Sensation Seeking,Message Sensation Value,and Destinations

Abstract

This study investigated whether advertisements with different (high or low) message sensation value (MSV) had different impacts on consumers with different (high or low) sensation-seeking (SS) trait with regard to their destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions through a cross-cultural comparison. The results indicated that for U.S. samples, matched MSV and SS trait (low–low) had stronger influence on consumers’ destination image perceptions than mismatched MSV and SS trait (low–high); while for Chinese samples, matched MSV and SS trait (high–high) had stronger influence on consumers’ behavioral intentions and destination image perceptions than mismatched MSV and SS trait (high–low). In addition, culture was found to moderate the effect of MSV and SS trait on consumers’ destination image and behavioral intentions. Finally, destination image was found to be a significant predictor of behavioral intentions.

Keywords

message sensation value (MSV)sensation-seeking (SS) trait destination image behavioral intention culture

Introduction

The majority of tourist decision-making models suggest that the process of selecting a destination is a funnel-like one, in which tourists narrow down choices among a number of alternatives (Decrop, 2010; Sirakaya & Woodside, 2005). Various tourism researchers (Botha, Crompton, & Kim, 1999; Crompton & Ankomah, 1993; Hong, Kim, Jang, & Lee, 2006) note that three types of criteria influence this funneling process: personal motivations or push factors, destination attributes or pull factors, and situational variables or constrains.

Marketers’ advertising and other communication strategies act as one of the important pull factors that affect tourists’ destination choice decisions. As argued by researchers (Gursoy & McCleary, 2004), it is during consumers’ information acquisition that marketers can influence tourists’ buying decisions. Empirical evidence also shows that tourists are likely to choose a certain destination to travel when the promotional information of that destination (pull factor) is matched with their motivations (push factor; Baloglu & Uysal, 1996). Therefore, providing tourism information that satisfies tourists’ needs is one of the most critical responsibilities of tourism marketers.

Researchers have elaborated that vacation-related information search not only helps travelers decide where to vacation (i.e., functional value; Um & Crompton, 1990) but also satisfies travelers’ other needs (e.g., hedonic value, social value; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). This suggests that tourism information provides a variety of values that satisfy travelers’ different needs. A number of researchers (e.g., Diehl & Zauberman, 2005) have contended that during the information search process consumers are more likely to purchase a product or service when the given information delivers desired values that satisfy their needs. In line with this logic, information that provides desired values for tourists are likely to influence their destination choice more effectively.

Cho and Jang (2008) have identified several dimensions of information value perceptions during travelers’ pretrip information search process, and message sensation value (MSV) is one of them. This value is defined as “the degree to which formal and content audio-visual features of a televised message elicit sensory, affective and arousal responses” (Palmgreen et al., 1991, p. 219). Studies suggest that people who desire sensory, affective, and arousal emotions from external stimuli normally prefer those messages with higher MSV, while those with lower needs in sensational arousal should be more interested in messages with lower MSV (Everett & Palmgreen, 1995). Individuals’ needs for stimulation and sensation are mainly associated with a personality trait named sensation-seeking (SS) trait (Lepp & Gibson, 2008). Arguably, consumers who are higher (lower) in this trait should be more attentive to and interested in advertising messages with higher (lower) MSV. As such, when messages are able to draw attention and produce interests in the first place, their communication power to influence audience’ perceptions and behaviors should be effective as well. Accordingly, the present study postulates that consumers with higher (lower) SS trait, when matched with promotional video with higher (lower) MSV, are likely to form a more positive destination image and stronger behavioral intentions. This study aims to test this assumption through a cross-cultural comparison using samples from two geographical regions—the United States and East Asia including mainland China and Taiwan, with the former representing the Western culture and the latter the Eastern culture.

With the growing importance and size of global tourism, culture has been increasingly explored in tourism research to help understand patterns of tourist thinking and behaviors (Litvin, Crotts, & Hefner, 2004). Culture determines what forms of communication are acceptable and the nature and degree of information search behavior that individuals consider appropriate (Chen, 2000). Through a cross-cultural comparison, this study provides destination marketers an insight of how to tap into different tastes and preferences so as to more effectively reach and communicate with consumers with different cultural backgrounds.

In addition to the practical merit, this study also contributes to the tourism literature in two theoretical aspects. First, tourism researchers (e.g., Dore & Crouch, 2003) have called for more research effort on the effectiveness of publicity techniques (e.g., destination promotional videos) for promoting a given destination. Second, although studies on the antecedents of tourists’ destination image (e.g., values, motivations, personality, demographic variables, information sources, etc.) and behavioral intentions (e.g., destination image, destination satisfaction, demographic variables, etc.) are abundant in the tourism literature (e.g., Assaker, Vinzi, & O’Connor, 2011; Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Chen & Tsai, 2007), the influence of MSV and consumers’ SS trait on image and behavior is still a relatively unexplored area. Therefore, by investigating whether destination promotional videos with different (high or low) MSV have different impacts on consumers with different (high or low) SS trait with regard to their destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions, this study addresses the two research gaps simultaneously.

Literature Review

Sensation Seeking Trait, Message Sensation Value, and Behavioral Intentions

Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined as one’s need for varied, novel, complex, and intense sensory stimulation and the level of willingness to take physical, legal, and/or financial risks to satisfy the desire for such stimulation (Zuckerman, 1994). SS traits can be partitioned into four dimensions: thrill and adventure seeking (TAS), experience seeking (ES), disinhibition (DIS), and boredom susceptibility (BS; Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978). TAS is recognized as the desire to attend exciting and thrilling activities, while ES is the desire to acquire unique experience through a special trip, new friends, or unusual lifestyles. DIS is conceptualized as the need to involve in social stimulations, whereas BS is regarded as the desire of escaping from repetitive and familiar work or people.

Early studies have shown that SS individuals tend to engage in behaviors that increase the amount of stimulation they experience. For example, Zuckerman, Neary, and Brustman (1970) find that 74% of college undergraduates who are high sensation seekers (HSSs) have used one or more drugs compared with only 23% of low sensation seekers (LSSs). Similarly, Donohew, Helm, Lawrence, and Shatzer (1991) find that senior high school students who are HSSs are twice as likely to report the use of beer and liquor and up to seven times as likely to report the use of other drugs as opposed to LSSs. Also in the tourism literature, Pizam, Reichel, and Uriely (2001) find that undergraduate students who are rated high in SS trait prefer extreme sports activities during their leisure trip, whereas those rated low in SS trait prefer to visit cultural/heritage attractions. Lepp and Gibson’s (2008) study reports that people with higher SS impulses are more likely to travel to international destinations and visit regions rated as risky. Collectively, findings of these studies consistently indicate that SS trait is a powerful predictor of people’s behavioral intentions to engage in SS activities.

The influence of SS trait is also reflected on consumers’ attitudes and preferences toward external stimuli that they are exposed to. According to Zuckerman (1983, 1988), SS is associated with needs or preferences for novel, complex, and ambiguous stimuli, as well as stimuli that arouse strong emotional reactions. While HSSs are more attentive to novel stimuli and feel more upset in tedious situations, LSSs are more in favor of familiar and less complex stimuli rather than novel and complex ones. Everett and Palmgreen (1995) argue that these preferences can exist in various domains such as art, music, and verbal or audio messages. This suggests that all messages have a potential MSV, and this value is critically associated with how (non)sensation seekers might like their received messages. This also provides an important implication for tourism marketers that the effectiveness of their designed marketing and communication messages in arousing and gaining people’s interest and preferences might be improved when the level of MSV is appropriately developed within their marketing messages and delivered to consumers with corresponding levels of SS traits.

In support of the aforementioned reasoning, early communication studies find that MSV could influence ones’ behavioral intentions, and the effectiveness of such influence varies depending on the level of people’s SS trait. For example, Palmgreen et al. (1991) conduct a study examining the effectiveness of televised antidrug public service announcements (PSAs) on audiences’ behavioral intentions to call a drug hotline as advocated in the PSA. They find that the behavioral intentions of low SS individuals are influenced more by the low MSV messages than by the high MSV messages, whereas high SS individuals tend to be more persuaded by the high MSV messages. Similarly, Everett and Palmgreen (1995) investigate the effectiveness of televised anti-cocaine PSAs on the audiences’ behavioral intentions to use cocaine. Their results indicate that HSSs tend to cite less likelihood to use cocaine after viewing high MSV PSAs, and LSSs tend to cite less likelihood to use cocaine after viewing low MSV PSAs.

Building on the findings of previous studies, the present study suggests that such interaction effect between MSV and individuals’ SS trait on behavioral intentions can also be identified in the context of people watching tourism promotional videos. As discussed earlier, people with high SS trait prefer stimuli that are novel, emotional, arousing, and sensory; consumers with high SS trait would thus be more attentive to tourism promotional videos with high MSV. As such, by satisfying the preference of high SS trait consumers, videos with high MSV are likely to have a greater impact on their behavioral intentions. This is also likely to be true for the impact of videos of low MSV on low SS trait consumers. Consequently, the following hypotheses are developed.

Hypothesis 1: Consumers’ behavioral intentions will be significantly different among the four different treatment groups; to be more specific:

Hypothesis 1a: HSS consumers watching high message sensation value (HMSV) videos will report higher behavioral intentions than those watching low message sensation value (LMSV) videos.

Hypothesis 1b: LSS consumers watching LMSV videos will report higher behavioral intentions than those watching HMSV videos.

Message Sensation Value and Destination Image

Destination image is defined as an attitudinal construct comprising the knowledge (beliefs), feelings, ideas, and impressions that an individual holds toward an object or destination (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Crompton, 1979). According to Baloglu and McCleary (1999), destination image is influenced by perceptual/cognitive and/or affective evaluations. Perceptual or cognitive evaluation refers to the beliefs and knowledge of an object and how individuals act when receiving stimuli from a variety of information sources. Affective evaluation occurs when individuals are engaged because of different motivations and responses to the action.

The initial image formation stage before the trip is the most important phase in tourists’ destination selection process (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Milman & Pizam, 1995). As Brokaw (1990) argues, “Before image can be used to influence behavior, it is important to understand what influences image” (p. 32). Researchers (e.g., Beerli & Martin, 2004) also suggest that knowing factors that can influence destination image will help tourism marketers to identify target markets and decide which image should be promoted to which segment of the market. Literature suggests that the influences on destination image in the absence of actual visitation or previous experience can be classified into two broad categories: personal factors (e.g., personality, motivations, and values) and stimulus factors (e.g., various information sources; Baloglu & McCleary, 1999).

On the one hand, the formation of previsit destination image is highly associated with the information that consumers receive and how they react to these stimuli. Gartner (1994) notes that various forces can act separately or jointly to form a destination image for a potential/actual tourist, including induced sources (e.g., traditional forms of advertising generated by the destination or an intermediary), autonomous sources (e.g., independently produced image agents such as books, movies, documentaries, news, and Internet social networks), and organic sources (e.g., information gained from word of mouth communication and/or previous travel to the destination). Mercille (2005) analyzes and demonstrates the important effect of media representation, such as the visual and written content of movies, guidebooks, and magazines, on destination image, especially for foreign destinations. Furthermore, Shani, Chen, Wang, and Hua (2010) empirically examine the potential effects of a promotional video on the image of China as a travel destination. The findings reveal that the video has significant positive impacts on viewers’ image of China as a travel destination in almost all the investigated attributes. Building on these prior studies, the present study intends to go further by empirically investigating whether MSV contained in destination promotional videos has a significant influence on consumers’ destination image perceptions. Since MSV is conceptualized as a set of message features that independently elicit an audience’s arousal, attention, and affective response (Harrington et al., 2003), it might be a critical determinant in drawing consumers’ attention, arousing their interest, and forming their destination image perceptions.

Individuals’ personal characteristics, or internal factors, also influence the formation of destination image. As Um and Crompton (1990) argue, belief about the attributes of a destination are formed by individuals being exposed to external stimuli, but the nature of those beliefs will vary depending on individuals’ personal characteristics. In other words, an individual’s perceived image is formed through the image projected by the destination and the individual’s own needs, preferences, and other personal characteristics. In this way, individuals build their own mental picture of the place, which in turn produce their own personal perceived images (Bramwell & Rawding, 1996). In line with this rationale, an individual’s SS trait might be an individual characteristic critically associated with how consumers will shape their destination image perceptions when exposed to various external stimuli with different levels of MSV. Since people with high SS trait prefer stimuli that are novel, emotional, arousing, and sensory; consumers with high SS trait might be more attentive to destination promotional videos with high MSV. This would in turn lead to a more positive destination image formation. It is also likely to be true for the influence of videos of low MSV on low SS trait consumers. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

Hypothesis 2: Consumers’ destination image perceptions will be significantly different among the four different treatment groups; to be more specific:

Hypothesis 2a: HSS consumers watching HMSV videos will have more positive destination image perceptions than those watching LMSV videos.

Hypothesis 2b: LSS consumers watching LMSV videos will have more positive destination image perceptions than those watching HMSV videos.

Destination Image and Behavioral Intentions

Numerous researchers have established destination image as having a positive influence on consumers’ behavioral intentions (e.g., Bigne, Sanchez, & Sanchez, 2001; Chi, 2012; Chi & Qu, 2008). In tourism literature, future behavioral intentions typically encompass intentions to visit and intentions to provide positive recommendations (Chen & Tsai, 2007; Chi, 2011; Sun, Chi, & Xu, 2013). For example, Bigne et al. (2001) have examined the relationship between destination image and tourists’ behavioral intentions and have concluded that destination image is a direct antecedent of tourists’ intention to return and willingness to recommend the destination. Alhemoud and Armstrong’s (1996) study finds that when tourists have a positive image of a destination, they are more likely to consider visiting the destination. Court and Lupton (1997) also confirm that destination image influences tourists’ decision-making process and their behavioral intentions. Based on the findings of these studies, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis 3: Consumers’ destination image perceptions will positively influence their behavioral intentions.

Culture as a Moderator

Morgan (1996) defines culture as the sum of the shared attitudes, values, and behaviors of a group so that individuals from different groups might hold distinct cultural values and behave differently. According to Potter (1993), cultural differences can be conceptualized as different lifestyles and perceptions of the world between groups of people. Cross-cultural psychology theories have demonstrated that cultural values and features shape and direct people’s mind and behavior, indicating that culture is an important indicator of individuals’ behavioral differences (Berry, Poortinga, & Pandey, 1997).

A number of tourism researchers have investigated differences between Eastern and Western travelers in terms of motivation to travel (e.g., Kim & Lee, 2000), trip push and pull factors (e.g., You, O’Leary, Morrison, & Hong, 2000), trip characteristics (e.g., Yoo, McKercher, & Mena, 2004), travel preferences (e.g., Sakakida, Cole, & Card, 2004), and general travel behaviors (e.g., Xu, Morgan, & Song, 2009). Among these cross-cultural comparison studies, however, research efforts on examining and comparing Western and Eastern consumers’ SS trait and its interplay with MSV are still lacking. Since culture has been widely recognized as an important factor that can influence the development of one’s personality traits (e.g., Big Five Personality; Schmitt, Realo, Voracek, & Allik, 2008; Triandis & Suh, 2002), the level of SS trait might be distinctly different between Eastern and Western individuals. The findings of a few prior studies imply that the American consumers might have a higher SS trait than the Chinese consumers. For example, Wang et al. (2000) examine the validity of SS scale (Zuckerman et al., 1978) using a Chinese sample, and they find that the Chinese sample scores lower in overall SSS scale and in each of the four subscales (i.e., ES, BS, DIS, and TAS) compared with the Western samples utilized in other studies (Ball, Farnill, & Wangeman, 1984; Zuckerman et al., 1978). Pilgrim, Luo, Urberg, and Fang’s (1999) longitudinal study shows that the mean scores of SS trait in European American (M = 3.09) and African American (M = 2.91) samples are higher than the Chinese sample (from China; M = 2.64).

In addition to these empirical findings, Hofstede’s (1984) culture typology might serve as a sound theoretical underpinning to indirectly demonstrate that the Americans in general might have stronger SS trait than the Chinese. Among Hofstede’s five culture dimensions, uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which an individual can accept and endure uncertain or unknown situations. In other words, people who score high in uncertainty avoidance are less likely to engage in unfamiliar activities and are less willing to take risks as opposed to those who score low in this dimension. According to Hofstede, Minkov, and Hofstede’s (1991) study, American culture is a low uncertainty-avoidance culture compared with the Chinese culture of high uncertainty-avoidance. In addition, research has shown that risk taking and SS are two personality traits significantly correlated with each other (Pizam et al., 2004). Taken together, SS trait of the Americans might be more salient than that of the Chinese. Therefore, in the context of this study, the cultural difference might be a possible moderator for the effect of MSV on destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions between Western and Eastern consumers. To be more specific, Western consumers with high (low) SS trait might exert stronger destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions than Eastern counterparts with high (low) SS trait after watching high (low) MSV promotional videos. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

Hypothesis 4: HSS American consumers watching HMSV videos will report (a) higher behavioral intentions and (b) more positive destination image perceptions than do Chinese HSS consumers watching HMSV videos.

Hypothesis 5: LSS American consumers watching LMSV videos will report (a) higher behavioral intentions and (b) more positive destination image perceptions than do Chinese LSS consumers watching LMSV videos.

Research Methodology

This study adopted an experimental design approach to investigate the following: (a) the moderating effect of consumers’ SS trait for the impact of MSV on their behavioral intentions (Hypothesis 1) and destination image perceptions (Hypothesis 2), (b) the impact of consumers’ destination image perceptions on their behavioral intentions (Hypothesis 3), (c) the moderating effect of cultural difference for the impact of MSV and SS trait on consumers’ behavioral intentions and destination image perceptions (Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5) (see Figure 1). A convenience sampling approach was utilized. Participants were American and Chinese college students. All the experiential procedures were conducted during their regular class sessions.

Figure 1

Conceptual Model

With regard to the research instrument, a total of 12 destination videos designed by Taiwanese and Australian governments were chosen. Six Taiwan promotion videos were presented to Western participants (American students), while six Australian promotion videos were presented to Eastern participants (Chinese students). The reason why Taiwan’s and Australian tourism videos were selected is because both governments have been spending enormous money and efforts in developing various tourism videos aiming to promote their countries as leisure destinations and attract more international tourists’ arrivals. In addition, past research (Kim, Guo, & Agrusa, 2005) has demonstrated Australia as an attractive destination for outbound Chinese travelers, and Tourism Forecasting Committee (2007) has forecasted Chinese tourist arrivals in Australia will reach 1,016,000 people in 2016; while Taiwan Tourism Bureau’s annual statistic reports (2000-2013) constantly indicate the United States as one of the major source markets generating a large number of international tourists to Taiwan. Therefore, an empirical investigation on how American and Chinese consumers can be influenced by Taiwan and Australian promotional videos will offer both governments a better insight regarding whether those designed marketing tools deliver expected effectiveness or require certain modifications.

It should be noted that all the selected videos do not focus on marketing one or more than one specific destinations in Taiwan and Australia. Also, none of the videos primarily focuses on any one particular kind of attribute or image of the destinations but rather promote the destinations in general featuring various local landscapes, cultures, customs, festivals, food, and people. This made the individual videos comparable to one another and avoided response bias when participants were shown different videos. Nevertheless all the selected videos are different in format, music, and sound effect, as these aspects are critically associated with the level of the videos’ MSV.

Measures

The same measures were used to collect data from American and Chinese respondents utilizing a back-translation approach. All items were translated from English into Chinese and then translated back into English by two different university professors who are fluent in both languages. To determine the level of MSV in each video, perceived message sensation value (PMSV) scale (Everett & Palmgreen, 1995) containing 17 bipolar pairs of adjectives anchored by a 7-point scale was utilized (e.g., common vs. unique; ordinary vs. novel; boring vs. exciting). To differentiate participants with HSS and LSS traits, brief “Sensation-Seeking Scale” (BSSS; Hoyle, Stephenson, Palmgreen, Lorch, & Donohew, 2002) containing 7 items was used (e.g., I like doing things just for the thrill of it; I like to take off on a trip with no preplanned or definite routes or timetables), anchored by a 7-point Likert-type scale.

To measure respondents’ destination image perceptions, items from Martin and Rodríguez del Bosque’s (2008) study exploring the cognitive-affective nature of destination image were adopted. The original 13 questions to capture four major aspects of cognitive image were condensed into 4 questions: (a) infrastructures and socioeconomic environment, (b) atmosphere, (c) natural environment, and (d) cultural resources. The original three questions capturing affective image were condensed into one question, which is, “xyz is an arousing and exciting destination.” Only more general rather than specific questions were used in this study because the image perception was derived from watching promotional videos rather than visiting the destination(s). For the measure of behavioral intentions, three items were used following Lee, Graefe, and Burns’s (2004) study, with one question measuring respondents’ intention to visit, and two questions measuring respondents’ referral intentions. All items were measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale.

Pilot Study

Stage 1

A pilot test was carried out in mainland China and Taiwan to ensure the validity and reliability of the measurement tools as well as for a manipulation check. Six selected commercial videos designed for promoting Australia as a travel destination were evaluated by 103 Chinese students from four different tourism and hospitality classes at a public university located in Central Taiwan (57% males and 43% females; average age 20). These students had moderate familiarity with Australia (M = 4.55 on a 7-point Likert-type scale). Familiarity was measured by a single question, “How familiar are you with Taiwan as a travel destination?” They were asked to rate these videos one by one using PMSV scale after watching each commercial. To avoid any ordering effect, the videos were shown in random order in each of the four classes. Cronbach α of all the 17 bipolar items was greater than .9, indicating high internal consistency of the PMSV scale. Results of a series of t tests indicated that two videos had significantly higher (p = .00) MSV means (5.11 and 5.57) than the remaining four videos (3.33, 3.94, 4.27, and 4.63). To balance the number of high MSV and low MSV videos for viewers, the two commercials with the highest MSV mean scores (5.11 and 5.57) and the two with the lowest mean scores (3.33 and 3.94) were selected for the study. The high MSV videos lasted 0:41 minutes and 1:31 minutes, whereas the low MSV videos lasted 0:55 minutes and 2:08 minutes. Compared with the two high MSV videos whose pace was faster and sound track was more intense, powerful, and arousing, the two low MSV videos were less stimulating, slower in pace, and weaker in sound track.

Stage 2

A different sample of 123 students from two different management classes at a public university located in Southeastern China were recruited to fill out the BSSS (53% males and 47% females; average age 20). The purpose was to differentiate students with HSS traits from those with LSS traits. Cronbach α of the BSSS scale was found to be greater than .7, indicating good reliability. To identify students with HSS and LSS traits, composite scores for each student were calculated. Because of a substantial distribution of composite scores from 4 (neutral) to 7 (strongly agree), mean value of 5 (slightly agree) instead of 4 (neutral) was used to classify students into HSS group (N = 69; M = 5.70, SD = 0.52) and LSS group (N = 54; M = 4.38, SD = 0.50). A simple t test indicated that the mean scores of SS trait between these two groups were statistically significant, t(68) = 25.34, p = .00.

Stage 3

Stage 3 was conducted a few weeks after Stage 2 was completed to reduce common method variance. Both HSS and LSS groups were further divided evenly into two groups to watch HMSV or LMSV videos. Specifically, four treatment groups were developed (HSS Group 1 watching HMSV; HSS Group 2 watching LMSV; LSS Group 1 watching HMSV; LSS Group 2 watching LMSV). All participants were asked to fill out a short survey right after watching their assigned videos. This short survey measured students’ image perceptions of Australia, their behavioral intentions, and personal information. Cronbach α of destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions were both greater than .8, indicating high reliability.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results revealed that there were significant differences in destination image perceptions, F(3, 119) = 6.17, p = .001, and behavioral intentions, F(3, 119) = 6.80, p = .000, among the four treatment groups. This suggests that the manipulation of the exogenous variables, that is, SS trait and MSV, produced desired significant treatment effects. Taken together, the measurement scales were deemed to be appropriate for the main study.

The Main Study

US. Study: Stage 1

The main study included three stages and was conducted in the United States and Taiwan. The main study followed identical survey procedures as the pilot test. The first stage of the U.S. study was to identify videos with HMSV and low LMSV. Six commercial videos designed by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau to promote Taiwan as a travel destination were selected for the study. The length of these videos ranged from 35 seconds to 3 minutes. Students from four different business classes at a research university located in the Northwestern United States were asked to watch these six videos and rate them one by one using the PMSV scale. To avoid any ordering effect, the videos were shown in random order to each of the four classes. A total of 108 valid responses were collected. Most of the respondents were undergraduate students from the college of business, who were required to study abroad before graduation in order to have a global learning experience. The respondents were predominantly White Caucasian (87%), 60% males with an average age of 20. They had low familiarity with Taiwan (M = 2.09 on a 7-point Likert-type scale).

Composite mean scores representing the MSV were created for all six videos. A series of simple t tests were implemented to compare the MSV means of the six videos. Among them, three videos had significantly higher (p = .00) MSV means (4.41, 4.30, and 4.18) than that of the remaining three (3.65, 3.83, and 3.2). Therefore, the three videos with higher MSV mean scores were classified as HMSV videos, while the other three were categorized as LMSV videos. The HMSV videos lasted 1:01 minutes, 1:01 minutes, and 2:39 minutes, whereas LMSV videos lasted 0:35 minutes, 2:44 minutes, and 3:10 minutes. The three HMSV videos were more creative and dramatic with stronger sound effects, while the three LMSV videos were more ordinary and weaker in sound track.

U.S. Study: Stage 2

In the second stage of the U.S. study, a different group of students from five different business classes were recruited to fill out the BSSS. The sample (N = 201) had an average age of 21 with a roughly equal split of gender (male 54%). These students were then divided into HSS group (N = 96; M = 5.80, SD = 0.56) and LSS group (N = 105; M = 4.38, SD = 0.56) based on their BSSS mean scores (using 5 rather than 4 as the cutoff point because of a significant proportion of students having scores greater than 4). One simple t test indicated that the mean scores between two groups were statistically significant, t(95) = 30.10, p = .00

U.S. Study: Stage 3

The last stage of the U.S. study was conducted after a few weeks lapsed from the second stage to reduce common method variance. Using the same participants from Stage 2, about half of HSS trait students were assigned to watch videos with HMSV (N = 46; male = 20, female = 26), whereas the other half were assigned to watch videos with LMSV (N = 50; male = 24, female = 26). The same procedure was applied to the two groups of LSS trait students: LSS Group 1 watching high MSV (N = 53; male = 32, female = 21); LSS group 2 watching LMSV (N = 52; male = 17, female = 35). The four treatment groups were asked to fill out the short survey regarding destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions after watching their assigned videos. The participants had low familiarity with Taiwan (M = 3.05 on a 7-point Likert-type scale).

Taiwan Study

As for the main study in Taiwan, only Stages 2 and 3 as described above were conducted since HMSV and LMSV Australia videos were already identified in the first stage of pilot study. (See Figure 2 for detailed experimental procedures for this study.) Students from three different business classes of a private university in Northern Taiwan were recruited for the study. The sample consisted of 79 males (34%) and 151 females with an average age of 21. These students were then divided into HSS group (N = 114; M = 5.42, SD = 0.54) and LSS group (N = 116; M = 4.05, SD = 0.53) based on their BSSS mean scores (using 5 rather than 4 as the cutoff point because of a significant proportion of students having scores greater than 4). One simple t test indicated that the mean SS scores between the two groups were statistically significant, t(113) = 32.20, p = .00. As for the familiarity level of Taiwan students with Australia, they appeared to be moderately familiar with Australia as a travel destination (M = 4.75 on a 7-point Likert-type scale). Likewise, four treatment groups were developed: HSS group 1 watching HMSV (N = 52; male = 22, female = 30); HSS Group 2 watching LMSV (N = 62; male = 23, female = 39); LSS Group 1 watching HMSV (N = 56; male = 16, female = 40); LSS Group 2 watching LMSV (N = 60; male = 18, female = 42). All participants were asked to fill out the short survey regarding destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions after watching their assigned videos.

Figure 2

Experimental Procedure

It is noted that gender distribution in some treatment groups in either pilot study or main study is not equivalent. A series of Levene’s Test were performed to examine the equality of variance on destination image and behavioral intentions between males and females for every treatment group in the pilot study and main study. Results indicated that there is no significant difference in destination image and behavioral intentions between males and females for all treatment groups (p > .05). Therefore, the possible confounding effect of gender difference could be ruled out.

Data Analysis

A series of one-way ANOVA and post hoc comparisons were employed to analyze the moderating effect of SS trait. Regression analysis was utilized to test the relationship between destination image and behavioral intentions. To examine the moderating role of culture, ANCOVA was employed to control for the effect of destination familiarity, considering that destination familiarity level for American and Taiwan students was different.

Results

Hypothesis 1: The Interplay of MSV and SS on Behavioral Intentions

Results of one-way ANOVA (see Table 1) showed that behavioral intentions for the four treatment groups of U.S. participants had no significant difference, F(3, 197) = .054, p = .98. Although behavioral intentions were higher when MSV levels were matched with SS levels, the differences were not statistically significant. Therefore, both Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 1b were not supported for the U.S. sample.

Table 1

ANOVA and Post Hoc Comparisons

Variables	U.S. Groups (N = 201)	M (SD)	p Value	Chinese Groups (N = 230)	M (SD)	p Value
Behavior Intention (Hypothesis 1)			.98			.00**
	HSS watch HMSV (N = 46)	4.62 (1.42)		HSS watch HMSV (N = 52)	4.42 (0.73)
	HSS watch LMSV (N = 50)	4.56 (1.38)		HSS watch LMSV (N = 62)	2.99 (1.00)
	LSS watch LMSV (N = 52)	4.66 (1.41)		LSS watch LMSV (N = 60)	4.79 (0.70)
	LSS watch HMSV (N = 53)	4.57 (1.42)		LSS watch HMSV (N = 56)	4.66 (0.86)
	U.S. Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	p Value	Chinese Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	p Value
	HSS watch HMSV vs. HSS watch LMSV	0.06	.99	HSS watch HMSV vs. HSS watch LMSV	1.43	.00**
	LSS watch LMSV vs. LSS watch HMSV	0.09	.99	LSS watch LMSV vs. LSS watch HMSV	0.13	.84
Variables	U.S. Groups (N = 201)	M (SD)	p Value	Chinese Groups (N = 230)	M (SD)	p Value
Destination Image (Hypothesis 2)			.00**			.00**
	HSS watch HMSV (N = 46)	6.12 (0.76)		HSS watch HMSV (N = 52)	5.67 (0.92)
	HSS watch LMSV (N = 50)	6.08 (0.75)		HSS watch LMSV (N = 62)	3.56 (1.11)
	LSS watch LMSV (N = 52)	6.07 (0.84)		LSS watch LMSV (N = 60)	6.01 (0.76)
	LSS watch HMSV (N = 53)	5.59 (0.78)		LSS watch HMSV (N = 56)	5.63 (0.88)
	U.S. Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	p Value	Chinese Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	p Value
	HSS watch HMSV vs. HSS watch LMSV	0.05	.99	HSS watch HMSV vs. HSS watch LMSV	2.11	.00**
	LSS watch LMSV vs. LSS watch HMSV	0.48	.02*	LSS watch LMSV vs. LSS watch HMSV	0.37	.14

Note: LSS = low sensation seekers; HSS = high sensation seekers; HMSV = high message sensation value; LMSV = low message sensation value.

p < .05. **p < .01.

However, Table 1 shows that there was a significant effect of matched MSV and SS on behavioral intentions, F(3, 226) = 59.93, p = .00, for the four treatment groups of Chinese participants. To further test whether videos with high (low) MSV will induce stronger behavioral intentions for viewers with high (low) SS trait (Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 1b), post hoc comparisons were conducted. Post hoc comparisons indicated that behavioral intentions were stronger when levels of MSV matched levels of SS trait than when they did not match. HSS viewers indicated significantly higher behavioral intentions after they watched high MSV videos compared with another group of HSS viewers watching LMSV videos. As for LSS viewers, though they expressed higher behavioral intentions after they watched LMSV videos in comparison to another group of LSS viewers watching HMSV videos, the difference was not statistically significant. Therefore, Hypothesis 1a was supported but Hypothesis 1b was not supported for the Chinese sample.

Hypothesis 2: The Interplay of MSV and SS on Destination Image

Results of one-way ANOVA (see Table 1) showed that destination image perceptions for the four treatment groups of U.S. participants were significantly different, F(3, 197) = 4.83, p = .00. To further test whether videos with high (low) MSV will induce more positive destination image perceptions for viewers with high (low) SS trait (Hypothesis 2a and Hypothesis 2b), post hoc comparisons were conducted. Findings revealed that destination image perceptions for HSS viewers watching HMSV videos were higher than that of another group of HSS viewers watching LMSV videos, though the difference was not statistically significant. On the other hand, destination image perceptions for LSS viewers watching LMSV videos were significantly higher than that of another group of LSS viewers watching HMSV videos. Therefore, the findings supported Hypothesis 2b but not Hypothesis 2a for U.S. samples.

However, results showed that there was a significant effect of matched MSV and SS on destination image perceptions for the four treatment groups of Chinese participants, F(3, 226) = 88.076, p = .00; see Table 1). Post hoc comparisons indicated that destination image perceptions were more positive when levels of MSV matched levels of SS trait than when they did not match. Hypothesis 2a was supported for Chinese samples because destination image perceptions for HSS viewers watching HMSV videos were significantly higher than another group of HSS viewers watching LMSV videos. Meanwhile, destination image perceptions for LSS viewers watching LMSV videos were higher than another group of LSS viewers watching HMSV videos, but the difference was not statistically significant. Therefore, Hypothesis 2b was not supported for Chinese samples.

Hypothesis 3: Destination Image and Behavioral Intentions

Regression analysis revealed that destination image perceptions significantly predicted both U.S. viewers’ (b = .548, p < .01) and Chinese viewers’ (b = .854, p < .01) behavioral intentions. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was supported for both the U.S. and Chinese samples.

Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5: The Impact of Culture

Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5 were tested using ANCOVA and both hypotheses were supported by the results. Table 2 shows that for HSS viewers watching HMSV videos, culture had a significant impact on behavioral intentions, F(2, 95) = 4.28, p = .02, and destination image perceptions, F(2, 95) = 7.94, p = .00, when destination familiarity was partialed out. Table 3 further shows that the U.S. sample had significantly higher behavioral intentions as well as destination image perceptions than the Chinese sample. Therefore, Hypothesis 4a and Hypothesis 4b were both supported.

Table 2

ANCOVA: The Cultural Impact

HSS Viewers Watching HMSV Videos (Hypotheses 4a and 4b)
Behavioral Intentions (Hypothesis 4a)	SS	df	MS	F	Sig.	Destination Image (Hypothesis 4b)	SS	df	MS	F	Sig.
Model	9.81	2	4.90	4.28	.02*	Model	10.55	2	5.28	7.94	.00**
Error	108.90	95	1.15			Error	63.10	95	0.66
Total	118.71	97				Total	73.65	97
Covariate						Covariate
Destination familiarity	8.90	1	8.90	7.76	.00**	Destination familiarity	5.47	1	5.47	8.23	.00**
Main effect						Main effect
Culture	6.05	1	6.05	5.28	.02*	Culture	10.10	1	10.10	15.20	.00**
R² = .143 (Adjusted R²= .125)						R² = .143 (Adjusted R² = .125)
LSS Viewers Watching LMSV Videos (Hypotheses 5a and 5b)
Behavioral Intentions (Hypothesis 5a)	SS	df	MS	F	Sig.	Destination Image (Hypothesis 5b)	SS	df	MS	F	Sig.
Model	30.84	2	15.42	16.74	.00**	Model	5.83	2	2.91	4.14	.02*
Error	100.39	109	0.921			Error	76.79	109	0.70
Total	131.23	111				Total	82.62	111
Covariate						Covariate
Destination familiarity	30.37	1	30.37	32.98	.00**	Destination familiarity	5.71	1	5.71	8.10	.00**
Main effect						Main effect
Culture	10.07	1	10.07	10.94	.00**	Culture	3.44	1	10.10	4.88	.03*
R² = .143 (Adjusted R² = 0.125)						R² = .071 (Adjusted R² = .054)

Note: LSS = low sensation seekers; HSS = high sensation seekers; HMSV = high message sensation value; LMSV = low message sensation value.

p < .05. **p < .01.

Table 3

Mean Differences Between Two Cultures

HSS Viewers Watching HMSV Videos (Hypotheses 4a and 4b)
Behavioral intentions (Hypothesis 4a)
	N	M ^a	Mean difference
			U.S.	Chinese
U.S. sample	46	4.83		0.60*
Chinese sample	52	4.23	(0.60)*
Destination image (Hypothesis 4b)
	N	M ^a	Mean difference
			U.S.	Chinese
U.S. sample	46	6.29		0.78**
Chinese sample	52	5.51	(0.78)**
LSS Viewers Watching LMSV Videos (Hypotheses 5a and 5b)
Behavioral intentions (Hypothesis 5a)
	N	M ^a	Mean difference
			U.S	Chinese
U.S. sample	52	5.16		0.81**
Chinese sample	60	4.35	(0.81)**
Destination image (Hypothesis 5b)
	N	M ^a	Mean difference
			U.S	Chinese
U.S. sample	52	6.29		0.47*
Chinese sample	60	5.82	(0.47)*

Note: LSS = low sensation seekers; HSS = high sensation seekers; HMSV = high message sensation value; LMSV = low message sensation value.

Log-transformed mean values adjusted by including covariate in the model.

p < .05. **p < .01.

Table 2 also presents ANCOVA results for LSS viewers watching LMSV videos for the two cultures. Similarly, there was a significant impact of culture on behavioral intentions, F(2, 109) = 16.74, p = .00, and destination image perceptions, F(2, 109) = 4.14, p = .02, when destination familiarity was controlled. More specifically, the U.S. sample indicated significantly higher destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions than the Chinese sample (see Table 3). Therefore, both Hypothesis 5a and Hypothesis 5b were supported.

Discussion

The Chinese study supports that the interplay of MSV and SS trait induces significantly different behavioral intentions among the four treatment groups of Chinese subjects. Reasoned Action Theory (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) provides a good explanatory framework for such findings. According to this theory, an individual’s attitude is a significant predictor of his or her behavioral intentions. As discussed earlier, information that satisfies audiences’ psychological needs and preferences is more influential on audiences’ positive attitude compared with information that fails to satisfy their psychological needs and preferences. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that MSV videos that match viewers’ SS trait would also stimulate more positive attitude, which in turn induce stronger behavioral intentions.

However, results do not show any significant differences in the behavioral intentions among the four treatment groups in the U.S. sample. A possible explanation might be the impact of travel distance. According to distance decay theory, the demand for any product or service would decline exponentially as distance increases (Eldridge & Jones, 1991). This applies to the tourism context (McKercher & Lew, 2003) since the act of traveling requires inputs of time, money, and effort, which forces tourists to make a trade-off decision between travel time and time spent at the end destination. McKercher, Chan, and Lam’s (2008) study, which examines the impact of distance on global tourist flows through an analysis of departing visitor share from 41 major source markets to 146 destinations, concludes that those distant destinations have great difficulty attracting more than 1% or 2% share of the departures. In the present study, the total distance from the United States to Taiwan is 7,124.5 miles, which is twice the total distance from Taiwan to Australia. With such long travel distance from the United States to Taiwan, travel intentions for both HSS and LSS American viewers might be similarly low regardless of what type of videos they were exposed to. This might explain why there were no significant differences in behavioral intentions among the four groups of U.S. viewers.

The U.S. study suggests that LSS viewers develop stronger previsit destination image perceptions when exposed to LMSV videos, while the Taiwan study suggests that HSS viewers develop stronger previsit destination image perceptions when exposed to HMSV videos. These findings not only reflect what have been suggested in early communication studies that individual differences in needs for SS play a significant role in determining audience’s attention and attitude to the received messages (Donohew, 1988; Donohew, Finn, & Christ, 1988; Palmgreen et al., 1991) but also illustrate that such influence varies based on the extent to which external information satisfies audience’s psychological needs for SS. In addition, the findings are consistent with prior research that external information sources have a significant impact on the formation of destination image (Holbrook, 1978; Um & Crompton, 1990; Woodside & Lysonski, 1989). Therefore, it appears reasonable to conclude that external information that satisfies audiences’ psychological needs and preferences could exert more influence on their positive attitude and draw their attention to a greater extent, which enhances the formulation of their destination image perceptions.

In addition, findings in both the U.S. and Taiwan studies indicate that previsit destination image perception is a significant predictor of consumers’ behavioral intentions. This echoes the findings of prior tourism studies on destination image–behavioral intention relationship. For example, aiming to examine various factors that are likely to affect cognitive and affective destination image perception as well as the impact of destination image on travelers’ visitation intention, Baloglu (2000) finds that travelers’ visitation intention is determined by their pretrip destination image (cognitive and affective). In addition, Leisen (2001) segments the vacation market of eight U.S. states’ residents based on their previsit image perceptions toward New Mexico and finds that the market segment expressing the most favorable image has the highest intention to visit.

This study also finds that HSS American consumers reveal significantly higher destination image perceptions as well as behavioral intentions than HSS Chinese counterparts when viewing HMSV videos. Such significant difference is also found between LSS American and Chinese consumers who watched LMSV videos. These findings not only concur with a number of researchers’ (e.g., Schmitt et al., 2008; Triandis & Suh, 2002) conclusion that culture is a critical determinant of one’s personality traits but also validate the findings of a number of empirical studies discussed in the literature review (e.g., Pilgrim et al., 1999; Wang et al., 2000) that SS trait might be more salient in the American society than in the Chinese society (Hofstede et al., 1991).

In sum, although tourism researchers have paid increasing attention to the concept of SS in investigating tourists’ behaviors (e.g., Eachus, 2004; Lepp & Gibson, 2008; Pizam et al., 2001; Pizam et al., 2004), most of prior research effort has focused on differentiating travelers’ preferred destination choices and travel activities based on their SS trait. In other words, individuals’ psychological trait of SS has been traditionally used as a discerning variable and segmentation basis by the majority of tourism researchers. However, the impact of external stimuli (e.g., TV promotion commercials, online travel-related videos), which can elicit and affect travelers’ thoughts and behaviors through manipulation in accordance with consumers’ SS level, has not received much attention. This study addresses this research gap by empirically illustrating that the MSV contained in destination promotional videos significantly affects consumers’ previsit destination image, and the level of such effect is likely to vary based on the level of consumers’ SS trait. Through a cross-cultural comparison, this study finds culture to be a critical moderator for the impact of MSV and SS trait on consumers’ destination image perceptions and behavior intentions.

Implications

Given that the Internet has dramatically changed the way tourism-related information is distributed (Buhalis & Law, 2008) and that social media websites have gained substantial popularity in recent years (Gretzel, 2006; Pan, MacLaurin, & Crotts, 2007), the online destination marketing becomes increasingly important for destination marketers. According to Madden (2009), the number of online adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006. Online Publisher Association also reports that the majority (66%) of Internet users have watched video ads, while 44% have taken some action after viewing ads. Obviously, consumers’ Internet usage pattern has become a substantial business opportunity for tourism advertisers and marketers. In addition to the Internet, TV commercials are another critical information source that the general public is exposed to nearly every day. In recent years, an increasing number of retailers and service providers have started selling their products and services via TV channels, known as TV shopping. Likewise, more and more tourism marketers have started utilizing such a business model to market and promote their special travel deals and packages on TV. Therefore, the convincing power of online tourism promotional videos and TV commercials becomes a top priority for today’s destination marketing organizations.

Nevertheless, as online delivery of video contents has surged to an unprecedented level and online users are faced with a daunting volume of videos from various online sources, delivering the right message using the right vehicle to the right target market (i.e., differentiated online target marketing) is a vital online advertising strategy that would enable marketers to stand out from mass competition. As the findings of this study suggest, for LSS U.S. consumers, LMSV videos have stronger communication power to influence their destination image perceptions, while for HSS Chinese consumers, HMSV videos have more impact on their destination image perceptions and behavioral intentions. Tourism marketers should thus design customized promotional videos for different types of online users. More specifically, in addition to the content of the video, other features such as presentation style, format, background music, and so on, should all be taken into consideration and be coordinated well to deliver appropriate level of MSV to consumers with different levels of SS trait. For example, two types of destination promotional videos could be designed, with one type featuring local attractions and activities suitable for HSS consumers, delivered with novel/unique style, emotional/exciting content, and strong sound/visual effects, while the other type, focusing on popular local attractions and activities pertaining to LSS consumers, delivered with slower presentation pace and less dramatic sound/visual effects. In sum, tourism marketers should strive to maximize MSV contained in videos designed for HSS viewers while minimizing such value for videos targeting LSS viewers.

This study also finds that culture moderates the effect of MSV and SS on consumers’ behavioral intentions and image perceptions; it is therefore advisable to develop different promotional pieces appealing to different cultures. Such differentiated target marketing strategy, compared with undifferentiated ones (i.e., using same commercials for the whole market), should be more effective in generating tourist arrivals. Furthermore, it is recommended to pretest the level of MSV in the designed promotional videos before they are launched to the market. The PMSV scale adopted in this study could be a useful tool for tourism marketers to determine the level of MSV in their videos during the product (video) development stage.

Limitations

There are a few limitations associated with this study. First, this study only has 50 to 60 subjects in each treatment group, and such a sample size may not be sufficient to ensure the effect of research interest to be detected. Perhaps the expected impact of MSV on American consumers’ behavior intention could be found when the sample size for each group is increased. Therefore, future studies should recruit a larger sample to achieve a more generalizable result. Second, the set of videos (three sets) that the American sample watched were longer than the set of videos (two sets) that the Chinese sample watched. The length imbalance between the two sets of videos should be considered as a limitation, as it might contribute to a compounding effect. Future research could address this issue by using videos that are more equivalent in length. In addition, the use of videos relative to Australia for the Chinese participants and videos relative to Taiwan for the U.S. participants may have the potential to confound the results. Future studies could use the same videos for both cultural groups.

Footnotes

Allan Cheng Chieh Lu (e-mail: allanlu71429@ntnu.edu.tw) is an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of International Human Resource Development, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan. Christina Geng-Qing Chi (e-mail: cgengqi@wsu.edu) is an associate professor at the School of Hospitality Business Management, College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA. Carol Yi Rong Lu (e-mail: carol@cycu.edu.tw) is an assistant professor at the Department of International Business, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung Li City, Taiwan, ROC.

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