The Effect of Virtual Endorsers on Chinese Consumer’s Brand Attitude
Keywords:
Advertising communication, Brand attitude, Parasocial interaction, Virtual endorserAbstract
A brand image endorser plays a crucial role in representing a company's public image. In comparison to celebrity endorsers, virtual endorsers offer the advantage of customization specifically tailored to corporate products or services. As technology advances and marketing methods continue to innovate, the study of consumer attitudes toward brands is gaining more and more attention. Based on Source Model theory and the Meaning Transfer Model, this study investigates the impact of virtual endorsers on consumers' brand attitudes in terms of three key characteristics: cuteness, professionalism, and relevance, as well as the indirect effect of parasocial interaction. A quantitative design was employed, utilizing online questionnaires to collect data through convenience sampling from 439 Chinese consumers over 18 who were familiar with the virtual endorsers. AMOS 23 software was employed to analyze data and test the hypotheses. The largest group of respondents were female consumers aged 26 – 30, with a bachelor's degree and a monthly income of 3,000-5,000 Chinese yuan, working in the private sector. The findings confirm that the cuteness and relevance of a brand's virtual endorser have a positive influence on consumers' brand attitudes. Additionally, parasocial interaction, as a mediating variable, was found to positively mediate the relationship between virtual endorsers (cuteness, professionalism, and relevance) and brand attitudes. This study offers novel perspectives and directions for further investigations related to virtual endorsers, and provides valuable marketing insights on how to create suitable virtual endorser images and enhance consumers' brand attitudes, thereby expanding the scope of advertising communication through virtual endorser endorsements.
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