Review article

https://doi.org/10.32676/n.11.1.4

A bibliometric analysis of virtual influencers as a trend in digital marketing: insights from WoS

Iva Gregurec orcid.org/0000-0002-2429-0335 ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics
Larisa Hrustek ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics
Magdalena Kuštelega orcid.org/0009-0006-0381-8125 ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics

Abstract

With the development of digital technology, virtual influencers are becoming an important part
of a rapidly growing trend in digital marketing. The purpose of this paper, based on the
conducted desk research, is to analyze publications related to virtual influencers based on data
obtained from the WoS platform. This paper employs typical bibliometric analysis to identify
research productivity, types of documents and sources, publication languages, geographical
distribution of publications, and identifies the most active organizations, authors, keywords,
along with a citation analysis. The results show that the concept of virtual influencers began to
be researched in 2020, but also that in 2023, a significant increase in the scientific literature
was recorded. This research is one of the few attempts to analyse virtual influencers, which is
certainly one of the future trends, using bibliometric analysis based on previously

Keywords

virtual influencers, artificial intelligence, digital marketing, bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer

Hrčak ID:

341055

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/341055

Publication date:

12.12.2025.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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