The role of anthropomorphism and racial homophily of virtual influencers in encouraging low‐ versus high‐cost pro‐environmental behaviors

Virtual influencers have great potential to shape the audience's perception and motivate behavioral change. Drawing upon anthropomorphism theory and social identity theory, this paper examined the interaction effect of anthropomorphism and racial homophily of virtual influencers in shaping audiences' trust and subsequently pro-environmental behaviors in low- and high-cost contexts. Two online studies employing experimental materials generated by artificial intelligence were conducted. Study 1 revealed that high anthropomorphism (human-like virtual influencers) and high racial homophily (local-like virtual influencers) are more effective for eliciting trust in the context of low-cost pro-environmental behaviors. The findings also showed that low racial homophily (foreign-like virtual influencers) would further weaken the trust level of a virtual influencer in low anthropomorphism (animate-like virtual influencers). Study 2 aimed to replicate the findings from Study 1 in the context of high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. The findings showed that low racial homophily (foreign-like virtual influencers) enhanced the trust in a high anthropomorphism (human-like virtual influencers) virtual influencer. The moderated mediation analyses confirmed the hypothesized relationships in the proposed research model. This research advanced our understanding on the moderating role of racial homophily that serves as a cognitive shortcut for low-cost and quick decisions. However, a low racial homophily (foreign-like) virtual influencer would be more effective for high-cost and symbolic pro-environmental behaviors. These insights provide valuable guidance to businesses, marketers, and environmental advocates aiming to leverage virtual influencers for encouraging sustainability practices.