How four aspects of narcissism prompt tourists to make landmark check-in: the mediating role of perceived enjoyment and perceived status attainment

Purpose This study aims to explore how four aspects of narcissism influence tourists’ landmark check-in behaviour on social media, utilising self-verification theory to assess the roles of perceived enjoyment and perceived status attainment. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted through a survey, collecting data from 326 tourists in China to measure the impact of different types of narcissism on their landmark check-in behaviours. Findings The findings indicate that vulnerable narcissism, rivalrous narcissism and communal narcissism significantly impact perceived enjoyment, while vulnerable narcissism, communal narcissism and admirative narcissism significantly influence perceived status attainment. Both perceived enjoyment and perceived status attainment were found to affect tourists’ landmark check-in behaviours. Research limitations/implications This study is limited by its data collection focused solely on Chinese tourists and by examining only two mediating variables and the effects of four types of narcissistic personalities on landmark check-in behaviour during travel; future research should conduct cross-cultural comparisons and investigate additional mediating variables to understand better the complex relationship between narcissistic personality and landmark check-in behaviour. Practical implications The research provides practical marketing insights and digital marketing strategies for tourist destinations, suggesting ways to promote attractions through platform-based engagement with narcissistic tourists. Social implications This study underscores the implications of the digital identity of narcissistic tourists on social media, reflecting how personal psychological traits can influence social interactions on social media in tourist settings. Originality/value This study enriches the application of self-verification theory in tourism research and provides new insights into the nexus between various forms of narcissism and landmark check-in behaviour, which is a relatively underexplored area in tourist behaviour research. It broadens tourism research in narcissistic trails by examining the multidimensional framework of narcissism, providing researchers with a narcissistic research framework to design their further research in digital marketing in tourism contexts.