• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.323-333
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• 2021

Lil Miquela, who appeared on social media in 2016, is one of the most popular virtual influencers. In particular, Miquela is having a great impact on society by continuing to collaborate with many fashion brands through Instagram. As the activity of virtual influencers is emerging today, this study aims to derive the meanings of contemporary fashion through analyzing Miquela's social media case. This study analyzed Miquela's Instagram posts as research subjects. As a result of the above analysis, it was possible to classify the methods and devices for expressing fashion in Miquela's social media into three categories: storytelling, reality, and tags & hyperlinks. In addition, the meanings of fashion could be derived from three aspects: the object of experience, the direction of technology, and the realization of the spirit of the times. After appearing on social media, Miquela, who has gradually expanded her domain, is a virtual fashion influencer who has built her identity through fashion, and is expected to give new meaning to fashion in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.56-72
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• 2021

This study examines the effect of influencer characteristics (attractiveness, reliability, expertise, and intimacy) and consumer need satisfaction (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) on attachment to influencer, content flow, and purchase intention. The moderating effect of gender was also investigated. Survey data collected from 515 male and female Instagram users were submitted for analysis. The research findings are as follows. First, the reliability and intimacy of influencers had a positive effect on attachment to influencers whereas attractiveness and intimacy had positive effects on content flow. Second, the relatedness and competence that consumers felt during the use of influencer content had a positive effect on attachment to influencers whereas the autonomy had a positive effect on content flow. Third, the attachment to influencers increased the intention to purchase products introduced by influencers via content flow. Fourth, there were some gender differences in the relationships of attachment to influencer, content flow, and purchase intention. Implications were suggested based on the results.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.557-567
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• 2023

The rapidly evolving social platform marketing landscape has led businesses to increasingly rely on social platform influencers for brand and service promotion. Despite growing interest in these influencers, there remains a dearth of empirical research examining the impact of their characteristics on consumer attachment and brand loyalty. This study, therefore, investigates the relationships between social platform influencer characteristics, consumer attachment, and brand loyalty. An online survey targeting Chinese consumers was conducted, and a total of 360 responses were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. The findings reveal that among the various social platform influencer characteristics, reliability, professionalism, and intimacy significantly influence consumer attachment. Furthermore, it was confirmed that higher attachment to a social platform influencer leads to increased brand loyalty.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.163-170
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the research trend on social media influencers in Korea. To this end, a total of 178 papers on social media influencers were analyzed from 2009 to 2021 among the academic papers registered in the Korean Academic Citation Index. As a result, the early social media influencer research, which was limited to only a few fields such as fashion, beauty, and communication, has expanded to various ones as time passed and achieved quantitative growth. The proportion of empirical studies has been on the rise in recent years, and studies that applied qualitative research methodologies have shown a tendency to decrease. The proportion of research focusing on specific media platforms and influencer types gets lower, although both the characteristics of social media platforms and the attitudes of each influencer are very diverse. This study has academic significance in that it is the first empirical study to investigate the current status of the social media influencer research in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.605-619
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• 2019

This study investigates the effects of fashion consumers' individualism collectivism propensity, social capital and Instagram usage propensity on evaluations for fashion influencer's attributes on Instagram. This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 20 to 30 year old male and female Instagram users. A total of 483 replies were submitted and 467 of the replies were used in the final analysis. The quantitative data collected through questionnaires were analyzed using reliability analysis using SPSS 18.0 while AMOS 18.0 was used to test the model fit and a structural equation modeling between the variables. The results indicated that vertical collectivism and vertical individualism were found to be related to relationship seeking propensity; only vertical individualism was found to be related to information seeking propensity. Furthermore, relationship seeking propensity and information seeking propensity were both related to the fashion influencer's attributes of professionalism, intimacy and attractiveness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.17-32
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• 2019

This study examines the effects of SNS fashion influencer's authenticity on the followers' relationship maintenance intention and product purchase intention through the mediating role of fanship. In addition, influencer's attractiveness is proposed as a moderator affecting the authenticity on fanship; in addition, authenticity is operationalized as honesty and expertise. A written survey is developed for 181 female Instagram users. The analyses of the data yields the following findings. First, honesty has a positive effect on fanship, relationship maintenance intention and purchase intention, while expertise affects fanship and relationship maintenance intention, but does not have a significant effect on purchase intention. Second, honesty and expertise have a positive effect on follower behavior intention through the partial mediation of fanship. Third, social attractiveness and physical attractiveness have a significant effect on fanship. However, all interaction effects between authenticity and attractiveness are not significant. Unlike authenticity, attractiveness has no direct effect on follower behavior intention. This study verifies the critical role of authenticity for an influencer in the context of SNS marketing and commerce, as this factor leads to followers behavioral intention as well as fanship in both direct and mediated paths.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.243-261
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to identify beauty influencer attributes on Instagram and their impact on product attitude and purchase intention and on influential difference between micro and mega influencers. The survey was conducted using a consumer survey method with a questionnaire, and the subjects of the survey were 506 women in their 20s and 30s using Instagram. The results of the study are as follows: First, a range of influencer attribute sub-factors were derived in relation to expertise, attractiveness, similarity, reliability, and intimacy. Second, the attributes highly impacted product attitude in the increasing order of attractiveness, similarity, reliability, and familiarity, with expertise having no statistically significant influence. Third, the consumer's attitude toward the product introduced by the beauty influencer had a significant impact on their purchase intention. Fourth, it was shown that there is no difference in attributes according to the influencer's number of followers. Fifth, the number of followers of the beauty influencer had a partial impact on attitude and purchase intention. A limitation of this study is that age and gender samples are narrow, but it is nevertheless meaningful to explore this topic in the absence of research on beauty influencers. It is believed that these findings will serve as a foundation for the development of beauty influencer marketing strategies on Instagram.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.875-889
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• 2020

This study examined the effect of Instagram usage time (short, long) and spending on fashion products (light, heavy) on product attitude and purchase intention of products promoted by an influencer. The moderating effect of influencer type (mega, macro, micro) was also investigated. A total of 515 males and females in their 20s participated in an online survey. Descriptive statistics were analyzed and exploratory factor analysis and two-way ANOVA were conducted. Research findings were as follows. First, the usage time, both short and long, had a positive effect on product attitude. Also, the interactive effects of usage time and influencer type on product attitude were found. Consumers with short Instagram usage time displayed the highest attitude toward products promoted by a macro-influencer whereas consumers with long Instagram usage time displayed the highest attitude toward products promoted by a micro-influencer. Second, usage time and influencer type did not show interactive effects on purchase intention. Third, both categoriacl variables of users' spending on fashion products had a positive effect on product attitude. Fourth, the interaction effects of spending on fashion products and influencer types on purchase intention were found. The group of light buyers showed the highest purchase intention on products promoted by the macro-influencer while the group of heavy buyers showed the highest purchase intention of products promoted by the micro-influencer. Based on the results, implications were suggested.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.471-483
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to find out audience' response of virtual influencer at the starting line of virtual influencer marketing. Therefore, posts, comments, number of likes, and video reviews were collected from Instagram of virtual influencers active in Korea. Python 3.7 and Textom were used for data collection and analysis. Sentimental analysis showed that the rate of positivity was higher than the rate of negativity and neutrality. The appearance of virtual influencer was found to be a major factor in both positive and negative. Consumers' interest in virtual influencer could be inferred from the neutral sensibility. This study is meaningful in that it presented data to help establish strategies for virtual influencer marketing by examining consumer reactions to virtual influencer and identifying factors of positive and negative emotions toward virtual influencer.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.213-222
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• 2021

This study tried to identify the factors influencing the visual factors of fashion virtual influencers(FVI), on follower behavioral intention and addiction. As the number of fans of FVI is increasing these years, and the addiction phenomenon of social platforms is also increasing, researchers thought that a study to confirm the behavioral intention of fans and the path to addiction through the visual factors of FVI would be necessary. According to the research results, it was confirmed that among the visual factors of FVI, attractiveness affects authenticity through expertise. In addition, researchers confirmed that authenticity influences flow through relationship maintenance of behavioral intention, and authenticity influences addiction through flow. Thus, researchers verified the path leading to FVI's visual factors to behavioral intention and addiction, such as visual factors and authenticity, authenticity and behavioral intention, and behavioral intention and addiction. Researchers hope to conduct research with various content types of FVI, other social platforms.