How do affective and cognitive involvement affect tourism intentions: a perspective on blogger impact

Social Network Services (SNS) platforms are crucial sources of travel information. Xiaohongshu, a highly esteemed platform in China and globally, provides travel guides and lifestyle information. Empirical studies on how influencers, as well as the affective and rational factors of travel user-generated content (UGC) affect travel intentions are limited. Based on involvement theory and dual-system theory, this study uses topic modelling, sentiment analysis, and semantic network visualization to analyze travel posts and comments on Xiaohongshu. It reveals the affective and functional factors of posts by bloggers of varying impact and their effects on audience affective and cognitive involvement, processing systems, and travel intentions. The results are as follows: (1) Posts by medium-impact bloggers are more successful in generating and enhancing travel intentions. (2) Affective factors trigger affective involvement and processing, driving heuristic travel intentions; functional factors drive cognitive processing through cognitive involvement, leading to cognitive travel intentions. (3) The proper emotional intensity of affective and functional factors effectively transmits information, builds audience confidence, and maximises the enhancement of travel intentions. This study enriches the research viewpoint and theoretical foundation of enhancing travel intentions, providing practical recommendations for tourism practitioners in creating appropriate and effective emotional promotional content.