Novelty vs. trust in virtual influencers: exploring the effectiveness of human-like virtual influencers and anime-like virtual influencers

This research explores influencer trustworthiness and stimulus novelty as important paths for the effectiveness of virtual influencers. We compare human-like virtual influencers (HVIs) and anime-like virtual influencers (AVIs) operating either with sponsorship disclosure or non-disclosure. In two experiments, we found that HVI (vs. AVIs) produced higher content engagement and purchase intent via greater influencer trustworthiness only when sponsorship was not disclosed. Upon disclosure, the advantage of HVIs over AVIs disappeared. We also found that the influencer’s status, whether mega or micro, significantly moderated the influence of sponsorship disclosure. Perceived novelty of AVIs are consistently higher than HVIs, and perceived novelty mediates the effect of the AVIs (vs. HVIs) on content engagement, but only when sponsorship was disclosed. These findings offer important insights into how virtual influencers may influence consumer engagement and purchase decisions.