Virtual Influencers Coolness In The Digital Economy:A Study Of Connotation,Scale Development And Testing

Technological innovation is developing faster and faster,and understanding the nature,characteristics and laws of technological innovation has become an important condition for technological innovation in enterprises.Today,with the rise of the concept of “meta-universe”,virtual reality,as an emerging technology,is an important basis for the development of the future meta-universe,and the“virtual digital human” is seen as the closest expression to the “meta”.At present,various types of virtual digital people have emerged in the domestic market,including entertainment(e.g.virtual influencer),assistant(e.g.virtual customer service)and education(e.g.virtual teacher).Among them,virtual influencers have gained a large number of followers and participated in related business activities(e.g.brand endorsement)by posting content on social media platforms.At the same time,some users think that virtual influencers are cool,which is one of the reasons why they follow them.While “cool” is often used as a positive trait in marketing(e.g.product coolness,brand coolness),no scholar has yet explored virtual influencers coolness.Therefore,this paper develops the connotation and scale of virtual influencers,and explores the antecedents of virtual influencers coolness and its impact on users’ willingness to accept it,so as to provide some reference for the successful shaping and future development of virtual influencers.Specifically,firstly,in-depth interviews were conducted with fans of virtual influencers to obtain original interview data,and through the coding procedure of rooting theory,ten main categories were refined,including virtual,high-tech,aesthetically appropriate,interactive,realistic,mysterious,rebellious,socially responsible,original and ideal,so as to construct a conceptual framework of virtual influencers coolness.Secondly,a database of questions on the virtual influencers coolness scale was constructed by combining relevant literature and interview data,and the scale structure of virtual influencers coolness was examined using exploratory and validation factor analysis.Finally,based on Bloch’s model of user response to product form,it is proposed that the complexity and novelty of the virtual influencers design will affect the virtual influencers coolness and thus the user’s willingness to accept it,in which design acumen plays a moderating role.This paper mainly collected data by means of questionnaires,and a total of 340 valid questionnaires were obtained.Relevant statistical methods were used to test the hypotheses with the help of SPSS25.0 and Smart PLS4.0statistical analysis tools.The findings show that:(1)complexity and novelty have a significant positive effect on virtual influencers coolness;(2)virtual influencers coolness has a significant positive effect on users’ willingness to accept;(3)technological acuity negatively moderates the effect of complexity on virtual influencers coolness,but not the effect of novelty on virtual influencers coolness.Based on this,this paper makes corresponding suggestions to virtual influencers companies,brand partners and users.