Mental time travel: The influence of pre-trip sharing intention on tourist experience

Changing Beach Destination Image Schemas through Storytelling: A Study of Hainan Island, China

This study investigates how individual cognitive and affective traits shape viewers’ intentions to watch films promoted through short-video platforms. Drawing on narrative transportation theory and the Extended Transportation-Imagery Model, we propose that need for cognition influences viewing intention directly and indirectly through narrative transportation, with emotional contagion moderating this indirect pathway. Data were collected from 362 Chinese users of Douyin and Kwai through an online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that individuals with higher need for cognition experience stronger narrative transportation and demonstrate higher intention to watch the promoted film. Narrative transportation serves as a significant mediator, revealing its central role in translating cognitive engagement into behavioral intention. Emotional contagion further strengthens the relationship between narrative transportation and intention, indicating that viewers who are more susceptible to emotional synchrony are more likely to convert immersive experiences into action. These findings extend narrative persuasion theory to short-form media and highlight the joint contributions of cognition and emotion in digital film marketing. The study offers practical implications for audience segmentation and the design of personalized promotional content on short-video platforms.

The popularity of visual communication in social network sites (SNS) can guide an important question about its effectiveness and the optimization for luxury brand advertising: How do visual communication messages via SNS work for consumer information processing and their evaluation of luxury hotels? To address this question, we examine consumer information processing in SNS in which visual communication messages work as narratives based on narrative transportation theory (Green & Brock, 2002; van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). Specific purposes are: (1) to identify key features of consumer information processing as narrative persuasion (i.e., narrative transportation), (2) to examine how consumers’ perceptions of fluency with visual messages (i.e., comprehension fluency and imagery fluency) influence the narrative persuasion process, and (3) to explore how the narrative persuasion process develops consumer responses with respect to positive affect and visit intention. First, we predict that increased fluency of information processing (comprehension fluency and imagery fluency) would increase narrative transportation. Second, increased narrative transportation would increase affective response and visit intention. Lastly, as for the two consequences, we predict that affective response would positively affect visit intention. A web-based survey was used for data collection. Measurement items of research variables were adapted from previous studies. A total of 193 usable responses were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were directed to explore one randomly assigned luxury hotel Instagram page (Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton) and complete the questionnaire based on the experience. Results showed that comprehensive fluency, rather than imagery fluency, has significant impact on narrative transportation. Narrative transportation in turn influences affective response and visit intention; affective response influences visit intention. Additional tests suggest that narrative transportation and affective response play a mediating role in the narrative persuasion process. These findings highlight the power of narrative transportation in advertising for luxury brands, advising that marketers need to put efforts on enhancing visual storytelling in SNS communication.

In recent years, interactive multimedia guides have become increasingly common in museums, exhibition spaces, and tourist attractions. Over the past decade, Hsin Beitou government and local residents have launched a series of reform movements for local tourism. During the research process, it was found that the current planning of attractions lacks pre-tour guidance and itinerary arrangements. In on-site surveys, tourists expressed uncertainty about the route guidance of the attractions, and their itineraries usually began upon arrival at the destination or by searching for fragmented video materials beforehand. Through this research, the design of different types of videos, including narrative attraction animation videos, influencer videos focusing on attractions, and videos solely introducing attractions, were explored to investigate their impact on viewer attitudes and travel motivations.Previous studies have mainly focused on one-sided tourism discussions. This thesis, however, conducted field surveys, preliminary studies, and interviews to connect cultural and historical tourist attractions into a complete narrative-guided video. Drawing on literature research and analysis of narrative transportation theory, story-based tourism marketing, and video tourism, the thesis designed a video that provides clear and concise travel guidance, saving tourists' time. The 3 types of videos, including narrative animated tour video, influencer tour video and attraction introduction video were provided for tourists to explore the impact of these 3 videos on their travel motivations and the narrative transportation effectiveness. The study employed a questionnaire based on the narrative transportation theory and Likert 5-point scale to understand the satisfaction of the participants with the narrative-guided video and their motivation to visit the attractions.Based on literature research, this study connected significant attractions of Hsin Beitou area to create a narrative-guided video called "Hsin Beitou Healing Notebook". The content of the video was designed according to Gerrig's TIM scale, which includes The TIM scale included 11absorption propensity items and one imagery ability item capturing its major dimensions of cognitive, affective, and imagery involvement. The narrative of the video focused on a Japanese wounded soldier revisiting old sites in Hsin Beitou and recalling his experiences of healing after World War II. From this narrative, nine highlights of Hsin Beitou tourism were identified. The study applied narrative transportation theory to tourism, examining the impact of video design on tourists' travel motivations, using narrative-guided video design as the research method.

Underpinned by brand placement literature, associative network theory, and narrative transportation theory, this research examines how meme marketing types (brand prominent and brand subtle) create immersive consumer experiences through narrative transportation and the moderating effects of consumer brand knowledge, meme literacy, and linguistic characteristics (i.e., pronouns) on meme marketing effectiveness. Study 1 (N = 300) confirms that brand prominent meme marketing generates more favourable consumer outcomes (attitude towards ad, customer engagement) and narrative transportation compared to brand subtle meme marketing. Additionally, Study 1 examines the moderating effects of consumer brand knowledge and the mediating role of narrative transportation. Study 2 (N = 300) validates the findings of Study 1 and assesses the mediating role of narrative transportation between brand prominent meme marketing (vs. brand subtle) and outcomes among consumers with varying meme literacy. Brand prominent meme marketing yields profound consumer outcomes and narrative transportation, especially with low brand knowledge. Study 3 (N = 253) confirms the results of Studies 1 and 2 and further introduces a novel linguistic moderator, examining the use of first-person and second-person pronouns within the meme marketing content using a different product category. This study uncovers the influence of second-person pronouns on intensifying narrative transportation. Empirical evidence supports all three moderated mediation models. Overall, this study adds to the knowledge on meme marketing and provides useful insights for designing and targeting effective meme marketing campaigns.

The rise of augmented reality (AR) technology offers potential opportunities for the tourism industry and academia. Drawing upon narrative transportation and presence theory, this paper investigates the relationship between vividness, narrative transportation, sense of presence, and visiting other AR destination. The empirical findings indicate that vividness enhances narrative transportation and sense of presence in the AR-presented heritage tourism. In addition, narrative transportation nurtures sense of presence and triggers intention to visit other AR destinations. This paper contributes to narrative transportation theory and presence theory in an AR tourism marketing context and provides managerial insights for incorporating AR into effective destination marketing.

For decades, film has relied on stereotypical misconceptions to depict Appalachian people on screen. Research has demonstrated that visual narratives and the experience of narrative transportation has the power to change individuals’ perceptions about information conveyed implicitly or explicitly within a story. Presently, no empirical research has examined how viewer attitudes form based on their level of immersion into an Appalachian documentary film. To fill this gap, this study offers a quantitative approach to examine if the documentary Hillbilly narratively transports the viewer into the world of Appalachia and shifts audience perceptions of the stereotypical Appalachian persona or “hillbilly.” The film Hillbilly takes a media-against-media approach to challenge stereotypical Appalachian misconceptions. In this study, viewer attitudes and perceptions were assessed through a field experiment following a pretest-posttest experimental design using a sample of university students (n = 57) with theoretical grounding in narrative transportation theory. Research from this study suggests that viewers changed their perceptions of Appalachian people after watching the documentary, but narrative transportation was not the driving force in this shift. To identify this shift, this study deployed a new working model that extends previous attitude models to include variables of stereotypes and perceptions. This study offers significant advances in theory surrounding how media-against-media documentaries can be used to overcome audience biases, while proving that the documentary film Hillbilly was powerful enough to shift viewers' perceptions of Appalachian people.

COVID-19 is bringing changes in B2B sales and marketing strategies. Digital interaction with potential customers has become more critical. Business-reference content (BRC) is the most shared content, mainly using narrative format, available to potential customers through digital touchpoints. Reducing perceived purchasing risk has been recognized as the primary benefit of using BRC, but empirical research on this has been insufficient. Therefore, this research investigated the underlying mechanisms of BRC and related processes that lower risk perception based on narrative transportation theory. For empirical analysis, a serial-parallel mediating model was established in which BRC type (narrative versus non-narrative) influences purchase intention through the mediation of narrative transportation and perceived purchase risks – functional risk and financial risk. In this experimental study, an online survey was conducted in which 233 purchasing managers in Korean companies participated. The analysis confirmed that the BRC type had a significant effect on the level of receivers’ narrative transportation. In addition, serial-parallel mediating effects through narrative transportation (primary mediator) and perceived functional risk and perceived financial risk (secondary mediators) were all significant. This research provides meaningful implications in that it broadens the theoretical understanding of BRC by presenting the integrated BRC effect model. Also, it clarifies the importance of narrative BRC in B2B marketing practices.

Culture is one of the most important factors in attracting tourists and influencing the tourist experience. In China, “theme park” is a new field of tourism research, an excellent theme park can not only drive the development of a city’s tourism industry, but also help it better publicize its history and culture. The article takes Kaifeng, China as the background, and selects the Song Dynasty historical and cultural theme park, which was established based on the traditional ink painting Qingming Riverside Drawing, as an example, to study the factors affecting tourists’ travel experience in historical and cultural theme parks, and based on which it explores the reasons for the formation of tourists’ satisfaction and post-trip behavioral intentions, to provide references and suggestions for the development of cultural theme parks from the point of view of travel experience. Based on the expectation confirmation theory, this essay introduces five constructs, namely, expectation (tourism motivation), performance (service quality), confirmation (tourism experience), satisfaction, and post-trip behavior intention, to construct a model of the factors influencing tourists’ satisfaction by tourism experience in historical theme parks and analyze the intrinsic correlation among the factors within the model. It is found that tourists’ tourism experience is mainly affected by tourism motivation and service quality, satisfaction and post-trip behavior intention are jointly determined by the above three. According to the research results, this study believes that tourism motivation, service quality, and tourism experience should be the focus of attention of the current tourist destinations, therefore, focusing on tourists’ motivation to optimize the quality of service, helping tourists to enhance the sense of tourism experience, and improving based on the above focuses is of great significance to promote the development of historical and cultural theme parks.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of short video narratives on cost focus and differentiation focus, which subsequently influenced the intention to visit. The role of parasocial interaction was also examined. Drawing on the narrative transportation theory and Porter’s framework, this research collected data from a total of 1,214 online participants who had watched the short videos. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. The results suggested that short video narratives transported viewers into the story world (narrative transportation) of Porter’s framework. Thus, short video narratives positively provided tourists with a sense of cost-effectiveness (cost focus), and uniqueness (differentiation focus) of the horti-tourism destinations. Again, the destination’s cost focus subsequently led to the intention to visit. Also, parasocial interaction significantly strengthens the relationship between cost and differentiation on intention to visit. This study is one of the first attempts to provide an important perspective for destination stakeholders in applying narrative transportation to generate insights into Porter’s framework.

Episodic memory in nonhuman animals?

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of humor, usefulness and their interaction in negative online reviews on consumers’ likelihood to revisit third-party review-hosting websites. In addition, the paper investigates the underlying mechanism by which humor affects review readers. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses multiple participant experiments to examine the interaction between humor and usefulness. It analyzes the role of hedonic value and narrative transportation mediators. This theoretical approach is grounded in narrative transportation theory. ANOVA is the methodology used for analysis. Findings In negative reviews, usefulness negatively impacts consumers’ likelihood to return to the review-hosting website, while humor positively influences return intentions through hedonic value and narrative transportation. Both elements independently affect consumer behavior, but their combination does not significantly enhance this effect. Supplemental data from Yelp provides evidence that review readers differentiate between useful and humorous parts of reviews. Additional studies rule out mood enhancement and depletion of cognitive resources as alternative mediators. Research limitations/implications The study’s focus on negative reviews and its online experimental design may limit the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications Review-hosting websites should focus on the entertainment value of reviews, rather than solely on their informative content. This approach enhances user engagement and retention. Originality/value This paper contributes to the understanding of online consumer behavior by highlighting the significant yet nuanced impact of humor in online reviews, challenging the traditional emphasis on their utilitarian aspects and offering new insights for managing review-hosting platforms.

This paper aims at extending advertizing response theory by presenting a three-dimensional model of advertizing perceptions (conceptualized as experiences) by incorporating concepts from cognitive film psychology and narrative transportation theory. The conceptual model is operationalized, tested and evaluated on empirical data from an e-survey measuring the experiential dimensions and ad liking of ten selected TV ads. The findings showed reliability and validity of the proposed measurement scales. The study supported the hypothesized positive influence of all three dimensions on ad liking, but to variable degree. The results showed that the suggested application of the framework is capable of measuring advertizing experiences based on their degree of didactic, narrative and lyrical potential. Findings also suggested that the lyrical dimension supports the narrative experience, adding a new ‘lyrical’ perspective to the conceptual understanding of narrative transportation in advertizing. Keywords: television advertizing, creative strategy, narrative transportation, advertizing effectiveness, lyrical advertizing, advertizing perceptions. JEL Classification: M31, M37

The emergence of digital technology has led researchers, businesses, and entrepreneurs to reflect more on the potential value that Augmented Reality (AR) can play in tourism. Although the relationship between authenticity and travel intention has been examined previously, little is known about how authenticity influences tourist travel intention after an AR experience. To fill this research gap, the current study constructs a theoretical model from narrative transportation theory. The results show that narrative transportation is a mechanism that bridges object-based authenticity and existential authenticity with travel intention. This study provides valuable theoretical insights into the antecedents and consequences of narrative transport while enriching the understanding of AR. Meaningful practical insights are offered to destination authorities.

Short video storytelling has become an important channel for destination marketing. However, how to take advantage of short video storytelling to enhance festival attractiveness is unclear. Based on narrative transportation theory, this study analysed 494 questionnaires through the hybrid exploration method of structural equation model (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), to deeply explore the mechanism and conditional configuration of short video storytelling affecting festival attractiveness. The findings reveal that the effect of short video storytelling on festival attractiveness is significant, and partly mediated by narrative transportation. Moreover, compared with future-oriented people, present-oriented people are more likely to immerse themselves in short video storytelling and be attracted by festivals. Additionally, novelty, a core condition for high festival attractiveness, significantly strengthens the effects of storytelling and narrative transportation on attractiveness. Overall, this study expands the theoretical knowledge of short video storytelling in festival marketing and supports destination managers to formulate effective short video marketing strategies for destination festivals.