How does celebrity involvement influence travel intention? The case of promoting Chengdu on TikTok

Abstract

This study examines the predicting effect of celebrity involvement on destination authenticity (object-based authenticity and existential authenticity) and hence travel intention in the context of TikTok tourism promotional videos. Data collected from 225 survey respondents indicated that celebrity involvement increases perceived destination authenticities (object-based and existential authenticity) and hence travel intention after watching TikTok celebrity videos. Furthermore, destination authenticities mediate the positive relationship between celebrity involvement and travel intention. The findings contribute to knowledge about social media marketing in tourism literature by blending authenticity theory and celebrity involvement in the context of TikTok celebrity promotions. Meaningful implications are provided for destination marketers.

When social media meets destination marketing: the mediating role of attachment to social media influencer

“…arrests) news (e.g. tax evasion) (Zhu et al, 2022a(Zhu et al, , 2022b, some scholars have shown that social media influencers can be an effective marketing strategy for enhancing destination marketing (Chen et al, 2020;Pop et al, 2022). However, how is this attachment to social media influencers formed on TikTok and how does it shape behavioral intention?…”

“…In particular, Kim and Kim (2020) have shown that authenticity is an important antecedent that engages potential consumers in social media tourism. Although Zhu et al (2022b) claimed authenticity as a psychological mechanism to explore how it is shaped in social media and how it affects customer behavior in social media, they ignored that authenticity can also act as a stimulus to influence consumer psychology and behavior based on TikTok.…”

“…In a historical site, empirical research identified when customers achieved object-based authenticity, their existential authenticity increased (Kesgin et al, 2021). And with the convergence of technology and tourism, these two distinct authenticities started to gain scholarly attention in the context of digital tourism (Zhu et al, 2022b(Zhu et al, , 2023, but empirical evidence is scarce in social media experience: H1. In the context of TikTok, object-based authenticity is positively associated with existential authenticity.…”

“…Social media experience based on user-generated video content has been increasingly incorporated in marketing strategies designed to shape consumer behavior (Kim and Song, 2018;Lee, 2022;Mirzaalian and Halpenny, 2019). Recent studies reveal that TikTok has become an essential social media video platform for tourists (Zhu et al, 2022a(Zhu et al, , 2022bDeng et al, 2022). Compared to other social media platforms (e.g.…”

“…Considering that existential authenticity comes from the tourists' psychological degree of perception, in social media short video, the images presented through digital means can enhance the visitor's existential authenticity (Kim and Kim, 2020). On the other hand, object-based authenticity focuses on the perception of objective objects (Zhu et al, 2022b(Zhu et al, , 2023. In short videos, tourists can see real scenes and characters (e.g.…”