I bond, I engage, I visit: investigating the effects of vloggers tourist engagement and its outcome on tourist attitudes

Abstract

The present study investigates the effectiveness of tourism vlogs (video blogs), the parasocial bonding between the vloggers and the tourist/prospect and the wishful identification of the tourist/prospect on the different components of engagement namely, affective, cognitive and behavioral. The study also inspects the subsequent effect of the components of engagement on visit intentions and electronic word of mouth. We adopted a mixed method approach involving two focus group discussions followed by a sample survey of 541 respondents from India to construct and validate the study hypotheses using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate a differential effect of parasocial bonding and wishful identification on the components of consumer engagement. Likewise, engagement components are observed to have differential effects on visit intentions and electronic word of mouth. This study extends the application of social learning theory to tourism by offering a novel perspective on how interactions with travel vlogs collectively shape customer decisions and travel intentions. Tourism marketers can capitalize on the impact of parasocial interactions and wishful identification with travel vloggers to enhance engagement and boost the dissemination of electronic word-of-mouth.