The purpose of this study is to make retention of the same companion theoretically uncertain. This study examines how social presence (SP), voice attractiveness (VA) and realised relational extension (RE) are associated with parasocial relationship strength (PRS) and, in turn, clients’ intention to rehire the same companion. It also examines whether these cue–PRS associations vary with perceived deep and surface acting.
A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design combined qualitative coding of forum posts and trial-voice clips, cognitive and role-perspective interviews, a stimuli-based salience pretest and a survey of 673 frequent clients analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
SP, VA and RE were positively associated with PRS (ß = 0.254–0.328, p < 0.001), which was strongly associated with continuance intention (ß = 0.788, p < 0.001). Significant indirect associations through PRS were also observed. Perceived surface acting was consistently associated with weaker cue–PRS relationships, whereas the strengthening pattern for perceived deep acting was evident only for SP.
The study extends parasocial relationship research to paid, voice-first encounters in which communication is reciprocal but relational commitment may remain asymmetric and shifts service-retention research from general platform use to same-companion continuance under low switching costs.
