Influencing Without Speaking a Word: Exploring Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Rural Tourism Through Visual Storytelling and Narrative Transportation

Influencing Without Speaking a Word: Exploring Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Rural Tourism Through Visual Storytelling and Narrative Transportation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Influencing Without Speaking a Word: Exploring Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Rural Tourism Through Visual Storytelling and Narrative Transportation Xiaoqing Bai, Ruonan Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the era of digital media, social media influencers play an increasingly vital role in place branding and tourism promotion. While much existing research focuses on influencer-driven narratives that involve direct verbal communication, this study explores how non-verbal, visually driven storytelling influences viewer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward rural tourism. Drawing on Narrative Transportation Theory, the study examines the case of Liziqi, a Chinese influencer known for her silent, aesthetically rich videos portraying rural life. Through a structural equation modeling approach (N = 1027), the findings reveal that emotional involvement, perceived storytelling, and visual appeal significantly enhance narrative transportation, which in turn positively affects viewers’ attitudes and intentions to visit rural destinations. These results challenge the assumption that verbal narration is essential for persuasive media experiences and extend Narrative Transportation Theory into the realm of non-verbal digital storytelling. The study contributes to rural tourism and place branding literature by emphasizing the persuasive power of visual narratives and offers practical implications for destination marketers seeking to attract travelers through calm, immersive, and emotionally resonant influencer content. social media influencer Narrative Transportation Theory rural tourism visual storytelling rural place branding Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Introduction Social media have been a popular arena for place branding and marketing tourist sites to potential travelers (Kumar et al., 2015). Social media influencers can gain huge traffic and commission by filming and promoting their luxurious trips and posting glamorous videos online (Ritter, 2022). However, comparatively few scholarly attention has been given to how social media influencers can create videos to bring vibrance to rural tourist destinations, especially the ones that seem to be less attention-grabbing by appealing to the audience with visual components only without featuring the influencers even speaking into the camera. Social media influencers who consistently and exceptionally post content about rural lifestyles can gain a good followership and are worth academic exploration. For example, Liziqi, a Chinese social media influence with more than 23.5 million followers on YouTube, has been posting about rural lifestyles for more than 7 years. Almost all of her videos do not contain any speaking portions but feature her growing her own vegetables for meals and making traditional Chinese food and artistry from scratch. It remains unclear whether her videos, without using the power of speaking as a form of communication, can go beyond the effect of being visually pleasing and increase the viewers' intention to visit rural tourist destinations. Drawing from Narrative Transportation Theory (Green & Brock, 2000; Van Laer et al., 2014), this research is designed to investigate how influencer-created visual storytelling videos featuring rural lifestyles affect viewers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions to visit rural tourist sites through enhanced narrative transportation, emotional involvement, and visual storytelling. This study aims to extend place branding research through the lens of Narrative Transportation Theory by investigating how visual content on social media without speaking components positively contributes to viewers’ media transportation tendencies. In addition, this research contributes to rural tourism research by investigating the effect of influencer-created videos on the attitudinal and behavioral changes of viewers toward visiting a rural destination for traveling. Narrative Transportation Theory Narrative engagement refers to the extent a reader or viewer experiences the feeling of being cognitively and emotionally immersed and absorbed in a story (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). Viewers of a superhero movie might experience the excitement of fighting criminals together with the superhero or even as the superhero when watching the movie. A highly engaged audience might experience narrative transportation, the feeling of being “transported” to the world described in the story, and temporarily losing awareness of real surroundings, with focused attention, vivid mental imagery, and emotional investment in the narrative (Green & Brock, 2000). Narrative transportation has a cognitive and emotional impact on individuals who experience it. Experiment results indicated that transported readers had higher story-consistent beliefs and were more favorable towards the persuaders, as narrative transportation can reduce readers’ critical scrutiny of the message and diminish the tendency of the counterargument (Green & Brock, 2000). Emotionally, narrative-engaged readers or viewers can experience stronger empathy and emotional responses aligned with the characters (Samur et al., 2021). In the age of social media, influencers can leverage narrative engagement to connect with their audiences. Rather than just posting informative or descriptive content, social media influencers can use narrative strategies to depict their personal stories. For social media platforms that allow for longer videos, influencers can even attempt to create narrative transportation for higher persuasive impact. Chong and Gottipati (2020) found out that the most common narrative structure adopted by social media influencers is the “rise-fall” emotional arc when the influencers use a first-person perspective and tell their personal experience in an emotionally positive tone. These posts generate more likes than others. Feng, Chen, and Kong (2020) explored the role of narratives in influencer marketing by examining the content strategies of top beauty and fashion influencers on Instagram. Their findings revealed that influencers craft narratives that allow followers to identify with them, enhancing the persuasive impact of their endorsements. The study also highlighted that such narrative-driven content could diminish the effectiveness of sponsorship disclosures, as engaging stories might overshadow the recognition of promotional intent. Zhou et al. (2021) explored how social media influencers can use narrative strategies to tackle issues like cultural barriers, sponsorship disclosure, and commercial-personal tension through increased authenticity and emotional expression. Few research has explored the effect of narrative transportation as a persuasive technique for promoting rural tourism. However, this approach holds significant potential, as rural tourism can be marketed not only through showcasing scenic landscapes but also through compelling storytelling and strategic narratives, especially through the voices of social media influencers. Thus, we propose the following research question: RQ: How do influencer-created rural lifestyle videos increase viewers’ behavioral intention towards rural tourism through visual storytelling and narrative transportation? Based on the literature on emotional involvement and narrative transportation (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009), and the impact of narrative transportation on attitudinal and behavioral changes (Green & Brock, 2000; Samur et al., 2021), we hypothesize the following: H1: Viewers’ emotional involvement in the influencer-created rural lifestyle video positively impacts their narrative transportation. H2: Viewers’ narrative transportation positively impacts their a) attitude towards rural tourism and b) behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. H3: Viewers’ attitude towards rural tourism positively impacts their behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. Social Media Influencers and Rural Tourism Different from traditional mass media advertising, social media influencers can be great collaborators in promoting rural tourism due to their targeted reach of audiences, personal storytelling, diversified promoting messages, and cumulated trust from their followers. Rural tourism businesses and destinations have begun to turn to influencers to reach younger travelers who are highly active on social media, as compared to traditional media outlets, influencer collaborations are more cost-effective (Chatzigeorgiou, 2017). For example, a campaign aiming to promote Mexico’s lesser-known tourist destination, Riviera Maya, incorporated Instagram influencers from the U.S. and Mexico. Researchers found that the influencers’ communication style and personal appeal significantly shaped the audience’s travel intention (Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al., 2025). Influencers can also foster engagement and trust among audiences through multiple formats of messages. Unlike traditional advertising campaigns with one poster or one commercial video, influencers can interact with followers through posts, comments, live stories, videos, quick pollings, and even livestreams, and can share their perspectives on sightseeing, local cuisine, and cultural activities that they know will attract their followers (Zorlu, & Candan, 2023). These multiforms of communication build credibility and continuous engagement, thus can be more effective in persuading their followers to choose the promoted rural destination as their next travel spot. However, previous literature on social media influencers’ impact on rural tourism predominantly examined influencers who speak the same languages as the targeted tourists of the rural destinations (Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al., 2025). It still remains undiscovered whether social media influencers can persuade a wider audience group without the restraint of one certain language through digital visual storytelling. Social Media Influencers and Visual Storytelling Visual storytelling is rooted in the idea that images convey information more efficiently than text, as visuals are processed faster and retained for a longer time than text-based messages (Paivio, 2013). In the age of social media, research has found that images and videos generate higher engagement rates than text-based posts (Zhang et al. 2021). With the popularity of visual-based social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, the importance of visual storytelling is also heightened. Alongside, the rise of social media influencers has significantly impacted digital marketing and online advertising, highlighting the effective combination of text-based content and visual storytelling, where images, long videos, live photos, TikTok style short videos work together with texts to convey meanings and persuasive attempts. Influencers act as intermediaries between brands and followers, leveraging their perceived authenticity, credibility, and relatability to create promotional visual content (Abidin, 2016). Unlike traditional advertising, influencer-created content has the ability to blend personal storytelling with persuasive efforts. Research shows that followers perceive influencers as more authentic when their visual narratives are perceived as organic rather than overly promotional (Evans et al., 2017). Based on research in visual storytelling (Paivio, 2013) and social media influencers (Abidin, 2016), we propose the following hypothesis and the research model (see Figure 1): H4: Viewers’ a) perceived storytelling and b) perceived visual appeal of the influencer-created rural lifestyle video positively impact their narrative transportation. Methodology To examine the proposed research model, an online questionnaire was created through Qualtrics. Participants were recruited after the research received approval from the Institutional Review Board. Participants viewed a six-minute influencer-created rural lifestyle video before answering a series of questions about their cognitive and emotional engagement to the video and attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. Participant Recruitment and Sample Profiles Participants were recruited through collaboration with a third-party data collection company. The Qualtrics-created online survey was translated into Chinese for data collection. To ensure proper translation, one member of the research team translated the questionnaire into Chinese and another member translated the Chinese questionnaire into English without consulting the original English questionnaire. The research team compared the two versions of English questionnaires and verified the accuracy of the translation. A total number of 1249 participants took part in the study. The number of participants who failed the attention check question was 56. The number of participants who used too short of a time (less than 10 minutes) or had significant missing variables was 166. Thus, the final sample size was N = 1027. The sample demographics are reported in Table 1. Table 1. Sample Demographics Number Percentage Gender Male 375 36.5 Female 645 62.8 I prefer not to disclose 7 .7 Age 21 - 30 376 36.6 31 - 35 233 22.7 36 - 40 161 15.7 > 40 221 21.5 Monthly Income 8283 USD 35 3.5 Education High school Diploma 166 16.2 Bachelor’s Degree 601 58.5 Master’s Degree 164 16 Doctoral Degree 50 5.8 Familiarity with the influencer I don’t know who she is at all. 352 34.5 I don’t know her, but she looks familiar. 168 16.4 I don’t follow her but her videos are on my feed occasionally. 87 8.5 I don’t follow her but her videos are often on my feed. 77 7.5 I followed her for less than 3 months. 15 1.5 I have been following her for 3 months to 1 year. 61 5.9 I followed her for more than 1 year 265 25.8 Total Measures To measure the variables proposed in the research model, a seven-point Likert scale (1 = “strongly disagree” to 7 = “strongly agree”) questionnaire was designed and distributed. The scales on perceived visual appeal and attitude and behavioral intentions to rural tourism were adapted from Chung et al. (2015), the scale measuring perceived storytelling was adapted from Wang et al (2024), the scale on emotional involvement was adapted from Huang et al. (2013), and the narrative transportation scale was adapted from Appel et al. (2015). Control variables on participants’ age, gender, education, income, and familiarity with the influencer were also measured. The factor loadings, Cronbach’s alpha numbers, and descriptive statistics of the measuring items are reported in Table 2 and Table 3. Table 2. Reliability and Descriptive Statistics on Antecedent Variables. 1 = “strongly disagree” to 7 = “strongly agree” Factor Loadings Mean SD Perceived Visual Appeal ( α = .923 ) The way she captured the location in her video makes the place quite attractive. .858 5.63 1.396 The place in her video seems visually appealing. .841 5.67 1.383 She paid attention to details when capturing the place. .836 5.66 1.472 Her video provided a way for me to visually experience the rural life of the featured place. .804 5.56 1.416 The view in her video was visually good. .866 5.78 1.411 Perceived Storytelling ( α = .964 ) Her video's storytelling was unique and special. .830 5.46 1.392 Her video's storytelling was original. .833 5.6 1.433 Her video's storytelling was authentic. .823 5.38 1.453 Her video's storytelling was informative. .817 5.51 1.382 Her video's storytelling offered knowledge. .782 5.5 1.394 Her video's storytelling satisfied my intellectual needs. .766 5.33 1.435 Her video's storytelling was enjoyable. .859 5.61 1.462 Her video's storytelling is described in great detail. .819 5.49 1.362 Her video's storytelling was comprehensible. .832 5.67 1.417 Her video's storytelling was accurate. .777 5.27 1.411 Her video's storytelling was memorable. .830 5.47 1.435 Her video's storytelling was sentimental. .848 5.61 1.433 Her video's storytelling appealed to my feelings. .840 5.57 1.41 Emotional Involvement ( α = .920 ) I got a bit emotional when watching the video. .831 5.19 1.44 I felt carried off when watching the video. .853 5.29 1.518 I felt as if I was part of the environment when watching the video. .813 5.1 1.57 I felt deeply about the life featured in the video. .826 5.5 1.377 I was touched by the video. .837 5.36 1.505 Statistical Strategies Confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the measurement model. After receiving a good model fit, structural equation modeling tests were performed according to the proposed research model. All control variables were included in the SEM model, predicting their attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. None of the control variables had a significant impact. Results Construct Validity To test the validity of the measurement model, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The measurement model displayed good model fit: χ2 (599) = 1121.602, χ2/df = 1.872, p < .001, CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.981, RMSEA = 0.029; Estimator = MLM; n = 1027. Table 3 Reliability and Descriptive Statistics on Mediator and Outcome Variables. 1 = “strongly disagree” to 7 = “strongly agree” Factor Loadings Mean SD Narrative Transportation (α = .927) I could picture myself being in the scene of the video. .830 5.37 1.386 I was cognitively involved in the narrative while watching. .813 5.57 1.357 I was following the way she tells her story in the video. .819 5.51 1.42 I was following the video emotionally. .814 5.48 1.429 I could picture myself living in the video. .830 5.39 1.402 I imagine living in the style of her video. .819 5.36 1.421 Attitude towards Rural Tourism (α = .912) I like rural places similar to the one featured in this video. .844 5.64 1.382 I think rural places similar to the one featured in this video are attractive. .840 5.64 1.374 I like that rural places similar to the one featured in this video. .855 5.6 1.383 I think it will be fun to visit rural places similar to the one featured in this video. .858 5.63 1.429 Behavioral Intentions toward Rural Tourism (α = .912) I would love to visit a similar rural destination. .879 5.49 1.48 I intend to visit a similar restaurant. .883 5.43 1.475 I want to see a place like the one in the video with my own eyes. .855 5.5 1.516 I would recommend others visit a similar rural destination. .785 5.21 1.487 Structural Equation Modeling Structural Equation Modeling test was performed. The model displayed good model fit: χ2 (600) = 1326.933, χ2/df = 2.212, p < .001, CFI = 0.976, TLI = 0.974, RMSEA = 0.034; Estimator = MLM; n = 1027. Narrative transportation was positively predicted by emotional involvement (β = .159, p < .001), Perceived storytelling (β = .267, p < .001), and perceived visual appeal (β = .135, p < .001). Narrative transportation was found positively associated with both attitudes towards rural tourism (β = .361, p < .001) and rural tourism intentions (β = .181, p < .001). Attitude toward rural tourism was found as a predictor of rural tourism intentions (β = .361, p < .001). The coefficients and significance level are also reported in Fig. 2 . Factor loadings, mean, and standard deviations of each item are reported in Table 2 and Table 3 . . Discussions This study is designed to investigate how influencer-created visual storytelling videos featuring rural lifestyle contributes to viewer’s change of attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism through experienced narrative transportation. The results fill the research gap in Narrative Transportation Theory and provide practical implications in social media place branding on rural tourist destinations. Emotional involvement, perceived storytelling, and perceived visual appeal were all found effectively enhancing viewer’s narrative transportation even when the video does not contain any speaking portion by the influencer. Previous research studying Narrative Transportation Theory in the context of social media influencers typically feature content that involves influencers speaking about the narrative to the viewers (e.g. Chong & Gottipati, 2020 ). The current findings extend current understanding of the theory by highlighting that emotional connection, visual quality, and effective storytelling are crucial elements in shaping audience media consumption experience aside from the verbal narrations. The study provided empirical proof that verbal narration is not a necessary condition for narrative transportation to occur. Instead, emotional resonance, high visual quality, and thoughtfully structured visual storytelling are shown to be powerful in shaping the viewer’s immersive experience. These insights hold practical implications for content creators and destination marketers engaging in place branding of rural destinations. Specifically, rural destinations aiming to attract broader tourism interest may benefit from investing in visually rich and emotionally appealing content that contains strong storytelling, such as slow-paced and non-verbal videos that depict everyday rural life. Collaborating with influencers who have a strong visual aesthetic and are skilled in conveying mood and meaning through images and videos can be an effective strategy to generate emotional connection without relying on overt speaking-based persuasion. This approach not only accommodates cross-cultural audiences who may not share a language with the influencer but also aligns with growing viewer preferences for calm, meditative, or ASMR-style content (Engelbregt et al., 2022 ). By focusing on emotional cues and visual storytelling, destination branding efforts can become more inclusive and universally persuasive, enhancing the global appeal of rural tourism experiences. Through enhanced narrative transportation, viewers of influencer-created rural lifestyle videos can build more positive attitude and behavioral intention towards rural tourism. This is line with previous findings on how narrative transportation can be an effective mediator between media consumption and positive persuasive outcomes (Green & Brock, 2000 ). When audiences become more emotionally and cognitively absorbed in a narrative feature in the influencer-created video, they are more likely to have a favorable attitude towards the lifestyle portrayed in the story, which can lead to more favorable perceptions of the place depicted. In the context of rural tourism, this suggests that visual storytelling can serve as a powerful tool to bridge the psychological distance between urban audiences and rural destinations. Practically, these findings have important implications for place branding strategies in rural tourism. Rural destinations seeking to attract tourists might consider collaborating with social media influencers who specialize in rural lifestyle to co-create authentic, visually appealing, and story-driven media content. Rather than relying solely on traditional promotional materials, rural destination marketers can harness influencers’ storytelling capabilities to foster emotional involvement and shift audience attitudes. By cultivating narrative transportation, such content not only can highlight the aesthetic and experiential appeal of the rural destinations but also strengthens the overall brand identity of the place. This strategy may be especially effective in repositioning lesser-known rural areas as desirable travel destinations and enhancing long-term tourism intentions particularly from urban target audience groups. Limitations This research is by no means perfect. The design is limited by many constraints. First, the influencer examined in the video is a young female Chinese content creator, popular predominantly on YouTube. Future researchers are recommended to test the research model on influencers of different demographics. Second, the research instrument is a cross-sectional survey, while lab experiments are more powerful in revealing causal relationships. Future researchers are recommended to examine the impact of visual-based and text-based rural tourism promotional messages through experimental settings. Third, the current research treats audience familiarity as a control variable, future researchers are recommended to include follower engagement variables like parasocial relationship and source credibility in the research model. Declarations Author Contribution Both authors contributed to the conceptualization, administration, and writing of the research. References Abidin, C. (2016). “Aren’t these just young, rich women doing vain things online?”: Influencer selfies as subversive frivolity. Social Media + Society, 2 (2), 2056305116641342. Appel, M., Gnambs, T., Richter, T., & Green, M. C. (2015). The transportation scale–short form (TS–SF). Media Psychology, 18 (2), 243-266. Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2009). Measuring narrative engagement. Media psychology, 12 (4), 321-347. Chatzigeorgiou, C. (2017). Modelling the impact of social media influencers on behavioural intentions of millennials: The case of tourism in rural areas in Greece. Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing, 3 (2), 25-29. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1209125 Chong, M., & Gottipati, S. (2020). Social media influencers and Instagram storytelling: A case study of Singapore Instagram influencers. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 22 (10), 81–96. https://doi.org/10.33423/jabe.v22i10.3714 Chung, N., Han, H., & Joun, Y. (2015). Tourists’ intention to visit a destination: The role of augmented reality (AR) application for a heritage site. Computers in Human Behavior, 50 , 588-599. Engelbregt, H. J., Brinkman, K., Van Geest, C. C. E., Irrmischer, M., & Deijen, J. B. (2022). 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6506686","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":453975083,"identity":"f988a32c-663c-4063-85bc-496aeb684e6c","order_by":0,"name":"Xiaoqing Bai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Communication University of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoqing","middleName":"","lastName":"Bai","suffix":""},{"id":453975084,"identity":"cbe8f123-c52f-4ea4-8fe4-55f1b07dedde","order_by":1,"name":"Ruonan Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAz0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHhBhw8DAztxwACxwgDgtaQwMzIykaTkM1sJAlBbz/rMHPxf8Op/Pz8zYeLjgD4Mc340E/FpkDpxLlp7Zd9tyZjNjw+GZbQzGkoS0SDD2GEjz9tw2MDgM1MLbwJC4gaAWZh7j37w95yBaeP4w1BPWwsZjJs3z4wBUCxtDggFBLTw8Zta8DckGkiC/8LZJGM4884CAFv4zxrd5/tgZ8LM3H/7M88dGnu84AVvAgLENYQQRysHgD7EKR8EoGAWjYEQCALKfQcag5waWAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Rollins College","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruonan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-22 18:23:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":82616956,"identity":"f65b46f7-2c03-4038-b470-2fa95190e6f2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-13 11:47:04","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":80180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eProposed Research Model\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6506686/v1/f46ba25ce9f62e4101e7671d.png"},{"id":82617937,"identity":"58ecb5b0-2998-434d-9fb6-f876c405744f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-13 11:55:04","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":144102,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eStructural Equation Modeling Results\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eχ2 (600) = 1326.933, χ2/df = 2.212, p \u0026lt; .001, CFI = 0.976, TLI = 0.974, RMSEA = 0.034; Estimator = MLM; n = 1027, * p \u0026lt; .05, ** p \u0026lt; .01, *** p \u0026lt; .001.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6506686/v1/0489d659fd3514863addaf95.png"},{"id":88410503,"identity":"30c8e0f1-5dbb-4116-b732-0e00c9262a51","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-06 08:23:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":802468,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6506686/v1/dd3fc772-e79f-4690-9bfb-e7cf0dd31550.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Influencing Without Speaking a Word: Exploring Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Rural Tourism Through Visual Storytelling and Narrative Transportation","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eSocial media have been a popular arena for place branding and marketing tourist sites to potential travelers (Kumar et al., 2015). Social media influencers can gain huge traffic and commission by filming and promoting their luxurious trips and posting glamorous videos online (Ritter, 2022). However, comparatively few scholarly attention has been given to how social media influencers can create videos to bring vibrance to rural tourist destinations, especially the ones that seem to be less attention-grabbing by appealing to the audience with visual components only without featuring the influencers even speaking into the camera.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSocial media influencers who consistently and exceptionally post content about rural lifestyles can gain a good followership and are worth academic exploration. For example, Liziqi, a Chinese social media influence with more than 23.5 million followers on YouTube, has been posting about rural lifestyles for more than 7 years. Almost all of her videos do not contain any speaking portions but feature her growing her own vegetables for meals and making traditional Chinese food and artistry from scratch. It remains unclear whether her videos, without using the power of speaking as a form of communication, can go beyond the effect of being visually pleasing and increase the viewers\u0026apos; intention to visit rural tourist destinations.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing from Narrative Transportation Theory (Green \u0026amp; Brock, 2000; Van Laer et al., 2014), this research is designed to investigate how influencer-created visual storytelling videos featuring rural lifestyles affect viewers\u0026rsquo; attitudes and behavioral intentions to visit rural tourist sites through enhanced narrative transportation, emotional involvement, and visual storytelling. This study aims to extend place branding research through the lens of Narrative Transportation Theory by investigating how visual content on social media without speaking components positively contributes to viewers\u0026rsquo; media transportation tendencies. In addition, this research contributes to rural tourism research by investigating the effect of influencer-created videos on the attitudinal and behavioral changes of viewers toward visiting a rural destination for traveling.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNarrative Transportation Theory\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNarrative engagement refers to the extent a reader or viewer experiences the feeling of being cognitively and emotionally immersed and absorbed in a story (Busselle \u0026amp; Bilandzic, 2009). Viewers of a superhero movie might experience the excitement of fighting criminals together with the superhero or even as the superhero when watching the movie. A highly engaged audience might experience narrative transportation, the feeling of being \u0026ldquo;transported\u0026rdquo; to the world described in the story, and temporarily losing awareness of real surroundings, with focused attention, vivid mental imagery, and emotional investment in the narrative (Green \u0026amp; Brock, 2000). Narrative transportation has a cognitive and emotional impact on individuals who experience it. Experiment results indicated that transported readers had higher story-consistent beliefs and were more favorable towards the persuaders, as narrative transportation can reduce readers\u0026rsquo; critical scrutiny of the message and diminish the tendency of the counterargument (Green \u0026amp; Brock, 2000). Emotionally, narrative-engaged readers or viewers can experience stronger empathy and emotional responses aligned with the characters (Samur et al., 2021).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;In the age of social media, influencers can leverage narrative engagement to connect with their audiences. Rather than just posting informative or descriptive content, social media influencers can use narrative strategies to depict their personal stories. For social media platforms that allow for longer videos, influencers can even attempt to create narrative transportation for higher persuasive impact. Chong and Gottipati (2020) found out that the most common narrative structure adopted by social media influencers is the \u0026ldquo;rise-fall\u0026rdquo; emotional arc when the influencers use a first-person perspective and tell their personal experience in an emotionally positive tone. These posts generate more likes than others. Feng, Chen, and Kong (2020) explored the role of narratives in influencer marketing by examining the content strategies of top beauty and fashion influencers on Instagram. Their findings revealed that influencers craft narratives that allow followers to identify with them, enhancing the persuasive impact of their endorsements. The study also highlighted that such narrative-driven content could diminish the effectiveness of sponsorship disclosures, as engaging stories might overshadow the recognition of promotional intent. Zhou et al. (2021) explored how social media influencers can use narrative strategies to tackle issues like cultural barriers, sponsorship disclosure, and commercial-personal tension through increased authenticity and emotional expression.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFew research has explored the effect of narrative transportation as a persuasive technique for promoting rural tourism. However, this approach holds significant potential, as rural tourism can be marketed not only through showcasing scenic landscapes but also through compelling storytelling and strategic narratives, especially through the voices of social media influencers. Thus, we propose the following research question:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRQ: How do influencer-created rural lifestyle videos increase viewers\u0026rsquo; behavioral intention towards rural tourism through visual storytelling and narrative transportation?\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on the literature on emotional involvement and narrative transportation (Busselle \u0026amp; Bilandzic, 2009), and the impact of narrative transportation on attitudinal and behavioral changes (Green \u0026amp; Brock, 2000; Samur et al., 2021), we hypothesize the following:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eH1: Viewers\u0026rsquo; emotional involvement in the influencer-created rural lifestyle video positively impacts their narrative transportation.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eH2: Viewers\u0026rsquo; narrative transportation positively impacts their a) attitude towards rural tourism and b) behavioral intentions towards rural tourism.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eH3: Viewers\u0026rsquo; attitude towards rural tourism positively impacts their behavioral intentions towards rural tourism.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSocial Media Influencers and Rural Tourism\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDifferent from traditional mass media advertising, social media influencers can be great collaborators in promoting rural tourism due to their targeted reach of audiences, personal storytelling, diversified promoting messages, and cumulated trust from their followers. Rural tourism businesses and destinations have begun to turn to influencers to reach younger travelers who are highly active on social media, as compared to traditional media outlets, influencer collaborations are more cost-effective (Chatzigeorgiou, 2017). For example, a campaign aiming to promote Mexico\u0026rsquo;s lesser-known tourist destination, Riviera Maya, incorporated Instagram influencers from the U.S. and Mexico.\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eResearchers found that the influencers\u0026rsquo; communication style and personal appeal significantly shaped the audience\u0026rsquo;s travel intention (Rodr\u0026iacute;guez-Hidalgo et al., 2025). Influencers can also foster engagement and trust among audiences through multiple formats of messages. Unlike traditional advertising campaigns with one poster or one commercial video, influencers can interact with followers through posts, comments, live stories, videos, quick pollings, and even livestreams, and can share their perspectives on sightseeing, local cuisine, and cultural activities that they know will attract their followers (Zorlu, \u0026amp; Candan, 2023). These multiforms of communication build credibility and continuous engagement, thus can be more effective in persuading their followers to choose the promoted rural destination as their next travel spot. \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, previous literature on social media influencers\u0026rsquo; impact on rural tourism predominantly examined influencers who speak the same languages as the targeted tourists of the rural destinations (Rodr\u0026iacute;guez-Hidalgo et al., 2025). It still remains undiscovered whether social media influencers can persuade a wider audience group without the restraint of one certain language through digital visual storytelling.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSocial Media Influencers and Visual Storytelling\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVisual storytelling is rooted in the idea that images convey information more efficiently than text, as visuals are processed faster and retained for a longer time than text-based messages (Paivio, 2013). In the age of social media, research has found that images and videos generate higher engagement rates than text-based posts (Zhang et al. 2021).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the popularity of visual-based social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, the importance of visual storytelling is also heightened. Alongside, the rise of social media influencers has significantly impacted digital marketing and online advertising, highlighting the effective combination of text-based content and visual storytelling, where images, long videos, live photos, TikTok style short videos work together with texts to convey meanings and persuasive attempts. Influencers act as intermediaries between brands and followers, leveraging their perceived authenticity, credibility, and relatability to create promotional visual content (Abidin, 2016). Unlike traditional advertising, influencer-created content has the ability to blend personal storytelling with persuasive efforts. Research shows that followers perceive influencers as more authentic when their visual narratives are perceived as organic rather than overly promotional (Evans et al., 2017).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on research in visual storytelling (Paivio, 2013) and social media influencers (Abidin, 2016), we propose the following hypothesis and the research model (see Figure 1):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eH4: Viewers\u0026rsquo; a) perceived storytelling and b) perceived visual appeal of the influencer-created rural lifestyle video positively impact their narrative transportation.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methodology","content":"\u003cp\u003eTo examine the proposed research model, an online questionnaire was created through Qualtrics. Participants were recruited after the research received approval from the Institutional Review Board. Participants viewed a six-minute influencer-created rural lifestyle video before answering a series of questions about their cognitive and emotional engagement to the video and attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eParticipant Recruitment and Sample Profiles\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eParticipants were recruited through collaboration with a third-party data collection company. The Qualtrics-created online survey was translated into Chinese for data collection. To ensure proper translation, one member of the research team translated the questionnaire into Chinese and another member translated the Chinese questionnaire into English without consulting the original English questionnaire. The research team compared the two versions of English questionnaires and verified the accuracy of the translation. A total number of 1249 participants took part in the study. The number of participants who failed the attention check question was 56. The number of participants who used too short of a time (less than 10 minutes) or had significant missing variables was 166. Thus, the final sample size was N = 1027. The sample demographics are reported in Table 1.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 1. Sample Demographics\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"623\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNumber\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePercentage\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGender\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMale\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e375\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFemale\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e645\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e62.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI prefer not to disclose\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAge\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e21 - 30\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e376\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36.6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e31 - 35\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e233\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e22.7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36 - 40\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e161\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15.7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026gt; 40\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e221\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e21.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonthly Income\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt; 414 USD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e156\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e415 USD - 1104 USD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e439\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e42.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1105 USD - 3451 USD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e311\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e30.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3452 USD - 8282 USD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e86\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8.4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026gt; 8283 USD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e35\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEducation\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHigh school Diploma\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e166\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e16.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eBachelor\u0026rsquo;s Degree\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e601\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e58.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMaster\u0026rsquo;s Degree\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e164\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e16\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDoctoral Degree\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e50\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFamiliarity with the influencer\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know who she is at all.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e352\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e34.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know her, but she looks familiar.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e168\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e16.4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t follow her but her videos are on my feed occasionally.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e87\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t follow her but her videos are often on my feed.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e77\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI followed her for less than 3 months.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI have been following her for 3 months to 1 year.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e61\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI followed her for more than 1 year\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e265\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e25.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTotal\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMeasures\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo measure the variables proposed in the research model, a seven-point Likert scale (1 = \u0026ldquo;strongly disagree\u0026rdquo; to 7 = \u0026ldquo;strongly agree\u0026rdquo;) questionnaire was designed and distributed. The scales on perceived visual appeal and attitude and behavioral intentions to rural tourism were adapted from Chung et al. (2015), the scale measuring perceived storytelling was adapted from Wang et al (2024), the scale on emotional involvement was adapted from Huang et al. (2013), and the narrative transportation scale was adapted from Appel et al. (2015). Control variables on participants\u0026rsquo; age, gender, education, income, and familiarity with the influencer were also measured. The factor loadings, Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha numbers, and descriptive statistics of the measuring items are reported in Table 2 and Table 3.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 2. Reliability and Descriptive Statistics on Antecedent Variables.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"624\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1 = \u0026ldquo;strongly disagree\u0026rdquo; to 7 = \u0026ldquo;strongly agree\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFactor Loadings\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePerceived Visual Appeal (\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026alpha; = .923\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe way she captured the location in her video makes the place quite attractive.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.858 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.63\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.396\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe place in her video seems visually appealing.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.841 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.67\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.383\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eShe paid attention to details when capturing the place.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.836\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.66\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.472\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video provided a way for me to visually experience the rural life of the featured place.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.804\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.56\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.416\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe view in her video was visually good.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.866 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.78\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.411\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePerceived Storytelling (\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026alpha; = .964\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was unique and special.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.830 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.46\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.392\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was original.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.833 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.433\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was authentic.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.823 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.38\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.453\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was informative.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.817\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.51\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.382\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling offered knowledge.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.782\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.394\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling satisfied my intellectual needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.766 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.33\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.435\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was enjoyable.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.859 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.61\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.462\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling is described in great detail.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.819\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.49\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.362\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was comprehensible.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.832\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.67\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.417\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was accurate.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.777\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.27\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.411\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was memorable.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.830\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.47\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.435\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling was sentimental.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.848 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.61\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.433\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHer video\u0026apos;s storytelling appealed to my feelings.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.840\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.57\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.41\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmotional Involvement (\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026alpha; = .920\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI got a bit emotional when watching the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.831 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.19\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.44\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI felt carried off when watching the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.853 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.29\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.518\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI felt as if I was part of the environment when watching the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.813 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.57\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI felt deeply about the life featured in the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.826 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.377\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 440px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI was touched by the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.837\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.36\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.505\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStatistical Strategies\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConfirmatory factor analysis was performed on the measurement model. After receiving a good model fit, structural equation modeling tests were performed according to the proposed research model. All control variables were included in the SEM model, predicting their attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. None of the control variables had a significant impact.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eConstruct Validity\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTo test the validity of the measurement model, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The measurement model displayed good model fit: \u0026chi;2 (599)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1121.602, \u0026chi;2/df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.872, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, CFI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.983, TLI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.981, RMSEA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.029; Estimator\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;MLM; n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1027.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003ctable id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e\n \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eReliability and Descriptive Statistics on Mediator and Outcome Variables.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003c/caption\u003e\n \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1 = \u0026ldquo;strongly disagree\u0026rdquo; to 7 = \u0026ldquo;strongly agree\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFactor Loadings\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNarrative Transportation (\u0026alpha;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.927)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI could picture myself being in the scene of the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.830\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.37\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.386\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI was cognitively involved in the narrative while watching.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.813\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.57\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.357\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI was following the way she tells her story in the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.819\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.51\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.42\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI was following the video emotionally.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.814\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.48\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.429\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI could picture myself living in the video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.830\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.39\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.402\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI imagine living in the style of her video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.819\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.36\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.421\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAttitude towards Rural Tourism (\u0026alpha;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.912)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI like rural places similar to the one featured in this video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.844\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.64\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.382\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI think rural places similar to the one featured in this video are attractive.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.840\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.64\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.374\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI like that rural places similar to the one featured in this video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.855\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.383\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI think it will be fun to visit rural places similar to the one featured in this video.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.858\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.63\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.429\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBehavioral Intentions toward Rural Tourism (\u0026alpha;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.912)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI would love to visit a similar rural destination.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.879\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.49\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.48\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI intend to visit a similar restaurant.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.883\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.43\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.475\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI want to see a place like the one in the video with my own eyes.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.855\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.516\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI would recommend others visit a similar rural destination.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.785\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.21\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.487\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eStructural Equation Modeling\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eStructural Equation Modeling test was performed. The model displayed good model fit: \u0026chi;2 (600)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1326.933, \u0026chi;2/df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.212, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, CFI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.976, TLI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.974, RMSEA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.034; Estimator\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;MLM; n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1027. Narrative transportation was positively predicted by emotional involvement (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.159, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), Perceived storytelling (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.267, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), and perceived visual appeal (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.135, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). Narrative transportation was found positively associated with both attitudes towards rural tourism (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.361, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and rural tourism intentions (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.181, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). Attitude toward rural tourism was found as a predictor of rural tourism intentions (\u0026beta;\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.361, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). The coefficients and significance level are also reported in Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. Factor loadings, mean, and standard deviations of each item are reported in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e and Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. .\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussions","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study is designed to investigate how influencer-created visual storytelling videos featuring rural lifestyle contributes to viewer\u0026rsquo;s change of attitude and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism through experienced narrative transportation. The results fill the research gap in Narrative Transportation Theory and provide practical implications in social media place branding on rural tourist destinations.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEmotional involvement, perceived storytelling, and perceived visual appeal were all found effectively enhancing viewer\u0026rsquo;s narrative transportation even when the video does not contain any speaking portion by the influencer. Previous research studying Narrative Transportation Theory in the context of social media influencers typically feature content that involves influencers speaking about the narrative to the viewers (e.g. Chong \u0026amp; Gottipati, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). The current findings extend current understanding of the theory by highlighting that emotional connection, visual quality, and effective storytelling are crucial elements in shaping audience media consumption experience aside from the verbal narrations. The study provided empirical proof that verbal narration is not a necessary condition for narrative transportation to occur. Instead, emotional resonance, high visual quality, and thoughtfully structured visual storytelling are shown to be powerful in shaping the viewer\u0026rsquo;s immersive experience.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThese insights hold practical implications for content creators and destination marketers engaging in place branding of rural destinations. Specifically, rural destinations aiming to attract broader tourism interest may benefit from investing in visually rich and emotionally appealing content that contains strong storytelling, such as slow-paced and non-verbal videos that depict everyday rural life. Collaborating with influencers who have a strong visual aesthetic and are skilled in conveying mood and meaning through images and videos can be an effective strategy to generate emotional connection without relying on overt speaking-based persuasion. This approach not only accommodates cross-cultural audiences who may not share a language with the influencer but also aligns with growing viewer preferences for calm, meditative, or ASMR-style content (Engelbregt et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). By focusing on emotional cues and visual storytelling, destination branding efforts can become more inclusive and universally persuasive, enhancing the global appeal of rural tourism experiences.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough enhanced narrative transportation, viewers of influencer-created rural lifestyle videos can build more positive attitude and behavioral intention towards rural tourism. This is line with previous findings on how narrative transportation can be an effective mediator between media consumption and positive persuasive outcomes (Green \u0026amp; Brock, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e). When audiences become more emotionally and cognitively absorbed in a narrative feature in the influencer-created video, they are more likely to have a favorable attitude towards the lifestyle portrayed in the story, which can lead to more favorable perceptions of the place depicted. In the context of rural tourism, this suggests that visual storytelling can serve as a powerful tool to bridge the psychological distance between urban audiences and rural destinations.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePractically, these findings have important implications for place branding strategies in rural tourism. Rural destinations seeking to attract tourists might consider collaborating with social media influencers who specialize in rural lifestyle to co-create authentic, visually appealing, and story-driven media content. Rather than relying solely on traditional promotional materials, rural destination marketers can harness influencers\u0026rsquo; storytelling capabilities to foster emotional involvement and shift audience attitudes. By cultivating narrative transportation, such content not only can highlight the aesthetic and experiential appeal of the rural destinations but also strengthens the overall brand identity of the place. This strategy may be especially effective in repositioning lesser-known rural areas as desirable travel destinations and enhancing long-term tourism intentions particularly from urban target audience groups.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLimitations\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research is by no means perfect. The design is limited by many constraints. First, the influencer examined in the video is a young female Chinese content creator, popular predominantly on YouTube. Future researchers are recommended to test the research model on influencers of different demographics. Second, the research instrument is a cross-sectional survey, while lab experiments are more powerful in revealing causal relationships. Future researchers are recommended to examine the impact of visual-based and text-based rural tourism promotional messages through experimental settings. Third, the current research treats audience familiarity as a control variable, future researchers are recommended to include follower engagement variables like parasocial relationship and source credibility in the research model.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth authors contributed to the conceptualization, administration, and writing of the research.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eAbidin, C. (2016). \u0026ldquo;Aren\u0026rsquo;t these just young, rich women doing vain things online?\u0026rdquo;: Influencer selfies as subversive frivolity. \u003cem\u003eSocial Media + Society, 2\u003c/em\u003e(2), 2056305116641342.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eAppel, M., Gnambs, T., Richter, T., \u0026amp; Green, M. C. (2015). The transportation scale\u0026ndash;short form (TS\u0026ndash;SF). \u003cem\u003eMedia Psychology, 18\u003c/em\u003e(2), 243-266.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eBusselle, R., \u0026amp; Bilandzic, H. (2009). Measuring narrative engagement. \u003cem\u003eMedia psychology, 12\u003c/em\u003e(4), 321-347.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eChatzigeorgiou, C. (2017). Modelling the impact of social media influencers on behavioural intentions of millennials: The case of tourism in rural areas in Greece. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Tourism, Heritage \u0026amp; Services Marketing, 3\u003c/em\u003e(2), 25-29. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1209125\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eChong, M., \u0026amp; Gottipati, S. (2020). Social media influencers and Instagram storytelling: A case study of Singapore Instagram influencers. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Applied Business and Economics, 22\u003c/em\u003e(10), 81\u0026ndash;96. https://doi.org/10.33423/jabe.v22i10.3714\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eChung, N., Han, H., \u0026amp; Joun, Y. (2015). Tourists\u0026rsquo; intention to visit a destination: The role of augmented reality (AR) application for a heritage site. \u003cem\u003eComputers in Human Behavior, 50\u003c/em\u003e, 588-599.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eEngelbregt, H. J., Brinkman, K., Van Geest, C. C. E., Irrmischer, M., \u0026amp; Deijen, J. B. (2022). The effects of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on mood, attention, heart rate, skin conductance and EEG in healthy young adults. \u003cem\u003eExperimental Brain Research, 240\u003c/em\u003e(6), 1727-1742.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eEvans, N. J., Phua, J., Lim, J., \u0026amp; Jun, H. (2017). Disclosing Instagram influencer advertising: The effects of disclosure language on advertising recognition, attitudes, and behavioral intent. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Interactive Advertising, 17\u003c/em\u003e(2), 138-149.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eFeng, Y., Chen, H., \u0026amp; Kong, Q. (2021). An expert with whom I can identify: The role of narratives in influencer marketing. \u003cem\u003eInternational Journal of Advertising, 40\u003c/em\u003e(7), 972-993.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGreen, M. C., \u0026amp; Brock, T. C. (2000). 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The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers\u0026apos; narrative transportation. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Consumer Research\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e40\u003c/em\u003e(5), 797-817.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWang, J., Wu, Y., \u0026amp; Wang, Z. (2024). Effect of short video storytelling on festival attractiveness: the moderating role of temporal orientation and novelty. \u003cem\u003eCurrent Issues in Tourism,\u003c/em\u003e 1-18.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eZhang, M., Qin, F., Wang, G. A., \u0026amp; Luo, C. (2020). The impact of live video streaming on online purchase intention. \u003cem\u003eThe Service Industries Journal, 40\u003c/em\u003e(9-10), 656-681.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eZhou, S., Wu, Y., \u0026amp; Li, Y. (2021). How social media influencers\u0026apos; narrative strategies benefit cultivating influencer marketing: Tackling issues of cultural barriers, commercialised content, and sponsorship disclosure. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Business Research, 134\u003c/em\u003e, 122\u0026ndash;142.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eZorlu, \u0026Ouml;., \u0026amp; Candan, T. (2023). The impact of social media influencers on destination preferences: A cross-generation comparison. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Tourism Leisure and Hospitality, 5\u003c/em\u003e(1), 53-61.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"social media influencer, Narrative Transportation Theory, rural tourism, visual storytelling, rural place branding","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"In the era of digital media, social media influencers play an increasingly vital role in place branding and tourism promotion. While much existing research focuses on influencer-driven narratives that involve direct verbal communication, this study explores how non-verbal, visually driven storytelling influences viewer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward rural tourism. Drawing on Narrative Transportation Theory, the study examines the case of Liziqi, a Chinese influencer known for her silent, aesthetically rich videos portraying rural life. Through a structural equation modeling approach (N = 1027), the findings reveal that emotional involvement, perceived storytelling, and visual appeal significantly enhance narrative transportation, which in turn positively affects viewers’ attitudes and intentions to visit rural destinations. These results challenge the assumption that verbal narration is essential for persuasive media experiences and extend Narrative Transportation Theory into the realm of non-verbal digital storytelling. The study contributes to rural tourism and place branding literature by emphasizing the persuasive power of visual narratives and offers practical implications for destination marketers seeking to attract travelers through calm, immersive, and emotionally resonant influencer content.","manuscriptTitle":"Influencing Without Speaking a Word: Exploring Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Rural Tourism Through Visual Storytelling and Narrative Transportation","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-13 11:46:59","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6506686/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"927a53e2-4bec-415d-8448-50244dab929f","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-06T08:23:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-13 11:46:59","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6506686","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6506686","identity":"rs-6506686","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}