The Defining Features of Emotions in Online Stories

Authors

  • Wen Zhang Rosen College of Hospitality Management University of Central Florida
  • Yeongbae Choe Faculty of Business Administration University of Macau
  • Daniel R. Fesenmaier National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce Florida International University

Keywords:

Tourism advertising, Storytelling, Story structure, Sentiment analysis, Emotions

Abstract

Online storytelling has become a powerful destination promotion strategy as it effectively conveys information and involves travellers emotionally through inspiring imagination. In this study, we use sentiment analyses to examine the emotion structures conveyed by 60 online stories related to various American destinations. We further examined the relationship between these key features and an important measure of story performance, the average length of time spent on the webpage reading the story. The results of these analyses demonstrate that emotion arousal levels at the start, peak and final stages of the story are significant predictors of reader involvement. The results of this research are consistent with the work by Kahneman and his colleagues and provide a valuable foundation for designing story-based online advertising.

Author Biographies

Wen Zhang, Rosen College of Hospitality Management University of Central Florida

Wen Zhang is a Ph.D. Student at University of Central Florida. Her research interests include tourism design, tourism emotion mapping, and online storytelling. 

Yeongbae Choe, Faculty of Business Administration University of Macau

Yeongbae Choe is an assistant professor of International integrated resort management at the University of Macau. His research focuses on recent advanced technologies and its impact on tourist behaviours.

Daniel R. Fesenmaier, National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce Florida International University

Daniel R. Fesenmaier is a visiting professor and director of National Laboratory for Tourism and Ecommerce at Florida International University. His teaching and research focus on the role of information technology in travel decisions, advertising evaluation, experience design, and smart tourism design.

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Published

2019-01-30

How to Cite

Zhang, W., Choe, Y. and Fesenmaier, D. R. (2019) “The Defining Features of Emotions in Online Stories”, e-Review of Tourism Research, 16(2/3). Available at: https://ertr-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/ertr/article/view/326 (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2/3 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

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