Purpose Applying social learning theory and the source credibility model, this study aims to investigate the impacts of perceived attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness of YouTube travel vloggers on viewers’ wishful identification and behavioral intention. The study also aims to examine the effects of vlogger gender on viewers’ perception and on their wish to be like the vlogger. Design/methodology/approach With an online data collection from 402 YouTube travel vlog viewers, a moderated mediation model was tested using multiple linear regression and multivariate nested linear regression. Findings This study found that physical attractiveness, social attractiveness and credibility of travel vloggers positively affected audience wishful identification, among which credibility had the strongest impact. The effect of the travel vlogger’s social attractiveness on viewer wishful identification was even strengthened when the vlogger and the viewer were of different genders. Wishful identification partially mediated the relationship between vloggers’ attributes and viewers’ behavioral intention. Finally, the finding revealed female vloggers were perceived as more physically attractive than males, whereas male vloggers were assessed as more credible than their female counterparts. Originality/value Expanding upon the literature on mass media and social media, this study explains the mechanism of developing intention to imitate the travel vloggers of YouTube viewers. The findings provide tourism and hospitality managers with solution in choosing the most inspirational travel vlogger to influence consumer behavior.

No abstract

No abstract

PurposeAdopting the theory of parasocial interaction (PSI) and schema theory, this study proposes that a brand’s personalized response and brand familiarity on a corporate blog will lead to higher perceived brand similarity, credibility and blog recommendation intention.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (brand familiarity: high, low) × 3 (brand responses: none, automated and personal) experimental design was developed to test the hypothesized relationships. A total of 474 qualified data were collected using an online survey. ANOVA was utilized to test the research hypotheses.FindingsStudy results revealed that personalized messages lead to stronger perceived brand similarity, credibility and blog recommendation intention than those exposed to automated and no response. Brand familiarity also significantly influenced perceived brand similarity, brand credibility and blog recommendation intention. Further, the study analysis revealed an interesting interaction effect between brand awareness and brand response on recommendation intention.Originality/valueThe study provides meaningful implications and suggestions for the effective corporate blogging strategy to influence consumers’ attitudes and image toward brands and establish strong brand equity and relationships with customers.

This study investigates the mediating roles of customer engagement and customer depletion as well as the moderating role of an innovative climate on the relationship between organizational innovativeness generated from transformational leadership and creative customer behavior in the hospitality industry. A multilevel path analysis is conducted using a data set comprising 62 managers, 269 employees, and 681 customers from a South Korean restaurant chain. The findings show that transformational leadership in restaurants increases organizational innovativeness, which indirectly influences creative customer behavior through customer engagement and depletion. An innovative climate also moderates these causal relationships. This study integrates the service-dominant logic framework into research on innovation and creativity to better understand the role and impact of customers in cultivating innovation and creativity.