Short video marketing ; Telepresence theory ; Short video content ; Short video characters ; Gender differences ; Vocal warmth ; Flow experience ; Travel intention
The widespread adoption of social media has made short travel videos an essential tool for tourism destination marketing and promotion. A critical question to explore is how to effectively convert users' attention to short travel videos into travel intentions. This study employs a 2×2×2 experimental design to examine the influence of three factors—video content, video character, and gender—on users' travel intentions, and to explore the relationship with flow experience and the moderating effect of perceived vocal warmth.The findings reveal that combinations involving female characters with emotionally oriented content and either action performers or voice narrators are more appealing to users than combinations featuring male characters with informationally oriented content and the same roles. These combinations are shown to play a more dominant role in travel video marketing. Additionally, the study identifies the moderating roles of flow experience and perceived vocal warmth.By integrating video content and video character, this research addresses gaps in the existing literature. It also integrates two concepts from the field of psychology, namely the concept of flow and the perception of warm sound, achieving a cross-disciplinary connection to broader academic fields such as tourism digital marketing, and providing valuable insights for both individuals and tourism marketing organizations.
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