• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.26-47
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• 2023

In the age of digital media transformation, the rapid rise of social media has changed the paradigm of traditional marketing techniques by leveraging the influence of influencers. However, the influence of influencers cannot be freed from ethical issues that arise as individuals, so virtual influencers are emerging as a countermeasure. This study is a study on how to increase the influencer effect of virtual models with a focus on the MZ generation in medical service. This study investigated whether respondents in their 40s or younger were aware of 'Rosy', a virtual influencer, and then conducted a survey on those who recognized 'Rosy'. As a result of this study, first, both cognitive and emotional motivation had a positive influence on fanship and attractiveness for virtual influencer. In addition, it was found that there was a difference in follow motive according to gender. Second, in order to lead to the intention of visiting hospitals, which is the medical service industry, only the cognitive motives with useful and reliable information and useful information for the virtual influencer were found to be significant in intention to visit.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.309-314
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine how the characteristics of virtual influencer, which are rapidly emerging in recent years, affect consumers. To this end, the change in information accecptance intention was examined using the perceived attractiveness and social distance of consumers toward virtual influencers as independent variables. I found the more attractive consumers feel about virtual influencer and the closer they perceive social distance, the higher the intention to accept information. However, when virtual influencer was perceived as attractive, there was no difference in information acceptance intention according to social distance. On the other side, even if the virtual influencer was perceived as less attractive, the information acceptance intention was higher when the social distance was perceived as close than when it was not. Based on these results, I provided implications for the marketing strategy of virtual influencers.

• 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.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1073-1080
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• 2023

This study aims to explore the psychological factors influencing the persuasive effect of virtual influencers, with a specific focus on the impact of social exclusion. Additionally, it examines the mediating effect of parasocial relationships on advertising effectiveness. To achieve these goals, the study conducted an experiment using a 2 (influencer type: human vs. virtual human) × 2 (social exclusion: social exclusion vs. social acceptance) between-group factorial design. The results revealed that consumers who experienced social exclusion exhibited more positive attitudes toward the influencer and the product, higher intentions to purchase the product, and a greater willingness to share or recommend it, especially when the influencer was a real human (vs. a virtual influencer). These moderating effects were found to be mediated by parasocial relationships.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.97-117
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• 2014

People can differently act online than in real-life. Their virtual identities may allow them to express themselves more freely. In this perspective, there is a self-discrepancy between virtual- and real-life. Due to the anonymity, people can feel free to express who actually they are online without considering social pressure. Especially, for those people who live in a repressed society, virtual-selves can play a significant role to achieve their well-being. For this reason, a self-discrepancy between actual- and virtual-self related to well-being was studied. With 183 survey responses, political freedom, extraversion and neuroticism are identified as significant influencers of subjective well-being (SWB). In addition, an increase in self-discrepancy between virtual- and real-life for 'unhappy' people leads to an increased online well-being, which is contradictory to Higgins' self-discrepancy theory.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.141-152
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• 2022

Purpose - This study attempts to explore the factors that affect the consumer's response to the influencer's "backdoor advertisement" which has been a social media controversy recently. Accordingly, this study focuses on the importance of the information source's characteristics in influencer marketing, and demonstrates the impact of influencer credibility, attractiveness, and expertise on consumer responses after the influencer's sponsorship controversy. Design/methodology/approach - To this end, a study was conducted on adults who subscribed to one or more channels of influencers, and a virtual newspaper article was used in the survey. 196 sample data were collected and SPSS PROCESS Macro was used for data analysis. Findings - As a result, there was a negative impact on the credibility of the influencer which carried over to a negative reception of their shared content, while the attractiveness of the influencer had a positive impact on the reception of their shared content, even after the controversy over the influencer's backdoor advertisement. Research implications or Originality - This study contributes to the expansion of research on influencer marketing. Also, it provides insight into understanding and interpreting the phenomenon of influencers' backdoor advertisements and consumer reactions.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.99-105
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• 2021

In addition to the OTT video production service represented by Nexflix and YouTube, a personalized recommendation system for content with artificial intelligence has become common. YouTube's personalized recommendation service system consists of two neural networks, one neural network consisting of a recommendation candidate generation model and the other consisting of a ranking network. Netflix's video recommendation system consists of two data classification systems, divided into content-based filtering and collaborative filtering. As the online platform-led content production is activated by the Corona Pandemic, the field of virtual influencers using artificial intelligence is emerging. Virtual influencers are produced with GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks) artificial intelligence, and are unsupervised learning algorithms in which two opposing systems compete with each other. This study also researched the possibility of developing AI platform based on individual recommendation and virtual influencer (metabus) as a core content of OTT in the future.

• Journal of Advanced Technology Convergence
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2024

The study confirmed the relationship between attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between the formativeness of creating the artistic form of a virtual influencer who acts as an advertising model, advertising attention, and advertising attitude. To confirm this, the subjects of the study were the MZ generation and X generation, which have a high rate of SNS use. The analysis method used SPSS statistics 27.0 and SPSS process macro version. The research results are as follows. First, it was confirmed that attractiveness and suitability fully mediate the relationship between formativeness and advertising attention. In the path of formativeness and advertising attention, the total effect was found to be higher than the direct effect, and it was confirmed that there was a double parallel mediation effect through attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between the formativeness of virtual influencers and advertising attention. Second, it was confirmed that formativeness affects the mediating variable, attractiveness, but attractiveness does not affect attitude toward advertising. Since formativeness affects suitability and suitability in turn influences attitude toward advertising, it was confirmed that there is a full mediating effect between these variables. According to these results, the parallel mediating effect of attractiveness and formativeness was not confirmed in the relationship between formativeness and attitude towards advertising. The above study is significant in that it presents academic implications and practical implications by examining the dual and parallel mediating effects of attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between formativeness, advertising attention, and advertising attitude variables, which are considered in the production of virtual influencers.

• 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.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-51
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• 2023

Purpose: Live commerce is a new type of electronic commerce in combination with live streaming services. It is expected to increase virtual presence in the context of online shopping by overcoming a lack of social interactions between sellers and buyers which have been raised as a limitation in electronic commerce. Drawing on the studies of communication media, this study examines how live commerce contributes to the increase of virtual presence which consists of telepresence and social presence. Telepresence refers to a buyer's perception that he or she is present at the physical shopping mall during live shopping streaming whereas social presence refers to a buyer's perception of social interaction with a seller which is human warm, social, sensitive, and personal. In this study, we verify key determinants of virtual presence and its consequences. More specifically, this study proposes virtual presence contributes to the increase of buyers' trust in products and further purchase intentions. Furthermore, we verify influential factors of virtual presence from the technical and influencer perspectives of live commerce. Design/methodology/approach: To test the proposed hypotheses, the partial least squares (PLS) analysis is conducted with a total of 250 data collected on users with experience in the TaoBao live streaming shopping platform. Findings: The results show that first, telepresence and social presence are increased by visibility, media richness and attractiveness in the context of live shopping streaming. Second, buyers' trust in product trust and purchase intentions are positively influenced by telepresence and social presence. Finally, buyers' trust in product has a direct, positve effect on their purchase intentions. Overall, the findings offer new insights into the studies of electronic commerce by introducting the concepts of virtual presence and media richness from the literature of communication media in the field of live commerce.