VLOG: RESONANCE EXPERIENCE IMPACT ON AUDIENCE CONTINUANCE

INTENTION TO WATCH TRAVEL VLOGS AND TRAVEL INTENTION

A thesis submitted to the

Kent State University College
of Education, Health, and Human Services
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Science

By

Chenyu Yu

August 2021
YU, CHENYU, M.S., AUGUST 2021 HOSPITALITY AND
TOURISM MANAGEMENT

VLOG: RESONANCE EXPERIENCE IMPACT ON AUDIENCE CONTINUANCE

INTENTION TO WATCH TRAVEL VLOGS AND TRAVEL INTENTION (71 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Kiwon Lee, PhD.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the audience’s resonance experience

when watching travel vlogs and its influence on their behavioral intentions. The premise of

this study was when the audience’s inherent needs are being fulfilled, it would reform their

behavioral intention. Three theoretical concepts including the theory of resonance, U&G

theory, and the involvement theory were employed in this study.

Data were collected from students at Kent State University and general consumers

through Amazon MTurk. Participants were asked to complete an online survey. Multiple

regression analysis was conducted, and the results revealed that audiences’ resonance

experiences were significantly related with their continuance intention to watch travel vlogs

and travel intention of presented destinations. Also, audiences’ resonance experiences were

positively related to their perceived involvement, followed by continuance intention to watch

and travel intention.

 ACKNOLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my

advisor and research director. Dr. Kiwon Lee for the continuous support for my master study

and research. Her dynamism, vision, sincerity and motivation have deeply inspired me. She

has taught me the methodology to carry out the research and to present the research works as

clearly as possible.

Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Dr. Philip

Wang and Dr. Seon Jeong Lee, for their encouragement and insightful comments.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family: my parents Haigang Yu and

Shuying Chen, for giving birth to me in the first place and supporting me spiritually

throughout my life, also my boyfriend, Xiaocheng Liu, for all his love and support.

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOLEDGMENTS................................................................................................ii

LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................iv

LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................v

CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1

II. LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................6

Travel Vlogs and Usage Intention............................................................................6
Uses and Gratification (U&G) Theory.....................................................................8
Resonance Experience.............................................................................................9
Travel Intention......................................................................................................16
Perceived Involvement..........................................................................................18

III. METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................22
Measures...............................................................................................................22
Participants and Data Collection...........................................................................25
Data Analysis........................................................................................................25

IV. RESULTS............................................................................................................27
Characteristics of Participants...............................................................................27
Result of Reliability and Descriptive Test of Measurement.................................30
Effects of Resonance on Continuance Intention to Watch and Travel Intention.31
Effects of Resonance on Perceived Involvement & Effects of Perceived
Involvement on Continuance Intention to Watch and Travel Intentions .............33

V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION..................................................................35

Discussion............................................................................................................35
Theoretical Implication........................................................................................40
Managerial Implication........................................................................................42
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research................................................43

APPENDICES............................................................................................................45
APPENDIX A......................................................................................................46
APPENDIX B......................................................................................................48

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................56

iii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Conceptual framework of resonance, perceived involvement, continuance intention

to watch travel vlogs, and travel intention...................................................................21

iv
 LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Measurement Items.....................................................................................................23

2. Demographic Profile ..................................................................................................27

3. Travel Habits (Assuming that Covid-19 is not a factor) (n=356)...............................28

4. The Most Memorable Travel Vlog (n=356)...............................................................29

5. Results of Reliability and Descriptive Tests (n=356).................................................30

6. Multiple Regression Analysis (Resonance & Intention) (n=356)..............................32

7. Multiple Regression Analyses (Perceived Involvement) (n=356) ............................ 34

v
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The YouTube platform started as a social media platform, but after more than ten

years of evolution, it has become a powerful marketing communications tool (Cheng, Wei &

Zhang, 2020; Griffith & Papacharissi, 2009; Trinh & Nguyen, 2019). Vlog, also known as

video blogs, is a new form of self-expression posted by individuals. As the YouTube slogan

articulates: “broadcast yourself”, vloggers use video format to tell their personal experiences

and stories. Travel vlogs catch tourism scholars' attention because of their potential marketing

value to a vast audience. Personal travel vlog channels accounted for more than 46% of

YouTube subscriptions, which is much more than other travel channel formats such as

official travel networks channels, official travel brand channels, and publications channels

(Trinh & Nguyen, 2019). It also gets both marketers’ and audiences' attention due to its

format. The combination of elements including motion and sound in the video makes it easy

for the audience to understand the meanings and emotions of the messages because these

elements engage the senses of the audience better compared to non-motion messages (Zamri,

Fatihah & Mazni, 2019). Considering the great marketing value of travel vlogs, many

investigations have been made into them with particular attention on major tourism concepts,

especially destination image (Peralta, 2019; Trinh & Nguyen, 2019) and travel intention

(Cheng et al., 2020). Despite the existence of extensive literature on travel vlogs and

behavioral intention toward the destination, less attention has been given to the usage
 2

intention of travel vlogs. It is important to investigate why audiences continue to watch travel

vlogs due to their marketing value in advertising destinations. This study aims to investigate

how travel vlogs become meaningful to the audience while influencing their intention to

continue watching travel vlogs in daily life and intention to travel.

“Meaningful” is an important term in creative tourism. Creative tourism

expanded the definition of “place” to “meaningful location,” and aimed to stress the

connection between people and place (Bakas et al., 2020). “Meaningful” can be understood

as a “creative atmosphere” by “Knowledge-based creative activities that link producers,

consumers, and places by utilizing technology, talent or skill to generate meaningful

intangible culture products, create content, and experiences” (Richards, 2020, p. 14). The

author believed a tourism marketing tool should not only emphasize presenting beautiful

views or novelty experiences to their audience but also it should emphasize the audience's

psychological reactions to the content.

This study employs resonance to explain the significant role of travel vlogs, and

also investigates the audience’s stickiness to travel vlogs from a psychological perspective.

Resonance is a common concept describing the audiences’ correspondences to messages. It is

an experience where audiences feel a personal connection with vloggers and the information

they convey (Giorgi, 2017). The concept of resonance is widely used in the marketing field,

such as strategies to find a new market niche (Hershey, 2008) and to impact consumers'

purchase intentions (Shang, Wu & Sie, 2017). The sense of resonance has been recently

adopted in the tourism field as a dynamic response to the travel vlog content (Cheng et al.,
 3

2020; Giorgi, 2017). The response could be both cognitive and emotional: cognitive

resonance relates to thinking and emotional resonance refers to feeling and sense (Giorgi,

2017). The theory of resonance explains the emerging process of resonance and the

classification of cognitive resonance and emotional resonance (Giorigi, 2017; McDonnell,

2017). A total of five variables were selected to represent resonance: perceived homophily

and perceived information usefulness belong to cognitive resonance, and entertainment,

inspiration, and escapism belong to emotional resonance.

As well as the theory of resonance, this study is led by the Use and Gratification

(U&G) theory and the involvement theory. The U&G theory is the major theory used to

buttress the relationship between resonance experience and the audience’s continuance watch

intention of travel vlogs. It is already a widely utilized and tested theory proposing that

different gratification needs will result in different patterns of media usage (Katz, 1959).

More recently, it was adopted by many scholars to explain people’s intentions behind the use

of various forms of new media, such as “liking” behavior, interactive advertising, food

delivery apps, and Facebook stickiness (Hossain, Kim & Jahan, 2019; Ko, Cho & Roberts,

2005; Lin, Lee & Giang, 2016; Ray et al., 2019; Shin, 2010). This study assumes that the

resonance experience through travel vlogs would fulfill the audience's needs and,

consequently, impact their intention to continually watch travel vlogs and their travel

intention. This is an attempt to explain the intangible connection between the audience and

the messages received from travel vlogs. If this assumption is proven, tourism marketers

could use this model to amplify the advertising effect of travel vlogs. With the audience's
 4

intention to continually watch travel vlogs, marketers could maximize their advertising

effects to build an intangible connection between audiences and destination, eventually

creating a “meaningful location”.

Perceived involvement is employed as a mediator in the present study, which is a

variable closely linked to marketing (Michaelidou & Dibb, 2008). Several previous studies

already utilized involvement theory to explain users’ continuance usage intention of new

media, such as Twitter (Liu, Cheng & Lee, 2010), YouTube (Bakar et al., 2014), and internet

protocol television (Lin et al., 2012). Involvement is a controversial variable in its history. It

could be used either as a moderator or a mediator depending on the definition chosen in the

study. As a moderator, it could be defined as response involvement, which is used to refer to

a behavioral orientation that includes information acquisition and decision processes

(Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984). The mediating role of involvement was proposed by Mitchell

(1979). He prefers to think of involvement as a state variable to focus on the temporary

concern of an objective. When it works as a mediator, it always links to descriptions like “the

degree of” or the “level of” (Michaelidou et al., 2008) and could be defined as a person’s

perceived relevance to travel vlogs based on the audience’s inherent importance, needs, and

values (Shiau and Luo, 2013). For instance, Shiau and Luo (2010) explained the perceived

involvement as a psychological state that relates to people’s perceived importance and

relevance with a system. Also, people perceive that involvement encompasses a chain of

people’s behavior, such as needs recognition and sharing information across friendship

groups (Hsia et al., 2020). In the present study, resonance could fulfill the audience's inherent
 5

needs as presented above, and involvement could mediate the relationship of resonance

experience and the audience’s continuance intention to watch travel vlogs and travel

intention.

In sum, the study purpose is to investigate the audience’s resonance experience

when watching travel vlogs and its influence on their behavioral intentions. Specifically,

three objectives are achieved; (1) the first is to examine if resonance experiences will

influence the audience’s continuance intention to watch travel vlogs and travel intention of

the presented destination, (2) the second is to test if resonance experience will also influence

the audience’s perceived involvement, and (3) the third is to test if perceived involvement

will influence the audience’s continuance intention to watch travel vlogs and travel intention

of the presented destination. The premise of this study is when the audience’s inherent needs

are being fulfilled, it will reform their behavioral intention. The next section provides a

literature review of travel vlogs, resonance, and involvement, as well as three theoretical

concepts including the theory of resonance, U&G theory, and the involvement theory.
 6

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Travel Vlogs and Usage Intention

The buzzword “vlog” is composed of the words “video” and “blog”. Vlogs

represent a new form of self-expression, which is rooted in our virtual community

environment (Griffith et al., 2009). Vloggers share their personal stories and experiences via

videos instead of photo and text formats. Travel vloggers share their travel stories and

personalized travel-related information on a video-based platform, such as YouTube. Those

shared travel videos play a mediating role in people’s travel experiences like a tour guide

linking tourists to destination attractions (Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009). When the

audience watches travel vlogs, they are involved in the content through the experience shared

by vloggers.

During the past several decades, video marketing has become a trendy marketing

tool and attracts scholars to investigate its theoretical and empirical significance (Trinh et al.,

2019). From the very beginning, companies were considered the only creators of video

marketing messages. These video marketing tools created content about products to influence

consumer’s experiences and future behaviors (Liu, Liu & Zhang, 2018). There are already a

large number of investigations on travel-related video's influence on tourists’ behaviors. For

instance, Chaiken and Eagly (1983) conclude that messages delivered through audio and

visual combinations make a significant impact on persuasion, facilitate message recall, and
 7

enhance the salience of communicator-related information, which is positively associated

with consumers’ travel intention. Recent investigations also mentioned that repeated

watching of a video may lead to a great change in audiences’ perceptions of destination

images (Fu, Ye & Xiang, 2016).

With the development of social media, one-way communication has grown to be

multi-dimensional, two-way, peer-to-peer communication (Hautz et al, 2013), and user-

generated videos became more and more popular in the past decade (Braun et al., 2017).

Compared to travel-related videos created by companies, travel vlogs have more limits on

their definition. Travel vlogs need to be based on personal experiences or personally

generated travel-related information (Cheng et al., 2020). It is still a young investigation topic

in the tourism industry because it was just generated in recent years. Nevertheless, several

studies have proposed travel vlog’s significance in tourism. Griffithth and Papacharissi

(2009) found that travel vlogs provide helpful information to audiences, which positively

influences audiences’ travel intention. This view is supported by Trinh et al. (2019), who

found that perceived information usefulness, comprehensiveness, novelty, and interestingness

had positive effects on audiences’ perceived destination image.

Cheng et al. (2020) recently employed electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) as a mediator to

explain the relationship between resonance that emerged during the travel vlogs watching

experience and audiences’ travel intention. They conclude that both cognitive and affective

resonance positively influenced audiences’ travel intention through e-WOM, while source

credibility (one of cognitive resonance) is the strongest predictor of e-WOM. Besides e-

 8

WOM, the internet celebrity effect (Xiao, et al. 2020) and the role of mediation, or brokerage,

also have been used to explain the influence of travel vlogs in tourism.

There is increasing interest in travel vlog's influence on consumers' travel intentions.

But previous studies have not dealt with why people keep watching travel vlogs, or in other

words, what motivates people to watch travel vlogs. This study examines motivators of

people’s watching intention of travel vlogs through a foundational theoretical lens of uses and

gratification theory, and theoretical concepts of resonance and perceived involvement. This

study assumes that the resonance experience through watching travel vlogs will increase the

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs. This assumption is led by the uses and

gratification theory, that the resonance experience will fulfill audiences’ uses and

gratification to a certain extent to make travel vlogs become an important part of their life and

exert its role as a marketing tool to increase audiences’ travel intention. Further, perceived

involvement will play a mediating role between the resonance experience and the

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs. Those proposed relationships are described in the

following sections.

Uses and Gratification (U&G) Theory

The U&G theory is first proposed by Katz (1959) to explain that people’s different

gratification needs will result in different patterns of media usage. Several years after it was

introduced, the U&G theory became used to understand people’s usage intentions on

television or specific programs (Katz et al., 1973). Since the 1980s, U&G theory has been

broadly used to understand people’s U&G behind the usage of different forms of media and
 9

related behaviors (Ray et al., 2019), including TV worship service (Pettersson, 1986),

newspaper (Blood, Keir & Kang, 1983), home VCR usage for kids (Cohen, Levy & Golden,

1988), information-seeking behavior (Chatman, 1991), cellular phone use (Leung & Wei,

2000), and online fans community (Tilton, 1999). More recently, the theory is widely

employed by scholars to investigate people’s intentions behind the use of various forms of

new media. For instance, scholars studied why people use food delivery apps (Ray et al.,

2019), the formation of Facebook stickiness, or addiction, (Lin et al., 2016), “liking”

behavior on social media (Hossain et al., 2019), interactive advertising (Ko et al., 2005), and

understanding e-book users (Shin, 2010).

The current study utilizes U&G theory in the context of audiences’ continuance

intention to watch travel vlogs for two main reasons. First, the U&G theory is a widely used

and tested theory for understanding the motives and reasons behind the usage of a specific

platform or media. Second, U&G theory has been adapted and utilized by abundant studies in

a comprehensive context, including the latest electronic products, new forms of

communication platforms, and social media. As travel vlogs are the new form of travel videos

that mainly present personal travel experiences and travel-related information, the author

utilizes the U&G theory.

Resonance Experience

Resonance is a common concept describing the audiences’ correspondences to

messages. In the context of travel vlogs, it is an experience during which audiences feel a

personal connection with vloggers and the information they convey (Giorgi, 2017).
 10

Resonance is proposed to explain why certain messages or cultural objects are better than

others at achieving certain outcomes (Snow et al., 1986) and has been utilized across

disciplines including “cultural resonance, embodied resonance, emotional resonance, ethical

resonance, frame resonance, and historical resonance” (Ruthven, 2020).

Within the marketing literature, brand resonance and consumer resonance are two

strong concepts. Brand resonance is related to various concepts of the brand including

consumer-brand relationship (Huber, Meyer, & Schmid, 2015), brand attachment (Park et al.,

2010), and brand loyalty and equity (Jung et al., 2014). The term “consumer resonance” is

used by Shang et al., (2016) as a pre-conditional of word-of-mouth on social network sites,

which influences audience purchase intention for the successful consumer-brand relationship.

Resonance is a virtual concept that builds a bond between consumers and products in the

marketing field. Investigating the process of resonance formation is the first step to access

this concept of the whole resonance experience.

Familiarity and congruency are the preconditions of resonance experience emerging

through watching travel vlogs. Some researchers concluded that resonance happens when the

content is aligned or congruent with audiences' lifestyle (Benford and Snow, 2000),

experiences (Jones et al., 2010), target values and beliefs (Giorgi, 2017). Ruthven (2020) also

confirmed that familiarity is important because it expresses the part audiences already

accepted and experienced, at the same time creates a foundation to help audiences to accept

what is new.
 11

However, it is necessary to distinguish resonance from the sense of familiarity.

Both McDonell (2017) and Giorgi (2017) proposed that resonance is beyond familiarity or

congruence. They point out that an alignment can partially explain the emergent process of

resonance, but it is not enough. McDonell (2017) proposed the term “cognitive distance” to

indicate that familiarity is based on the same cognize between messages and people, but

resonance happens when received messages go beyond their cognize. Giorgi (2017) reported

a similar viewpoint in the same year that blending the familiar elements which fit the

audiences’ values, beliefs, and understandings, with unfamiliar elements in “moderate

novelty” which is a primary mechanism to achieve cognitive resonance. Besides that,

McDonnell (2017) made a supplement to the theory of resonance that resonance emerges

because messages the audiences received help people “solve puzzles they face” and affect

how people “interpret and reevaluate the world around them”.

Resonance is divided into cognitive resonance and emotional resonance. Cognitive

resonance occurs when content meets audiences’ values, beliefs, and understandings, while

emotional resonance occurs when the content appeals to audiences’ feelings, passions, and

aspirations (Giorgi, 2017; Cheng et al., 2020). The relationship between cognitive resonance

and emotional resonance is not parallel but very complex. McDonnell (2017) describes

emotional resonance as the sense of “moves” or “shakes” by cultural objects. He emphasizes

that resonance is “deeply rooted in emotion” and that scholars should not only focus on the

cognitive processes and ignore the power of emotions. Some researchers even proposed that

emotional harmony overpowers the cognitive incongruity between cultural objects and the
 12

audience (Schrock et al., 2004). Giorgi (2017) has a more neutral attitude toward emotional

resonance. He proposed that the relationship between emotional resonance and cognitive

resonance is more like interpenetrating each other. The author prefers to consider that

emotional resonance and cognitive resonance are mutually reinforcing to build the connection

between travel vlogs and audiences.

According to Katz et al.'s (1973) theoretical research, there are five meaningful

groups of people’s needs: cognitive needs, emotional needs, integrative needs, social needs,

and escape needs. Cognitive needs are related to strengthening knowledge, understanding,

and information. Emotional needs are related to strengthening pleasurable, aesthetic, and

emotional experiences. Integrative needs are related to the combination of cognitive and

affective elements, such as credibility, confidence, stability, and status. Social needs are

related to contact with friends, family, and the world. Escape needs are related to tension-

release or weakening one’s social roles. Addressing the theoretical background of cognitive

and emotional resonance, this study assumes that resonance experience will fulfill audiences’

inherent needs. Cognitive resonance embraces the audiences’ perceived homophily and

perceived information usefulness. Perceived homophily will fulfill audiences’ social needs,

while perceived information usefulness will fulfill their cognitive needs. Meanwhile,

emotional resonance will fulfill audiences’ emotional needs through entertainment,

inspiration, and escapism.

The sense of alignment is the main mechanism of cognitive resonance, which fosters

the audience to understand received information by providing them with means and
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transposing the novelty part to a known domain (Giorgi, 2017). This study adopted

homophily to evaluate the alignment between the audience and the vlogger. Homophily is

one of the important social relationship indicators in networking sites (Chu & Kim, 2011). It

can be defined as the degree to which individuals have similar characteristics with others they

interact with (Chu & Kim, 2011). Homophily between travel vloggers and audiences could be

similar demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and race, and also could be similar

beliefs and attitudes (Shang et al., 2017). Audiences’ perceived homophily related to their

engagement behavior and decision making both in real life and online sites. Individuals tend

to socialize and have interpersonal communication with those who share similar

characteristics (Mouw, 2006) because the more similar characteristics they have, the more

ease they feel to communicate (Chu & Kim, 2011). In online sites, users’ perceived

homophily will increase their trust in other social media users and will increase the possibility

of seeking product-related information (Leonhardt, Pezzuti & Namkoong, 2020). From a

marketing perspective, placement of congruence in movies and videos has more significant

effects on consumers' purchase decision making more than how big the logo they want on the

screen (Cheng & Kim, 2016). From an external perspective, the YouTube system would

recommend videos to the audience by a prediction result based on audiences’ previous

comments, likes, and relevant ID which are indicators of their watching preference (Braun &

Cuzzocrea, 2017). It will enhance the audiences’ perceived homophily during watching the

travel vlogs because recommend videos are based on their preferences. After reviewing the
 14

literature, the author assumes that the audiences’ perceived homophily will positively

influence their continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

McDonnell (2017) defined resonance as “resources for puzzle solving in action”

from a pragmatic perspective (p.5). According to the definition, this study employs

information usefulness to explain how resonance experience watching travel vlogs fulfill

audiences’ cognitive needs. Information usefulness can be defined as information perceived

by the audience to be informative or helpful (Shang., et al, 2017). Hautz et al. (2014) stressed,

when users’ information seeking is satisfied, it will affect their behavior intention in turn.

Users’ perceived tourism information usefulness in user-generated sources is higher than

other sources, such as company websites and public websites (No & Kim, 2015). This study

assumes that travel vlogs as user-generated content (Leonhardt et al., 2020) will fulfill

audience cognitive needs thus influence their continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

Emotional resonance is defined by Giorgi (2017) as a felt alignment of a frame with

the audience’s desires, passions, or aspirations. He also proposed that emotional states are

key to understand people's further behavior. According to U&G theory, emotional needs are

important in the use of the mass media (Katz et al., 1973). For instance, previous research

(Guinea & Markus, 2009) revealed that emotion directly influences continuing information

technology use. The usage intentions of television (Rubin, 1983), mobile media (Jun and Lee,

2007), and video-sharing websites (Shao, 2009) are also proved to be affected by emotional

needs. Given the literature, this study adopted entertainment, inspiration, and escapism as

emotional resonance to explain the audiences’ continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.
 15

Entertainment is one of the most typical motives for media consumption (Katz et

al., 1973; Shao, 2009). For some people, entertainment and mass media are even nearly

synonymous (Shao, 2009). Klobas et al. (2018) proposed that stronger motivation to use

YouTube for entertainment is related to more compulsive use.

Inspiration is another critical emotional resonance that would affect the audiences’

behaviors and is defined as “an infusion of beliefs stimulated by truth, goodness or beauty”

(Cheng et al., 2020). A previous study proposed that inspiration is a specific intrinsic

motivation, which is induced by external sources and motivates the realization of new ideas

(Bottger et al., 2017). Travel videos are a powerful tool for stimulating “daydreams and

reminiscences” and triggering the audience's potential further behaviors (Tussyadiah and

Fesenmaier, 2009).

Escapism is related to tension-release and weakening one self’s social roles (Katz,

1973). Escape from daily routine is a common perspective of tourism (Valek & Fotiadis,

2018). It works both as pull and push factors for tourism motivation (Michael et al., 2020).

Even though it does not mean escapism is a negative attitude, the sense of “hedonic

escapism” has been identified in some luxury activities. Consumers have a sense of

disconnection with the real world, for example, gambling in a casino (Cheng et al., 2020).

This study will define escapism as a sense of immersion and feeling out of real structures

when the audience watches travel vlogs.

According to the theory of resonance from McDonnell (2017), it is both cognitive

and emotional resonance that helps identify lines of action toward ends-in-view, potentially
 16

revising people’s desires and imagining of what is possible. By related the sense of resonance

to U&G theory, hypotheses are developed to understand continuance intention to watch travel

vlogs as following:

H1: Perceived homophily through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

H2: Perceived information usefulness through travel vlogs watching experience will

positively influence audiences’ continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

H3: Entertainment through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

H4: Inspiration through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence audiences’

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

H5: Escapism through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence audiences’

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

Travel Intention

Travel intention is the immediate antecedent to travel behavior, which is an outcome

of a mental process that transforms motivation into behavior or action (Jang et al., 2009).

This notion has been widely investigated by tourism scholars; many factors would trigger

audiences’ travel intention. The factors could be from a self-perception perspective or a

cognitive consistency perspective (Jung et al., 2017). Travel vlogs, with multiple view

presentation modes, including pictures, videos, and music, act as non-personal mediators for

the tourist experience. Messages conveyed through audio and visual combinations are
 17

effective to influence audiences’ travel intentions (Hautz et al, 2014). For instance, Fu et al.

(2016) revealed that watching reality TV shows is positively associated with their travel

intention of the destination presented, audience involvement is the major factor through the

watching experience. Further, the more audiences liked the video, the more it affected their

travel intention (Almaki, Pesonen & Dirin, 2019).

Resonance experience does not get enough attention from tourism scholars. Few

studies dealt with the resonance experience through watching travel vlogs. Only a recent

study from Cheng et al., (2020) start to introduce the resonance concept for the travel

intention’s investigation. They proposed resonance experience will positively impact

audiences’ e-WOM, and as a result, will influence their travel intention. According to the e-

WOM concept, they chose to evaluate information acquisition, source credibility, video

quality, and emotions’ influence on travel intention. In this study, the author will emphasize

audiences’ psychological perception when they feel resonate with travel vlogs, and evaluate

those feelings’ impacts on their travel intention. Based on the discussions above, hypotheses

are put forward as follows:

H6: Perceived homophily through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ travel intention.

H7: Perceived information usefulness through travel vlogs watching experience will

positively influence audiences’ travel intention.

H8: Entertainment through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ travel intention.

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H9: Inspiration through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence audiences’

travel intention.

H10: Escapism through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence audiences’

travel intention.

Perceived Involvement

The term involvement is investigated through previous studies that utilize it either in

moderating or mediating roles, depending on the definition chosen in the study. Houston and

Rothschild (1978) first suggest that there are three types or forms of involvement: enduring,

situational, and response. Enduring involvement reflects the extent that people perceived

relevant or self-related with some cognitive elements like personal goals or values (Celsi and

Olson, 1988). Situational involvement refers to an intensity, it will always be described as

“the degree of” or the “level of”, which represents a “mental state” temporary concern with

an object (Michaelidou et al., 2008). Response involvement is used to refer to a behavioral

orientation that includes information acquisition and decision processes (Leavitt, et al., 1981),

where involvement is seen as a behavior rather than as a mediator of behavior. This study

will adopt the definition of perceived involvement as “a subjective psychological state

indicating the importance and personal relevance of a system to the user” (Shiau & Luo,

2010), and employ its mediating role to explain the relationship between audiences’

resonance experience and continuance intention to watch travel vlogs.

The level of involvement is impacted by personal, physical, and situational factors

(Zaichkowsky, 1985). The present study emphasizes personal needs’ impact on perceived
 19

involvement. For instance, Burnkrant and Sawyer (1984) proposed involvement is a state

which is based on messages receivers’ need for information, especially useful information.

Zaichkowsky (1985) defined involvement as people perceived relevance of objects, the

inherent need is one of the major factors. Shiau et al. (2010) also confirmed in their study of

blog usage intention that user involvement is a person’s perceived relevance of the blog based

on the audience's inherent needs. From a different perspective, perceived personal relevance

is the essential characteristic of involvement (Andrews, Durvasula & Akhter, 1990; Huang,

Chou & Lin, 2010). Ruthven (2020) compared and analyzed the major definition of

resonance and perceived relevance, then he indicates that resonance is appropriate to describe

the meaning of perceived relevance. Addressing the U&G theory used in this study,

resonance experience can fulfill audiences’ inherent needs such as cognitive needs, emotional

needs, social needs, and escapism needs, which could elicit a sense of involvement.

Several previous studies investigated the continuance usage intention on new media.

For instance, Liu, Cheng, and Lee (2010) investigated the motives of users’ continuance

intention to use Twitter. They found that content gratification and new technology

gratification influence the continuance usage intention of users. Four years later, Bakar et al

(2014) replicate the same model to investigate factors contributing to continuance intention to

watch movies on YouTube. Similar research also includes the investigation of Internet

protocol television (Lin et al., 2012). Most of those scholars proposed that objects will fulfill

users’ needs and increase their satisfaction level then work on continuance use intention.

Instead of satisfaction level, this study adopts the term, perceived involvement.
 20

Perceived involvement is an important factor to explain and predict consumer

behavior. Richins, Bloch & McQuarrie (1992) revealed that enduring and situational

involvement could be combined to create involvement responses, the responses influence

various stages of the decision process. Additionally, users ’ perceived involvement has been

confirmed by Shiau et al., (2010) to positively associate with the intention to review blogs.

Based on the definition and related studies of involvement, this study first time use

involvement as the mediator to explain the relationship between resonance and audience

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs and their travel intention, another seven

hypotheses are put forward as follow:

H11: Perceived homophily through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ perceived involvement.

H12: Perceived information usefulness through travel vlogs watching experience will

positively influence audiences’ perceived involvement.

H13: Entertainment through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ perceived involvement.

H14: Inspiration through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence

audiences’ perceived involvement.

H15: Escapism through travel vlogs watching experience will positively influence audiences’

perceived involvement.

H16: Audiences’ perceived involvement will positively influence continuance intention to

watch travel vlogs.

 21

H17: Audiences’ perceived involvement will positively influence travel intention.

All suggested hypotheses are visualized in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Conceptual framework of resonance, perceived involvement, continuance intention to watch

travel vlogs, and travel intention

H1 – H5 Continuance
Cognitive Resonance:
Intention to
Perceived homophily
Watch (CIW)
Perceived information
H16
usefulness Perceived
Involvement
H11-H15 H17
Emotional
Resonance: Travel
Entertainment H6 – H10 Intention (TI)
Inspiration
Escapism

\
 22

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Measures

A definition and an introduction of travel vlogs were provided for a clear

understanding of the study context. The first part of the questionnaire asked about

participants’ travel vlog watching experiences. Participants were asked to recall the most

memorable travel vlog watching experience over the past 12 months (Cheng et al., 2020). To

strengthen their memory, questions related to the most memorable travel vlog including

theme, centric, platform used, and video length were asked.

In the second part, major constructs including cognitive and emotional resonance

experiences, perceived involvement, continuance watch intention, and travel intention were

measured. The cognitive resonance included two constructs (Nugraha & Agus, 2020), namely

perceived homophily (Nugraha & Agus, 2020) and perceived information usefulness (Khan,

2017). For perceived homophily, participants showed how much they perceive travel

vloggers to be like them, and for perceived information usefulness, it evaluated if the

information conveyed by travel vloggers were useful to them. The emotional part measured

three constructs: entertainment (van der Heijden, 2003), inspiration (Cheng et al., 2020), and

escapism (Cheng et al., 2020). Audiences’ perceived involvement was measured with a three-

item scale adapted from Zaichkowsky’s (1994) investigation about the relationship between

perceived involvement and advertising. Participants showed the importance level of watching

travel vlogs to them. Continuance intention to watch and travel intention were measured by
 23

three-item scales adapted from Ray et al. (2019) and Foroudi et al. (2018), respectively.

Those scales evaluated if participants intend to watch more travel vlogs in the future and if

they would like to visit the destination. All items of major constructs are listed in Table 1 and

were measured by a seven-point Likert-type scale (strongly disagree as 1 and strongly agree

as 7).

Participants’ demographic information and general travel behaviors were

collected in the last section. Demographics included age, gender, marital status, education,

household income, and ethnicity. General travel behaviors included travel frequency, source

of travel information, the purpose of travel, and reasons for watching travel vlogs.

A pilot survey was conducted with a small size of convenience sample (n=4) to

make sure readability, clarity, and the content validity of measurement items. Based on the

feedback,
Table 1
Measurement Items
Construct Source
Perceived Homophily Nugraha & Agus (2020)
The vlogger thinks like me
The vlogger behaves like me
The vlogger has something in common with me in
thinking and behaving
Perceived Information Usefulness Khan (2017)

I got travel-related information that interested me from

the travel vlog.
This content of the travel vlog helps me to plan my trip.
From the travel vlog, I found out something new about
this travel destination that I did not know before
Entertainment van der Heijden (2003)
Liu, Liu & Zhang (2018)
 24

Watching travel vlogs is a way of passing time

I have fun with the travel vlog.
I feel relax with the travel vlog.

Inspiration Cheng et al. (2020)

The travel vlog represented the destination in an
appealing way
The travel vlog helped me to be imaginative about the
destination
The travel vlog inspired me to visit the destination

Escapism Cheng et al. (2020)

I felt as if I was part of the traveling journey
The watching experience let me imagine being
somewhere else
I feel escaped from reality when watching this travel
vlog
Perceived Involvement Zaichkowsky (1994)
Watching travel vlogs are important to me
Travel vlogs are valuable to me
I need travel vlogs
Continuance Intention to Watch Travel Vlogs Ray et al. (2019)
I may watch travel vlogs more frequently in future
If I have an opportunity, I will watch travel vlogs.
I intend to keep watching travel vlogs.
Travel Intention Foroudi et al. (2018)
I will consider this city as my first choice compared to other cities
I have a strong intention to visit this place on my next trip
I have a strong intention to visit this place in my distant future
Note: Measured on a 7-point scale. 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: somewhat disagree,
4: neither agree nor disagree, 5: somewhat agree, 6: agree, 7: strongly agree.
 25

Participants and Data Collection

An online survey was conducted with students at Kent State University and general

consumers through Amazon MTurk (MTurk). Two screening questions were used: (a) 18

years of age or older and (b) the experience of watching travel vlogs in the past 12 months.

An email that includes an informed consent form and a questionnaire link (Qualtrics) was

sent to both KSU students and MTurk panels. Finally, there were a total of 394 responses

collected from MTurk (n = 350) and Kent State University (n = 44). Thirty-eight

questionnaires (9.6%) were excluded from analysis following data screening because of

either failure of attention check or missing responses essential to the analysis, thus, 356 were

valid responses after data cleaning and used for data analysis.

Data Analysis

IBM SPSS Statistics 26 was used to test suggested hypotheses. The reliability of

measurement items was tested by Cronbach's alpha value. The variance inflation factors

(VIF) value was used to test if there is a multicollinearity problem. Mean, Standard

Deviation, skewness, and kurtosis were used to evaluate the distribution of all constructs. A

multiple regression analysis was used to test all hypotheses, to predict travel intention and

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs based on their perceived homophily, perceived

information usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism (H1 – H10), to predict

perceived involvement based on their perceived homophily, perceived information

usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism (H11 – H15), to predict travel intention

and continuance intention to watch travel vlogs based on perceived involvement (H16, H17).
 26

Seven variables were included as control variables: The content of the most memorable travel

vlog, visit experience of the destination presented in the most memorable travel vlog, general

reason to watch travel vlogs, the collection method of travel information, and participants’

age, gender, and education background.

 27

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

Characteristics of Participants

The participants' demographic information is summarized in Table 2. About 52% of

participants were male and 64.6% were married. The age range was between 18 to 70 years

old, and the mean was around 35 years old. Over half of the participants earned a bachelor's

degree. Around 72.3% of participants were white/Caucasian.

Table 2
Demographic Profile (n=356)
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent a
Gender Household Income
Male 185 52.0 Less than $25,000 36 10.1
Female 165 46.3 $25,001-$49,999 108 30.3
Transgender 1 0.3
0.3 $50,000-$74,999 96 27.0
Marriage $75,00-$99,999 67 18.8
Married 230 64.6 $100,000-$124,999 26 7.3
Never married 107 30 $125,000-$149,999 13 3.7
Divorced 12 3.4 $150,000 or more 7 2.0
Separated 4 1.1 Ethnicity
Education White/Caucasian 257 72.3
High school or less 48 13.5 African-American 32 9.0
Associate’s Degree 44 12.4 Black
Bachelor’s Degree 198 55.6 Asian 28 7.9
Post-Graduate 64 18.0 Hispanic/Latino 20 5.6
b
Degrees Other 15 4.4
Mean ± Standard Deviation
Age (years old) 35.1±10.2
a
Note: The sum of percentage is not equal to 100 due to missing value.
b
Other includes Asian-American, Native American, and other Pacific Islander and other ethnicities.
 28

Table 3 and Table 4 summarized participants’ travel habits and the content of their most

memorable travel vlogs. By not taking the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost a third

of participants (33.4%) traveled once every six months and 71% traveled for vacation and

leisure. Over two hundred participants mentioned that they used blogs and vlogs to collect

travel information, ninety-four participants used only blogs and vlogs to collect travel

information. According to the responses, 43% of participants watch travel vlogs when they

are planning to visit a new destination and 41% of participants showed they would watch

travel vlogs when they are planning a travel. It demonstrates that people prefer to watch

travel vlogs when they already have a plan. Besides, over 70% of the most memorable vlogs

are from YouTube and it indicates that watching travel vlogs is a widely accepted method for

people to collect travel information, whether they already have a target destination or not.

Around 61% of participants said they have been to the destination presented in the travel vlog

which they had resonance experience, which could explain the leading role of alignment in

the resonance experience.

Table 3
Travel Habits (Assuming that Covid-19 is not a factor) (n=356)
Frequency Percent
α
How often do you travel?
Once a year 54 15.2
Once in six months 119 33.4
Once a month 75 21.1
More than twice a month 107 30.1
b
How do you collect travel information?
Blogs and vlogs 234 65.7
Friends and families 201 56.5
Google 144 40.4
None of the above 1 0.0
α
You often travel :
 29

For vacation/leisure 254 71.3

For business 66 18.5
Education/visiting 29 8.1
Other 4 1.1
b
When do you watch travel vlogs?
When planning to visit a new destination 153 43.0
When planning for a trip 147 41.4
When curious about a destination 124 34.8
In free time 120 33.7
When there is new content on a travel vlog 38 10.6
channel you subscribed to
α
Note: The sum of the percentage is not equal to 100 due to missing value.
b
Multiple selections were allowed.

Table 4
The Most Memorable Travel Vlog (n=356)
Frequency Percent
What is this travel vlog about?
Natural scenery 144 40.4
Experience items (e.g. activities) 77 21.6
City architecture 69 19.4
Delicacies 33 9.3
Historical 25 7.0
Other 8 2.2
What is the centric of this travel vlog?
Activity-centric 137 38.5
Site-centric 99 27.8
Self-centric 90 25.3
other-centric 24 6.7
Unidentified 6 1.7
Which platform did you use to watch this travel vlog?
YouTube 252 70.8
Facebook and/or Facebook Live 43 12.1
TikTok 32 9.0
Instagram and/or Insta Live 28 7.9
Other (please specify): 1 0.3
What is the length of this travel vlog?
Less than 5 minutes 36 10.1
5 to 15 minutes 179 50.3
More than 15 minutes 131 36.8
I am not sure 10 2.8
 30

Have you been to the destination presented in this travel

vlog?
Yes 216 60.7
No 140 39.3

Result of Reliability and Descriptive Test of Measurement

The reliability of all constructs was tested and verified by Cronbach’s alpha value

(Table 5). The Cronbach’s alpha of all the constructs surpassed 0.7 except the perceived

information usefulness which is 0.627 (Lance, Butts & Michels, 2006). One item of

perceived information usefulness was deleted to increase the value to 0.645. According to

Ursachi et al. (2015), α of 0.6-0.7 indicates an acceptable level of reliability. It indicates that

the items formed a reliable scale in all constructs including perceived homophily, perceived

information usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, escapism, travel intention, perceived

involvement, and continuance intention to watch. Skewness and kurtosis absolute values of

all variables in measurement models were within the recommended value of less than 1, thus,

all constructs were normally distributed in this study.

Table 5
Results of Reliability and Descriptive Tests (n = 356)
Cronbach's Mean Standard Skewness Kurtosis
Alpha Deviation
Perceived Homophily 0.794 5.179 1.071 -.688 .492
Perceived Information Usefulness 0.645 5.251 1.159 -.797 .601
Entertainment 0.758 5.478 1.000 -.738 .275
Inspiration 0.737 5.460 1.033 -.742 .659
Escapism 0.722 5.375 1.004 -.679 .838
Perceived Involvement 0.824 5.245 1.183 -.898 .589
Travel Intention 0.763 5.397 1.087 -.827 .526
Continuance Intention to Watch 0.805 5.434 1.031 -.827 .876
 31

Effects of Resonance on Continuance Intention to Watch and Travel Intentions

Multiple linear regression was conducted to predict audiences’ travel intention

and continuance intention to watch travel vlogs based on their perceived homophily,

perceived information usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism (H1 – H10), to

predict perceived involvement based on their perceived homophily, perceived information

usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism (H11 – H15), and to predict travel

intention and continuance intention to watch travel vlogs based on perceived involvement

(H16, H17). The variance inflation factors (VIF) value was used to test the collinearity and

the result showed all constructs were below the threshold of 5.0 (James et al., 2017), meaning

that there is no multicollinearity problem in this study.

First, the result of multiple regression model of resonance effects are as

summarized in Table 6, a significant regression was found both for travel intention and

continuance intention to watch (travel intention: F (12, 329) = 49.996, p< .000, Adjusted R²

= .633; continuance intention to watch: F(12, 329) = 39.052, p< .000, Adjusted R²= .572).

From the result related to continuance intention to watch travel vlogs, H1, H2, H3, H4, and

H5 were supported, in that perceived homophily, perceived information usefulness,

entertainment, inspiration, and escapism have positive effects on the continuance intention to

watch travel vlogs. It reveals that when the audience perceives homophily with the vlogger or

feels the travel vlog is informative, feels entertained, inspired, and escaped, they will prefer to

watch more travel vlogs in the future. For the constructs related to travel intention, the
 32

regression was also significant. The result showed that H6, H7, and H9 were supported, that

is, perceived homophily, perceived information usefulness, and inspiration are predictors of

travel intention. H8 and H10 were not supported by the result, meaning that entertainment

and escapism do not significantly predict the increase of audiences’ travel intention to the

presented destination. The result indicates that when the audience perceives homophily with

the vlogger, feels the travel vlog is informative or feels inspired, they are more likely to travel

to the presented destination. However, even if the audience is entertained or feels like

jumping out from their daily routine by watching the travel vlog, their intention to travel to

the presented destination will not be enhanced.

Table 6
Multiple Regression Analyses (Resonance & Intention) (n=356)
Dependent variable Continuance Intention Hypothesis Travel Intention Hypothesis
to Watch
Standardized Beta Coefficient (Standard Error)
Constant 0.850 (0.321) *** 0.788 (0.363) ***
Perceived Homophily 0.175 (0.047) *** H1 Supported 0.132 (0.054) * H6 Supported
Perceived Information 0.210 (0.060) *** H2 Supported 0.309 (0.047) *** H7 Supported
Usefulness
Entertainment 0.210 (0.060 *** H3 Supported -0.042 (0.067) H8 Rejected
Inspiration 0.126 (0.058) * H4 Supported 0.343 (0.066) *** H9 Supported
Escapism 0.244 (0.057) *** H5 Supported 0.089 (0.065) H10 Rejected
Adjusted R 2
.633 .572
Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p< 0.001
The content of the most memorable travel vlog, visit experience of the destination presented in the most
memorable travel vlog, general reason to watch travel vlogs, the collection method of travel information,
and participants’ age, gender, and education background were included as control variables.
 33

Effects of Resonance on Perceived Involvement & Effects of Perceived Involvement on

Continuance Intention to Watch and Travel Intentions

To test the effects of resonance experiences on perceived involvement and the

effects of perceived involvement on continuance intention to watch and travel intention,

firstly, the regression analysis between perceived homophily, perceived information

usefulness, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism with perceived involvement was

conducted. Then, the relationships between perceived involvement with continuance

intention to watch and travel intention were tested. As summarized in table 7, overall, both

cognitive resonances and emotional resonances were positively related to perceived

involvement, also, perceived involvement predicted the increases of continuance intention to

watch and travel intention (resonance experience to perceived involvement: F (12, 329) =

37.588, p< .000, Adjusted R² = .563; perceived involvement to continuance intention to

watch: F (8, 333) = 44.322, p< .000, Adjusted R² = .504; perceived involvement to travel

intention: F (8, 333) = 44.918, p< .000, Adjusted R² = .507). The only exception is that the

regression from entertainment to perceived involvement was rejected, even audiences were

entertained by travel vlogs, they did not consider watching travel vlogs are important to them.

The overall result implies the mediation role of perceived involvement that when people

perceived the information provided by the travel vlog to be useful for them, feel similarity

with travel vlogs, or emotionally resonate to travel vlogs through the watching experience,

the level of perceived involvement link to that vlog will increase, which are followed by the
 34

increasing of their intention to watch more travel vlogs and travel intention of the presented destination.
Table 7
Multiple Regression Analysis (Perceived Involvement) (n=356)
Dependent variable Perceived Hypothesis Continuance Hypothesis Travel Intention Hypothesis
Involvement Intention to Watch
Standardized Beta Coefficient (Standard Error)
Constant .230 (.396) *** 2.293 (.345) *** 1.771 (.360) ***
Perceived Homophily .348 (.058) *** H11 Supported
Perceived Information .188 (.051) *** H12 Supported
Usefulness
Entertainment .032 (.074) H13 Rejected
Inspiration .153 (.072) * H14 Supported
Escapism .177 (.013) * H15 Supported
Perceived Involvement .644 (.036) *** H16 Supported .635 (.038) *** H17 Supported
Adjusted R 2
.563 .504 .507
Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p< 0.001
The content of the most memorable travel vlog, visit experience of the destination presented in the most memorable travel vlog, general reason to watch travel vlogs, the
collection method of travel information, and participants’ age, gender, and education background were included as the control variable
 35

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Discussion

The main objective of this study was to investigate audiences’ resonance

experience when watching travel vlogs and the influence on their behavioral intentions. Specifically,

the study elaborated the cognitive resonance experiences related to travel vlogs’ watching experiences

through the Resonance Theory and examined the mediating role of perceived involvement. To sum up

everything that has been stated so far, cognitive resonances (perceived homophily & perceived

information usefulness) were positively related to both the audiences’ travel intention of the

destination presented in travel vlogs and their continuance intention to watch travel vlogs. While

compared to cognitive resonances, emotional resonances (entertainment, inspiration, and escapism)

were also positively related to audience continuance intention to watch travel vlogs, the influence

from inspiration was lower than entertainment and escapism. The emotional resonances’ impact on

travel intention was not as significant as cognitive resonances, only inspiration was supported to

predict audiences’ travel intention. Furthermore, cognitive resonances (perceived homophily &

perceived information usefulness) are positively related to the audiences’ perceived involvement.

While surprisingly, entertainment, which is one of three emotional resonances, did not influence the

perceived involvement. Besides that, the other two emotional resonances were positively related to

audiences’ perceived involvement. Also, perceived involvement was supported to increase audiences’

continuance intention to watch travel vlogs and their travel intention to presented destinations.
 36

Some findings of the study are consistent with previous research and enrich the

literature in the hospitality and tourism, and marketing fields. For instance, when audiences

feel similarity with travel vloggers, they are more likely to travel to the destination introduced

by vloggers, which is consistent with Lee & Watkin’s study (2016) about how media affect

people’s behavioral intention. A study of internet celebrity’ influence on luxury brand

perceptions and intention also mentioned the critical role of homophily (Lee & Watkins,

2016). Their study found that the audiences’ increased homophily related to their perception

of the luxury brand, followed by purchase intention. It suggests that when brand managers

seek to incorporate vloggers, they should consider their target consumers’ values, beliefs, and

desires. The higher homophily between vloggers and consumers, the better promotional

effects it would be. Another result is when audiences feel that they received useful

information through travel vlogs (e.g., helping them to make a travel plan), they will be more

likely to visit the travel destination. In Ladhari, Massa, and Skandrani's (2020) investigation

on YouTube vloggers’ popularity and influence, they found that vloggers are like opinion

leaders who bring new information and opinions about products/services to audiences. Their

results demonstrated that the information would shape audiences’ brand awareness and

purchase decisions. The perceived information usefulness of the destination is a meaningful

concept affecting people’s travel intention. Kim, Chuang & Ahn (2017) revealed that when

people are receiving useful information from mobile tour information services, the

information is forming their travel intention. Considering that watching travel vlogs has been

recognized to significantly influence audiences’ travel intention (Ainaningitas & Munawaroh,

 37

2017; Cheng, Wei & Zhang, 2020), the study finding of the audiences’ perceived homophily

with travel vloggers and useful information they received from travel vloggers is confirmed

with prior studies related to media’s influence on users’ behavioral intention.

There are some findings not in line with previous research that attracted the

author’s attention. The result showed that entertainment was not a significant predictor of

audiences’ travel intention, which was contrary to Chen, Guo & Pan’s (2021, p. 174) finding

that the more perceived entertainment through travel vlogs, the more possibility they would

travel to the presented destinations. They even predict “if viewers fail to feel the

entertainment in travel vlog, from the perspective of tourism marketing, the behavior of

turning viewers into potential tourists will not be successful.” The potential explanation of the

insignificance of entertainment in this study could be that the travel vlogs are presented by

combined modes, including vloggers, pictures, videos, and music. It is hard to distinguish

which part provides audiences the entertainment experience. If the music effect makes the

audience feel relaxed and helps them pass the time, the audience would just download the

music, but the music is not really related to the destination presented, so the audience's travel

intention would not be impacted. Cheng, Wei & Zhang (2021) tested the influence of

entertainment vlogs on e-WOM and found that even when audiences perceived

entertainment, they did not prefer to recommend those vlogs to their friends. It is also

supported by Schneider et al. (2016) that entertainment is not directly related to behavioral

intentions, instead, it indirectly influences behavioral intentions by fostering subjective

 38

knowledge. To sum up, there is a lack of consensus on the effect of entertainment of travel

vlogs, thus further investigations are needed.

Entertainment was also unable to predict audiences’ perceived involvement in

this study, which means even audiences were entertained by travel vlogs, the importance

level and perceived personal relevance of the travel vlog did not been increased. It is not

consistent with the author’s deduction based on previous studies. According to Katz et al’s

(1959) U&G theory, entertainment was defined as one of the important emotional needs.

Furthermore, both Zaichkowsky (1985) and Shiau et al. (2010) revealed the inherent need is

one of the major factors of perceived involvement. Entertainment was supposed to influence

audiences’ perceived involvement, but the result rejected this assumption. Does that mean

entertainment is not an inherent need for audiences to watch travel vlogs? However, the study

result also showed that when audiences were entertained by travel vlogs, they did intend to

watch more travel vlogs. Even in fact, the audience would prefer to watch more travel vlogs,

but they do not think watching travel vlogs are important to them. It indicates that

entertainment experience is relatively easy to get than other emotional resonances. A

previous study (Shao, 2009) revealed that entertainment is the most important motive for

media consumption, for some people entertainment and mass media are even nearly

synonymous. The relatively easy accessibility of entertainment results in its not significantly

impact audiences’ perceived involvement, which is a potential explanation of this result.

 39

Escapism is another insignificant variable that does not conform to the study

hypothesis. Based on previous studies, escapism is a common perspective that works both as

pull and push factor for tourism motivation (Valek & Fotiadis, 2018; Michael et al.,

2020). The result of this study showed that escapism through watching travel vlogs was

positively related to audiences’ continuance intention to watch but was not related to their

travel intention, which does not align with previous studies. A recent study conducted by

Irimiá, Mitev, and Michalkó(2021) about narrative transportation and travel intention

through TV series revealed that TV series consumption positively related to audiences' travel

intention. In their model, escapism has a direct positive effect on travel intention while the

relationship is partially mediated by immersion, and the p-value of the effect is close to the

threshold of 0.5. The author assumes that under the context of videos, including both TV

series and travel vlogs, escapism is a significant predictor of audiences' travel intention, but

the magnitude of influence is not so strong. Moreover, this study is under the situational

factor of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers’ travel intention is negatively influenced by

travel anxiety and risk attitude during the pandemic which finally led to the insignificant

result in this study.

As a whole, cognitive resonances were more significant than emotional

resonances. It revealed that the internet celebrity effect was also valid in the travel vlogs

field. Also, the perceived information usefulness was significant on two dependent variables,

implying that audiences tended to watch travel vlogs when they already have a plan to travel,

which echoes the result that more than half of the participants tend to watch travel vlogs
 40

when they already had a plan to travel. It seems that the primary motivations of watching

travel vlogs are different from those of general entertaining media. A widely accepted key

motivation to use entertainment media is the desire to experience emotions (Bartsh &

Viehoff, 2011). Based on the stronger predictive role of cognitive resonance, we could say

that, unlike general entertainment media, travel vlogs should attract more attention by

satisfying cognitive needs.

Theoretical Implications

This study contributes to the limited literature in the field of the audience

resonance experience through watching travel vlogs by applying the mediation role of

perceived involvement and extending the U&G theory to the travel vlog context to explain

audiences’ behavioral intention through watching travel vlogs.

First, the study applied the cognitive resonance experience of watching travel

vlogs based on the theory of resonance. Resonance is a strong concept in the marketing field,

like brand resonance and institutional resonance, but it is often used without definition

(Ruthven, 2020). Resonance has been used vaguely to stand for a common value or attitude

sharing statement. This study by utilizing Giorgi's (2017) and McDonnel’s (2017) theoretical

investigations of resonance, specified the resonance experience in the travel vlog context.

Cheng, Wei & Zhang’s (2020) study first extended the concept of resonance to the travel

vlogs’ field to examine its impact on WOM. They identified three factors as factors of the

cognitive resonance: information acquisition, source credibility, and video quality. In line

with the resonance theory, resonance refers to a perceived personal connection with external
 41

information (Giorgi, 2017). This study then identified the cognitive resonance in the travel

vlog context as perceived homophily and perceived information usefulness, which

emphasizes the interaction between audiences and information from a psychological

perspective.

Second, to highlight the importance of the connection between resonance and

behavioral intentions, the study suggested perceived involvement as a mediator. Involvement

was being recognized as an important concept to connect customer and brand, but previous

studies either adapted it as a predictor or outcome. This study regarded the involvement as the

response of resonance experience to describe the perceived connection between audiences

and external information conveyed. Meanwhile, the perceived involvement was used to refer

to a behavioral orientation that includes information acquisition and decision processes

(Greenwald et al., 1984). The framework finally linked the resonance experience and their

behavioral intention. Based on the result, the perceived involvement did fit the mediation role

between audiences’ resonance experience and their travel intention/continuance intention to

watch in the travel vlog context.

Finally, this study demonstrates the usefulness and importance of the U&G theory

to the travel vlog research field. The U&G theory helps explaining why audiences like and

continue watching travel vlogs from multiple perspectives and provides a theoretical

background to analyze audiences’ travel intention and the advertising effect of the travel

vlog. These findings enrich the literature of U&G theory utility in new media phenomenon

and contribute an innovation method to investigate people’s behavioral intention.

 42

Managerial Implications

The study can provide practical implications for both travel vloggers and tourism

markers. From the vlogger’s perspective, gaining more likes and followers is the desired

result for them to post a travel vlog. The findings of this study provide several implications

for them. For instance, perceived information usefulness is significantly related to audiences’

continuance to watch. To keep audiences with their channels, travel vloggers should provide

more useful information that could help their audiences to make a travel plan. From the travel

habit section in the questionnaire, we found that over 60% of participants had been to the

destination presented in their most memorable travel vlog. It indicates the familiarity of the

destination is related to their resonance experience. How to revoke audiences’ memory of the

destination is a question that travel vloggers should consider. As well, projecting a strong

personal style that aligns well with target audiences would be a required course for each

vlogger. According to the result, entertainment, inspiration, and escapism are helping to

increase audiences’ continuance intention to watch travel vlogs. So, to get more followers,

travel vloggers may want to create light-hearted, humorous, or inspiring videos to provide

their audiences a happy time to jump out from their daily routine.

From the tourism marketers’ perspective, this study would provide ideas for

advertising a tourism destination through travel vlogs. The result showed that the travel vlog

is an effective marketing tool to enhance consumer involvement and increase consumers’

travel intention. The travel vlog as a new media phenomenon that is generated by users, not

the company, has not attracted enough attention from marketers. By adopting the two critical
 43

concepts “resonance” and “involvement” in the structure, clearly, the travel vlog is adequate

as an advertisement tool to attract consumers’ travel intention in the tourism marketing field.

Cooperating with travel vloggers would be a trend for tourism companies in the future, how

should they choose a suitable vlogger? The study result showed that perceived homophily

with travel vloggers did increase their travel intention, which is related to the internet

celebrity effect. Tourism managers should identify the characteristics of their target

consumers and cooperate with vloggers sharing similar characteristics, which could

effectively enhance target consumers’ travel intentions.

Another implication for marketers would be to attract consumers to revisit a

tourism destination. As we just presented, over 60% of audiences had been to the destination

presented in their most memorable travel vlogs, and those travel vlogs increased their travel

intention. It indicated marketers could utilize travel vlogs to target consumers to re-visit the

destination.

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

There are some limitations of this study that could affect the evaluation and

generalization of the results. First, the pilot survey was conducted with only a few samples

due to limited time, which may influence the validity of the questionnaire . Second, the data

of this study was collected during the Covid-19 pandemic, the result is possibly impacted by

audiences’ fear of the pandemic, like the travel intention. Future studies may re-test the level

of effect from resonance experiences to travel intention after the end of the Covid-19

pandemic or include the fear of infection as a control variable. Furthermore, the surprisingly
 44

insignificant effects of entertainment and escapism on audiences’ travel intention leave space

for future study to have a deeper investigation of these two traditional factors under the travel

vlog context. Future studies may investigate if any other emotional factors would influence

audiences’ travel intention through the mass media. Also, since the overall emotional

resonance effect is lower than the cognitive resonance, it may inspire psychology scholars

who are interested in the resonance experience to explore this topic more deeply. For

example, researchers may examine the extent of cognitive and emotional resonance effects

triggered differently by various factors, specifically what factors would trigger only cognitive

resonance or emotional resonance. Finally, this study evaluated the travel intention of general

audiences of the travel vlog and found that the resonance experience may impact audiences’

revisit intention. Future studies could investigate the travel vlog’s stimulation role of

audiences’ revisit intention, particularly.

APPENDICES
 APPENDIX A

CONSENT LETTER
 47

APPENDIX A

CONSENT LETTER
Resonance Experience Impact on Audience Continuance Intention to Watch
Travel Vlogs and Travel Intention

You are being invited to participate in a research study titled, “Resonance Experience Impact on Audience
Continuance Intention to Watch Travel Vlogs and Travel Intention”. Before taking part in this study, please read
the consent form below and click on the "I Agree" button at the bottom of the page if you understand the
statements and freely consent to participate in the study.

Consent Form

This study involves a web-based survey designed to understand how audience resonance experience through
watching travel vlogs influence their future behavioral intentions. The study is being conducted by Master student
Chenyu Yu of Kent State University, and it has been approved by the Kent State University Institutional Review
Board. No deception is involved, and the study involves no more than minimal risk to participants (i.e., the level of
risk encountered in daily life).

Participation in the study typically takes 10 minutes and is strictly anonymous. Participants begin by asking to
recall the most memorable travel vlog watching experience over the past 12 months. After that, participants will
answer a series of questions about their resonance experience, continuance intention to watch the vlog content
and intention to travel presented destinations.

All responses are treated as confidential, and in no case will responses from individual participants be identified.
Rather, all data will be pooled and published in aggregate form only. Participants should be aware, however, that
the survey is not being run from a "secure" https server of the kind typically used to handle credit card
transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties (e.g.,
computer hackers).

Participation is voluntary, refusal to take part in the study involves no penalty or loss of benefits to which
participants are otherwise entitled, and participants may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty or
loss of benefits to which they are otherwise entitled.

If participants have further questions about this study or their rights, or if they wish to lodge a complaint or
concern, they may contact the principal investigator, Chenyu Yu, at (234)226-3323; or the Kent State University
Institutional Review Board, at (330) 672-2704.
 APPENDIX B

RESONANCE EXPERIENCE SURVEY

 49

APPENDIX B

RESONANCE EXPERIENCE SURVEY

1. If you are 18 years of age or older, understand the statements above, and freely consent to

participate in the study, click on the "I Agree" button to begin the experiment.

- I agree

- I do not agree

This survey will be used to measure your experience of travel vlogs. Travel vlogs, also

known as travel video blogs, is defined as videos posted by individuals on personal travel

experiences or personally generated travel-related information. To complete the survey, you

have to have travel vlog experiences on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc.

2. Have you watched travel vlogs in the past 12 months?

- Yes

- No

First, please recall your most memorable travel vlog watching experience over the past 12

months and answer the following questions.

3. What is this travel vlog about?

- City architecture
 50

- Delicacies

- Natural scenery

- Experience items (e.g. activities)

- Historical

- Other (Please specify):

4. What is the centric of this travel vlog?

- Site-centric

- Activity-centric

- Self-centric

- Other-centric (e.g., lifestyle, performances, even the transportation system)

- Unidentified

5. Which platform did you use to watch this travel vlog?

- YouTube

- TikTok

- Facebook and/or Facebook Live

- Instagram and/or Insta Live

- Other (please specify):

 51

6. What is the length of this travel vlog?

- Less than 5 minutes

- 5 to 15 minutes

- More than 15 minutes

- I am not sure

7. Have you been to the destination presented in this travel vlog?

- Yes

- No

8. Why did you pick this travel vlog as the most memorable travel vlog? Briefly describe it.

9. We would like to know about your attitude toward the travel vlog you chose.

To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Strongly Strongly
disagree agree

The vlogger thinks like me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The vlogger behaves like me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The vlogger has something in common 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

with me in thinking and behaving.

I got travel-related information that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

interested me from the travel vlog.

The content of the travel vlog helped me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

 52

to plan my trip.

From the travel vlog, I found out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

something new about this travel
destination that I did not know before

Watching this travel vlogs helped me for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

passing time

Please select “Strongly agree” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I had fun with this travel vlog. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I felt relax with this travel vlog. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The travel vlog represented the destination 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

in an appealing way

The travel vlog helped me to be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

imaginative about the destination

The travel vlog inspired me to visit the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

destination

I felt as if I was part of the traveling

journey

Please select “strongly disagree” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The watching experience let me imagine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

being somewhere else

I felt escaped from reality when watching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

this travel vlog

10. We would like to know about your attitude toward the travel vlog you chose.

To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

 53

I will consider the place in this travel vlog 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

as my first choice compared to other
cities.

I have a strong intention to visit this place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

on my next trip

I have a strong intention to visit this place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

in my distant future

On the whole, watching travel vlogs are

important to me

Please select “strongly agree” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Travel vlogs are valuable to me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I need travel vlogs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I may watch travel vlogs more frequently 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

in future

If I have an opportunity, I will watch 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

travel vlogs.

I intend to keep watching travel vlogs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please tell us about yourself.

11. How often do you travel? (Consider your typical life and assume Covid-19 is not a factor)

- Once a month

- More than twice a month

- Once in six months

- Once a year

12. How do you collect travel information? (You can choose more than one answer)
 54

- Friends and family

- Blogs and vlogs

- Google

- None of the above (please specify):

13. You often travel:

- For business

- For vacation/leisure

- Education/visiting

- Other (please specify):

14. When do you watch travel vlogs? (You can chose more than one answer)

- When planning for a trip

- When planning to visit a new destination

- When curious about a destination

- In free time

- When there is new content on a travel vlog channel you subscribed to

15. How old are you? (years old)

16. What gender do you identify with?

- Male

- Female

- Transgender

- I don’t identify

- I prefer not to answer

17. What is your marital status?

- Married

- Widowed

- Divorced

- Separated
 55

- Never married

18. What is your highest education level completed?

- Middle school or less

- High school

- Associate's Degree

- Bachelor's Degree

- Post-Graduate Degrees

19. What is your annual household income?

- Less than $25,000

- $25,001-$49,999

- $25,001-$49,999

- $75,00-$99,999

- $100,000-$124,999

- $125,000-$149,999

- $150,000 or more

20. What is your ethnicity?

- White/Caucasian

- African-American/Black

- Hispanic/Latino

- Asian

- Asian-American

- Native American and other Pacific Islander

- Other (please specify):

-
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