Pet influencers on social media: The joint effect of message appeal and narrator

The power of pet influencers has been increasingly recognized by hospitality and tourism practitioners as more people choose to travel with their pets these days. Pet influencers are social media influencers whose primary focus is on pets. An effective social media post by pet influencers can largely affect pet owners’ purchasing decisions on hotels, restaurants, and tourism destinations. The present research adopts a 2 × 2 experimental design to examine the interaction effect of message appeal and narrator on hotel guests’ attitudes and booking intentions. Results indicate that when the social media post is written from a pet’s point of view, consumers respond more positively to a rational appeal (vs. emotional appeal). When the post is written from the owner’s point of view, consumers show a similar level of attitude and booking intention regardless of the message appeal. Additionally, consumer curiosity and perceived helpfulness of the post mediate the interaction effect.