Social media influencers, fandom engagement, and consumer intention formation in digital tourism platforms: A stimulus-organism-response perspective

This study examines how social media influencers and message authenticity shape destination travel intention through emotional and cognitive mechanisms within the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework. Using survey data from 535 Thai social media users and applying Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA), and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), the study identifies the key pathways underlying influencer-driven tourism behavior. The findings reveal that the effects of social media influencers and message authenticity on destination travel intention are primarily indirect, operating through fandom engagement, destination trust, and campaign attitude. Among the structural relationships, social media influencer significantly influenced fandom engagement, while fandom engagement significantly enhanced destination trust and campaign attitude (p < 0.001). Campaign attitude emerged as the strongest predictor of destination travel intention and was also identified as a necessary condition for achieving high travel intention levels. NCA further confirmed that destination trust and fandom engagement function as critical bottleneck variables within the behavioral process. In addition, destination type significantly strengthened the effects of destination trust and campaign attitude on destination travel intention. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of integrated affective-cognitive mechanisms in influencer-driven tourism behavior and provide practical insights for designing emotionally resonant and culturally aligned digital tourism marketing strategies.