Sponsorship Disclosure in Virtual Influencer Marketing
Assessing Users’ Sentiment and Engagement Toward Virtual Influencer Endorsements
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21340716 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jiemin Looi (0000-0002-9584-2483, Hong Kong Baptist University School of Communication), Eunjin Kim (0000-0003-4007-4461, University of Southern California, corresponding author), Zihang E (0009-0004-7816-3261, Northwestern University), E Zihang |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 321-343 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Advertising Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8499 • E-ISSN: 1740-1909 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00218499.2025.2464300 |
| OpenAlex | W4409881030 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 70 |
This study evaluates how sponsorship disclosure affects users’ parasocial interaction with virtual influencers (VIs). Sentiment analysis of 48,147 comments (sponsored = 20,411, non-sponsored = 27,736) indicated that users expressed more positive sentiment toward the VI’s sponsorship disclosure. Topic modeling revealed that, regardless of sponsorship disclosure, users were confused about the VI’s identity and expressed mixed emotions. Users also behaved differently toward the VI’s sponsorship disclosure. An online experiment (N = 159) found that users who encountered non-sponsored content displayed greater likelihood for parasocial interaction and post engagement. The mediating role of persuasion knowledge was non-significant, challenging the persuasion knowledge model
Advertising · Business · Influencer marketing · Marketing management · Relationship marketing · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Marketing · Media Influence and Health · Psychology
Young Adults' Wishful Identification With Television Characters
A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses
Disclosing sponsored Instagram posts
A Taxonomy of Social Cues for Conversational Agents
The Uncanny Valley [From the Field]
Tidytext
False idols
Going Native
The PSI-Process Scales. A new measure to assess the intensity and breadth of parasocial processes
Perceived authenticity of social media influencers
Sentiment of Emojis
Machine Heuristic
Development of the Persuasion Knowledge Scales of Sponsored Content (PKS-SC)
STM
Building a Stronger Casa
The “Mixed” Reality of Virtual Brand Endorsers
Human versus Virtual Influencer
Human or virtual
“In A.I. we trust?” The effects of parasocial interaction and technopian versus luddite ideological views on chatbot-based customer relationship management in the emerging “feeling economy”
An expert with whom i can identify
Authentically Fake? How Consumers Respond to the Influence of Virtual Influencers
Social Media Influencers and Followers
Under the Influence
Close Encounters of the AI Kind
Can Social Media Listening Platforms’ Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted? Examining the Accuracy of Crimson Hexagon’s (Now Brandwatch Consumer Research’s) AI-Driven Analyses
How the Impact of Social Media Influencer Disclosures Changes over Time
Managing the Transparency Paradox Of Social-Media Influencer Disclosures
Reconceptualizing Address in Television Programming
The spread of fake science
Horton and Wohl Revisited
Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising
Almost human? A comparative case study on the social media presence of virtual influencers
Impersonal Pronouns and First-Person Perspective
Parasocial interactions with real and virtual influencers
Inferences About Avatars
Theorizing Development of Parasocial Engagement
Empathy, communication, and prosocial behavior
Machines and Mindlessness
Measuring individual differences in empathy
The Persuasion Knowledge Model
It's All About the Look
Branded Dreams, Boss Babes
Turning Words Into Consumer Preferences
Loneliness, Parasocial Interaction, and Local Television News Viewing
Parasocial Interaction and Parasocial Relationship
Consumers' Use of Persuasion Knowledge
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |