Virtual or human? The interaction between influencer type and psychological distance to destinations in shaping visit intention

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the fit effect between influencer type (virtual vs. human) and tourists' psychological distance, and to examine the serial mediating roles of perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Across two online experiments and a lab experiment, this research tested its hypotheses through three online experiments. All studies utilized a 2 (influencer type: human vs. virtual) × 2 (psychological distance: high vs. low) between-subjects design. A total of 1,067 valid participants were recruited across the studies via the Credamo platform (Studies 1 & 2) and a university in Beijing (Study 3), after excluding those who failed attention checks. The studies systematically manipulated spatial (Study 1) and temporal (Studies 2 & 3) distance to a destination and presented participants with promotional content from either a human or a virtual influencer. Validated scales measured visit intention as the key dependent variable, alongside manipulation checks for influencer type and psychological distance. Studies 1 and 2 established the basic congruence effect, while Study 3 replicated the finding with different stimuli and employed bootstrapping mediation analysis (PROCESS macro) to test the proposed serial mediation mechanism via perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity. Findings Through three experiments, this study demonstrates the congruence effect between influencer type (virtual vs. human) and tourists' psychological distance (spatial vs. temporal) on visit intention. Specifically, Study 1 reveals that when a destination is perceived as psychologically close (vs. distant), tourists exhibit higher visit intention when it is endorsed by a human (vs. virtual) influencer. Study 2 replicates this finding by manipulating the temporal dimension of psychological distance. Study 3 further strengthens the robustness of the results using different experimental stimuli. Moreover, this research identifies the underlying mechanism, demonstrating that perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity play a serial mediating role in this process. Originality/value This study makes a key original contribution by being the first to identify and explain the congruence effect between influencer type (virtual vs. human) and tourists' psychological distance to a destination, grounded in construal level theory (CLT). Its value is twofold: theoretically, it advances influencer marketing and CLT by identifying key boundary conditions and validating the serial “perceived credibility → perceived diagnosticity” mechanism. Practically, it provides a novel, actionable framework for tourism marketers to dynamically select influencer types (virtual for distant, human for close destinations) to maximize promotional effectiveness and audience engagement.