Dark heritage tourism education: effects of information-led versus narrative-led advertising appeals on tourists’ heritage preservation intentions

Abstract

In dark cultural heritage communication, eliciting empathy does not necessarily translate into preservation actions. Dark cultural heritage is both educational and sensitive: communication needs to reduce audiences’ psychological distance and facilitate understanding and commemoration, while also guarding against the risk of turning traumatic experience into something to be “experienced” and consumed. Drawing on the stimulus organism response (SOR) framework and self-construal theory, this study distinguishes two types of advertising appeals for dark cultural heritage information-led and narrative-led. Through two experiments that manipulate appeal type, we measure audiences’ emotional arousal and self-construal, and further conceptualize willingness to support heritage preservation at both the verbal and behavioral levels. The findings show that advertising appeal type affects willingness to support heritage preservation via emotional arousal and self-construal, yet the effects are not fully consistent across verbal versus behavioral outcomes. Serial mediation tests further reveal a psychological pathway from emotional engagement through identity positioning to commitment to responsibility. In addition, the serial mediation effect from emotional arousal to self-construal is context-dependent and varies across individuals, indicating boundary conditions for advertising’s emotional influence: it is pronounced for some contexts or audience groups but limited in others. By linking ethical concerns in heritage communication with evaluations of advertising effectiveness, this study provides actionable empirical evidence for communication design under the tension between audience appeal and educational depth in dark cultural heritage, and offers a mechanism-based explanation for fostering sustainable public support for preservation.