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How Virtuous are Virtual Influencers? : a Qualitative Analysis of Virtual Actors’ Virtues on Instagram
Hofeditz, Lennart; Erle, Lukas; Timm, Lara; u. a. (2025): How Virtuous are Virtual Influencers? : a Qualitative Analysis of Virtual Actors’ Virtues on Instagram, in: Bamberg: Otto-Friedrich-Universität, S. 3411–3420.
Author:
Publisher Information:
Year of publication:
2025
Pages:
Source/Other editions:
Proceedings of the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2023, S. 3411–3420, ISBN: 978-0-9981331-6-4
Year of first publication:
2023
Language:
English
Abstract:
Recently, virtual influencers (VIs) have become a more frequent alternative to human influencers (HIs). VIs can be described as non-human agents who behave in a human-like pattern. Big enterprises such as Prada, Porsche, Samsung, or Ikea have already collaborated with VIs in the past. Even though it should be clear to users that VIs cannot practice values and virtues in the real world, VIs seem to express certain virtues. This research paper focuses on identifying virtues conveyed by VIs and the effect of expressing virtues on follower engagement by conducting a qualitative content analysis of social media posts. Furthermore, we checked on VIs being abused by companies to convey a more favorable image. Our findings suggest that conveying certain virtues seems to have a positive effect on the engagement. In addition, some VIs were used by companies for virtue signaling without being noticed by their followers.
Keywords: ; ; ; ;
Virtual influencers
virtues
influencer marketing
social media
virtue signaling
Peer Reviewed:
Yes:
International Distribution:
Yes:
Open Access Journal:
Yes:
Type:
Conferenceobject
Activation date:
November 10, 2025
Permalink
https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/110358