Should travel influencers be human or virtual? Comparing effectiveness for material and experiential products

Virtual influencers (VIs) are computer-generated characters that serve as influencers and offer novel advertising strategies for travel and tourism brands. Virtual influencers are gaining prominence as a way of attracting people's attention on social media, but limited research has been conducted on this subject. In the present study, we explore the effects of VIs versus traditional human influencers (HIs) for material and experiential products on influencer attitudes. Drawing on construal level theory, we conducted three between-subjects experiments using a 2 (influencer type: HI vs. VI) × 2 (product type: material vs. experiential) design. Our findings suggest that VIs endorsements of experiential products lead to higher influencer attitudes than HI endorsements, which generate more desirable outcomes for material products. Results also show that perceived credibility and calculative motive play significant mediating roles in these effects.