What drives virtual influencers’ impact?
Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo; Francisco Villarroel Ordenes; Jonah Berger · 2026 · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
WASTE classifies this as Negative / Null Result Report · AI classification, approximate
The study found no significant effect — useful as a negative control or null benchmark for your own design.
Abstract
Abstract Amid the influencer marketing boom, companies are increasingly shifting resources from real to virtual (computer-generated) influencers. While virtual influencers can influence consumers, what makes their content more (or less) impactful? The current research examines whether social tie presence (i.e., appearing in photos with humans with whom they seem to have social interactions) shapes consumer engagement. A multimethod investigation, combining automated image and text analysis of thousands of social media posts with controlled experiments, demonstrates that social tie presence inc
Abstract by Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo; Francisco Villarroel Ordenes; Jonah Berger, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2026) — licensed CC BY 4.0.
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Metadata source: OpenAlex · DOI 10.1007/s11747-026-01185-x