagement

“…Importantly, previous research found positive associations between the perceived credibility of the source of information, the perceived credibility of the information itself, the person’s involvement, and behavioral intentions (i.e., purchase decisions, electronic word of mouth) mainly in the context of marketing (e.g., Kautsar et al, 2012 ; Xiao et al, 2018 ). However, previous studies have rather focused on the moderating role of involvement by comparing the effects of source characteristics such as expertise ( Wiedmann and Von Mettenheim, 2020 ) or source type ( Chiu and Ho, 2023 ) on the effectiveness of influencer marketing for different levels of product involvement. The questions of whether consumer’s involvement itself is also influenced by source characteristics such as source expertise and source type have been neglected.…”

Real versus virtual celebrity endorsement: presentation of online product information and consumer attitudes toward digital products

“…Afterward, real CE is more authentic and intimate (Nunn and Biressi, 2010), which will make consumers trust real CE more. Nevertheless, given virtual CE is computer-generated (Mrad et al, 2022), virtual, and novel, consumers have a low level of trustworthiness for virtual CE (Chiu and Ho, 2023). Accordingly, it can be inferred that consumer attitudes will be promoted by the matching of real CE and CRP online product information rather than virtual CE and CRP online product information.…”

“…posting photos, creating relatable content and serving as ambassadors of sponsor brands) to shape brand image (Arsenyan and Mirowska, 2021). Moreover, virtual CE can also increase consumers' attachment to products and purchase intention (Chiu and Ho, 2023). Consequently, we can deduce that virtual CE may also influence consumer attitudes like real CE in general.…”