Awe or excitement? The interaction effects of image emotion and scenic spot type on the perception of helpfulness

This paper explores two kinds of image emotion (awe and excitement) of user-provided images on tourism e-retailing platforms. The current research comprises three studies: Study 1 and Study 3, two laboratory experiments, and Study 2, a field study. These three studies examined the interaction effects of image emotion (awe vs. excitement) and scenic spot type (nature-based scenic spot vs. amusement park) on the perception of helpfulness in reviews. The results of Study 1 showed that regarding amusement parks, user-provided images that participants scored high on the excitement led to more perceptions of helpfulness in reviews. The results of Study 2 showed that image emotion and scenic spot type had interaction effects on the perception of helpfulness in reviews. The results of Study 3 indicated that mental imagery played the mediating role.