| As a typical form of “cultural tourism”,the tourism performing art which integrates artistic performance with the local customs,humanities,history,myths,and legends of destination,has gained increasing popularity and has become a “must have” attraction and a unique cultural symbol of many destinations.Destinations regard tourism performing art as a global cultural window to promote local culture to visitors who come from different places.More importantly,along with the development of information technologies and visitors’ emerging need for more interactive and embodied experience in on-site tourism activities,the tourism performing art has evolved from staged entertainment to Immersive Performing Art(IPA).The IPA,which characterized by "immersive" experience,allows visitors to engage in interactive experiences,satisfying visitors’ pursuit of cultural aesthetics,scene art and visual shock.However,can current IPAs really lead to a positive impression on visitors? No.Current IPAs have mixed reputation,polarized evaluation,and low market recognition.Although visitors are generally willing to try IPA,they evaluate that most IPAs are "flashy in form but empty in content".This phenomenon raises the question of how to totally immerse into IPAs? What is the core of the state of immersion? In fact,certain managers have discovered that interactive experience,which allows visitors to actively participate and personalize their experience,is the core of IPA.Consequently,there is a need to explore the definition and dimensions of interaction in IPAs.In the extant literature,most studies focused on traditional performing art,particularly how the core attributes(e.g.,performance,service attributes)and the supporting facilities(e.g.,venue environment)affect visitors’ experiences.Besides,these studies have considered visitors to be passive participants and ignored their active role in the experience since most traditional performing arts do not provide opportunities for visitors to interactions in the experience.However,previous studies argued that interaction is the key difference between traditional performing art and the IPA.Although few studies have demonstrated the importance of interaction in IPA,most of those studies focused on visitors’ physical interactions(e.g.,eye contact,gestures)with characters and equate this kind of interaction with social interaction in daily world,with little attention paid to its nature and the interactions with other elements of the performance(e.g.,surroundings,props).In addition,the mechanism through which interactive experience affects visitors’ evaluation of IPA experience remains unexplored.Furthermore,most previous literature on the tourism performing arts has paid more attention to Chinese tourists,ignoring the possible influence of cultural background differences.Second,the psychological state of being absorbed has gradually become a topic of heated discussion among researchers.Existing scholars mainly adopted the terms "immersion" and "flow" to describe individuals’ sense of being absorbed.Specifically,immersion focuses more on individuals physical and intellectual engagement,while flow focuses on individuals’ optimal experience and the challenge of the activity and the degree of skills matching.However,studies only focusing on cognitive and/or physical aspect is limited in capturing the nature of being absorbed in the IPA experience because visitors’ emotional responses and emotional resonance are also critical to IPA experience.Therefore,this study adopted the variable that integrate the mental states of individual attention,emotion,and imagery to explore the state in which a tourist is fully absorbed in IPA.Finally,recent studies have suggested that memorable tourism experience is not simply a collection of sensory experiences that provide moment pleasure,but also include the process of self-reflection and growth.However,most previous IPA studies have only focused on the emotional evaluation of tourists,ignoring the growth or transformation of visitors triggered by IPA and its role in the evaluation of IPA.Against the above practical and theoretical background,this study aims to explore the following questions:(1)What are the most salient dimensions of interactive experience in ITPA?(2)Whether interactive experience affects visitors’ word of mouth(WOM)?(3)How does interactive experience affect visitors’ WOM?(4)Are there differences in the evaluation of IPA among tourists with different cultural backgrounds?Based on literature review,narrative transportation theory,and self-expansion theory,this study adopted a two-step mixed method approach,including a qualitative and quantitative study,to explore the dimensions and mechanism.More precisely,this study identifies three dimensions of interactive experience,and constructs and tests a conceptual model to reveal the mechanism through which interactive experience influence visitors’ self-expansion through narrative transportation,which in turn affect visitors’ WOM.This study consists of six chapters:Chapter 1 is introduction.This chapter introduces and clarifies the background,research questions,theoretical and practical implication,research content,research methodology,technical route,and main innovation points.Chapter 2 is literature review.Through reviewing the research related to this study,this chapter identifies the research gaps and research questions one more time,which lay the foundation for the subsequent study.Chapter 3 is a qualitative study.This chapter first conducted field survey and in-depth interviews to collect first-hand data,after that,we employed thematic analysis to analyze data.Through the qualitative analysis,this study identifies three dimensions of interactive experience,including parasocial interaction,narrative interaction,and environmental interaction,and proposes that “in IPA,difference dimensions of interaction lead to the process of IPA experience,including the state of engaging into story world and the growth and transformation of visitors,which in turn affects the evaluation of IPA”.Chapter 4 is the construction of the conceptual model and the proposal of hypotheses.Based on literature review,narrative transportation theory,and selfexpansion theory,this chapter constructs a conceptual model of how three dimensions of interactions affect visitors’ self-expansion through narrative transportation,and consequently affect tourists’ WOM.Next,this chapter proposes the relationships among the variables in the conceptual model.The mediating role of narrative transportation between the three dimensions of interactions and visitors’ WOM,the serial mediating role of narrative transportation and self-expansion between the three dimensions of interactions and visitors’ WOM are considered,and the moderating role of visitors’ cultural background in the relationship between interactive experience and narrative transportation.Chapter 5 is an empirical study to test the conceptual model and hypotheses proposed in chapter 4.This chapter introduces the questionnaires design,data collection,and data analysis.Specifically,this study employs common method bias control,structural equation modeling,mediating effect test,and one-way variance test.Results indicate:(1)the three dimensions of interactive experience in IPA,i.e.,parasocial interaction,narrative interaction,and environmental interaction,all positively related to narrative transportation;(2)narrative transportation has a significant positive effect on both self-expansion and WOM;(3)self-expansion has a significant positive effect on WOM.Secondly,the result of mediating effect shows that(4)parasocial interaction,narrative interaction,and environmental interaction had a significant indirect effect on WOM through narrative transportation;(5)the indirect effects of parasocial interaction,narrative interaction,and environmental interaction on WOM were serially mediated by narrative transportation and selfexpansion.The results of the one-way ANOVA on the sample of visitors from different cultural backgrounds showed that(6)there were no significant differences between tourists from different cultural backgrounds on parasocial interaction,narrative interaction,and environmental interaction,and significant differences on narrative transportation,self-expansion,and WOM.Finally,MGA results showed that(7)the moderating effect of tourists’ cultural background was significant in the relationship between parasocial interaction and narrative transportation,but not in the relationship between narrative interaction and narrative transportation,environmental interaction and narrative transportation.Chapter 6 is conclusion.This chapter first the summarizes and explains the findings,while discussing them in the context of relevant literature.Then,the theoretical contributions and practical implication are provided,making targeted suggestions to companies.Finally,the limitations and future research direction are illustrated and discussed.The main innovations of this study are as follows:(1)Expanding the research perspective on the influencing factors and effects of ITPA experience.Throughout the research on,scholars mostly focus traditional tourism performing arts and pay attention to the influence of core service and supplementary service on visitors’ experience,ignoring visitors’ agency in the process of creating experience.Exploration of other outcomes was also neglected.The subject of this study,IPA,is centered on visitor interaction,where the visitor is an appreciator but also a performer in the experience.Therefore,this study takes visitor interaction in IPA as an antecedent in the evaluation of visitor experience,i.e.,WOM,and explores whether and how interaction affects visitors’ WOM,expanding the relevant research on the influencing factors and effects of tourism performing arts experience.(2)Refining different dimensions of visitor interaction in IPA.Visitor interaction is rich in connotation and covers different forms and contents,but few scholars have explored it systematically in the context of IPA.Although certain scholars are aware of the importance of interaction in IPA,those studies mainly focus on the interaction between visitors and actors and equate these kinds of interaction with social interaction in daily life,which lacks contextuality and relevance.Therefore,this study identifies the dimensions and connotations of visitor interactions in ITPA through qualitative analysis,classifying them into parasocial interactions between visitors and actors,narrative interactions between visitors and storylines,and environmental interactions between visitors and the environment.Particularly,this study found that the interaction between visitors and actors is distinguished from social interaction in which parasocial interaction is a one-way controlled,impersonal and non-substantial reciprocal interaction between actors.The specialness and intimacy perceived by visitors is an illusionary experience.Accordingly,the multidimensional taxonomy framework of visitor interaction constructed in this study not only makes its concept clearer,but also lays the foundation for subsequent quantitative research.(3)This study reveals the mechanism of how interactive experience influences WOM by introducing narrative transportation and self-expansion.Based on the results of qualitative analysis,narrative transportation theory and self-expansion theory,this study introduces narrative transportation and self-expansion to describe the psychological perceptions of visitors during the IPA experience.Specifically,narrative transportation characterizes the state of being immersed into the story world,which is a mental process that integrate individual emotion,attention,and imagery;self-expansion is related to the depth of the experience,which characterizes tourists’ growth and transformation in the story experience.Subsequently,this study proposes the logical thinking and conceptual model of“visitors interaction-narrative transportation-self-expansion – WOM” to reveal the mechanism of how interaction influence IPA experience,enriching the research on IPA and WOM.(4)Paying attention to the transformation and growth of visitors triggered by ITPA.Previous studies on tourism performing arts have focused on the transient pleasure in experience,relying on the sensory stimulation of visitors,while lacking attention to whether performing arts can bring profound meaning and reflection to visitors.Moreover,although scholars have recognized that numerous visitors aim to seek activities that can promote individual progress or growth in tourism,most of the relevant studies have been qualitative explorations.They identified the positive changes in visitors caused by tourism experiences based on different theoretical perspectives.Therefore,this study suggested that visitors can achieve selfexpansion by generating meaningful connections with actors or stories in the experience to trigger deeper thinking,thus enriching research on visitors’ growth and transformation in the tourism field.(5)Exploring the differences in IPA experience of visitors with different cultural backgrounds through cross-cultural comparative analysis.Most existing research on tourism performing arts experiences has been conducted in the Chinese context,using Chinese tourists as the basis for data analysis and model validation,ignoring the possible influence of cultural background differences in tourism performing arts experiences.In fact,tourists with different cultural backgrounds have different travel preferences,habits and behaviors,which in turn lead to different experience processes and experience outcomes.Therefore,this study enriches the research related to tourism performing arts by verifying the differences in the perceptions of tourists with different cultural backgrounds in the immersive tourism performing arts experience and tested the moderating effect of visitors’ cultural background.Although this study has certain theoretical contributions and managerial value,it still has shortcomings in terms of research content and research methodology.Future research could explore the boundary effects of the impact of tourist interactions on their willingness to spread word-of-mouth by integrating the differences in the impact of positive and negative tourist interactions or introducing other variables as moderating variables in this study.In addition,field surveys may be considered in this study to reduce recall bias,i.e.,questionnaires are collected onsite by means of field research. |
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