Differentially impacted self- and other-decisions by tourism short videos: a neurophysiological perspective

Purpose Drawn from construal level theory (CLT), this study aims to explore how different types of tourism short videos affect decisions made for oneself versus others. Design/methodology/approach Using a mixed-methods approach, this study combined a scenario-based experiment (n = 284), a laboratory experiment (n = 201) and an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment (n = 60). Findings The results showed that individuals were more inclined to visit a tourism destination when making decisions for themselves compared to when making decisions for others after watching tourism vlogs. More importantly, the type of short video moderated this self-other decision-making discrepancy: self-decision-makers were more likely to travel after viewing vlogs, while other-decision-makers were more likely to travel after viewing official videos. Furthermore, EEG findings revealed that after watching vlogs, the P2 latency was shorter for self-decisions, whereas for official videos, the P2 peak was smaller and the P2 latency was shorter for other-decisions. Behavioral and neurophysiological findings consistently revealed that travel vlogs were more effective in promoting travel intention in self-decision contexts, whereas official videos were more persuasive in other-decision contexts. Originality/value This study enriches the understanding of how various tourism short videos impact consumers’ self-related and other-related decision-making. The findings provide meaningful insights for destination marketers on effectively targeting both individual travelers and those making travel decisions on behalf of others by leveraging the increasing influence of various short videos in the tourism industry.