“Just pick up and go”: how user-generated social media content shapes tourists' behavioral willingness

Purpose Drawing on symbolic interaction theory and embodied cognitive theory, this study scrutinizes the mechanisms of symbolic interactions between social media content (SMC) and tourists' behavioral willingness (TBW) through tourism expectations and tourism experience. The outcomes of this study add significant value to the existing knowledge of tourist behavior in destination marketing. We offer valuable insights for both academia and marketers regarding the role of SMC in marketing practical application. Design/methodology/approach In order to systematically reveal the influence mechanism of SMC on TBW, this study employs a mixed-methods research design. Our survey data from 384 respondents support the hypothetical structural equation model. We then employ experimental methods with manipulated SMC conditions to explore causal relationships between focal variables. These two methods complement each other and are progressive. Findings This study identifies SMC as a key antecedent and stimulus that exerts a significant direct positive impact on TBW. It verifies the existence of a chain mediation mechanism between SMC and TBW, confirming the following mediated transmission pathway: SMC → Tourism expectation → Tourism experience → TBW. However, neither tourism expectations nor tourism experiences, as single mediators, support the significant impact of SMC on TBW. Furthermore, tourists' cultural intelligence (CI) is found to act as a negative moderating factor, attenuating the positive influence of SMC on tourism expectations. Originality/value This study integrates symbolic interaction theory and embodied cognitive theory, contributing a symbolic-embodied interaction model to the tourism interactive marketing literature by identifying a more precise transmission mechanism by which SMC shapes TBW. Specifically, it shows that the indirect effect of SMC on TBW operates only through the full expectation-experience chain, rather than through either tourism expectation or tourism experience alone. The study also identifies cultural intelligence as a negative boundary condition that weakens the influence of SMC on tourism expectations, addressing a gap in this field.