Virtual pets' cuteness matters: A shared reality paradigm for promoting internet helping behaviour

Elements related to cuteness are widely used in virtual spokesperson strategies. However, few studies have explored the effect of virtual pet cuteness. Shared reality theory indicates that humans are strongly motivated to share their inner states about the world with one another, which could be used to predict individuals' prosocial behaviours. By integrating parasocial interaction theory with shared reality theory, this research aimed to extend shared reality theory to the context of virtual pets. Specifically, we explore the sequences mediating parasocial interaction and generalized shared reality between virtual pet cuteness and users' internet helping behaviours through three scenario experiments. The results show that virtual pet cuteness has a significant positive influence on individual internet helping behaviour; parasocial interaction and generalized shared reality have a sequences mediation effect on the relationship between virtual pet cuteness and internet helping behaviour; and independent self-construal moderates the relationship between virtual pet cuteness and internet helping behaviour. Accordingly, this study's results provide useful implications for the use of virtual pets to enhance online mutual assistance.