Celebrity-Endorsed Travel Livestreaming as a Digital Marketing Innovation: Enhancing Booking Intention Through Perceived Authenticity and Emotional Engagement

This study aims to examine how celebrity-endorsed travel livestreaming, as a digital marketing innovation, influences booking intention through the mediating roles of perceived authenticity and emotional engagement. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, the study conceptualizes livestreaming as a stimulus that activates both cognitive and affective responses, which are subsequently associated with consumer behavioral intentions. A quantitative approach was adopted using a structured questionnaire distributed online to a diverse sample of 609 respondents. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed relationships and mediation effects. The findings reveal that celebrity-endorsed travel livestreaming has a significant positive effect on booking intention, perceived authenticity, and emotional engagement. In addition, both perceived authenticity and emotional engagement positively influence booking intention, with emotional engagement demonstrating a stronger effect. The mediation analysis further confirms that both perceived authenticity and emotional engagement partially mediate the relationship between livestreaming and booking intention, indicating that the impact of livestreaming is largely transmitted through cognitive and affective mechanisms. The study makes several key contributions by extending the SOR framework to digitally immersive marketing contexts, reconceptualizing authenticity as an interaction-driven construct within celebrity-endorsed environments, and highlighting the prominent role of emotional engagement in consumer decision-making. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how innovative digital marketing formats are associated with consumer behavior and offer practical insights for designing more effective livestreaming strategies in the tourism industry.