Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the negative impact of social media influencers (SMIs) (human vs virtual) on customer well-being. Additionally, it aims to explore how the fear of missing out (FOMO) mediates and regulatory focus moderates this relationship from the social comparison theory lens.

Design/methodology/approach

In the first study, text mining and machine learning were employed to measure the level of followers' well-being in response to 40 SMIs (human vs virtual) posts on Instagram. In the second study, a randomized between-subjects experiment was conducted with three groups (human vs virtual vs control) and a sample size of 412 participants to confirm the results of the first study and investigate how FOMO mediates and regulatory focus moderates the relationship between SMI beauty product endorsement and consumer well-being.

Findings

The findings from text mining indicate that SMIs have a greater impact on consumers well-being, which is higher for virtual than human influencer. Additionally, the result of the experimental study shows the mediating role of FOMO in their relationship between SMIs and well-being. The moderator analysis reveals that there is a moderating effect of regulatory focus in the model.

Practical implications

The findings inform marketing managers about the differences between virtual than human influencer in their impact on customer well-being in endorsing beauty product, especially among the younger generation.

Originality/value

This paper is among the first research studies that examine the dark side of SMIs, which diminishes their follower's well-being through social comparison theory lenses.

中文翻译：

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揭示影响者营销的阴暗面：社交媒体影响者（人类与虚拟）如何降低追随者的福祉

目的

本研究的目的是调查社交媒体影响者 (SMI)（真人与虚拟）对客户福祉的负面影响。此外，它还旨在从社会比较理论的角度探讨对错过的恐惧（FOMO）如何调节以及监管焦点如何调节这种关系。

设计/方法论/途径

在第一项研究中，采用文本挖掘和机器学习来衡量关注者对 Instagram 上 40 个 SMI（人类与虚拟）帖子的幸福感水平。在第二项研究中，我们对三组（真人组、虚拟组、对照组）和 412 名参与者进行了随机受试者间实验，以确认第一项研究的结果，并调查 FOMO 如何介导和监管焦点如何调节两者之间的关系。 SMI美容产品代言与消费者福祉。

发现

文本挖掘的结果表明，SMI 对消费者福祉有更大的影响，虚拟影响者的影响高于真人影响者。此外，实验研究的结果表明，FOMO 在 SMI 与幸福感之间的关系中发挥中介作用。调节分析表明，模型中监管焦点具有调节作用。

实际影响

研究结果让营销经理了解虚拟影响者与真人影响者在认可美容产品时对客户福祉的影响存在差异，尤其是在年轻一代中。

原创性/价值

这篇论文是最早探讨 SMI 阴暗面的研究之一，它通过社会比较理论的视角降低了追随者的福祉。