Virtual companions: the impact of AI travel companions’ language and gesture types on tourists’ stickiness

Le résumé fourni par la source

AI travel companions have emerged as an innovative tool for enhancing the experience and mental well-being of tourists. This study constructs a model based on symbolic interaction theory to explore the impact mechanism of the language and gestures of an AI travel companion on the stickiness behavior of tourists. Applying symbolic interaction theory, this study examines how AI travel companions’ language (objective vs. subjective) and gestures (fixed vs. free) influence tourists’ stickiness. Three experiments show: (1) Objective language paired with fixed gestures better boosts stickiness, while subjective language with free gestures is more effective; (2) Self-disclosure and social connectedness sequentially mediate this relationship; (3) Tourists’ self-referencing tendency amplifies the direct and indirect effect of language-gesture combinations. These findings advance multimodal human–computer interaction research by highlighting the need to align AI agent’s verbal and nonverbal cues with user psychology.

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