How social media shapes urban image and conative tourism behaviour among Chinese Generation Z: an extended SOR model

This research investigates the influence of social media material on urban image and urban conative behaviour across Chinese Generation Z. Utilising the Stimulus-Organism-reaction (SOR) framework, it formulates an enhanced model wherein real-time content perception (RTCP) and empathy function as dual organism-level mechanisms connecting external content inputs to urban image and subsequent behavioural response. Three types of social media stimuli are looked at: electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), content quality (CQ), and location-based user-generated content (LB-UGC). Data were gathered from 550 Chinese Generation Z social media users, and structural equation modelling was utilised to evaluate the potential associations. The findings indicate that both RTCP and empathy substantially mediate the influence of social media stimuli on urban image and urban conative behaviour. The effects differ among stimulus types: CQ and LB-UGC exhibit a stronger correlation with RTCP, while eWOM demonstrates a closer association with empathy. Urban image also serves as a significant perceptual process that converts interior psychological feelings into urban conative behaviour. The research enhances the literature by augmenting the SOR framework with a unified process that integrates cognitive assessment and affective response in the construction of urban images on social media. It also has real-world uses for city branding and digital communication by showing how important timely, location-based, and emotionally engaging content is for changing younger users' impressions and reactions to destinations.