Who and how to pair with a virtual influencer? The impact of co-endorser type, perceived distance, and gender congruence on consumer responses in virtual influencer collaborations

As virtual influencers (VIs) gain popularity in marketing, there is limited empirical guidance on how to effectively pair them with co-endorsers for collaborations that optimize consumer engagement. This research draws on the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm and the empathic accuracy framework to systematically examine whether to include a co-endorser, which type (human vs. virtual) is most effective, and how to portray the collaboration. Specifically, it investigates how co-endorser type (human vs. virtual), perceived distance, and gender congruence shape consumer responses through the mediating role of social presence. Across three preregistered experiments (NÂ =Â 863), results show that including a co-endorser significantly increases the perceived social presence of the VI compared to VIs presented alone. However, this benefit is contingent on how the collaboration is portrayed: when the VI and human co-endorser are depicted as physically and socially close, perceived social presence is enhanced, leading to higher credibility and stronger intentions to like, comment, and share. In contrast, when they are presented as distant or disengaged, this advantage diminishes. Gender congruence further emerges as a boundary condition: collaborations between VIs and same-gender human co-endorsers foster greater social presence and stronger downstream responses than opposite-gender pairings. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.