The perceived anthropomorphism of virtual influencers and its impact on willingness to pay more: the mediating role of cognitive and affective response

Abstract

Virtual Influencers are one of the Marketing solutions that many businesses are choosing to use. However, the use of Virtual Influencers in Vietnam is still not widely popular and there are still many limitations. Meanwhile, the cost of building advertising strategies with Virtual Influencers is relatively high and requires high-end information technology equipment to support this process. Therefore, more research on the influence of Virtual Influencers on consumer behavior is necessary. The study: “The Perceived anthropomorphism of Virtual Influencers and its impact on willingness to pay more: The mediating role of Cognitive and Affective response” aims to examine the relationship between Virtual Influencers' Perceived Anthropomorphism and the Willingness to Pay More behavior of customers through cognitive and affective responses. Based on previous research, the research team selected Social Presence and two variables belonging to Cognitive response and two variables belonging to Affective response as mediators in the relationship between Virtual Influencers' Perceived Anthropomorphism and Willingness to Pay More behavior. The proposed research model consists of 7 variable factors: (1) Virtual Influencers' Perceived Anthropomorphism, (2) Social Presence, (3) Perceived Trust, (4) Perceived Value, (5) Perceived Pleasure, (6) Arousal, and (7) Willingness to Pay More. The research team surveyed 457 people living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, and the survey results were processed using SPSS and Smart PLS software. The results show that there is a relationship between Virtual Influencers' Perceived Anthropomorphism and Willingness to Pay More. Beside that, the relationship between Virtual Influencers' Perceived Anthropomorphism and Willingness to Pay More is mediated by Social Presence and Perceived Value. Based on the research findings, we propose some managerial implications for businesses to implement advertising strategies using Virtual Influencers more effectively and to provide new directions for future research