Fish Tales: How Narrative Modality, Emotion, and Transportation Influence Support for Sustainable Aquaculture

Considerable research suggests narrative persuasion’s attitudinal and behavioral effects in health and environmental contexts. Whether the format of narrative presentation influences these effects, however, remains unclear. We use an online experiment (N = 2,225), comparing text and video conditions, to evaluate how exposure to narrative influences transportation, emotions, and risk-benefit perceptions and, in turn, how such perceptions affect attitudes and behavioral intentions toward sustainable aquaculture. Consistent with prior research, the text condition was more transporting than the video. Further, a serial mediation model shows transportation as leading to lower risk perception, higher benefit perception, and higher aquaculture support.