This study aims to investigate the mechanism through which short-form video content, which has rapidly expanded in the digital media environment, influences the formation of tourism consumer behavior. In particular, short-form content centered on Douy...
This study aims to investigate the mechanism through which short-form video content, which has rapidly expanded in the digital media environment, influences the formation of tourism consumer behavior. In particular, short-form content centered on Douyin differs from traditional social media in that it provides repetitive visual and auditory stimuli within a short period of time, thereby exhibiting a “high-stimulation, low-cognitive-processing” structure. Such an environment encourages users to make decisions based more on experiential and emotional responses than on deep cognitive evaluation. Recent studies have also suggested that short-form content enhances immersion and emotional responses, thereby influencing the formation of behavioral intentions (Gan et al., 2023; Qiu et al., 2024).
Accordingly, this study goes beyond simply applying the conventional linear Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework repeatedly adopted in prior research and seeks to refine an experience-based behavioral formation mechanism suitable for the short-form content environment. Based on the S-O-R theory, this study distinguishes immersion experience (cognitive response) and perceived enjoyment (emotional response) within the organism stage and reconstructs their relationship as a sequential dual-mediation structure rather than a single mediation structure. In addition, a competing model was established and comparatively analyzed in order to examine alternative explanations regarding the relationship between immersion experience and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, the stimulus variables—perceived interactivity, perceived informativeness, and perceived novelty—were redefined as formal, informational, and experiential stimulus dimensions, respectively, in order to minimize conceptual overlap. Tourism involvement was also conceptualized not merely as an individual characteristic but as an information-processing pathway variable that moderates the process through which stimuli are transformed into experiences.
For the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted targeting users who had experience using travel-related short-form content on Douyin. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SPSS and SmartPLS 4.0. After validating the measurement model, structural model analysis, mediation analysis, moderation analysis, and competing model comparison were conducted.
The results are summarized as follows. First, perceived interactivity, informativeness, and novelty all had significant effects on immersion experience and perceived enjoyment. However, the effect size (f²) analysis indicated that the influence of these stimulus variables remained relatively weak overall. This suggests that, within the short-form content environment, the experiential response structure induced by stimuli is more important than the individual stimuli themselves. Second, immersion experience significantly influenced perceived enjoyment, while perceived enjoyment emerged as the most influential variable affecting travel intention. In particular, the path from perceived enjoyment to travel intention showed the largest effect size in the research model, indicating that emotional responses play a central role in the formation of behavioral intentions. In contrast, the direct path from immersion experience to travel intention showed a relatively smaller effect size, suggesting that immersion experience exerts a more meaningful influence indirectly through emotional responses rather than independently. Third, the competing model analysis indicated that both models demonstrated acceptable model fit, although the differences between them were not substantial. Therefore, this study ultimately adopted the baseline model in which immersion experience precedes perceived enjoyment, based on theoretical consistency with prior studies. Fourth, tourism involvement partially moderated the relationships between the stimulus variables and immersion experience, implying that information-processing styles and experience formation processes differ according to individuals’ levels of involvement, even when exposed to the same content.
These findings provide several theoretical contributions. First, this study extends the theoretical scope of digital content research by conceptualizing short-form content as a high-stimulation, low-cognitive-processing environment distinct from traditional social media. Second, by proposing a sequential dual-mediation structure centered on immersion experience and perceived enjoyment, this study provides a more refined explanation of tourism behavioral formation mechanisms. Third, by redefining tourism involvement as a key variable that moderates information-processing pathways, this study extends individual-difference research to the mechanism level.
Nevertheless, this study has several limitations. Since the study employed a cross-sectional design based on self-reported survey data and relied on a single-country, single-platform (Douyin) sample, limitations remain regarding internal validity and external generalizability. In addition, some practical implications presented in this study are based partly on empirical findings and partly on the researcher’s interpretive extension. Future research should employ behavioral log data, experimental designs, and longitudinal approaches for more rigorous validation.