This study investigated how human likeness (human-like vs. avatar-like) and agency (avatar vs. agent) interact to determine source credibility and the intention to interact with virtual influencers. The results revealed that human likeness significantly influenced three types of source credibility (attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise) and interaction intention. However, the agency of virtual influencers did not have a significant impact. Notably, the automated virtual influencer (i.e., the agent condition) was perceived to be more attractive and trustworthy and elicited higher interaction intention than the influencer operated by a human (i.e., the avatar condition). However, this relationship was observed only in the avatar-like condition. Thus, agency moderated the indirect relationship between human likeness and interaction through attractiveness and trustworthiness. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and ideas for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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人类相似性与虚拟影响者可信度的代理之间的相互作用。

这项研究调查了人类相似性（类人与类化身）和代理（化身与代理）如何相互作用，以确定来源可信度以及与虚拟影响者互动的意图。结果显示，人类相似度显着影响三种类型的来源可信度（吸引力、可信度和专业知识）和交互意图。然而，虚拟影响者的代理并没有产生重大影响。值得注意的是，自动虚拟影响者（即代理条件）被认为比人类操作的影响者（即化身条件）更具吸引力和可信度，并且引发了更高的交互意图。然而，这种关系仅在类似化身的情况下观察到。因此，代理通过吸引力和可信度调节了人类相似性和互动之间的间接关系。最后，讨论了研究结果的理论和实践意义以及对未来研究的想法。