Davlembayeva,D., Chari, S., & Papagiannidis, S. (2025).

BritishJournal of Management, 36(1),202–222.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12839

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Davlembayeva et al. (2025) investigate the role of virtual influencers—computer-generated personas designed to resemble human influencers—in shaping consumer behaviour through the lens of Social Influence Theory. Recognizing the growing prominence of virtual influencers such as Lil Miquela, the study addresses a gap in understanding how these non-human agents gain acceptance and drive behavioural outcomes like purchase intentions. Through a mixed-method approach combining literature review, content analysis, and survey data from 601 followers, the authors identify eight key attributes that foster engagement and influence acceptance: uniqueness, empathy, competence, fairness, interactivity, credibility, warmth, and relatedness.

Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study demonstrates that distinct configurations of these attributes predict compliance, identification, and internalization—the three levels of influence acceptance. Importantly, the findings reveal that virtual influencers can trigger both purchase intentions and behavioural adoption when followers perceive strong relational cues such as credibility and interactivity. However, challenges remain around authenticity, anthropomorphism, and trust, which may limit their persuasiveness compared to human influencers.

This research makes three contributions: first, it provides a comprehensive set of attributes beyond anthropomorphism that explains why virtual influencers succeed in engaging audiences; second, it highlights how different levels of influence acceptance shape behavioural outcomes; and third, it advances influencer marketing scholarship by situating virtual influencers within established social influence mechanisms. Practically, the study suggests that brands can strategically design virtual influencer personas to enhance persuasiveness, provided they balance novelty with credibility.