• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.282-299
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• 2024

This study aimed to examine the impact of virtual influencers' characteristics on purchase intentions through attitudes toward the influencer and the brand, and to identify which factors are important depending on involvement. We used a scenario-based online survey of 320 female consumers in their twenties and thirties, and analyzed their responses through structural equation modeling using AMOS 21.0. Virtual influencers' attractiveness, reliability, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' attitudes toward those influencers, while their attractiveness, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' brand attitudes. Notably, in contrast to the other variables, virtuality had a negative effect. In addition, consumers' attitudes toward the virtual influencer significantly affected their brand attitudes and purchase intentions. We also analyzed which characteristics had significant impacts on high- and low-involvement groups. We found that reliability had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the high-involvement group and that familiarity had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the low-involvement group, which confirmed that the variables affecting purchase intentions differ depending on the level of involvement.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.159-175
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• 2021

This study attempted to analyze the relationship between influencer's characteristic factors such as professionalism, authenticity, and interactivity and content quality factors consisting of accuracy, completeness, and diversity on brand attitude and purchase attitude through trust and self-consistency. To reveal the structural relationship between main variables, a survey was conducted on 201 users. An EFA, CFA, and reliability analysis were performed to confirm reliability and validity. And structural equation was conducted to verify hypothesis. The main results are as follows. First, it was found that professionalism and interactivity had a significant positive effect on trust. And, accuracy, completeness, and variety were all found to have a significant positive effect on trust. Second, in the relationship between individual characteristic factors and self-consistency, it was found that professionalism and authenticity had a significant positive effect on self-consistency. In addition, in the relationship between content quality and self-consistency, accuracy, completeness, and diversity were found to have a positive effect on self-consistency along with trust. Third, in the relationship between trust and self-consistency on brand attitude and purchase intention, both trust and self-consistency were found to have a statistically significant positive effect on brand attitude. It was found that only self-consistency and brand attitude had a statistically significant positive effect on purchase intention. These findings showed that when users perceive professionalism and interaction with influencer, trust increases, and professionalism and progress increase self-consistency with influencer. In addition, in the case of content quality, it was found that trust and self-consistency responded positively when perceived content quality through content accuracy, completeness, and diversity. Also, trust and self-consistency increased attitudes toward brands and could influence consumption behavior such as purchase intention. Therefore, for effective marketing performance using influencer's influence in the field of influencer marketing, which has a strong information delivery on products and brands, not only personal characteristics such as professionalism, authenticity, and interactivity, but also quality of content should be considered. The above research results are expected to suggest implications for marketing strategies and practices as one available basic data to exert the expected effect of marketing using influencer.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2023

Purpose: The study analyzes the impact of attitudes toward food influencers on consumer purchase intention. It also aims to identify factors affecting consumers' attitudes toward food influencers. Research design, data and methodology: Based on the responses collected from 500 randomly selected consumers, the study analyzes the relationship based on the factors of influencer marketing. The authors test the conceptual model using multivariate linear regression analysis after validating the internal consistency of the data using Cronbach's Alpha reliability test and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The study finds that purchase intention is positively correlated and significantly impacted by the attitude towards influencer. The study further finds that attitude towards influencer is positively correlated and significantly impacted by source attractiveness, product match up, and source familiarity. However, source credibility is found to be an insignificant construct impacting attitude towards influencer. Conclusions: The study gives a guided solution to marketers and brand practitioners about the importance of influencer marketing in the food industry and its effectiveness in generating purchase intention. The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to antecedents and factors that impact attitudes toward food influencers and consumer purchase intention. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the impact of attitudes toward influencers on purchase intention in the food industry.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.238-249
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• 2021

This research aims to present effective influencer marketing strategies against a heavy blow in Korean influencer marketing industry because of the paid advertisement controversy and the reinforcement of regulations for online advertisement. By investigating the effects of influencer reputation, which is composed of communication skills, influence, authenticity and professionalism on marketing effect, as well as the mediating effect of parasocial relationship, the study provides some implications for influencer selecting. The effect of economic interests is examined under 4 experimental conditions of paid advertisements, brand collaboration, brand gifts and organic review to figure out how to arrange an appropriate sponsorship plan. According to results of PLS structural equation analysis, it shows that the influence and authenticity of an influencer have a significant positive effect on marketing effect and the mediating effect of parasocial relationship is partially proved. It seems that the effect of influencer reputation on marketing effect is significantly differentiated in different contexts, which confirms the moderating effect of economic interest. Distinguish from previous studies, this study focuses on types of economic interest rather than a simple comparison between sponsorship disclosure versus no disclosure and makes contributions to expanding reputation research. Meanwhile, findings of this study could give some practical implications for marketing practitioners in planning influencer marketing.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.270-281
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• 2021

The emergence of social media and technical development of smart phone allows media users to produce, share and spread a variety of contents, which results in a big change in their media usage pattern. Among those changes, the most prominent one is Youtube's powerful growth. Creators' enthusiastic content productions and users' active sharing actions are caused of the growth. Recently, creators give a powerful effect on users as social media influencer, and the practice of influencer marketing has been focused. This current study is examined the effects of parasocial interaction and relationship on brand attitude and purchase intention. Specially, parasical interaction is divided into identification, interest, and experience parasocial interaction, and the divisions of relationship are trustworthy, friendship, understanding, and commitment. As a result, interest and trustworthy are significant predictors of brand attitude. Also, experience parasocial interaction is negative and friendship is positive predictors of purchase intention. Theoretical and practical implication are discussed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among SNS users' interpersonal trust, brand image and purchase intention. A total of 335 questionnaires were collected during 6 days by Embrain online research company. Collected data were analyzed by SPSSWIN and AMOS program and frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, validity test, correlation analysis and structural equation model analysis were performed. The results of verifying the relationship among variables are as follows. First, SNS users' interpersonal trust in influencers had positively influenced by brand image. Second, brand image sold by influencers had positively influenced by purchase intention. Third, SNS users' interpersonal trust in influencers had a significant effect on purchase intention.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2023

Existing studies on this topic have focused on the effect of online content quality on consumer attitudes and behavior, with very few illustrating the effect of influencer image on consumer attitudes and behavior. The purpose of this study intents to reveal how influencer image affect consumer behavior. We have developed an image transfer theory-based research model to reveal how influencers transfer their image to endorsed products to influence consumer behavior. The results show that influencer image positively affects satisfaction, which in turn affects the product's cognitive and affective images in the vlog. Moreover, it was found that a product's cognitive image and affective image influence consumer behavior intention. Furthermore, purchase experience exhibits significant differences in its path. Based on these results, the social media-related research theoretical implication will be offered, and managerial implications will be provided for foreign brand promotion strategies

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.193-204
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• 2023

In recent years, the concept of influencer marketing has experienced rapid growth in both academia and industry, leading to its emergence as a crucial consideration in the marketing strategies of many businesses. Despite the significance and expansion of the influencer market, however, research on the topic has not kept pace with its growth. Thus, this study seeks to address this gap by empirically analyzing the impact of influencer characteristics on consumer behavior through the coexistence of buyers and providing an empirical contribution to expand the relevant literature. To accomplish this, a survey was conducted with a sample of 400 individuals who had purchased a product through an influencer, and 384 responses were ultimately utilized in the analysis. The results revealed that the attractiveness and empathy of influencers had a positive impact on satisfaction among coexisting buyers, while also having a negative impact on dissatisfaction. In contrast, expertise had no impact on satisfaction, but a positive impact on dissatisfaction. Moreover, satisfaction was found to have a positive impact on brand image and recommendation intention, whereas dissatisfaction had a negative impact on both. Overall, this study adds to the growing body of literature on influencer marketing by providing empirical evidence of the impact of influencer characteristics on consumer behavior, specifically through the lens of coexistence with buyers. These findings hold important implications for businesses looking to develop effective influencer marketing strategies that can enhance their brand image and recommendation intention among consumers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.375-385
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• 2024

In the context of contemporary digital media, virtual influencers have become an increasingly important form of socialization and entertainment, in which emotional expression is a key factor in attracting viewers. In this study, we take Luo Tianyi, a Chinese virtual influencer, as an example to explore how emotions are expressed and perceived through facial expressions in different types of videos. Using Paul Ekman's Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and six basic emotion classifications, the study systematically analyzes Luo Tianyi's emotional expressions in three types of videos, namely Music show, Festivals and Brand Cooperation. During the study, Luo Tianyi's facial expressions and emotional expressions were analyzed through rigorous coding and categorization, as well as matching the context of the video content. The results show that Enjoyment is the most frequently expressed emotion by Luo Tianyi, reflecting the centrality of positive emotions in content creation. Meanwhile, the presence of other emotion types reveals the virtual influencer's efforts to create emotionally rich and authentic experiences. The frequency and variety of emotions expressed in different video genres indicate Luo Tianyi's diverse strategies for communicating and connecting with viewers in different contexts. The study provides an empirical basis for understanding and utilizing virtual influencers' emotional expressions, and offers valuable insights for digital media content creators to design emotional expression strategies. Overall, this study is valuable for understanding the complexity of virtual influencer emotional expression and its importance in digital media strategy.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2019

This work tries to empirically validate the effect of influencers' product-usage videos upon brand attitude and purchase intention of consumers. More specifically, we choose 3 attributes of product-usage videos of influencers such as expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness from our literature review. We collect 200 survey questionnaires in 2019 using Google survey forms from subjects who have watched influencers' usage videos of fashion items. Our results suggest that expertise and trustworthiness of influencers' videos positively affect brand attitude of consumers, which in turn positively influence their purchase intention. However, we have not found significant effect of attractiveness of the videos upon brand attitude. We also confirm that brand attitude positively affect purchase intention as proposed in the literature. The practical implications of this work is that firms should focus and strengthen expertise and trustworthiness of videos rather than attractiveness in order to enhance purchase intention of consumers and eventually lead to their purchase behavior.