The Impact of Hyper-Realistic Virtual Endorsers’ Authenticity Perception on Consumers’ Purchase Intention

本研究基于真实性感知视角，以超写实虚拟代言人为研究对象，探讨了消费者真实性感知对购买意愿的影响机制。通过构建“感知评价–情绪体验–行为意愿”的理论模型，采用结构方程模型，实证检验了真实性感知、积极情绪与购买意愿之间的关系，并分析了产品–代言人契合度的调节效应。研究结果表明，超写实虚拟代言人的真实性感知对消费者购买意愿具有显著的正向影响，且积极情绪在两者间起部分中介作用。此外，产品–代言人契合度在真实性感知与购买意愿之间具有显著调节作用，在低契合度情境下，真实性感知对购买意愿的影响更为强烈。研究结果为虚拟代言人营销效果的理论研究提供了新的参考方向。This study investigates the influence mechanism of consumers’ authenticity perception on purchase intention through hyper-realistic virtual endorsers, based on the perspective of authenticity perception. By constructing a theoretical framework of “perception evaluation-emotional experience-behavioral intention”, we empirically examine the relationships among authenticity perception, positive emotion, and purchase intention using structural equation modeling (SEM), while analyzing the moderating effect of product-endorser congruence. The results indicate that the authenticity perception of hyper-realistic virtual endorsers significantly positively affects consumers’ purchase intention, with positive emotion acting as a partial mediator. Furthermore, product-endorser congruence demonstrates a significant moderating effect between authenticity perception and purchase intention. Specifically, the impact of authenticity perception on purchase intention becomes more pronounced in low-congruence scenarios. These findings provide new insights for theoretical research on the marketing effectiveness of virtual endorsers.