Can Virtual Influencers Replace Human Influencers in Live-Streaming E-Commerce? An Exploratory Study from Practitioners’ and Consumers’ Perspectives

We conducted expert interviews and a consumer experiment to investigate practitioners’ and consumers’ attitudes toward and adoption of virtual influencers to substitute human influencers in live-streaming e-commerce (LSC). Results of consumer data confirmed practitioner insights that virtual (versus human) influencers generated less positive attitudes and lower levels of perceived warmth, trust, usefulness, and dialogue. Contrary to practitioner insights, consumers did not perceive virtual influencers as more enjoyable, easier to use, more distant, and more likely to generate purchase intention than human influencers. Furthermore, influencer warmth (usefulness) is positively related to influencer attitude (purchase intention). Implications and limitations are discussed.