Seeing the Experience or Scanning the Specifications? Media‐Framing Congruence Effect in Phygital Tourism Booking Decisions

ABSTRACT

As tourism enters the phygital era, digital preview media have become key pre‐purchase touchpoints. Drawing on cognitive fit theory, this study challenges the assumption that immersive virtual reality (VR) always outperforms static images by examining how media form (VR panoramic video vs. static images) and information framing (hedonic vs. utilitarian) jointly shape tourism booking intentions. Four between‐subjects scenario‐based experiments in tourism booking contexts test the interaction effect, examine perceived information diagnosticity as a mediator, and validate the mechanism. Results show that VR panoramic video increases booking intentions under hedonic framing, whereas static images are more effective under utilitarian framing. Perceived information diagnosticity mediates these effects. Theoretically, this study identifies boundary conditions for phygital touchpoint effectiveness and shifts explanations of digital media effects from affective mechanisms to cognitive evaluation. Managerially, tourism firms should align media form with information framing to optimize the pre‐purchase phygital journey and improve booking conversion.