Cited by 688AI in Service InteractionsDigital Marketing and Social MediaMarketing and Advertising Strategies

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An Emerging Theory of Avatar Marketing

Miao, Fred, Kozlenkova, Irina V., Wang, Haizhong, Xie, Tao, Palmatier, Robert W.·2022·Journal of Marketing

DOI 10.1177/0022242921996646

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Abstract

Avatars are becoming increasingly popular in contemporary marketing strategies, but their effectiveness for achieving performance outcomes (e.g., purchase likelihood) varies widely in practice. Related academic literature is fragmented, lacking both definitional consistency and conceptual clarity. This article makes three main contributions to avatar theory and managerial practice. First, to address ambiguity with respect to its definition, this study identifies and critically evaluates key conceptual elements of the term avatar, offers a definition derived from this analysis, and provides a typology of avatars’ design elements. Second, the proposed 2 × 2 avatar taxonomy suggests that the alignment of an avatar’s form realism and behavioral realism, across different contingencies, provides a parsimonious explanation for avatar effectiveness. Third, the authors develop an emerging theory of avatar marketing by triangulating insights from fundamental elements of avatars, a synthesis of extant research, and business practices. This framework integrates key theoretical insights, research propositions, and important managerial implications for this expanding area of marketing strategy. Lastly, the authors outline a research program to test the propositions and insights as well as advance future research.

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Does metaverse fidelity matter? Testing the impact of fidelity on consumer responses in virtual retail stores
Frank, D.-A., Peschel, A., Otterbring, T., DiPalma, J., & Steinmann, S. (2024) · International Review of Retail Distribution & Consumer Research · doi:10.1080/09593969.2024.2304810 · Cited by 19
“…used animated avatars for both customers and staff to facilitate immersiveness of the metaverse for customers’ virtual store visits experiences, which is striking, as avatars – virtual representations of human and non-human characters – are a defining feature of the metaverse (Miao et al. 2022).”
Background
People with Disabilities Redefining Identity through Robotic and Virtual Avatars: A Case Study in Avatar Robot Cafe
Hatada, Y., Barbareschi, G., Takeuchi, K., Kato, H., Yoshifuji, K., Minamizawa, K., & Narumi, T. (2024) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642189 · Cited by 20
Research on the influence of digital human avatar characteristics on brand fans effect
Xie, J., Wu, H., Li, Z., Ma, L., & Liu, K. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-01-2024-0083 · Cited by 20
Generation Z’s intention to use digital fashion items in the Metaverse
Milanesi, M., Monteverde, G., Runfola, A., Milaković, I. K., & Guercini, S. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/jcm-11-2023-6405 · Cited by 24
The interaction effect of endorser type and destination stereotype on destination evaluation
Li, F. S., & Zhou, Z. (2023) · Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing · doi:10.1080/10548408.2023.2296661 · Cited by 20
“Avatars were defined as digital objects that could interact and had anthropomorphic appearances (Choi et al., 2020), whether they were controlled by software or people (Miao et al., 2022).”
Background
Expectancy Violations and Discontinuance Behavior in Live-Streaming Commerce: Exploring Human Interactions with Virtual Streamers
Chen, Y., & Li, X. (2024) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs14100920 · Cited by 24
“The advancement of AI has enabled the fabrication of virtual entities, such as avatars, digital assistants, virtual influencers, humanoid chatbots, and virtual agents, for use in services and marketing [13,16].”
Background
The Moderating Role of Homophily and Need for Uniqueness in the Relationship Between Anthropomorphism of Virtual Influencer and Intention to Imitate and Word of Mouth
Lee, J., & Kim, H. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2024.2439571 · Cited by 21
“Referred to as AI influencers or virtual influencers (VIs), they can operate independently of temporal and spatial limitations, providing significant cost savings compared to real people from a commercial stand-point (Miao et al., 2022).”
Virtual Influencer Marketing: Is It Effective in Engaging Younger Generations?
Rossi, C. R., & Rivetti, F. (2023) · European Conference on Social Media · doi:10.34190/ecsm.10.1.1061 · Cited by 19
The robo bias in conversational reviews: How the solicitation medium anthropomorphism affects product rating valence and review helpfulness
Tsekouras, D., Gutt, D., & Heimbach, I. (2024) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-024-01027-8 · Cited by 20
“We follow recent marketing literature in building on the “computers-are-social-actors” (CASA) paradigm (Nass et al., 1994) to theorize on how consumers interact with anthropomorphized technology (Miao et al., 2022; Novak & Hoffman, 2019; Noble et al., 2022).”
Transitioning to artificial intelligence-based key account management: A critical assessment
Prior, D. D., & Marcos-Cuevas, J. (2025) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.02.009 · Cited by 18
Do I look real? Impact of digital human avatar influencer realism on consumer engagement and attachment
Shah, T. R., Purohit, S., Das, M., & Arulsivakumar, T. (2025) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/jcm-05-2024-6853 · Cited by 18
The Manner Is the Matter: How the Chatbot Communication Style and Consumers' Regulatory Focus Shape Purchase Intention
Choi, S. (2025) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2505 · Cited by 18
It just would not work for me: perceived preference heterogeneity and consumer response to AI-driven product recommendations
Sun, L., Tang, Y., & Ma, X. (2025) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-02-2023-0082 · Cited by 22
Value creation in post-pandemic retailing: a conceptual framework and implications
Imschloß, M., & Schwemmle, M. (2023) · Journal of Business Economics · doi:10.1007/s11573-023-01189-x · Cited by 18
“Similarly, to what extent do avatars or consumer-avatar interactions (Miao et al. 2022 ) enable consumer inspiration?”
Exploring the nexus between influencers and brand evangelism
Sharma, P., & Khandeparkar, K. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-06-2023-0581 · Cited by 22
Virtual worlds, real opportunities: A review of marketing in the metaverse
Kumar, H. (2024) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104517 · Cited by 25
Virtual influencers in brand image recovery: A comparative study of younger and older brands after celebrity endorsement crises
Yao, Y., Liu, Q., & Guo, M. (2025) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104316 · Cited by 19
Examining Consumer Impulsive Purchase Intention in Virtual AI Streaming: A S-O-R Perspective
Zhou, T., & Li, S.-T. (2025) · Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research · doi:10.3390/jtaer20030204 · Cited by 19
Virtual Idols’ influence on Consumer’s brand attitude and purchase intention: A perspective of para-social interaction
Yu, Y., Bannasilp, A., & Kwong, S. C. M. (2025) · Electronic Commerce Research and Applications · doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2025.101546 · Cited by 17
The Influence of Image Realism of Digital Endorsers on the Purchase Intention of Gift Products for the Elderly
Wang, X., & Qiu, X. (2023) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs13010074 · Cited by 17
“The main difference between the two types of digital endorsers is the degree of realism in their appearance [53].”
BackgroundInfluential
How the Presence of Employee Avatars Affects Metaverse Shopping Behavior
Frank, D., Dipalma, J., Steinmann, S., & Otterbring, T. (2024) · Journal of Advertising Research · doi:10.2501/jar-2024-017 · Cited by 17
Influence of Virtual Live Streamers’ Credibility on Online Sales Performance
Ji, X. (2024) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/21582440241271171 · Cited by 23
“The avatar is a chat robot embedded in a web page to play the role of a virtual sales consultant (Miao et al., 2021).”
Beyond and beneath the Metaverse dazzle: The interplay of VR and blockchain-based social exchanges and affordances in determining NFT trading user experience
Basu, B., Mandal, S., & Kar, A. K. (2024) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104180 · Cited by 17
Interactive or not? Enhancing the interactive effectiveness of virtual brand ambassadors on consumer behavior
Shen, Z. (2025) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-09-2024-1221 · Cited by 23
Effects of Embodiment and Personality in LLM-Based Conversational Agents
Sonlu, S., Bendiksen, B., Durupınar, F., & Güdükbay, U. (2025) · IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) · doi:10.1109/vr59515.2025.00094 · Cited by 22
“Furthermore, 3D avatars are found to be more compelling and impactful [27] as they improve presence, immersion [59], and the overall experience in virtual environments [9, 38].”
Government digital governance and corporate investment efficiency
Liu, L., & Feng, Y. (2025) · Finance research letters · doi:10.1016/j.frl.2025.107018 · Cited by 16

Authors: Miao, F., Kozlenkova, I. V., Wang, H., Xie, T., & Palmatier, R. W.
Affiliations: The University of Texas at Arlington (US)
University of Virginia (US)
Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author: Miao, Fred
ORCID: Miao, Fred
Kozlenkova, Irina V.
Wang, Haizhong
Xie, Tao
Palmatier, Robert W.
Venue: Journal of Marketing
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2021-05-25
Volume: 86
Issue: 1
Pages: 67-90
ISSN: 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
1547-7185
DOI: 10.1177/0022242921996646
OpenAlex: W3127061213
Cited by: 688
References: 79
Citations by year: 2026: 165 · 2025: 191 · 2024: 189 · 2023: 103 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 6
FWCI: 28.99
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China (71832015; 72072191)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › AI in Service Interactions
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Digital Marketing and Social Media
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
Keywords: avatars, behavioral realism, purchase probability, marketing strategy

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An Emerging Theory of Avatar Marketing

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