Human versus virtual influencers: The interaction effects of influencer-brand congruence on consumers’ behavioral engagement

While prior research indicates that influencer – brand congruence enhances consumer responses, less is known about how congruence operates across different influencer types. Grounded in Congruity Theory and Mind Perception Theory, this research examines how influencer – brand congruence and influencer type (human vs. virtual) jointly shape consumers’ behavioral engagement through influencer authenticity. Across two randomized experiments, the findings reveal a differentiated mechanism. Congruence directly increases consumer responses when the influencer is human. In contrast, for virtual influencers, congruence serves a compensatory function by strengthening inferences of authenticity, which, in turn, drive observable engagement behavior. These findings demonstrate that congruence-based persuasion mechanisms do not operate uniformly across ontological source types, as authenticity judgments become more contingent on congruence cues when perceived experiential capacity is uncertain. By incorporating a consequential click-through proxy alongside self-reported consumer engagement, this research extends congruity scholarship beyond attitudinal outcomes to observable consumer behavior and clarifies how mind attribution shapes persuasion in hybrid human – AI endorsement contexts.