“Mentor or friend?” the impact of virtual influencers' social roles on brand endorsement

Purpose As virtual influencers (VIs) become increasingly prominent in digital marketing, understanding how their perceived roles shape consumer responses is critical. This research investigates how a VI's social role (mentor vs. friend) influences brand attitude through psychological distance and examines the moderating effect of decisional guidance (suggestive vs. informative) on this process. Design/methodology/approach Two between-subject experimental studies (Study 1: N = 276; Study 2: N = 281) were conducted using samples recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings Study 1 shows that a VI's mentor role leads to more favorable brand attitudes than a friend role, and that this effect is mediated by reduced psychological distance. Study 2 confirms the moderating effect of decisional guidance, showing that the effect of the mentor role on brand attitude is stronger when the endorsement message provides suggestive (vs. informative guidance). Originality/value This research highlights the strategic role of social role design in VI branding and extends the understanding of how role-based and message-based cues shape consumer responses to VI endorsements. The findings offer practical insight into how brands can design VIs' roles and endorsement messages to enhance communication effectiveness.