{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,18]],"date-time":"2026-07-18T22:53:08Z","timestamp":1784415188312,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":97,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,5]],"date-time":"2025-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754352000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Shenzhen Science and Technology Program","award":["RKX20231110090859012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090859012"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Science and Technology Program","award":["KP191001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KP191001"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Science and Technology Program","award":["72172093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72172093"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Bases","award":["RKX20231110090859012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090859012"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Bases","award":["KP191001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KP191001"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Bases","award":["72172093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72172093"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China general project","award":["RKX20231110090859012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090859012"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China general project","award":["KP191001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KP191001"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China general project","award":["72172093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72172093"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Nanshan District Education Science Planning Project","award":["RKX20231110090859012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090859012"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Nanshan District Education Science Planning Project","award":["KP191001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KP191001"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Nanshan District Education Science Planning Project","award":["72172093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72172093"]}]},{"name":"Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) joint basic education training project","award":["RKX20231110090859012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090859012"]}]},{"name":"Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) joint basic education training project","award":["KP191001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KP191001"]}]},{"name":"Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) joint basic education training project","award":["72172093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72172093"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JTAER"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Virtual influencers (VIs) on e-commerce platforms are becoming increasingly popular, enhancing the consumer experience. This study examines the consumer\u2013brand relationship (CBR) with VIs through the perspective of social presence. Data from 1041 e-commerce platform users (e.g., Douyin, RED, Weibo) were collected and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that both the visual and mental human-likeness of VIs significantly strengthen CBR, with social presence acting as a mediator. Additionally, the interaction between visual and mental human-likeness positively impacts social presence, which in turn enhances CBR. Moreover, consumers\u2019 need for uniqueness moderates the relationship between social presence and CBR, providing valuable insights for virtual influencer strategies in e-commerce. This research suggests the feasibility of leveraging VI design both visually and mentally to capture new trends in developing effective virtual campaigns with digitization and metaverse technologies. This study extends the stream of research VIs use for interactive marketing, highlighting the role of parasocial relationships in interactive marketing. These findings can provide managers with a better understanding of VI design from both visual and mental aspects.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer20030200","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,5]],"date-time":"2025-08-05T14:23:19Z","timestamp":1754403799000},"page":"200","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["How Visual and Mental Human-Likeness of Virtual Influencers Affects Customer\u2013Brand Relationship on E-Commerce Platform"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Liangbo","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Business, City University of Macau, Macau 999078, China"},{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linlin","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 3122, Australia"},{"name":"College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohui","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4640-2174","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhimin","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4593-802X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jifan","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"154","article-title":"How to Motivate Opinion Leaders to Spread E-WoM on Social Media: Monetary vs Non-Monetary Incentives","volume":"16","author":"Sicilia","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. 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