Virtual influencers (VIs) artificial intelligence (AI)-generated personas that mimic human influencers have emerged as a transformative force in digital marketing. This study conducts a systematic literature review (n = 51 articles) to explore the impact of virtual influencers on consumer trust, engagement, and ethical considerations across different cultural and regulatory environments. Key themes examined include the perceived authenticity of virtual influencers and its influence on trust, the ethical dilemmas surrounding transparency and consumer deception, and the effects of disclosure on engagement across various social media platforms. The findings of the study indicate that while virtual influencers have the capacity to enhance brand engagement, concerns regarding authenticity, transparency, and the uncanny valley effect influence consumer perceptions. Ethical considerations, including regulatory compliance and cultural sensitivities, further complicate their integration into marketing strategies. The Virtual Influencer Trust and Engagement Model (VITEM) is a novel framework that elucidates the relationships between authenticity, disclosure transparency, and cultural context. It shows trust to be a key mediating factor, emphasizing cultural differences in consumer responses to virtual influencers. The present study offers insights to a range of professionals, including marketers, researchers, policymakers, psychologists, and consumer wellbeing stakeholders, on the responsible leveraging of virtual influencers in an evolving digital landscape.

Virtual influencers (VIs) are increasingly integrated into brand communication strategies, offering novel opportunities for audience engagement, message control, and digital differentiation. This study examines brand-virtual influencer collaborations through a multiple-case study approach, analyzing five diverse cases: Lil Miquela, Imma, Noonoouri, Lu do Magalu, and Knox Frost. The analysis focuses on brand motivations for engaging with virtual influencers, strategic design and implementation choices in VI collaborations, and their effects on consumer trust, brand perception, and engagement. Findings indicate that brands are primarily motivated by novelty, differentiation, and the ability to achieve risk-controllable visibility, while effective collaboration strategies depend on aligning virtual influencer characteristics such as form realism, ownership structure, and endorsement format with product category and communication objectives. Cross-case synthesis reveals what we conceptualize as the Credibility-Engagement Paradox: an analytical framework whereby novelty, originality, and visual distinctiveness enhance engagement and opinion leadership, while simultaneously constraining perceived credibility and trust relative to human influencers. This study advances influencer marketing theory by conceptualizing the Credibility-Engagement Paradox as an analytical framework derived from cross-case evidence, demonstrating how novelty-driven engagement and credibility formation operate as partially independent mechanisms shaped by anthropomorphism, ownership structure, and contextual accountability, while also offering actionable guidance for brands deploying virtual influencers in digital marketing ecosystems.

Climate-related financial risks have become a central concern for financial institutions and regulators, particularly within the European financial system. This paper examines how climate-related risks are integrated into governance, risk assessment, and regulatory practices in European financial institutions. Using a structured narrative literature review of academic and institutional sources published between 2015 and 2026, the study synthesizes evidence on physical, transition, and liability risks, as well as the frameworks and tools used to assess them, including climate stress testing, scenario analysis, and climate value-at-risk models. The findings indicate that climate considerations are increasingly embedded within governance structures and supervisory frameworks; however, implementation remains fragmented due to inconsistent data, methodological limitations, and institutional barriers. The review further highlights that existing risk models often struggle to capture the long-term and non-linear nature of climate-related uncertainty. This paper contributes to the literature by linking financial stability theory and institutional theory to explain the persistent gap between regulatory ambition and institutional practice within the European context. The study concludes by discussing implications for supervisory policy, disclosure standardization, and climate-risk integration in financial decision-making.

Digital twin technology is transforming food supply chains through real-time monitoring, predictive simulation, and optimization. This study synthesizes existing research on digital twin applications in agri-food systems and identifies intellectual structures, thematic trends, and research gaps. Following PRISMA guidelines, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on 148 Scopus-indexed journal articles published between January 2019 and September 2025, using keyword co-occurrence and bibliographic coupling. Results show a sharp growth in publications since 2021, led mainly by India, Italy, and the United States, with most studies appearing in engineering and computer science journals. Keyword co-occurrence revealed four clusters: technological enablers of digital twins; supply-chain decision-making for resilience and sustainability; postharvest and cold-chain management; and human-centred digital twins for the food industry and precision agriculture. Bibliographic coupling confirmed these themes and indicated a shift from descriptive monitoring toward prescriptive digital twins that actively support decision-making. The review consolidates a fragmented field, highlights current biases such as the focus on horticulture and limited longitudinal validation, and emphasizes the need for interoperability, governance, and standardized metrics. It proposes future research directions for advancing predictive, resilient, and sustainable food systems.