The influence of human-like virtual influencers on intention to purchase beauty products among Chinese female gen Z

Abstract

The objectives of this research include exploring consumers’ perceived trust, brand awareness, and purchase intention via human-like virtual influencers; and examining the influence of human-like virtual influencers on consumers’ perceived trust, brand awareness, and purchase intention based on the empirical research, especially by adapting the SMIV model. A total of 260 Chinese female Gen Z respondents between the ages of 18 and 25 were eligible to complete an online questionnaire survey. The results depicted that human-like virtual influencers’ informative value (β= 0.196 p < .001) and entertainment value (β= 0.181 p < .001), trustworthiness (β= 0.142 p < .01), similarity (β= 0.115 p < .05), and attractiveness (β= 0.292 p < .001) to the audiences strongly influence their trust in branded posts, which further influence purchase intentions (β= 0.198, p < .01).