How negative travel content shapes Chinese Gen Z’s destination intentions: a moderated mediation model of relatability and parasocial interaction

Purpose Negative travel posts are increasingly common, yet we know little about how their tone shapes the parasocial route from influencer relatability to destination-related intentions, especially among Gen Z. This study aims to conceptualize relatability as a dual path: perceived similarity (cognitive) and perceived emotional closeness (affective) and test a moderated mediation model in a between-subjects experiment. Design/methodology/approach In total, 347 Chinese Gen Z’ers participated in a between-subjects experiment. After exposure to a standardized post, participants reported similarity, closeness, parasocial interaction (PSI) and destination-related consumption intention. Findings Structural analyses show that both similarity and closeness significantly increase PSI, which in turn robustly predicts destination intentions; smaller but meaningful direct effects from similarity and closeness to intentions remain, indicating partial mediation. Critically, tone qualifies only the first stage: humorous posts strengthen the association between perceived similarity and PSI, whereas the association between perceived closeness and PSI is robust to tone. Conditional indirect effects via PSI are significant, and the model explains substantial variance in PSI and intentions. Practical implications Managerially, when targeting audiences for whom “being like me” is the lever, humorous negative posts are more effective; where closeness is already high or cultivated, tone is less pivotal for sustaining PSI and downstream intention. Originality/value The authors add to the limited research examining how humorous and vulnerable negative posts differentially activate similarity and closeness. Theoretically, the authors disentangle the cognitive and affective routes of relatability and demonstrate that content tone primarily leverages the similarity pathway rather than closeness.