Influence mechanism of tourists' impulsive behavior in E-sports tourism: Mediating role of arousal

While e-sports tourism has gradually become popular among young adults—especially with China’s e-sports industry in full swing—certain problems have emerged with this new type of tourism. This study uses arousal theory as a basis for exploring the influence mechanism of e-sports tourists' impulsive behavior in Chinese collective culture. A sample of 562 participants in China were surveyed online to test the research model, which included 10 hypotheses. The empirical results indicate that: Firstly, the system quality of the Information System (IS) success model and the human stimuli influence arousal; secondly, tourists' motivation for e-sports tourism, group honor concerns, and identity in the Chinese context also positively affect arousal, and then influence impulsive behavior; and thirdly, arousal has a mediating effect between the environmental stimuli (except information quality) and impulsive behavior. This paper innovatively proposes that the physical and psychological elements of environmental stimuli could significantly affect arousal levels, thus in turn influencing impulsive behavior in e-sports tourism. Furthermore, the conclusion section discuses practical suggestions for the organizers of e-sports tournaments, such as adjusting environmental stimuli to achieve optimal arousal levels. • This research provides a new angle and insight for e-sport tourists’ behavior research. • Based on arousal theory, the influence mechanisms of tourists' impulsive behavior in e-sports tourism were analyzed. • Physical and psychological stimuli, which constituted environmental stimuli, are significant factors to arousal level. • Arousal plays a mediating role in the relationship between environmental stimuli and impulsive behavior.