Purpose

Travel bragging, driven by impression management, is common on social media. However, straightforward bragging can create negative perceptions. To mitigate this, tourists often turn to humblebragging, but its effectiveness is unclear. This study aims to examine whether humblebragging elicits more positive responses from viewers than straightforward bragging.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on social comparison theory and compensation theory, this paper developed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of bragging type (bragging vs humblebragging) on viewer behavior. The model was validated through two scenario-based experiments.

Findings

The results reveal the double-sword effect of humblebragging: Humblebragging elicits stronger benign and malicious envy than bragging. Benign envy mediates the relationship between bragging type and consumption intention, while malicious envy mediates between bragging type and avoidance/gossip. Perceived deservingness moderates the effect of bragging type on envy and the mediation processes. When viewers perceive the poster’s advantage as deserving, humblebragging elicits more benign envy than bragging. When perceived as undeserving, humblebragging leads to more malicious envy.

Originality/value

This study is innovative in validating the double-edged sword effect of humblebragging and identifying perceived deservingness as a boundary condition.

中文翻译：

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是吹牛还是谦虚吹牛？旅行吹牛对观众行为的影响

 目的

由印象管理驱动的旅行吹牛在社交媒体上很常见。然而，直截了当的吹牛可能会产生负面看法。为了缓解这种情况，游客常常会谦虚地吹牛，但其效果尚不清楚。这项研究旨在检验谦虚的吹牛是否比直接的吹牛更能引起观众的积极反应。

设计/方法论/途径

借鉴社会比较理论和补偿理论，本文开发了一个有调节的中介模型来探讨吹牛类型（吹牛与谦虚吹牛）对观看者行为的影响。该模型通过两个基于场景的实验进行了验证。

 发现

结果揭示了谦虚吹牛的双剑效应：谦虚吹牛比吹牛更能引起良性和恶意的嫉妒。良性嫉妒在吹牛类型和消费意愿之间发挥中介作用，而恶意嫉妒在吹牛类型和回避/八卦之间发挥中介作用。感知的应得性调节了吹牛类型对嫉妒和调解过程的影响。当观众认为海报的优势是值得的时，谦虚的吹牛比吹牛更能引起善意的嫉妒。当被认为不值得时，谦虚的吹牛会导致更多的恶意嫉妒。

 原创性/价值

这项研究的创新之处在于验证了谦虚吹牛的双刃剑效应，并将感知应得性确定为边界条件。