Celebrating Success: Professor Savvas Papagiannidis

Congratulations to Professor Savvas Papagiannidis, whose paper “Virtual Influencers in Consumer Behaviour: A Social Influence Theory Perspective” has been accepted for publication in British Journal of Management

Abstract: Although virtual influencers, i.e. computer-generated personas, have been a growing trend in marketing, we still know very little about their impact on consumers’ attitudes and behaviour. To bridge this gap, this study: (a) explores individuals’ acceptance of influences induced by virtual influencers and (b) investigates how influence acceptance translates into behaviour. Drawing on Social Influence Theory, we first conducted a comprehensive literature review to extract the key attributes of virtual influencers (i.e., warmth, relatedness, interactivity, competence, empathy, uniqueness, fairness and credibility) as enablers of engagement that can determine influence acceptance. Then, based on 601 survey responses and using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we analysed the associations between the enablers of engagement, influence acceptance processes (i.e., compliance, identification and internalisation) and behavioural responses (purchase intention and behaviour adoption). Our findings highlight various sets of virtual influencers’ attributes that lead to high degrees of compliance, identification and internalisation and behavioural responses. We contribute to the influencer literature by explaining the causes of the persuasiveness of virtual influencers and their effectiveness in stimulating behaviour. Our study also offers practical insights into how brand managers can leverage virtual influencers in online marketing strategies.