Virtual influencer and cultural heritage destination: Endorsement effectiveness of virtual versus human influencers

The present research conducted four experiments and found that virtual influencers are less effective than human influencers in endorsing cultural heritage destinations. Drawing on social categorization theory, we suggest that this effect occurs because tourists perceive virtual (vs. human) influencers as outsiders of humankind with a limited understanding of human culture. Consistent with this mechanism, our findings further reveal that this low effectiveness would be mitigated when virtual influencers showcase the ability to comprehend human culture. This research makes theoretical contributions to the literature on social perceptions of virtual influencers and social media marketing in the tourism industry. Also, these findings provide managerial implications regarding the effective usage of virtual influencers in destination marketing.