The roles of spokes-avatars' personalities in brand communication in 3D virtual environments

Second Life is the fastest growing avatar-based 3D virtual environment, as well as a promising media channel for marketing and advertising. Spokes-avatars are increasingly used as company (brand) representatives, personal shopping assistants, conversation partners, recommendation agents, and persuasion agents in such virtual environments. This study aimed to empirically investigate the roles of spokes-avatars' personalities with regard to source credibility, brand attitude and consumers ' feelings of presence. A two-group comparison experiment examined the effects of spokes-avatars ' different personalities (sincere/competent vs exciting) on source credibility and brand communication. The results showed that the subjects who interacted with sincere/competent spokes-avatars showed greater source expertise and trustworthiness, a more positive attitude towards the brand, higher satisfaction with the retailer, and greater online shopping intentions than those who interacted with exciting spokes-avatars.