Narrative Transportation Effects on Blog Readers

Abstract

Narrative transportation is to be immersed in a narrative story, has been proposed as a distinct route to persuasion. And its underlying mechanism is described in self-referencing and mental simulation. The present study explores word-of-mouth from the perspective that this type of communication is typically structured as a narrative. For examining how word of mouth (blog) affects receivers' evaluation toward the product and the media, this article proposed a framework based on narrative transportation theory and analyzed it empirically. The result showed that perceived narrative structure in blog led receivers advance narrative transportation deeply, and the level of narrative transportation influences receivers' evaluation toward the product and the media positively.