Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhtm

Digital destination storytelling: Narrative persuasion effects induced by

story satisfaction in a VR context
Nao Li a, Leyan Li b, Xiaoming Chen c, *, IpKin Anthony Wong d
a
Business School, Institute of Digital Economy, Beijing Technology and Business University, No. 33, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
b
Business School, Beijing Technology and Business University, No. 33, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
c
School of Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence, Beijing Technology and Business University, No. 33, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
d
Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: With the advancement of digital technology, digital storytelling is becoming more and more widely used.
Virtual reality (VR) tourism However, academics have not delved deeply enough into digital storytelling in the realm of VR tourist study. The
Digital storytelling satisfaction objective of this study is to investigate the narrative persuasion process of technology-provided presence and
Flow state
story satisfaction in the context of digital destination storytelling. Combining the stimulus–organism–response
Emotional healing
Restoration
(SOR) model, the study aims to examine the influence of these two variables on flow experience, emotional
healing, restorative experience, and behavioral intention during the viewing of stories. By exploring these re­
lationships, the research seeks to enhance our understanding of how technology and storytelling satisfaction
contribute to the overall narrative persuasive effect. A comparative experimental data from 193 people proved
that using VR to view destination story can significantly affect viewers’ behavioral intentions and better help
viewers build emotional distress problems compared to traditional viewing mode. In addition, viewers’ flow
state, emotional healing, restorative experience, and behavioral intention are all significantly impacted by how
satisfied they are with a digital story, and flow state plays an important mediating role. The results of this study
offer new perspectives on VR tourism and creative methods of marketing for the tourism industry.

1. Introduction
In recent years, technological innovation has brought great changes
to the tourism industry (Buhalis, 2020; Pratisto et al., 2022; Tussyadiah
et al., 2018). During the COVID-19 epidemic, virtual reality technology
was used as an effective publicity measure to maintain potential tourists’
enthusiasm for the destination (Kim et al., 2021). With the end of the
epidemic, the development of the virtual reality industry has kept
increasing. The virtual reality market is expected to grow from $67.12
million in 2023 to $202.7 million in 2028, with the fastest growing
markets in Asia and the Pacific (Mordorintelligence, 2022, pp.
2023–2028). The global virtual travel market valuation is also predicted
to grow significantly from 2021 to 2027 (Statista, 2022). In this context,
tourism destinations need to further consider the role of virtual reality
technology for potential tourists.
As a new marketing spotlight of tourist destinations, many destina­
tions and scenic spots have introduced virtual reality tourism projects,
such as VR roller coasters in theme parks and VR virtual Tours in
museums (Bastiaansen et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2020). Although some
factors have been explored in the aforementioned literature, the role of
storytelling remains scant. Yet, the ability to tell insightful stories can
stimulate favorable emotions and hence, improve operators’ ability to
attract potential tourists.
Storytellers generally narrate the information they want to express in
an attractive way, during which a variety of rhetorical devices may be
used to make the storytelling more fascinating, so that the receiver of the
story can involve himself or herself in the plot, thus unconsciously
becoming emotionally affected (Fog et al., 2010a; Fog et al., 2010b;
Langhof & Güldenberg, 2019; Nie et al., 2017). In the field of tourism
marketing, storytelling has been regarded as an effective and reliable
means of attracting people, by immersing story receivers into the story
plot. This highly immersive, self-embedded character experience can
arouse their emotional participation and ultimately affect their attitudes
and behaviors to achieve the purpose of the marketing (Jo et al., 2022;
Lin et al., 2020). This is primarily attributed to the influence of narra­
tives and plots on the level of engagement among story receivers in

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: linao@btbu.edu.cn (N. Li), lly19919@163.com (L. Li), xiaoming.chen@btbu.edu.cn (X. Chen), anthonywong@um.edu.mo (I.A. Wong).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.12.007
Received 24 August 2023; Received in revised form 19 December 2023; Accepted 22 December 2023
Available online 11 January 2024
1447-6770/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CAUTHE - COUNCIL FOR AUSTRALASIAN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATION. All
rights reserved.
N. Li et al.
traditional storytelling. Such narratives have the ability to evoke
emotional involvement and impact individuals’ attitudes and behaviors
(Hamby et al., 2017). Scholars have later coined this phenomenon as
narrative persuasion (Green & Brock, 2002).
With the progressive advancement of technologies, digital story­
telling enables interactive subjects (storytellers or story receivers) to
complete their storytelling process with the help of various digital
technology tools (network, augmented reality, virtual reality, etc.) (Kim
& Hall, 2020; Lisenbee & Ford, 2018; Montargot et al., 2023; Rolbiecki
et al., 2021; Sung et al., 2022; Xiao et al., 2022). This shift means relying
on technologies, digital storytelling offers story receivers a more
immersive experience compared to traditional storytelling, thereby
enhancing their overall engagement with the story.
By combining captivating storylines with well-defined character
traits, narrative worlds allow readers to immerse themselves deeply
within the story. Scholars investigate in this context whether the emo­
tions and behavioral intentions of the experiencers are influenced by the
technology itself or by the application of traditional storytelling tech­
niques. In previous studies, the narrative persuasion effect existing in the
traditional storytelling has been proved to influence consumers’ will­
ingness and behavior through stories to a certain extent (Hamby et al.,
2017). The technical characteristics of virtual reality can bring a sense of
reality and immersion to users to a greater extent, thus affecting the
emotional state of users to a certain extent (Akgun et al., 2015). How­
ever, in digital storytelling based on virtual reality technologies, users
will not only experience the virtual reality scene, but also the emotional
resonance brought by storytelling in the VR scene. Such synchronous or
mixed effects on user behavior are far from investigated.
This paper introduces the variable of digital storytelling satisfaction
within the context of digital destination stories to measure the overall
feeling of the experiencer towards the stories. By combining the SOR
model and attention restoration theory, it investigates the narrative
persuasion effect caused by storytelling satisfaction, examining whether
it influences the emotions and behaviors of story receivers. Previous
studies have primarily focused on narrative aspects, such as narrative
person and narrative rationality (Cho et al., 2014; Shen et al., 2015),
when discussing narrative persuasion effects, while little attention has
been given to the impact of storytelling satisfaction on the emotions or
behaviors of the experiencer during the narrative process. Exploring
storytelling satisfaction can provide new insights into the generation of
narrative persuasion effects. This study contributes the practice that by
supplying emotional healing value and the restorative feelings of the
experiencer, the integration of virtual reality and destination stories
could offer new marketing strategies for tourism VR products.
2. Theoretical background and literature review
2.1. Stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model
The SOR model originated from the Stimulus–Organism–Response
theory, which suggests that human behavior consists of three compo­
nents: stimuli, organisms, and responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974).
The SOR theoretical framework has been proven to be applicable in
studying VR-related variables and validating visitor behaviors in virtual
environments (Liu & Huang, 2023).
In VR research related to tourism, stimuli typically refers to the
sensory cues and stimuli encountered by users during virtual travel ex­
periences. These stimuli often include visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile,
or gustatory sensations, with the purpose of providing environmental
attributes through the information obtained from these stimuli. In VR
tourism research, the information provided by stimuli is usually related
to promotional materials of destinations or hotels (Hsu et al., 2021). The
organism component is related to individual user characteristics, typi­
cally involving perception and attitudes. Individuals, based on their own
characteristics, respond accordingly after being exposed to external
stimuli. In tourism research, organisms are often considered effective
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and positive mediators. In the field of VR tourism research, the SOR
model can help explain the psychological changes and behavioral
response of subjects in VR environments (Hsu et al., 2021). Therefore,
scholars have advocated for more content related to VR to further
expand the application of the SOR theoretical framework (Loureiro
et al., 2020). Based on this theoretical framework and previous VR
tourism research, this study extends the SOR model by considering the
influence of technological features and narratives on individual emo­
tions and behaviors, and it explores the persuasive effects of destination
video narratives.
2.2. Narrative persuasion and storytelling satisfaction
Narrative persuasion refers to the process through which people’s
attitudes, behaviors, and emotions are influenced by storytelling or
narratives (Green & Brock, 2002). The persuasive power of narratives is
closely linked to the experience of narrative transportation. According to
Green and Brock (2000), narrative transportation is a concept to
describe how individuals become completely engrossed in a story,
leading to a focused psychological perception and mental state that is
fully immersed in the narrative (Irimiás et al., 2021). In this state, in­
dividuals feel spiritually and psychologically transported into the story.
Narratives engage people based on their personal experiences, varyingly
influencing their emotions and behaviors through the portrayal of
characters and creation of plotlines.
According to the narrative persuasion theory, previous studies have
noted how story receivers are affected by storytelling. It is based on the
idea that storytelling stresses the immense relevance contained in stories
to make them more memorable, it has steadily developed into a crucial
marketing technique that gives marketing additional options to
disseminate information (Shen et al., 2015).
Therefore, the realization of narrative persuasion is closely related to
storytelling satisfaction. As a measure of the story receiver’s satisfaction
with the overall narrative experience, the level of storytelling satisfac­
tion determines whether the story receiver is fully immersed in the story,
and then determines whether the individual’s attitude, behavior and
emotion are affected by the narrative. In previous studies, the explora­
tion of narrative persuasion was jointly measured by variables such as
plausibility and narrative consistency (Cho et al., 2014), and few studies
explored the key role of storytelling satisfaction in the process of
narrative persuasion. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the
impact of storytelling satisfaction on individual emotions and behav­
ioral intentions.
2.3. Flow state
Flow is defined as the feeling that one’s mental energy is fully
invested in an activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991, p. 1). The flow state is
produced with a high degree of excitement and fulfillment. Csikszent­
mihalyi pointed that this kind of flow experience makes people feel
satisfied and have a desire to accomplish it, regardless of what they get
out of it (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Therefore, when people talk about
flow, they often associate experience quality, enjoyment, and emotional
involvement (Seok et al., 2022).
To date, flow theory has been widely applied in the study of com­
puter environments (Chang & Chiang, 2022; Guttentag, 2010). The
development of technology leads to the computer-integrated 3D envi­
ronment which can truly restore the scene of the tourism destination so
that users can have a virtual travel experience. In addition, the 3D sto­
rytelling environment will also create specific flow experience due to the
application of technology. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the dual
effects of digital storytelling and technology characteristics’ effects on
flow experience so as to explore the impact of flow on users’ own
behavioral intentions or emotions. (Marasco et al., 2018). In the field of
VR research, it is considered appropriate to use flow theory to explain
the relationship between user participation and satisfaction, hedonism,
N. Li et al.
and purchase intention in the virtual world (Huang et al., 2021; Lee &
Kim, 2021).
2.4. Attention restoration theory
The Attention Restoration Theory (ART) was first proposed by psy­
chologists Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan in the 1980s, restoration
mainly refers to recovery after attention fatigue (Kaplan, 1995, 2001;
Kaplan & Berman, 2010). In the early stage of the study, attention
usually includes involuntary attention and voluntary attention (now also
known as directed attention by clinical psychiatrists) (Morecraft et al.,
1993). The former refers to attention that does not require effort, for
example, when people see something interesting or exciting, they will
pay attention to it effortlessly. While the latter is the opposite, people
need to force themselves to pay attention to something that is not
interesting (Kaplan & Berman, 2010). Attention restoration emphasizes
the recovery from directed attention fatigue and allowing directed
attention to rest and return to a normal state (Kaplan, 2001).
In ART, there are three methods of attention recovery, including
sleep (enough rest to allow oneself to recover), meditation (requires
knowledge and patience), and the use of involuntary attention
(Kabat-Zinn, 2007; Kaplan, 1995; Kaplan & Berman, 2010). In the cur­
rent tourism research, involuntary attention method has been widely
used, and the natural landscapes provided by tourism destinations (such
as forests, green spaces, etc.) have been proved to promote the quality of
restoring attention and thus reduce the mental fatigue of individuals. In
the field of tourism VR research, previous studies have highlighted the
significant role of virtual reality (VR) technology in attention restora­
tion. This is primarily attributed to the immersive and realistic envi­
ronments that VR can create. However, there has been limited focus on
examining the impact of narrative persuasion experiences on attention
restoration.
3. Hypothesis development
3.1. Presence in VR
In the researches related to VR, presence is a widely mentioned
concept, which is defined by most scholars as the subjective experience
of “being there” in the technology-mediated environment, and the level
of such experience is often related to the degree of immersion of expe­
riencers in the technological environment (Witmer & Singer, 1998;
Bogicevic et al., 2019; Holt, 2023; Ying et al., 2022; Wei et al., 2019;
Yung et al., 2021a; 2021b). Bracken (2005) pointed out that presence
can be called a non-intermediary perceptual illusion to describe the
mental state of the experiencer completely immersed. In the current
study, presence as a key variable has been proved to have a significant
impact on users’ intentions or behaviors, including but not limited to
tourist satisfaction, travel intention, purchase intention, etc. (De Canio
et al., 2022; Fan et al., 2022). Previous studies suggested that spatial
presence can affect customers’ purchase intention by affecting flow state
(Lu & Hsiao, 2022). Furthermore, previous tourism research had
underlined how significantly virtual reality products can influence
consumer behavior and visit intentions (Bogicevic et al., 2019), brand
attitudes (Lee et al., 2012), and attitudes toward travel destinations
(Alyahya & McLean, 2022). In this study, the sense of presence, as a key
variable in the VR environment, is used to explore its impact on other
variables. Based on the above, the following hypotheses are proposed in
this paper:
H1a. The presence in VR video has a positive relationship with the
viewers’ subsequent behavioral intention.
3.2. Digital storytelling satisfaction
Due to the integration of technology, the effectiveness of narrative
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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196
persuasion may vary due to the process of the application of technology.
In this process, story contents will rely on the network and technology
for more diversified dissemination. Such as pictures, videos, audio, etc.,
so that the story content between different subjects has more possibil­
ities to spread, and even the subject users can have the experience value
of jointly creating the story (Clarizia et al., 2017; Kim & Hall, 2020; Pera
& Viglia, 2016). Previous research in the field of marketing has shown
that consumers tend to be attracted to creative story content, and thus
storytelling can be used as an effective communication skill to promote
emotion and to generate emotional resonance, leading to desired de­
cisions (Cheung et al., 2022). As a powerful tool of emotional connec­
tion, storytelling undoubtedly plays an important role in modern
marketing, providing publicity power for brand communication and
influencing buyers’ decision-making behavior (Tzeng et al., 2023; Wong
et al., 2022). Tourism destination marketing should pay attention to the
ability of creative stories to drive tourists’ engagement with destination
and services (Cheung et al., 2022). Traditional destination stories have
been proved to have a positive effect on destination marketing, but there
is still a lack of attention to VR destination storytelling, and the role of
narrative persuasion in such a diverse environment still needs to be
further explored. In previous studies, when consumers are exposed to a
storytelling environment based on VR technology, narrative persuasion
will largely influence consumers’ positive attitudes and subsequent be­
haviors through this experience (Sung et al., 2022). Therefore, based on
the above, this paper proposes the following hypothesis.
H1b. The viewers’ digital storytelling satisfaction to VR video has a
positive relationship with their subsequent behavioral intention.
3.3. Flow experience
In the field of tourism research, many studies have used question­
naire data to verify the mediating influence of flow state or flow expe­
rience, which is due to the conditions triggered by flow state and the
transformation of people’s emotional feelings and behavior after flow
experience (Guttentag, 2010; Lee & Kim, 2021; Saneinia et al., 2022).
For example, Kim and Hall (2019) confirmed the mediating influence of
the flow state by combining it with a model of hedonic motivation
adoption to study its implications on users’ subjective well-being and
intention to continue using. An et al. (2021) have demonstrated that the
senses and information quality in VR travel can influence user satisfac­
tion and willingness to visit by affecting the flow state. One of the crucial
prerequisites for the onset of the flow state, according to Csikszentmi­
halyi, is the loss of self-consciousness (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991, 2000, p.
1). The user’s interaction with the Virtual environment also occurs to
contribute to this loss of self-consciousness, which is in line with the
findings of the majority of empirical studies that have looked at flow
state as a mediating factor. In order to investigate the effects of attri­
butes in the VR story environment on users’ behavioral intention and,
flow state is also concerned in this study. According to the above, the
following hypothesis is proposed in this study:
H2a. The presence in VR video has a positive relationship with the
viewers’ flow state.
H2b. The viewer’s digital storytelling satisfaction to VR video has a
positive relationship with their flow state.
H3. The flow state provided by VR video has a positive effect on
viewers’ subsequent behavioral intention.
3.4. Emotional healing
The term “healing” is used differently in different academic disci­
plines, but was originally widely used in medicine to refer to the process
of recovering from an unbalanced, damaged, or diseased mind or body
(Schweitzer et al., 2004). With the development of the times and
changes in modern lifestyles, the term can be widely used in the media
N. Li et al.
Fig. 1. Proposed research model.
and marketing, where people enjoy the sense of healing brought about
by things in modern life, which can include but are not limited to food,
pictures, sports, music, etc., often with the same characteristics as
emotional regulation in psychology, and are often accompanied by a
response to one’s own emotional distress that assuages one’s anger,
worry, anxiety, etc (Austad, 2020; Kohrt et al., 2020; Nielsen et al.,
2013). Emotional healing is therefore defined in this paper as the
experience of assuaging emotional distress through one’s own VR sto­
rytelling experience.
On one hand, prior research in the field of VR tourism has established
that the attribute of presence can be effective, whereby the amalgam­
ation of multisensory information exerts an influence on the emotional
responses of users, subsequently impacting their affective states (Leung,
Chang, et al., 2022). Explicating the implications within the domain of
destination marketing, presence possesses the capacity to mobilize
users’ positive emotions towards tourism destinations prior to their
travel decision-making process, thereby engendering desirable market­
ing outcomes (Leung, Cheung, et al., 2022; Yung et al., 2021b). On the
other hand, antecedent studies have examined the effects of narratives
on recipients’ emotional engagement, which is primarily propelled by
the immersive and absorbing nature of narrative transportation. This
transportation mechanism ensures the assimilation of individuals into
the storyline, thereby evoking a range of emotional experiences (Chang,
2008; Walters et al., 2022).
Therefore, in the context of digital storytelling, the integration of
technology and tourism scene may provide combined effects on
emotional healing, and good digital stories may provide new insights for
potential tourists with emotional distress, and the following hypotheses
are proposed in this study:
H4a. The presence in VR video has a positive relationship with the
viewers’ emotional healing.
H4b. The viewers’ digital storytelling satisfaction to VR video has a
positive relationship with their emotional healing.
H4c. The flow state provided by VR video has a positive effect on
viewers’ emotional healing.
3.5. Restoration
In the field of museum tourism research, scholars have investigated
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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196
the relationship between restorative experience in museums and
emotional healing by means of empirical tests (Packer & Bond, 2010). In
addition, with the development of technology, tourism products derived
from virtual reality and augmented reality also provide a
multi-dimensional approach to restore directed attention. For instance,
scholars suggested that virtual reality forest environments, like actual
forest environments, can restore people’s directed attention that has
been occupied by work or daily life in the absence of highly restorative
nature environments (Mattila et al., 2020; Reese et al., 2021; Wang
et al., 2016). In addition, the use of virtual reality (VR) environments has
a significant impact on mental health. These environments can be uti­
lized to intervene in employees’ mental health in order to improve job
efficiency and reduce mental weariness (Walters et al., 2022). Based on
the foregoing, this study combined the satisfaction of virtual reality
stories with travel in the virtual reality environment to explore the
impact on participants’ attention recovery, specifically the subsequent
restoration experience, and it proposed the following hypothesis:
H5a. The presence in VR video has a positive relationship with the
viewer’s restoration experience.
H5b. The viewers’ digital storytelling satisfaction to VR video has a
positive relationship with their restoration experience.
H5c. The flow state provided by VR video has a positive effect on
viewers’ restoration experience.
3.6. Mediating effects of flow state
The sense of presence satisfies the requirements for the formation of
flow state, which has previously been demonstrated in prior virtual re­
ality studies, as a thorough psychological feeling of “arriving” at the
media world and “leaving the physical environment.” (Kim & Biocca,
1997; Ying et al., 2022) Similar to this, viewing stories in a virtual
setting might encourage viewers to fully participate in such activities
and so reflect the viewer’s willingness to engage in the activity as a
whole (Langhof & Güldenberg, 2019), and the viewer enters a state of
flow as a result.
Individuals’ emotional involvement is intimately tied to the experi­
ential process of emotional healing. Previous studies in the field of
healing tourism have focused on the reduction of anxiety brought on by
natural beauty, which gives people’s spiritual worlds a sense of joy and
N. Li et al.
Fig. 2. Screenshots of video and pictures of the experiment site.
fulfillment (Walters et al., 2022). Therefore, the flow state may have an
impact on viewers’ ability to heal emotionally.
Based on virtual reality technology, the content of digital storytelling
may easily draw the viewer’s attention; therefore, the viewer is typically
attracted by the digital narrative in an involuntary way, resulting in a
restorative experience. Due to the digital story’s flow condition, the
viewer may also create a restorative experience during this process.
Although many studies have established a favorable association between
flow states and behavioral intentions (Yuan & Hong, 2023), only a few
studies have concentrated on the mediating influence of flow state be­
tween narrative satisfaction and behavioral intention in the context of
digital storytelling. Therefore, based on the above, this study proposes
the following exploratory hypothesis:
H6. The flow state provided by VR video has a mediating effect on the
relationship between (a) presence in VR video and (b) digital storytell­
ing satisfaction in VR video, and their emotional healing.
H7. The flow state provided by VR video has a mediating effect on the
relationship between (a) presence in VR video and (b) digital storytell­
ing satisfaction in VR video, and their restoration experience.
H8. The flow state provided by VR video has a mediating effect on the
relationship between (a) presence in VR video and (b) digital storytell­
ing satisfaction in VR video, and their behavioral intention.
Fig. 1 illustrated the hypothetical model from H1 to H8.
3.7. VR viewing versus non-VR viewing
Many previous studies have explored the advantages of using VR
devices (such as head-mounted displays, HMD) over traditional viewing
modes (such as laptops) (Bogicevic et al., 2021; Yung et al., 2021b). Yet,
most of them have not elaborated the boundary of the two viewing
modes being compared. The embodiment-presence-interactivity (EPI)
Cube provides a comprehensive classification system for existing and
potential reality-virtuality technologies (Flavián et al., 2019). Based on
the degree of technological device embodiment, devices can be divided
into internal devices (such as head-mounted display) and external de­
vices (such as computers or mobile phones), and internal devices can
bring more intimacy with the human senses, thereby providing a higher
degree of immersion and sensory stimulation, while playing a key role in
enhancing the customer experience (Orús et al., 2021). Previous
comparative studies have shown that people’s cognitions, emotions, and
behaviors are being affected to different degrees under different levels of
technological equipment. For example, prior research have acknowl­
edged the impact of contrast stimulation between VR websites and or­
dinary websites on user flow experience and purchase intention
intensity (Kim et al., 2022), the different effects of VR devices on users’
destination image cognition compared with computers (Flavián et al.,
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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196
2021), and the impact of comparison between VR and 360-degree VR
and images on self-brand association and visit intention (Bogicevic et al.,
2021).
In these comparative studies, the target variables concerned usually
involve behavioral intention, purchase intention, brand image, and
more. However, few studies have focused on the impact of whether VR
are used in virtual reality story scenarios on user story satisfaction,
emotional healing, and restoration experience. Therefore, based on the
theoretical framework of EPI cube this research puts forward the
following hypotheses to explore the specific impacts of technological
devices.
H9. Compared to the non-VR viewing group, using VR to watch video
can affect the viewer’s (a) digital storytelling satisfaction, (b) flow state,
(c) emotional healing, (d) restoration experience, and (e) behavioral
intention at a higher level.
4. Research methods
In this study, we conducted an experiment to validate the afore­
mentioned hypotheses and used two different viewing modes, including
VR viewing mode and traditional video viewing mode corresponding to
VR viewing group and traditional viewing group respectively. Subjects
in both groups were randomly selected and independent of each other.
In VR viewing mode, Virtual Reality was employed to watch destination
story videos, aiming to examine the impact of storytelling satisfaction
and presence on emotional healing, restoration, and behavioral inten­
tion. Hypotheses H1 to H8 were empirically tested using smartPLS v3.0,
and the findings will be presented in Section 4.1. In traditional viewing
mode, we changed the viewer’s viewing patterns and compared the
results with VR viewing to test if VR viewing affected the viewer at a
higher level. The analysis results using SPSS will be reported in Section
4.2.
4.1. VR viewing: the effects of storytelling in destination VR video
4.1.1. Sample and materials
In this condition, a total of 100 participants were recruited
randomly. The participants in the group include students, government
workers, enterprise workers, etc. Normally, the sample size of the VR
tourism experiment is usually 40–80 people (X. Huang et al., 2021; X.-T.
Huang et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2023), so the sample size of this group is
acceptable.
The device used in this experiment was the VR device Oculus Quest2,
and the material used was from The most beautiful China, VR version. The
video about Sanya, China was selected as the material for this study, and
the video was played at the following URL https://v.youku.com/v_sh
ow. Considering that a few people may feel dizziness and tinnitus
N. Li et al.
Fig. 3. Experiment procedure.
while watching the video with VR devices, the video was selected after a
discussion among five tourism research scholars, and the material was
finally chosen as the experimental material based on a comprehensive
consideration of video length and video quality. Fig. 2 shows a screen­
shot of the video and a picture of the test site.
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4.1.2. Procedures
Our experiment consisted of four steps in total. Fig. 3 shows the
experiment steps and the time required for each stage. Step 1 included
pre-test and formal experimental recruitment. To ensure the reliability
of sample data, the following requirements are put forward for partici­
pants in the VR viewing group at the recruitment stage of the experi­
ment. Firstly, they should be healthy and have no serious diseases to
N. Li et al.
Table 1
Measurement items for variables.
Variable Items
Presence (PRE) 1. In the computer generated world presented by VR video, I had a sense of “being there"
2. How real did the virtual world seem to you
3. The virtual world seemed more realistic than the real world
4. How much did your experience in the virtual environment seem consistent with your real
world experience
Storytelling Satisfaction 1. I was satisfied with the storytelling in the video
(ST) 2. I found the storytelling in the video compelling
3. I was delighted with the overall storytelling in the video
Flow State (FS) 1. When I am watching the video, I feel totally captivated
2. When I am watching the video, time seems to pass very quickly
3. When I am watching the video, I forget all concerns
4. Watching the video often makes me forget where I am
Emotional Healing (EH) 1. After watching this video, I feel less depressed
2. After watching this video, it gives new energy to my life
3. After watching this video, I feel less worry
4. After watching this video, I feel less fear
Restoration (RE) 1. After watching this VR video, I feel restored and relaxed
2. After watching this video, I feel focused and alert
3. After watching this video, I can forget everyday worries
4. After watching this video, my thoughts are clear
Behavioral Intention (BI) 1. I want to re-experience the tourism-related activity in the future
2. I would recommend the tourism-related activity to my friends or others
3. I want to tell other people positive things about the content of the tourism-related activity
4. I would like to visit the place that I saw in the tourism-related activity
ensure smooth participation in the experiment; secondly, they should
have no serious eye diseases or vertigo, so as to ensure that they can
wear VR devices. Before the experiment started, the experimenter would
determine the experiment time with the participants in advance and
briefly introduce the use of the VR equipment to the subjects partici­
pating in the group, emphasizing that they should inform the experi­
mental assistant present in time if they had any physical discomfort
during the use. A total of 30 volunteers were recruited for a preliminary
experiment to correct the questionnaire items and the overall experi­
mental process.
In step 2, we conducted the formal experiment. The aim of this step
was to guide participants on how to use the equipment. The experiment
was conducted in a school laboratory equipped with four computers
with VR devices, tables, chairs, and a rest area. In Step 3, participants
watched the video. The subjects in the VR viewing group were able to
adjust the viewing angle of the video by rotating their heads while
watching the video. At the same time, the experimenter could also see
the subjects’ images in the VR glasses through the computer connected
to the device to ensure that the participants were watching the images
within the effective boundaries of the video playback. After participants
watched the video, we collected data through the questionnaire as the
last step. When all the experimental processes have been completed, the
participants in the experiment received an incentive fee.
4.2. Traditional viewing: the effects of destination story video in non-VR
group
4.2.1. Sample and materials
In traditional viewing mode, we also recruited 100 participants using
the same random selection method as in VR viewing group. The par­
ticipants represented diverse professional backgrounds, including stu­
dents, government employees, and corporate professionals. The video
materials used were sourced from the videos specified in section 3.1.1
and the experimental venue remained consistent with the previous. In
this group, we made a transition from using virtual reality (VR) to
watching video using laptops. We equipped the venue with four laptops
and corresponding headphones, and ensured that all four laptops had
the same video player software installed for consistent video playback
across devices.
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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196
Source
(Hendrix, 1994; Witmer & Singer, 1998; Carlin
et al., 1997)
Sung et al. (2022)
(Kim & Hall, 2019; Nah et al., 2010)
Kim et al. (2020)
Mattila et al. (2020)
(Wong et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2021)
4.2.2. Procedures
We have also taken proactive measures to engage in pre-
communication with 100 recruiters, ensuring the suitability of partici­
pants based on their individual profiles. Prior to the formal start of the
experiment under this condition, a preliminary experiment involving a
cohort of 30 individuals was conducted. The only difference between the
traditional video viewing group and the VR viewing group was the
viewing method in step 3. The traditional video group only used a laptop
to watch videos.
4.3. Measures
All the scales used in this study are based on existing scales, and their
reliability and validity have been tested in previous studies. The main
body of the questionnaire in this study contains two main parts, the first
part mainly contains the subjects’ Demographic statistics. The second
part is about the subjects’ feelings during the experiment and involves
six constructs (VR viewing) or five constructs (traditional viewing) in
total. It is important to highlight that the distinction between the two
sets of questionnaires lies in the exclusion of presence measurement
items in traditional viewing group’s questionnaire. The decision to
exclude presence measurement items in the questionnaire for traditional
viewing group was motivated by the observation that previous research
predominantly conducted presence measurements within virtual envi­
ronments. It is noteworthy that the concept of presence in such envi­
ronments exhibits certain nuances compared to the experience of
watching traditional videos. Consequently, the utilization of a stan­
dardized set of items for measuring presence may not adequately cap­
ture the intricacies of presence within this particular context. Therefore,
this study deliberately concentrated on assessing presence solely within
VR-based scenes to ensure a more accurate evaluation of the phenom­
enon. Since this experiment was conducted in China, relevant pro­
fessionals were consulted for question translation to ensure the accuracy
and validity of the questions, and Brislin’s (1970) multi-stage translation
procedure was used to ensure conceptual consistency and all items were
measured using the seven-point Likert rating scale. Table 1 showed the
measurement items for variables.
N. Li et al. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196

Table 2
Demographic statistics of the sample.
Classification Item Frequency (no. of people) Percentage Frequency (no. of people) Percentage Sum Percentage

VR viewing group Traditional viewing group

Gender Males 43 44.79% 47 48.45% 90 46.63%

Females 53 55.21% 50 51.55% 103 53.37%
Age 18 or below 2 2.08% 1 1.03% 3 1.55%
18–25 35 36.46% 40 41.24% 75 38.86%
26–35 40 41.67% 41 42.27% 81 41.97%
36–45 13 13.54% 10 10.31% 23 11.92%
Over 46 6 6.25% 5 5.15% 11 5.70%
Education background Primary or Middle school 3 3.13% 2 2.06% 5 2.59%
Bachelor 54 56.25% 66 68.04% 120 62.18%
Master or PhD 39 40.63% 29 29.90% 68 35.23%
Income(monthly) CNY3000 (USD429.60) or below 39 40.63% 41 42.27% 80 41.45%
CNY3001-5000 (USD716.00) 2 2.08% 5 5.15% 7 3.63%
CNY5001-8000 (USD1145.60) 8 8.33% 4 4.12% 12 6.22%
CNY8001-10000 (USD1432.00) 11 11.46% 18 18.56% 29 15.03%
Over CNY10000 36 37.50% 29 29.90% 65 33.68%
Occupation Government staff 0 0.00% 2 2.06% 2 1.04%
Employee 47 48.96% 43 44.33% 90 46.63%
Student 43 44.79% 46 47.42% 89 46.11%
Freelance 3 3.13% 3 3.09% 6 3.11%
Others 3 3.13% 3 3.09% 6 3.11%

Table 3
Factor loadings analysis and constructs’ validity and reliability.
Construct Items Factor Cronbach’s Composite Average Variance Collinearity Variance Random dependent
loading Alpha Reliability (CR) Extracted (AVE) inflation factor (VIF) variable

Presence PRE1 0.829 0.844 0.894 0.679 1.753 1.499

PRE2 0.850 2.000
PRE3 0.830 1.917
PRE4 0.785 1.850
Digital storytelling ST1 0.882 0.886 0.930 0.815 2.172 1.425
satisfaction (ST) ST2 0.910 2.820
ST3 0.917 3.002
Flow state (FS) FS1 0.796 0.833 0.888 0.665 1.475 1.500
FS2 0.781 2.010
FS3 0.881 2.798
FS4 0.799 1.872
Emotional healing (EH) EH1 0.730 0.829 0.887 0.663 1.506 1.100
EH2 0.809 1.775
EH3 0.846 2.253
EH4 0.866 2.286
Restoration (RE) RE1 0.808 0.821 0.881 0.651 1.697 1.584
RE2 0.742 1.551
RE3 0.817 1.834
RE4 0.855 2.042
Behavioral intention (BI) BI1 0.732 0.762 0.848 0.584 1.410 1.139
BI2 0.800 1.952
BI3 0.722 1.671
BI4 0.799 1.590

Table 4
Discriminant validity results based on Fornell-Larcker.
Items Presence Digital storytelling satisfaction Flow State Emotional Healing Restoration Behavioral Intention

Presence 0.824
Digital storytelling satisfaction 0.221 0.903
Flow State 0.591 0.359 0.815
Emotional Healing 0.405 0.530 0.562 0.814
Restoration 0.552 0.529 0.648 0.705 0.807
Behavioral Intention 0.313 0.461 0.499 0.381 0.427 0.764

5. Results
5.1. Results in experiment 1: the impact of VR storytelling
Among the 200 questionnaires collected from the experiment, we
excluded those that took too short a time to fill in the questionnaire and
those that had the same score for all the questions. The final valid
questionnaire data were 96 for VR viewing group and 97 for traditional
viewing group, and Table 2 shows some of the demographic charac­
teristics of the data collected in this study. SPSS 25.0 was used for
descriptive statistical analysis of the questionnaire results to check the
missing values, and the impact of using VR was analyzed by smartPLS
software. The smartPLS software is used for the following reasons: First,
PLS-SEM used a partial least square method to perform non-parametric

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Table 5 shown in Table 3, where the VIF value of all indicators is less than 3.3,
Results of R2 and Q2. indicating that there is no strong collinearity problem among all in­
Constructs R Square Q2 dicators (Hayes, 2017). Therefore, there are no serious common method
bias in this study (Kock, 2015; Podsakoff et al., 2003; Podsakoff &
FS 0.404 0.240
EH 0.447 0.279 Organ, 1986).
RE 0.564 0.349
BI 0.340 0.180 5.1.2. Measurement model
To verify the validity and reliability of the constructs, the factor
loadings, combined reliability, and average variance extracted from the
estimation of the structural equation model, and did not require the
items in the questionnaire were shown in Table 3. In Table 3, the factor
normality of the data, which was suitable for the characteristics of the
loading coefficients of all items exceeding 0.7, which were considered
questionnaire data in this study. Second, smartPLS is more suitable for
satisfactory (Henseler, 2017), and the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients of
small sample data analysis of structural equation models. Since this
the 6 constructs all exceeded the recommended value of 0.7, and the
study uses VR equipment for experiment, it is difficult to collect large-
values of composite reliability (CR, ranging from 0.848 to 0.930) and
scale samples, so it is more suitable to use smartPLS for analysis (Hair,
average variance extracted (AVE, ranging from 0.584 to 0.815) from all
Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2012; Hair, Sarstedt, Pieper, & Ringle, 2012).
constructs exceed the minimum criterion of 0.70 and 0.50 respectively
(Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
5.1.1. Common method bias (CMB)
Table 4 shows the differential validity results for each construct,
The analysis result of Hermann’s single factor test showed that five
which is represented by the bold numbers on the diagonal. Based on the
factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were separated out, which
square root of mean variance extraction (AVE), all constructs have
explained 67.628% of the total variance in total. The variance expla­
greater variance with their indicators than others, which strengthens the
nation amount of the first factor was 38.294%, which did not exceed the
discriminant validity of our model.
50% threshold. In addition, the collinearity test of each indicator is

Table 6
Results of the hypothesized model.
Hypothesis Path Path Coefficients T Statistics P Value f2 Decision

H1a PRESENCE - > BI 0.024 0.207 0.836 0.001 rejected

H1b ST - > BI 0.323 3.234 0.001 0.138 supported
H2a PRESENCE - > FS 0.538 5.362 0.000 0.461 supported
H2b ST - > FS 0.240 2.431 0.015 0.092 supported
H3 FS - > BI 0.368 2.969 0.003 0.123 supported
H4a PRESENCE - > EH 0.107 1.089 0.276 0.013 rejected
H4b ST - > EH 0.376 4.207 0.000 0.223 supported
H4c FS - > EH 0.364 3.874 0.000 0.143 supported
H5a PRESENCE - > RE 0.256 3.129 0.002 0.098 supported
H5b ST - > RE 0.338 4.242 0.000 0.228 supported
H5c FS - > RE 0.376 3.767 0.000 0.193 supported

Note: FS represents flow state, ST represents digital storytelling satisfaction, EH represents emotional healing, RE represents restoration, and BI represents behavioral
intention.

Table 7
Results of mediation effect.
Hypothesis Path Indirect effect T Statistics P-value Decision

H6a PRESENCE - > FS - > EH 0.196 2.716 0.007 supported

H6b ST - > FS - > EH 0.087 2.066 0.039 supported
H7a PRESENCE - > FS - > RE 0.202 3.176 0.002 supported
H7b ST - > FS - > RE 0.090 1.755 0.079 rejected
H8a PRESENCE - > FS - > BI 0.198 2.798 0.005 supported
H8b ST - > FS - > BI 0.088 1.842 0.066 rejected

Note: FS represents flow state, ST represents digital storytelling satisfaction, EH represents emotional healing, RE represents restoration, and BI represents behavioral
intention.

Table 8
Results of Mann-Whitney test.
Mean value of construct Group Mean (SD) Median (lower quartile, upper quartile) Mean Rank Sum of Ranks Z p-value

AVEST 1 5.210 (1.363) 5.33 (4.67, 6.33) 87.46 8484.00 − 2.400 0.016*
2 5.708 (0.918) 6.00 (5.33, 6.33) 106.64 10237.00
AVEFS 1 4.966 (1.348) 5.25 (4.25, 6.00) 79.00 7663.00 − 4.516 0.000**
2 5.786 (0.942) 6.00 (5.50, 6.50) 115.19 11058.00
AVEEH 1 4.920 (1.336) 5.25 (4.25, 6.00) 80.51 7809.00 − 4.138 0.000**
2 5.703 (0.776) 5.75 (5.00, 6.25) 113.67 10912.00
AVERE 1 4.845 (1.376) 5.00 (4.00, 5.88) 84.92 8237.00 − 3.029 0.002**
2 5.477 (0.854) 5.50 (4.75, 6.25) 109.21 10484.00
AVEBI 1 5.675 (1.032) 6.00 (5.25, 6.38) 81.10 7866.50 − 4.001 0.000**
2 6.221 (0.613) 6.25 (5.75, 6.75) 113.07 10854.50

Note: AVE represents the mean of each variable, 1 represents the non-VR device group, 2 represents the VR device group, FS represents flow state, ST represents digital
storytelling satisfaction, EH represents emotional healing, RE represents restoration, BI represents behavioral intention, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

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N. Li et al.
5.1.3. Structural model
After fully evaluating the measurement model, the smartPLS soft­
ware is used to evaluate the structural model, and it is crucial to
determine the significance and correlation between each hypothetical
path and the explained variance. In this study, Bootstrapping technique
was used to test the statistical significance of the hypothesis model with
5000 samples (Sarstedt et al., 2017). The structural model evaluation
results are shown in Table 5 and Table 6. The variance of the endoge­
nous variables (R2) is 0.404 for flow state, 0.447 for emotional healing,
0.564 for restoration, and 0.340 for behavioral intention. These values
are higher than the recommended R-squared value of the good model
(0.26) (Cohen, 1988). In order to determine if the model can accurately
forecast the relevance between variables, Stone-Geiser’s Q2 values and
the blindfolding approach (Omission Distance = 7) were also utilized.
Table 5 shows that a minimum Q2 value of 0.180 above 0 is considered
to have a good predictive effect.
It can be seen from the table that the coefficients of the paths are
respectively H2a 0.538 (t-Statistics = 5.362) and H2b 0.240 (t-Statistics
= 2.431). While H1a 0.024 (t-statistics = 0.207) and H4a 0.107 (t-sta­
tistics = 1.089), which not support the hypothesis. The cut-off value of f2
is 0.02 (small effect),0.15 (medium effect), and 0.35 (large effect)
(Cohen, 1988), and the effect size of the significant path ranges from
0.092 to 0.461, among which the H1 path has the largest effect size,
which proves that the flow state is largely affected by the sense of
presence.
5.1.4. Test of the mediating effect
As shown in Table 7, the flow state had a mediation effect between
presence and emotional healing (t-value = 2.716, p < 0.01), and digital
story satisfaction and emotional healing (t-value = 2.066, p < 0.05),
respectively. Similarly, the results of paths H7a and H8a indicated that
presence had significantly positive indirect effects on restoration expe­
rience (t-value = 3.176, p < 0.01) and behavioral intention (t-value =
2.798, p < 0.01) respectively. Nevertheless, the results of the mediation
test revealed that digital storytelling satisfaction could not significantly
influence the flow state in a way that would have an impact on the
restoration experience and behavioral intention.
5.2. Comparative analysis of two sets of experimental results
Before the comparison of the two groups of data, SPSS 25.0 was used
to analyze and test the questionnaire data of the two groups, and the
results showed that the two groups of data did not meet the homogeneity
of variance. Therefore, the Mann-Whitney test was adopted to test the
overall distribution of the two groups of data as a non-parametric test
method. Mann-Whitney Test can determine the difference between two
groups of data according to the median of two groups of data and is one
of the most commonly used methods to compare the difference between
two groups (Mann & Whitney, 1947).
5.2.1. Results of the Mann-Whitney Test
Their median results show that the non-VR group’s median is lower
than the VR group’s median. The results are also consistent when
examining the mean rank and the sum of the ranks of the two groups. Z-
values and p-values are calculated using Mann-Whitney U test statistics,
and the findings in Table 8 demonstrate that hypothesis H9 is supported
because the mean values of the five variables in the VR group are
significantly higher than that in the non-VR group and the P-value is
significant.
6. Discussions
6.1. Theoretical implications
This study contributes to theoretical implications in several aspects.
Firstly, it expands the applicability of attention restoration theory to VR
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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 58 (2024) 184–196
destination narrative videos. While previous research has shown that VR
videos can affect viewers’ mood and restoration experiences, empirical
research on how narrative in VR videos effectively influences viewers’
emotions, restoration, and behavioral intentions remains limited.
Furthermore, although studies have confirmed the restoration benefits
of VR experiences (Reese et al., 2021), there has been a lack of research
focusing on the restorative effects brought about by narrative elements
in videos (Walters et al., 2022). Therefore, our study demonstrates that
narrative satisfaction also influences viewers’ restoration experiences
during the process of watching VR videos, through an experimental
design. The results indicate that destination narrative videos in VR set­
tings can have a greater impact on viewers’ restoration. These findings
support the utility of narrative in restoration within the mixed context of
VR videos and responds to the call for more attention to be given to
variables related to VR advantages.
Secondly, this study contributes to the EPI cube model with the
finding that internal devices (i.e., head-mounted device) can provide
better user experience than external devices (i.e., computers), thus
affecting their psychological states and stimulating users’ behavioral
intentions. Furthermore, the results of this study corroborate previous
research by highlighting the influence of presence on viewers’ flow
experiences (e.g., Chang & Chiang, 2022; Yuan & Hong, 2023), subse­
quently impacting their emotional states and behavioral intentions.
While prior studies have primarily focused on the effects of VR settings
on travel intentions, only a limited number of investigations have
concentrated on the implications of VR technology applications for
emotional healing and restoration experiences (Leung, Chang, et al.,
2022), so further exploration of the emotional changes caused by
different technological devices remains to be explored. Consequently,
this study contributes to the growing body of research calling for deeper
explorations into the multidimensional impact of technologies on user
psychological process (Orús et al., 2021), while showcasing how digital
storytelling can better unfold via such devices.
Thirdly, existing literature has demonstrated that narrative envi­
ronments exert substantial influence on potential tourists’ brand
cognition and purchase intentions (Guo et al., 2022). Building upon
these insights, this study expands the scope by investigating the effects
of VR environment storytelling on viewers. The findings reveal that,
compared to traditional modes of destination storytelling videos, the
utilization of VR technology to watch digital destination narratives en­
genders higher levels of digital narrative satisfaction and fosters a more
immersive flow state. Consequently, this immersive experience miti­
gates emotional distress, fosters a greater sense of restoration, and
stimulates heightened behavioral intentions. Additionally, this study
delves further into the persuasive effects of storytelling in mixed reality
environments, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the
intricate mechanisms at play in narrative persuasion.
Finally, this study has extended the application of the SOR theory
framework in VR tourism research. Previous research has advocated for
the inclusion of additional variables pertaining to VR content in order to
broaden the SOR (Stimulus–Organism–Response) model, thereby
providing further empirical evidence for the favorable marketing out­
comes associated with VR video content (Liu & Huang, 2023).
6.2. Practical implications
The results of this study indicate some practical implications. First,
the results of this study show that the sense of the presence of VR can
have an impact on the emotional healing of users, so the results of this
study provide new insight for the development of healing tourism
industrialization. Previous studies have shown that tourism-related in­
dustrial applications are often related to pleasure or enjoyment, thus
stimulating users’ willingness (De Canio et al., 2022; Li & Chen, 2019;
Yuan & Hong, 2023). The results of this study indicate that VR equip­
ment will also have a good effect on healing, and can be combined with
tourism to develop a VR industry that reduces emotional distress.
N. Li et al.
Second, according to the theory of attention recovery, the results of this
study show that using VR devices to watch digital stories can affect the
restorative experience of users. Previous studies have shown that
inviting employees to watch VR can alleviate the work fatigue of en­
terprise employees (Walters et al., 2022), and this study also supports
this view. VR digital storytelling can be used as a popular way to reduce
the work pressure of enterprise employees to restore their attention and
improve work efficiency. Third, for tourism destination management
organizations, the use of VR digital storytelling can affect the viewer’s
behavioral intention to a greater extent than watching traditional
videos. The appropriate use of VR can be used as a suitable destination
marketing method to stimulate the viewer’s travel intention. Finally,
with the continuous advancement of technology, the concept of digital
storytelling is gaining increasing attention across various disciplines.
This growing recognition has led to its application in industries such as
management, media, and marketing. The tourism industry should
include storytelling as one of the essential components in the creation of
VR tourism content, considering the tendency of the changes of tourist
consumption behaviors, since VR tourism is changing the tourism in­
dustry in the post-epidemic era, with VR tourism products, services and
marketing measures. As this trend continues, it is essential for the
tourism industry to recognize the significance of content in digital
stories and be mindful of the emotional and behavioral impact driven by
satisfaction. By implementing this, the narrative persuasion impact can
benefit the industry’s long-term growth in the future.
6.3. Limitations and future research
The limitations of this study indicate the direction for future research
in this area. First, this study did not take into account the different
characteristics of consumers, such as personality and cultural back­
ground. Future studies can explore their different influences on
emotional healing. Second, because this study introduced emotional
healing into VR tourism scenes, it is necessary to explore the psycho­
logical mechanism of the VR digital environment affecting users’
emotional healing. The results of this study show that flow state can
affect emotional healing, but the factors causing healing feelings need to
be explored in the future. Third, more characteristics of VR should be
explored in future research, such as different VR devices and storytelling
features that need to be examined. Finally, this study only discusses the
impact of story satisfaction on viewers’ flow experience in the context of
virtual reality digital stories. Future research should consider the impact
of the types of travel scenes in digital stories and the narrative mode of
digital stories themselves (for example, narrative positive order and
flashback, narrative person, etc.) on the viewer’s emotions and behav­
ioral intentions.
Declaration of competing interest
All authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by Beijing Natural Science Foun­
dation under Grant 4222003, National Natural Science Foundation of
China under Grant 62177001, and Research Foundation for Advanced
Talents of Beijing Technology and Business University under Grant
19008022321.
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Nao Li, Ph.D. is a professor at Business School of Beijing Technology and Business Uni­
versity. Her research interests include big data analysis and mining, computer simulation,
and technology applications in tourism.
Leyan Li is a master student at Business School, Beijing Technology and Business Uni­
versity. Her research interests include virtual reality experiences in tourism, and tourist
behaviors.
Xiaoming Chen is with the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beijing Tech­
nology and Business University, Beijing, China. His research interests include virtual re­
ality technology and applications. He is the corresponding author of this article. Contact
him at xiaoming.chen@btbu.edu.cn.
IpKin Anthony Wong, Ph.D. is a professor of University of Macau. His research focuses on
tourist motivation and behaviors, consumer behaviors, social media usage, and service
marketing. His articles appeared at Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, and
Journal of Business Research. He is currently serving as a coordinating editor at the Inter­
national Journal of Hospitality and Management and advisory board members in leading
tourism and hospitality journals.