Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280

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Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Designing persuasive destination websites: A mental imagery processing

perspective
Woojin Lee a, *, Ulrike Gretzel b,1
a
Tourism Development & Management Program, School of Community Resources & Development, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 550, Phoenix,
AZ 85004-0953, USA
b
Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism, Institute for Innovation in Business and Social Research, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave., Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Existing research suggests that consumers’ choices of vacations may be significantly influenced by
Received 1 November 2010 mental imagery processing, which is considered to be high elaboration cognitive processing. This study
Accepted 30 October 2011 first aimed to identify imagery-eliciting Web site features, and second to test their influence on
persuasion-related outcomes such as attitude strength, confidence, and attitude resistance. A total of 252
Keywords: subjects participated in a Web-based experiment to examine the influence of selected Web site features
Website features
on individual imagery processing and its effect on consumers’ attitudes and expectations. The data was
Narrative text
analyzed primarily using a structural equation modeling methodology. Structural model results revealed
Pictures
Sound
that the mental imagery construct strongly influenced the measured communication effects. In terms of
Mental imagery inducing mental imagery processing, only pictures were found to make a significant difference. The
Attitude strength findings stress the importance of researching mental imagery processing in tourism and provide practical
Attitude confidence implications for the design of persuasive destination Web sites.
Attitude resistance Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Online-destination marketing

1. Introduction
Persuasive Web sites are those that can influence the attitudes
of Web site users (Morosan & Fesenmaier, 2007). Web sites’ influ-
ence on product attitudes has been confirmed by empirical
research (Lee, Gretzel, & Law, 2010; Macias, 2003). Strong attitudes
that are resistant to change are especially important in the context
of tourism destinations, for which online information is abundant
(Xiang, Wöber, & Fesenmaier, 2008), competition for the attention
of consumers is fierce (Gretzel, Fesenmaier, Formica, & O’Leary,
2006), and expectation formation is difficult due to the
complexity and experiential nature of the destination product
(Nelson, 1970). Consumers planning a vacation are also likely to
encounter traveler reviews and other forms of social media (Xiang
& Gretzel, 2010) that can challenge the brand image portrayed by
the official destination Web site. Further, research has found that
users typically make very quick judgments about destination Web
sites (Kim & Fesenmaier, 2008); therefore, there is a great practical
need from the destination marketing point of view to identify those
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 602 496 1228; fax: þ1 602 496 0853.
E-mail addresses: Woojin.Lee.1@asu.edu (W. Lee), ugretzel@uow.edu.au
(U. Gretzel).
1
Tel.: þ61 2 4221 4823; fax: þ61 2 4221 4210.
features of destination Web sites that can effectively persuade and
encourage users to elaborate on the portrayed advertising
messages so they can form resistant attitudes.
Recent studies have especially addressed the importance of
virtually transporting the consumers of travel information to the
destination to support the formation of concrete expectations (Lee
et al., 2010; Rozier-Rich & Santos, 2010). It is indeed a major concern
of providers of tourism products to encourage quasi-trial experi-
ences to support travel decision-making processes (Stamboulis &
Skayannis, 2003). Since actual product trial is impossible, being
able to vividly imagine what a destination is like is the next best
alternative if the goal is to form concrete expectations (Goossens,
1995). Oh, Fiore, and Jeoung (2007) emphasize that destination
choice is influenced by the mental images the tourist forms based
on the expected experience at the destination. Further, Miller and
Stoica (2003) have demonstrated that consumers’ choices of
vacations may be significantly influenced by mental imagery
processing.
Mental imagery processing refers to high elaboration processing
and involves the representation of nonverbal information in
working memory (MacInnis & Price, 1987). When travelers engage
in mental imagery processing, they experience the destination in
their mind’s eye. Such processing is believed to help in learning
about a product (Elliott, 1973). Research has also found that it helps

0261-5177/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2011.10.012
 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
in the persuasion process. For instance, MacInnis and Price (1990)
have pointed out that mental imagery has a positive influence on
consumer attitudes and leads to greater confidence that events will
unfold as expected. Past research has revealed that imagery can be
stimulated by various external advertising elements such as
pictures, concrete words, sound effects, and instructions to imagine
(Babin & Burns, 1997; Bone & Ellen, 1992; Lutz & Lutz, 1977;
MacInnis & Price, 1987; Miller & Marks, 1997). Recently, Lee et al.
(2010) identified sensory descriptions on destination Web sites as
textual elements that encourage mental imagery processing.
Building on this existing research, the study presented in this paper
tests the ability of textual, auditory, and pictorial features on
destination Web sites to foster strong and resistant attitudes by
eliciting mental imagery processing.
2. Theoretical background
2.1. Mental imagery processing and persuasion
Mental imagery processing can be conceptualized as “a mode of
information processing which includes sensory representations
(images) in working memory that are used in the same way as
perceptions of external stimuli” (Goossens, 2000; p. 306). Similarly,
it is identified by Lutz and Lutz (1978) as “a mental event involving
visualization of a concept or relationship” (p. 611). Mental imagery
theory assumes that we mentally represent in our minds some-
thing that was presented to us before by experience or that we
imagine based on information available. According to Burns,
Biswas, and Babin (1993), this mental imagery can be experi-
enced in different sensory modalities and can vary in terms of
vividness and quantity. Research on imagery has provided strong
evidence that elaborate imagery processing may positively influ-
ence decision outcomes (Babin & Burns, 1997; Bone & Ellen, 1990).
From the perspective of consumer research, a consumer’s
mental image of a tourism product can be the main source of
information available to enhance expectations and facilitate
purchasing decisions (Walters, Sparks, & Herington, 2007). When
imagery is encouraged through vivid product information, it
strongly influences consumers’ attitudinal judgments (McGill &
Anand, 1989). Most importantly, several researchers have found
that attitudes formed based on mental imagery processing tend to
be stronger, more stable over time, and more resistant to persua-
sion because of its high elaboration quality (Haugtvedt & Petty,
1992; Petty, Haugtvedt, & Smith, 1995). Considering these find-
ings, it is critically important for tourism marketers to understand
what types of stimuli on a destination Web site efficiently induce
mental imagery so that they can design persuasive sites that can
successfully compete in the tourism information space.
2.2. Narrative information processing
While the impact of pictures on imagery processing has been
studied extensively in consumer research (e.g. Babin & Burns, 1997;
Babin, Burns, & Biswas, 1992; Burns et al., 1993; Paivio, 1971;
Rossiter, 1978), little empirical research exists that deals with the
effects of text formats on mental imagery processing. Brewer
(1988) claims that text genre can indeed be an important factor
in encouraging mental imagery processing and Lee et al. (2010) also
found textual qualities of destination Web sites to matter. Thus,
there is a need to further examine the relations between textual
genre and mental imagery.
A text genre very common in tourism promotion is the narrative
(Rozier-Rich & Santos, 2010). Narrative in a broad sense refers to
anything recounted or retold; in a narrower sense it describes
something that is told or recounted in the form of a story (Denning,
1271
2000). It is the latter that is of specific interest in the context of
persuasion. Delgadillo and Escalas (2004) identified two required
structural features that distinguish narratives from other text
genres: chronology and causality. The first refers to events
described in the narrative as being organized with respect to
a temporal sequence. Second, text elements are structured in a way
that builds relationships among characters and objects, thus
allowing for causal inference. Similarly, Stein and Albro (1997, p. 12)
suggest that stories are comprised of “goal-directed action-
outcome sequences” called “episode schemata,” that is, they start
from initial events that result in a response from a character’s
physical condition, psychological state, or both. These responses
develop goals that lead to courses of action and certain outcomes
(Pennington & Hastie, 1986).
The specific structure of narratives influences the way in which
they are processed. According to Packer and Jordan (2001),
narratives allow the human mind to “collapse boundaries of space
and time, drawing attention to previously undetected connections,
creating links between disparate ideas and elements (p. 174).”
Some researchers claim that this is the case because the structure
of narratives resembles the associative way the human mind
stores knowledge (Schank & Abelson, 1995). They are also inher-
ently entertaining (Brewer, 1988). Green and Brock (2002) stress
that mental imagery may be facilitated by narratives because they
allow for deep immersion and, thus, “transportation” into the
story. Transportation into a narrative world is conceptualized as
a distinct mental process, which may mediate the impact of
narratives on beliefs, and may derive its force from individuals’
general ability to create vivid mental images (Escalas, 2004; Green
& Brock, 2000).
Narrative processing has indeed been linked to persuasion.
Padgett and Allen (1997) contend that narrative advertising would
be the most effective way to communicate, especially in the context
of an experiential product such as tourism. This argument has also
been made by Mattila (2000). Escalas (2007) finds that self-
referenced narratives enable consumers to generate a positive
evaluation of an advertised product no matter what level of argu-
ment strength they include. When narrative ads are presented in
the form of stories, potential customers are likely to envision
functional consequences and derive symbolic meanings to inter-
pret the advertisement (Padgett & Allen, 1997). Phillips and
McQuarrie (2010) also point out that the greater the trans-
portation into a story, the greater the belief that the world within
the story is true, since there will be less critical examination of the
ideas that were presented in the story world.
In the context of tourism, Gretzel (2006) suggests that “travel
stories help us understand and make meaning of our travel expe-
riences and encourage us to relive and reflect on trips, as well as
integrate travel experiences with the rest of our experiences and
knowledge” (p. 175). Adaval and Wyer (1998) found that vacations
at unfamiliar destinations were more positively evaluated by
consumers who were exposed to advertising information in
a narrative format rather than in a list of attributes. According to
research by Tussyadiah and Fesenmaier (2008), the narrative
structure of travel blogs allows readers to feel empathy and asso-
ciate the experiences of the blogger with their own. A connection
between the reading of travel narratives and narrative trans-
portation was established by Rozier-Rich and Santos (2010).
While tourism-related print and TV advertising make extensive
use of sensory descriptions and narrative texts, destination Web
sites often contain functional lists of, for example, attractions or
accommodation establishments (Gretzel & Fesenmaier, 2002). The
question is whether including a greater amount of narrative text on
destination Web sites will increase the persuasiveness of these Web
sites.
1272 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
2.3. Processing pictures and sounds
As mentioned above, pictures have been studied extensively in
the context of mental imagery processing (Kisielius & Sternthal,
1984; Rossiter, 1978; Shepard, 1967). In addition, Lutz and Lutz
(1977, 1978), Alesandrini and Sheikh (1983), and Rossiter and
Percy (1983) investigated the effects of various types of pictures
specifically on recall and attitude. Babin et al. (1992) found a picture
superiority effect which demonstrated that visual information
would be remembered over verbal information. In the context of
destination marketing, Olson, McAlexander, and Roberts (1986)
found that pictures presented in destination advertisements have
an influence on a consumer’s perception of the vacation experience
through the association of variety of pictures with certain types of
experiences. Furthermore, Miller and Stoica (2003) indicated that
photographic images of beach scenes effectively stimulated mental
imagery processing. More recently, Walters et al. (2007) asserted
that the presence of more concrete pictures affects the extent of
elaboration and the quality of consumers’ consumption visions.
Adaval and Wyer (1998) noted that the addition of pictures to
a narrative format can encourage readers to imagine the sequence
of events, and can facilitate the construction of a representation to
be used as a basis for judgment. In a more recent study they
reconfirmed that a picture presented in combination with narrative
text can cause a verbal event description to be more vivid, help the
recipients to enhance perceptual links between events, and
increase the story’s coherence (Adaval, Isbell, & Wyer, 2007). On the
other hand, Goossens (1995) claimed that using pictorial images
may smother individuals’ imagination as they become over-reliant
on the featured image as an information source rather than elab-
orating on their own mentally created images.
With regard to the effects of sound on mental imagery, several
researchers found that the inclusion of sound effects increased
mental imagery processing (Ferrington, 1994; Miller & Marks, 1992,
1997). Lee et al. (2010), however, did not identify any significant
sound effects. Interestingly, Frick (1984) discovered that if pro-
cessing was evoked visually with a set of items followed by a series
of auditory items, recall was better than if both sets of items were
elicited by auditory or visual modes alone. With regard to mixing
sound and narrative text, Kerr (1999) claimed that sounds add
critical information to narrative text. Even more persuasively,
Verhallen, Bus, and De Jong (2006) showed that stories accompa-
nied by multimedia features including video, sounds and music
were able to stimulate people to construct meaning and gain
a deeper understanding of the story line. Specifically, presenting
the story with sounds can result in a listener’s greater ability to
process the story and to construct a more coherent mental repre-
sentation of the story events (Verhallen et al., 2006). These findings
are consistent with dual coding theory.
Dual coding theory developed by Paivio (1971) points out that
people learn better when stimuli include related verbal and
pictorial information compared to verbal information alone or
pictorial information alone. He also indicated that information
presented via the pictorial channel is more salient and better
remembered than information presented through the verbal
channel (Paivio, 1991). Richardson (1999) also pointed out that
information is likely to be retrieved more accurately when it is
encoded using dual codes rather than just one code. If one code is
forgotten, the other code can still facilitate the retrieval of all the
information. Lukosius (2004) claimed that the more codes (e.g.
picture, sound, text, touch, etc.) used, the better the recall. Multi-
media learning theory developed by Mayer (1997) suggests that
multimedia presentations can foster focused attention and
immersion into the content and, consequently, can make it more
meaningful. The ability of destination Web sites to include both
visual, verbal and auditory stimuli should therefore contribute to
their persuasiveness.
Along with multimedia learning theory and dual coding theory,
media richness theory, which was initially posited by Daft and
Lengel (1986), also asserts that multiple cues embedded in
messages support information processing tasks. Rich media are
especially important in ambiguous communication contexts (Daft,
Lengel, & Trevino, 1987; Dennis & Kinney, 1998). In the context of
online consumer behavior, a recent study noted that the perceived
richness of online stores may have a significant impact on
consumers’ intentions to buy online (Brunelle & Lapierre, 2008).
However, a priori statements of one medium being richer than
another are inappropriate as they neglect the specific communi-
cation context (Dennis & Valacich, 1999). Furthermore, D’Ambra
(1995) asserted that the measures provided by Daft et al. (1987)
were highly unreliable and unidimensional. Due to these reasons,
this study adopted dual coding theory and multimedia learning
theory as theoretical frameworks to guide the research.
2.4. Communication effects of mental imagery processing
Mental imagery plays a significant role in mediating ad-evoked
feelings and attitudes (Bone & Ellen, 1990; 1992; Burns et al., 1993;
Mitchell, 1986; Mitchell & Olson, 1981). Since mental imagery is
self-generated cognitive processing, it can be expected to be more
personally relevant (Escalas, 2007). Thus, it may result in self-
generated persuasion and stronger attitudes (MacInnis &
Jaworski, 1989). Importantly, mental imagery can lead to self-sell
and therefore greater belief that the formed attitude is correct
(Tormala & Petty, 2004). The literature also infers stronger attitudes
as a result of mental imagery processing from the fact that it
involves high elaboration processing (Haugtvedt & Petty, 1992;
Petty et al., 1995). Petty and Krosnick (1995) noted that there are
two dimensions of strong attitudes: the first is related to the
persistence of an attitude (stability), which is the degree to which
an attitude remains unchanged over an extended period. The other
is resistance: the attitude’s ability to withstand an attack. Research
by Petty and Cacioppo (1986) indicates that strong attitudes are
more likely to come to mind faster, persist over time, resist counter
persuasive attempts and guide behavior more than weak attitudes.
Several researchers have also found a connection between attitude
certainty and resistance to persuasion (Bassilli, 1996; Krosnick &
Abelson, 1992; Pomerantz, Chaiken, & Tordesillas; 1995; Swan,
Pelham, & Chidester, 1988; Tormala & Petty, 2002). Such resis-
tance to persuasion is of great importance in an online travel
planning context, where new and potentially negative information
about a destination is only a click away.
3. Conceptual framework and hypotheses
While there is strong theoretical and, in part, also empirical
support for the positive effects of narrative, pictorial and auditory
stimuli on mental imagery processing and for mental imagery
processing leading to stronger attitudes, no empirical study has so
far tested these relationships in a comprehensive model. A
comprehensive model is important to simultaneously test the
effects and also to identify interaction effects. Further, most of the
research on which the theories are based was conducted using
print advertising. In contrast, the current study seeks to examine
whether these assumptions hold true in the context of multimedia
environments such as destination Web sites.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, specific Web site features (text informa-
tion in narrative format, presence of picture and presence of sound)
are posited as predictor variables, while communication effects in
the form of attitude strength, attitude confidence, and attitude
 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
Website
Characteristics
Narrative Text vs.
Expository Text Attitude Strength
H1 H4
& Confidence
Mental
Presence of Picture Imagery
H2
vs. No Picture Processing
Presence of Sound
H3
vs. No Sound
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.
resistance are assigned as dependent variables. Mental imagery
serves as a mediator to accentuate or attenuate the effects of the
predictor variables on the dependent constructs. Overall, the
conceptual framework indicates that an imagery-eliciting Web site
feature is assumed to evoke mental imagery, which in turn is
expected to lead to stronger attitudes, i.e., attitudes that are more
resistant to counter-persuasion attacks.
As described in the literature review, narratives, pictures and
sounds enrich information, foster immersion, and encourage
a deeper and more extensive processing of content. Therefore, the
following hypotheses are proposed:
H1 Narrative text on a destination Web site has a positive influence
on mental imagery processing.
H2 Pictures on a destination Web site positively affect mental
imagery processing.
H3 The presence of sound on a destination Web site encourages
mental imagery processing.
According to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning
(Mayer, 1997), a story supplemented with multimedia such as
pictures or sounds may foster a deeper understanding of infor-
mation. Additionally, research by Verhallen et al. (2006) suggests
that presenting pictures or sounds can increase the ability to
process a story and construct a more coherent mental representa-
tion of story events. Stories can uniquely incorporate pictures or
sounds to enhance perceptual links between events and to increase
the story’s coherence (Adaval et al., 2007). Thus, there is strong
support for interaction effects to take place among the mental
imagery inducing stimuli.
H1a The positive impact of narrative text on imagery processing
will be even greater when pictures are present.
H1b The positive impact of narrative text on imagery processing
will be even greater when sounds are present.
H1c The positive impact of narrative text on imagery processing
will be the greatest when pictures and sounds are both
present.
H2a The positive impact of pictures on imagery processing will be
greater when sound is present.
The reviewed literature suggests that mental imagery processing
is a form of cognitive processing that is elaborate and focused and
very influential when it comes to attitude formation. Consequently,
when customers surf destination Web sites, imagery processing
allows them to form more concrete expectations and engage in
greater information elaboration, which will likely instill confidence
and make their attitudes stronger and more resistant to change.
H4 Mental imagery processing leads to positive communication
effects, namely greater attitude strength and confidence.
1273
H5 Attitude strength and confidence effects generated through
mental imagery processing significantly influence attitude
resistance to change.
4. Research methodology
H5
Attitude An experiment was designed to examine the influence of Web
Resistance site design features including narrative texts, presence of pictures,
and sound effects on attitude strength, confidence and resistance,
with the assumption that this influence is mediated by mental
imagery processing induced by these Web site elements.
4.1. Design
The study used a 2 (narrative text vs. expository text)  2 (picture
vs. no-picture)  2 (sound vs. no sound) full factorial between-
subjects design to determine the main and interaction effects of
the influence of narrative content, pictures, and sounds on mental
imagery processing and ultimately attitude strength, confidence and
resistance. The Web site designed for the purpose of the experiment
showed a fictitious island destination. Only the homepage of the
Web site was visible, with the links indicated on the page not being
active to achieve controlled exposure to the text/picture/sound
elements. There were a total of eight experimental conditions. The
contents and lengths of the text included on the sites were the same,
only the text structure varied. Narrative text and expository text
differ in that narrative text portrays a sequence of events, includes
protagonists, and connects parts of the text by means of suggesting
causal relationships (Wolfe, 2005). In contrast, expository text is
descriptive, does not refer to protagonists, and does not seek to
connect the individual text elements (Fig. 2). The narrative text
condition is presented in Fig. 3. The Web site shown to the subjects
only included the logo and text in the no-picture condition. The
picture condition (Fig. 3) included a series of four revolving pictures
of island, beach, and ocean scenes. In the sound condition, the
Website included ocean sounds (crashing waves and seagulls). All
conditions were pre-tested to ensure their appropriateness.
4.2. Measures
4.2.1. Mental imagery
To measure the mental imagery construct, the present study
adapted an imagery scale developed by Miller, Hadjimarcou, and
Miciak (2000). This mental imagery scale consists of four dimen-
sions: 1) vividness; 2) quantity; 3) valence; and, 4) modality.
Quantity and modality were measured using seven-point rating
scales ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree),
including three items for quantity and two items for modality
(Table 1). Only taste and scent were tested as modalities as sound
and visual stimuli were provided in some of the conditions and
touch was not applicable in the context of the study. The vividness
and valence scales were measured using seven-point semantic
differential scales, including five items for vividness and five for
valence (Table 1). The items were preceded by the introductory
statement “The mental imagery I experienced was.”.
4.2.2. Attitude scales
As dependent variables, the current study explored attitude
strength, confidence, and resistance of attitude to counter-
arguments. The scales for attitude strength and confidence were
adapted and modified from Bizer, Tormala, Rucker, and Petty (2006)
using seven-point rating scales (Table 1). Attitude strength was
measured with four items and confidence with two. In order to
measure attitude resistance, subjects were exposed to a negative
1274 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280

Fig. 2. Experimental condition: expository text only.

Fig. 3. Experimental condition: Narrative text, picture, no sound. **denotes significance at the .5 level.
 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280 1275

Table 1
Descriptive statistics for each construct.

Construct name Items in scale Mean SD Internal consistency

Item No. Item wording Cronbach’s Alpha

Quantity Q12a Many images came to my mind 5.23 1.34 .92
Q12b A lot of images came to my mind 4.96 1.45
Q12c I experienced various images in my mind 5.02 1.41
Modality Q12d I imagined tastes 3.38 1.71 .82
Q12e I imagined scents 3.72 1.85
Vividness Q13a VivideVague 2.77 1.49 .93
Q13b CleareUnclear 2.90 1.44
Q13c SharpeDull 3.34 1.60
Q13d IntenseeWeak 3.69 1.61
Q13e Well-definedeFuzzy 3.28 1.61
Valence Q13f PleasanteUnpleasant 2.20 1.21 .96
Q13g GoodeBad 2.37 1.26
Q13h NiceeAwful 2.38 1.30
Q13i LikableeNot likeable 2.21 1.23
Q13j PositiveeNot positive 2.08 1.16
Attitude strength-time 1 Q14 How good would the destination be for a pleasure trip? 6.12 1.02 .94
Q15 How positive would you say is your impression of the destination? 5.88 1.01
Q16 How much do you think you would like this destination? 6.02 1.05
Q17 How favorable is your impression of the destination? 5.86 1.05
Attitude confidence Q18 How certain are you of your attitude toward this destination? 5.40 1.23 .84
Q19 How sure are you that your current impression of the destination is correct? 4.85 1.39
Attitude strength-time 2 Q20 How good would the destination be for a pleasure trip? 3.68 1.48 .95
Q21 How positive would you say is your impression of the destination? 3.46 1.36
Q22 How much do you think you would like this destination? 3.72 1.54
Q23 How favorable is your impression of the destination? 3.47 1.32

destination review that contradicted the initial destination
description. Attitude strength was measured before as well as after
the exposure to the reviews. Accordingly, an attitude resistance
measure was produced by subtracting the attitude strength score of
each item in time two from attitude strength scores in time one.
were asked to indicate their attitudes toward the destination again
after their exposure to the negative review. After completing the
survey, all subjects were debriefed and compensated.
4.5. Manipulation checks

4.3. Participants
This study intended to obtain a minimum of 25 responses per
experimental cell; thus, at least 200 participants were needed. The
goal of the study was to test a theoretical model rather than to
describe occurrences of a phenomenon in a population; also, influ-
ences of visual, textual and auditory stimuli on mental imagery
processing are based on very basic cognitive processes in which
social characteristics should not play a role. Thus, a student sample
was deemed to be appropriate. Problems arising from potential
gender differences were avoided by using random assignment to the
experimental conditions. A $3 gift card was given to each participant
as an incentive to join the study. The recruitment effort resulted in
252 responses. However, seven students could not complete the
survey due to technical problems, and six students completed the
survey but indicated the same response for every question. Conse-
quently, a total of 239 subjects were included in the analysis.
4.4. Procedure
When subjects arrived at the research lab, they were greeted by
a research assistant and informed that an online travel agency was
interested in developing a newly created destination Website. Next,
they were seated at a computer and randomly assigned to an
experimental condition based on the order of their appearance. The
subjects were instructed to carefully look at the Website and read the
vacation destination description provided. After being exposed to the
Website for 2 min, they were presented with an online, self-
administered questionnaire asking them to evaluate the Website
and rate their attitude toward the destination. The Web-based survey
then presented a negative review of the destination. The participants
To make sure that the manipulations were reliable and effective,
this study conducted several manipulation checks during pre-tests by
asking pre-test subjects about the believability of the Website and the
destination review as well as the suitability of the texts, pictures and
the sound. More specifically, 15 graduate students and 20 students
from the same subject pool as the main study were involved in
a series of pre-tests to evaluate the validity and score reliability of the
scales used in this study as well as to test whether subjects could
successfully distinguish the narrative text from the expository text;
pre-testing determined that this was the case. During the main study,
manipulation checks aimed to make sure that the subjects actually
paid attention to the manipulations. First, all subjects in the picture
conditions stated that they saw pictures. Second, all of those in the
sound conditions indicated that they had heard sound.
4.6. Analysis
The hypothesized relationships between independent, medi-
ator, and dependent measures were tested by means of structural
equation modeling (SEM) using Amos 5.0 (Arbuckle, 2003). To
address problems with large sample size requirements, unreli-
ability, and non-normal or coarsely measured item-level data,
parceling was used (Landis, Beal, & Tesluk, 2000). The idea of
creating and using item parcels was originally introduced by Cattell
(1956), and further explored by Cattell and Burdsal (1975).
Parceling is usually done by summing or averaging several items
that presumably measure the same construct (Meade & Kroustalis,
2005). For the current study, a total of six parcels were created for
each dimension underlying a latent construct. First, under the
mental imagery construct, quantity, modality, vividness and
valence parcels were created by averaging the item scores. In the
1276 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
context of the communication effect construct, attitude strength
and attitude confidence parcels were produced. However, attitude
resistance was measured using its four items separately since the
construct consisted of only one dimension.
5. Results
5.1. Measurement model
The originally proposed measurement model was estimated
using maximum-likelihood estimation. As suggested by Hu and
Bentler (1999) and Quintana and Maxwell (1999), several indices
were used to assess goodness of fit for the model. The initial test of
the measurement model resulted in poor model fit (Chi-Square/
df ¼ 4.1; CFI ¼ .95; NFI ¼ .93, RMSEA ¼ .10). In particular, the mental
imagery construct exhibited very poor construct reliability, as indi-
cated by the fact that the four parcel indicators loaded inappropri-
ately onto the latent construct. Additional analyses suggested that
vividness and valence variables were causing the problems. There-
fore, an alternative model was estimated that only included quantity
and modality as dimensions of mental imagery processing. As dis-
cussed by other researchers (Chin & Todd, 1995; Gefen, Straub, &
Boudreau, 2000; MacCallum, Roznowski, & Necowitz, 1992), the
dropping of measurement items to improve model fit should be
executed with caution as it can generate an overfitting of the model
to the data. As recommended in the literature (MacCallum et al.,
1992), only a few model modifications were made to fix the rela-
tively severe model-fit problems. Also, appropriateness from
a theoretical point of view was a major decision criterion. The overall
model fit improved: Chi-Square/df ¼ 3.0, which is appropriate (Kline,
1998); CFI ¼ .97; NFI ¼ .95; and RMSEA ¼ .09; consequently, the
alternative model was adopted. The discriminant validity of the
constructs was tested by calculating the squared roots of average
variance extracted (AVE). As shown in Table 2, all AVE scores were
higher than the threshold of .5 as recommended by Fornell and
Larcker (1981) for all three constructs (mental imagery ¼ .65;
communication effect ¼ .84; attitude resistance ¼ .84). Second, the
convergent validity of the constructs was examined. All items had
factor loadings higher than .5, which suggests good convergent
validity (Nunnally, 1967). Composite reliability was computed to
assess the internal consistency of the constructs. As shown in Table 2,
the composite reliability values of all of the constructs exceeded the
minimum .60 suggested by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994).
5.2. Structural model
The overall model fit and the regression paths were estimated to
determine if the proposed model described the data well. As shown
in Table 3, the model fit is acceptable. The normalized chi-square
statistic indicated an adequate fit (Kline, 1998). Further, the rec-
ommended threshold is .9. for NFI, CFI and GFI (Brown, 2006), and
Table 2
Alternative measurement model analysis.
Latent variable Indicators Factor loadings
Mental imagery Quantity .72
Modality .58
Communication effect Attitude strength .96
Attitude confidence .69
Attitude resistance Attitude resistance 1 .76
Attitude resistance 2 .78
Attitude resistance 3 .86
Attitude resistance 4 .94
Table 3
Model-fit indices for structural model.
Model-fit Statistics c2 df c2/df CFI GFI NFI RMSEA
132.49 65 2.03 .93 .93 .89 .065
RMSEA values less than .08 are seen as indicating satisfactory fit
(Hu & Bentler, 1999).
The squared multiple correlation coefficients (SMC; R2) for
indicator variables were assessed. SMCs lie between 0 and 1 (the
closer to 1, the more of the latent construct can be explained by the
model). The results reveal that the model does not explain mental
imagery (R2 ¼ .07) and attitude resistance (R2 ¼ .10) very well.
However, it explains a large portion of the communication effects
construct (R2 ¼ .72).
Fig. 4 shows the hypothesized structural model paths. Most of the
model paths yielded significant parameter estimates. However, in the
context of the impact of multimedia stimuli (e.g., narrative text,
pictures, and sound) on mental imagery processing, only pictures
showed a significant effect (b ¼ .23, p < .01). These results provide
support for Hypothesis 2, but not for Hypotheses 1 and 3. Addition-
ally, the interaction effects were not significant. Thus, the results of
the structural model did not support H1a, H1b, H1c, and H2a.
Most importantly, Fig. 4 reveals that the mental imagery
construct strongly influenced the communication effects construct
(b ¼ .85, p < .01), which is represented by attitude strength and
attitude confidence. In other words, evoked mental imagery leads
to positive communication effects, which supports Hypothesis 4. In
addition, the results presented in Fig. 4 show that attitude strength
and confidence have a significant impact on attitude resistance
(b ¼ .32, p < .01). This implies that the stronger the attitude the
more resistant it is to negative stimuli. This finding supports
Hypothesis 5. In addition, this study confirmed full mediation of
mental imagery processing as the modification indices for the
model did not suggest the need for modeling additional relation-
ships among the constructs.
6. Implications
The purpose of this study was to generate insights into the nature
of imagery-evoking Website features including narrative text,
pictures, and sounds, and to explore the relationship between these
Web site features and communication effects that are encouraged
through mental imagery processing. The overarching goal was to see
whether certain Website features can induce changes in attitudes
that are resistant to subsequent persuasion attempts.
6.1. Theoretical implications
Prior research has found that mental imagery processing can be
evoked by various external advertising stimuli (Babin & Burns,
1997; Bone & Ellen, 1992; Lutz & Lutz, 1977; MacInnis & Price,
Construct reliability Average variance extracted (AVE)
.60 .65
.82 .84
.90 .84
 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
Narrative
Picture .07(ns)
.23** d Communication
Sound
.00(ns)
Narrative× Picture
-.05(ns)
Mental Imagery
.07(ns)
Picture × Sound .06 (ns)
Narrative ×Sound -.07(ns)
.72**
Narrative×Picture
×Sound Q M
e e
Fig. 4. Hypothesized structural model.
1987; Miller & Marks, 1997). Most of this research has focused on
print advertising and has usually only included one stimulus, which
does not allow for interaction effects to be tested. Mental imagery
research in the context of Websites has mainly dealt with the
effects of object interactivity (Macias, 2003; Schlosser, 2003) and
sensory information (Lee et al., 2010). Thus, the current study has
contributed to mental imagery research by simultaneously testing
three different stimuli in the context of a Website. Further, in the
tourism field very little research has been conducted on the effects
of features (Lee & Gretzel, 2008) and particularly pictures (Jeong &
Choi, 2004) included in destination Websites. Thus, the findings
certainly contribute to this body of literature as well.
The most important finding of the study is that mental imagery
processing indeed not only leads to very strong attitudes but also
greater confidence in attitudes. This issue had not been addressed
in the context of tourism nor in the context of online information
processing. In the present study, mental imagery processing was
confirmed as an important element of persuasive communication
in the context of travel planning, even if the persuader is not
a human communicator or a traditional advertising medium but
a Website. Consequently, more emphasis needs to be placed on
studying mental imagery processing in the context of tourism
marketing and travel decision-making as well as online commu-
nication environments.
With respect to attitude resistance, this study also successfully
supports past research indicating that strong attitudes significantly
influence attitude resistance (Haugtvedt & Petty, 1992; Petty et al.,
1995). Based on these findings, it can be stated that once subjects
form strong attitudes and confidence in the destination through
mental imagery processing, they are more likely to resist negative
reviews of the destination. Given that very little research has been
conducted regarding attitude resistance in the realm of tourism
marketing while the likelihood of tourism consumers being
exposed to reviews is increasing, the findings of this study are an
important contribution to tourism marketing research.
6.2. Practical implications
With the growing amount of information available on the
Internet and the increasing number of destination options available
1277
d
R2 = .72
.95**
AS e
Effects AC e
R2 = .07 .70**
.85**
.32**
2
AR1 e
R = .10
.76**
AR2 e
Attitude .81**
Resistance
.88** AR3 e
.58**
.92**
AR4 e
d
to travel consumers, it will be ever more important to create
persuasive Website designs that can help consumers learn about
destinations and form strong attitudes about them. Moreover, in
the context of successful tourism marketing, with the rocketing
amounts of consumer-generated contents that include personal
stories, pictures, and sound available on tourism Websites,
a persuasive Website effectively instills confidence in consumers
and helps them form attitudes that are more resistant to counter-
arguments. Also, given the many benefits for marketing that can
be assumed to result from imagery processing, it appears to be
critical for online tourism marketing to be better informed about
the effectiveness of imagery processing and the stimuli that can
encourage it. When consumers evaluate experience products, they
may have a higher degree of uncertainty compared to other phys-
ical products. Running a simulation-like scenario in one’s mind can
facilitate the process of destination decision making and lead to
more confidence in the decision. While customers consume infor-
mation on travel Websites, imagery processing enables them to
engage in greater information elaboration and to form more certain
expectations (Goossens, 2000). Tourism marketers should make an
effort to help travel planners to imagine what it would be like to
experience the destination, which can lead to positive attitudes and
build confidence. Furthermore, the generated high levels of
certainty foster resistance to subsequent negative persuasion,
which is of high practical relevance given the likely exposure to
social media content in travel information searches (Xiang &
Gretzel, 2010).
These findings can help tourism marketers understand how
critical it is to invest in careful Website design and also to
evaluate the effectiveness of particular designs. The current
study especially emphasizes the importance of pictures. While
many tourism marketers intuitively know that they are impor-
tant, this study shows that they can make a significant differ-
ence; thus, decisions to place pictures on Websites need to be
made with an understanding that changes will affect the Web-
site’s persuasiveness. In general, Websites are often designed by
practitioners based on past experience, existing examples, or
technological considerations. The research presented in this
paper argues very strongly for a more scientific approach to
Website design.
1278 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280
6.3. Limitations and future research
The current study should be considered in light of its limitations.
First, while the manipulations were extensively pre-tested there
always remains the question of whether they were strong enough.
Second, using just a beach destination for this experiment may
constrain the generalizability of the results found in this study. The
use of Websites for a broader array of tourism products such as
hotels, events and festivals, and other destinations may generate
different results in terms of mental imagery processing. Third, the
use of student subjects was limiting in that students can be
different from older and less educated individuals in terms of their
experience or proficiency in interpreting information (James &
Sonner, 2001). However, given that the research aim of the
current study was to focus on theoretical explanation rather than
the generalization of the study to a population, using student
subjects was appropriate (Peterson, 2001; Sternthal, Tybout, &
Calder, 1994; Walters et al., 2007). Moreover, as is typical for
experiments, the context was artificially created and did not
represent a real travel planning scenario, which can influence
motivations to process the information. Further, the problems in
measuring the vividness and valence of mental imagery processing
suggest that a stable measure has yet to be developed to assess
these dimensions. The lack of visible effects could have been due to
only measuring the quantity and modality of the mental imagery.
Future research in this area should be extended to include
a greater variety of potentially imagery-evoking Website features.
For example, it may be interesting to investigate how interactive or
customized features such as interactive maps or chatting with travel
experts on the Website influence mental imagery processing. On the
other hand, presenting just pictures to subjects without any other
conditions, or pictures with narration in the form of audio instead of
narrative text, or videos that combine moving pictures with narra-
tive and sound may result in a different level of mental imagery
processing. Also, varying the length of the narratives and the type
and quality of sound might produce different results. Additionally,
while instructions to imagine have been widely tested for evoking
mental imagery processing, they have not been tested in online
environments, and thus can be a subject for future research. Further,
the experiment was conducted using traditional computer screens.
However, Fogg, Booker, and Don (2004) assert that recently devel-
oped mobile phones are more compelling platforms for narratives.
They claim that mobile phones are highly personal devices, thus
people are more likely to experience content from those phones in
a way that is more personal and influential than content from
a computer. If people are indeed more receptive to persuasive
messages through mobile phones, it will be valuable to study mental
imagery processing while using these other types of platforms,
which are increasingly used in the context of travel and tourism.
Appendix 1
Intercorrelations among proposed indicators.
1 2 3 4
1. AtRes1 e
2. AtRes2 .39** e
3. AtRes3 .66** .48** e
4. AtRes4 .65** -.36** .78**
5. Quan .54** .39** .66**
6. Modality .40** .42** .56**
7. Vividness .20** .03 .05
8. Valence .19** .04 .12
9. AttiS .25** .24** .37**
10. AttiC .03 .11 .01
Note. N ¼ 239. 1 ¼ AtRes(Attitude resistance),2 ¼ AtRes2, 3 ¼ AtRes3, 4 ¼ AtRes4, 5 ¼ Quantity,6 ¼ Modality, 7 ¼ Vividness, 8 ¼ Valence 9 ¼ Attitude Strength, 10 ¼ Attitude
Confidence.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
Several issues need to be discussed with regard to the text
manipulation. First, all subjects were exposed to a text in either
expository or narrative form. Thus, even though the findings of this
study revealed that the narrative versus expository text did not
influence mental imagery processing, it is highly possible that the
information contained in the text by itself might have evoked
mental imagery processing. The proposed structural model showed
that the picture condition significantly affected mental imagery, but
indicated a small standardized coefficient b ¼ .23, which means
that the pictures had a small influence on mental imagery. Never-
theless, many of the subjects reported mental imagery. It needs to
be asked what generated this mental imagery. Indeed, both text
conditions contained a large number of sensory words. Previous
research has found that the proper mixture of sensory information
presented on Websites can strongly evoke mental imagery, which
can greatly influence consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions
(Lee et al., 2010; Miller et al., 2000; Schlosser, 2003). Another aspect
that might have to be considered is the length of the text as it was
rather short to avoid burdening the study subjects. In real trip
planning contexts, individuals are highly motivated to process
information and will probably consume more text, which might
make effects more visible.
Of the stimuli included in the study, only pictures significantly
affected mental imagery processing. The result is consistent with
existing research (Babin et al., 1992; Hirschman & Solomon, 1984;
Kisielius & Sternthal, 1984; Paivio, 1971; Rossiter, 1978; Shepard,
1967; Starch, 1966) that finds pictures to more efficiently evoke
mental imagery processing than other stimuli. However, the
insignificant results for the other modalities are inconsistent with
research that claims that narrative texts and sounds support mental
imagery processing. More research is needed to examine whether
the specific context (i.e. destinations) is the reason for this or if
other types of manipulations are needed to evoke effects.
In addition, the current study revealed that sound does not
influence mental imagery. Some researchers claim that when
imagery processing and auditory perception compete for the same
resources, elaboration of information can be reduced (Unnava,
Agarwal, & Haugtvedt, 1996). In other words, they assert that
imagery generated by subjects selectively interfered with the
processing of externally provided information (Unnava et al.,
1996). For example, while conducting the experiment for this
study, subjects were informed that they would see the Website of
an island destination. At that time, subjects might have generated
auditory imagery by themselves before they actually heard waves
and seagull sounds. In this case, based on Unnava et al. (1996), the
interference between self-generated auditory imagery and actual
sounds can adversely affect cognitive elaboration. Not enough
research currently exists to address this issue in a definitive
manner.
5 6 7 8 9
e
.70** e
.50** .66** e
.14* .23** .01 e
.16* .30** .13* .72** e
.28** .23** .17** .00 .01 e
.01 .01 .02 .10 .05 .15*
 W. Lee, U. Gretzel / Tourism Management 33 (2012) 1270e1280 1279

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