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The effect of emojis in travel experience sharing

Author

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  • Yan, Huili
  • Liao, Qiwei
  • Xiong, Hao

Abstract

Emojis have been widely used in social media travel experience sharing as a communication tool to create a positive atmosphere. However, existing research has paid less attention to how the use of emojis in travel experience sharing affects the decision-making of potential travelers, especially based on the premise of emoji-text combination. Based on this research gap, we explore the matching effect between emojis and travel experience sharing. We found that (1) in desirability (feasibility) sharing, the use of emotional (semantic) emojis increased the perceived usefulness of travel posts more, with emotional arousal (processing fluency) playing a mediating role; (2) emoji replications had a significant moderating effect; and (3) in desirability-emotional emoji matching, with the increase in the number of replications, the perceived usefulness increased in an inverted U shape. This study enriches the literature on emoji and travel experience sharing, and is of great significance for platforms and destinations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan, Huili & Liao, Qiwei & Xiong, Hao, 2024. "The effect of emojis in travel experience sharing," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:107:y:2024:i:c:s0160738324000756
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2024.103798
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    References listed on IDEAS

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