How narrative transportation in movies affects audiences’ positive word-of-mouth: The mediating role of emotion

On the basis of the cognitive–affective–behavioral model, this study investigated the effects of narrative transportation in movies on audience emotion and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the effects of the multidimensionality of narrative transportation on the multidimensionality of emotion. In this study, narrative transportation was divided into dimensions of empathy, immersion, and belief revision, and emotion was divided into pleasure and arousal. To explore the relationship between narrative transportation, emotions, and PWOM, the participants, comprising individuals with movie watching experience, completed a questionnaire on the movie that had left the deepest impression on them. The responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Empathy, immersion, and belief revision were significantly and positively associated with pleasure and arousal, which positively correlated with PWOM. The relationship between empathy or immersion and PWOM was partially mediated by pleasure and arousal, whereas pleasure and arousal fully mediated the association between belief revision and PWOM. Practical suggestions for filmmakers were derived from the present findings.