Comparative Effects of Virtual and Human Influencer Endorsements on Purchase Intent among Digital Consumer Audiences in Lifestyle Marketing

Abstract

Influencer marketing has become a common way for brands to present products through familiar social media formats. At the same time, AI-generated virtual models have moved into the same promotional space that was previously occupied mainly by real-life creators. This shift raises a practical research question about how consumers respond when the visible source of endorsement is not a human person but a designed digital persona. The present paper examines purchase intent in response to endorsements from AI-generated virtual influencers and human influencers in lifestyle product contexts. The study uses a survey dataset with 480 participant observations distributed across two influencer conditions and three product categories. Purchase intent is treated as the main outcome, while perceived authenticity, trust, novelty, parasocial response, ad skepticism, product involvement, and background characteristics are included to describe the structure of consumer response. The analysis applies independent-samples tests, a two-way analysis of variance, scale reliability checks, and ordinary least squares regression models. The results suggest that the two source types produce distinct perception patterns. Human influencers are rated more highly in terms of perceived authenticity, trust, and parasocial response, while AI-generated virtual influencers score higher on novelty. Although purchase intention is slightly greater for human influencers in the raw comparison, the difference is relatively small.