가상 인플루언서에 대한 소비자 반응 연구

초록

As marketing communication tools and processes have become more diverse with the advancement of technology, the sources of marketing information for consumers have also changed. In the past, only traditional celebrities such as TV stars and singers played an active role as messengers in communication between brands and consumers. However, in recent years, ordinary individuals who actively engage in social media have also been actively delivering marketing information. Furthermore, the emergence of virtual influencers, who have a human-like appearance, is once again transforming the related industry. Many companies are actively using these virtual influencers to advertise and engage in direct marketing for their products and services through social media platforms. As a result, consumers’ attention toward them has increased, making it necessary for both marketing practitioners and academics to study virtual influencers. In this study, we explore the effects of virtual influencers, a relatively new type of influencer, and propose a comprehensive model to examine the interaction between consumer characteristics and virtual influencers. We aim to verify which consumers are more likely to show a positive response to the marketing messages provided by these virtual influencers. Specifically, we demonstrate that consumers with a stronger tendency for novelty-seeking (i.e., consumer novelty seeking, CNS) show lower negative perceptions of virtual influencers, such as perceived similarity and perceived friendliness of a virtual influencer, which can be held by general consumers. This, in turn, reduces the negative response to the enjoyment derived from virtual influencers' advertisements, thus exerting a positive influence on product attitudes and purchase intentions. Through these findings, this study not only expands the scope of research on virtual influencers, which have recently gained prominence, but also provides practical implications by suggesting which consumers would benefit more from marketing strategies utilizing virtual influencers.

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