Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2025

Abstract

With the deep integration of culture and tourism, immersive tourism performance has emerged as a new form of experiential consumption and has gradually become an essential vehicle for shaping destination branding and enhancing tourists’ cultural identity. By breaking the boundaries of traditional stages and integrating spatial construction, narrative mechanisms, and multidimensional interactive experiences, immersive performances create a sense of presence and immersion for tourists. This study focuses on the mechanism influencing tourists’ flow experience and satisfaction in immersive tourism performances. A theoretical model incorporating authenticity, interactivity, sense of presence, and value congruence was constructed and tested to reveal how multidimensional experiential factors jointly contribute to the formation of flow experience and further affect tourist satisfaction.

Three representative immersive tourism performance projects were selected—"Huangpu! Huangpu!" in Guangzhou, "Zhakou Train Case" in Kaifeng, and "Heavenly Brewing" in Maotai. Five hundred eighty-seven valid questionnaires were collected using a convenience sampling method. The PROCESS macro was used to examine mediation and moderation effects, and the path relationships among variables were systematically investigated. The results show that artistic authenticity and venue authenticity have significant positive effects on the flow experience, with the sense of presence partially mediating between artistic authenticity and flow experience. Regarding interactivity, responsiveness indirectly influences flow experience through spatial and social presence. Moreover, value congruence, as a moderating variable, has a significant positive moderating effect in the paths of “authenticity → social presence → flow experience” and “responsiveness → social presence → flow experience.” The higher the tourists’ value congruence with the performance content, the more easily authenticity and interactive experiences are transformed into deeper social presence and flow states. Further analysis indicates that flow experience significantly and positively predicts tourist satisfaction, suggesting that immersive experience affects the perceived quality of the moment and contribute to tourists’ overall evaluation and emotional connection with the performance. Based on the empirical results of moderated mediation models, this study reveals a multi-stage psychological mechanism of “authenticity → interactivity → presence → flow experience → satisfaction” in immersive tourism performance experiences.

Theoretically, this study enriches the integration research of immersive experience and flow experience, expands the application of the dual-dimensional structure of presence in tourism performance scenarios, and confirms the critical role of value congruence in cultural tourism consumption. Practically, the study provides empirical evidence and operational suggestions for the content design, spatial layout, and interactive mechanism optimization of immersive tourism performances. It emphasizes the need to enhance the depth of immersion and flow quality by integrating multisensory stimulation, contextual storytelling, and emotional engagement, thereby promoting the sustainable development of immersive cultural products.

Keywords

immersion tourism performance, flow experience, authenticity, interactivity, presence

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Bus Admin (CKGSB)

Discipline

Finance | Tourism and Travel

Supervisor(s)

TAN, Hwee Hoon

First Page

1

Last Page

152

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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