Facilitating residents’ storytelling in tourism communities: Communication infrastructure and acculturation

Abstract

Storytelling has become an important means of destination branding, with residents as key creators and disseminators of local narratives. However, the structural and cultural conditions that enable residents' storytelling behavior remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on Communication Infrastructure Theory and Berry's Acculturation Model, this study examines whether integrated connectedness to the community storytelling network facilitates residents' storytelling behavior. It further investigates how acculturation strategies shape tourism migrants' participation in local storytelling. Two quantitative survey studies were conducted in tourism communities in China. Study 1 shows that integrated connectedness to the community storytelling network positively predicts residents' storytelling behavior. Study 2 indicates that tourism migrants adopting integration and assimilation strategies report more positive residents' storytelling behavior than those adopting separation strategies, and that these differences are mediated by their connectedness to a community storytelling network. The findings offer a communication-infrastructure perspective on resident storytelling in tourism communities and provide implications for fostering inclusive destination branding.