Authentically Fake? How Consumers Respond to the Influence of Virtual Influencers

AbstractArtificially created characters – virtual influencers – amass millions of followers on social media and affect digital natives' engagement and decisionmaking in remarkable ways. Guided by the Uses and Gratification (U&G) approach and the Uncanny Valley Theory, this study seeks to understand this phenomenon. By looking into followers' engagement with virtual influencers, this study identifies and conceptualizes six primary motivations – namely, novelty, information, entertainment, surveillance, esthetics, and integration and social interaction. Furthermore, we found that most followers perceive virtual influencers as uncanny and authentically fake. However, followers also express acceptance of their staged fabrication where curated flaws and self-justification have been found to mitigate the effect of the uncanny valley. Virtual influencers are considered effective in building brand image and boosting brand awareness, but lack the persuasive ability to incite purchase intention due to a lack of authenticity, a low similarity to followers, and their weak parasocial relations with followers. These findings advance the extant literature on U&G, influencer advertising, and virtual influencers in the era of artificial intelligence; provide insights into the mitigating factors of the uncanny valley; and yield theoretical and practical implications for the efficacy of virtual influencers in advertising campaigns. AcknowledgmentWe thank the editors and reviewers whose comments have greatly helped us in revising this article.Conflict of Interest DisclosureThe funders did not play any role in the entire research process. We have no conflict of interest to disclose.Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the corresponding author's RG57/19 (NS) Tier 1 grant from Singapore's Ministry of Education.Notes on contributorsChen LouChen Lou (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is Assistant Professor of Integrated Marketing Communication, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.Siu Ting Josie KiewSiu Ting Josie Kiew (B.A., Nanyang Technological University) is a student, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.Tao ChenTao Chen (Ph.D., Chinese University of Hong Kong) is Associate Professor, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University.Tze Yen Michelle LeeTze Yen Michelle Lee (B.A., Nanyang Technological University) is a student, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.Jia En Celine OngJia En Celine Ong (B.A., Nanyang Technological University is a student, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.ZhaoXi PhuaZhaoXi Phua (B.A., Nanyang Technological University) is a student, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.