With the rising trend toward sustainable consumption and the pivotal role of social media in the buying behavior, brands are keen to promote sustainable products through these platforms. Virtual influencers (VIs) have emerged as lower-cost and scandal-resistant alternatives to human influencers (HIs). However, their artificial nature may evoke credibility concerns, potentially undermining marketing effectiveness. Currently, it is unclear whether humans or virtual influencers achieve better endorsement outcomes for sustainable products. This study explores the effectiveness of VIs and HIs in endorsing sustainable products and the conditions under which VIs may outperform HIs. Through two studies (N = 1097), we investigate the impact of influencer type, advertising appeals, and product involvement on consumer purchase intentions and brand attitudes. Our findings reveal that, in low-involvement product scenarios with emotional appeals, HIs are more effective, while in high-involvement product scenarios featuring rational appeals, VIs exhibit superior effectiveness. These results suggest that the choice of influencer type should be tailored to the product involvement level and the nature of the advertising appeal, providing guidance for brands to enhance the impact of their green marketing strategies.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

Sustainable consumption is essential for humanity, achieved through the practice of sustainable lifestyles. Hence, the world must emphasise renewable resources utilisation derived from ethical consumerism. The adoption of green transportation is a catalyst for sustainable consumption. A green car in Malaysia refers to either a hybrid vehicle (HV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or electric vehicle (EV). With 90 per cent of its vehicles being fossil-fueled, Malaysia is far behind from its aspiration to adopt green transportation. Hence, proactive actions must be taken to accelerate the adoption of green cars in Malaysia. As challenges faced by Malaysia are different from other developed countries, this paper looks into the moderating effect of tax exemption on the relationship between social influence and purchase intention of green cars in Malaysia. Specifically, this paper adopted marketing as the chosen domain of study, with purchase intention as the central idea of research. It is a quantitative study based on the deductive research approach. It will be grounded within the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The sampling technique adopted would be stratified random sampling. This paper will adopt a self-constructed questionnaire as the data collection instrument. It will collect data from 400 respondents using a questionnaire and analyse it statistically, using the SPSS and SmartPLS statistical tools.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has grown extensively in recent times and is becoming integrated into human lives. This progression opens diverse opportunities in e-health, facilitating healthcare accessibility globally. Voice assistants are AI-driven technologies, which are becoming increasingly important with the growing prominence of e-health services. This study offers an integrated model that assimilates AI attributes with relevant constructs from various theories such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Health Belief Model (HBM). Key variables under scrutiny include perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, attitude, perceived severity, and perceived susceptibility. The article adds to the current research by reviewing the literature about AI in healthcare, and proposing a conceptual framework that binds technological, AI-specific, and health factors, offering implications for policymakers, healthcare administrators, and marketers seeking effective utilization of voice assistant technology.