This thesis by publication aims to explore and advance the understanding of the impact of online customer reviews (OCRs) on immersive experiences across the customer journey. While immersive experiences have gained increasing attention, existing research remains fragmented and largely focused on technology, and in-situ experience. Addressing this gap, the thesis presents a view of immersive experiences that shifts the focus from the live experience to a temporally extended, and socially mediated consumer journey through three studies.

Study 1 conducted the first multidisciplinary systematic literature review of existing knowledge on immersive events, identifying four key thematic areas: immersion theory, technology and innovation, event design, and attendee behaviour. It proposes a new conceptual model for immersive events research and highlights the limited integration of marketing and consumer behaviour perspectives. Study 2 employs a qualitative method to investigate how OCRs influence immersive experiences across the customer journey. The study extends immersion theory by introducing the concepts of pre-experiential and retrospective immersion. Drawing on value co-creation, value co-destruction, and immersion theory, the findings demonstrate that OCRs act as socially embedded resources that influence expectations, guide on-site behaviour, and structure post-experience reflection. Study 3 adopts a mixed-method experimental approach to examine how OCRs and short-form video advertisements influence booking decisions. Integrating narrative transportation and behavioural reasoning theory for the first time, the findings show that narrative transportation influences decision-making through reasoning. Moreover, story-with-information video advertisements lead to higher narrative transportation than story-focused videos and images within OCRs do not significantly affect narrative transportation compared to OCRs without images.

Overall, the thesis advances immersion theory, narrative transportation theory, and behavioural reasoning theory. It further offers practical implications for integration of OCRs in the design and management of immersive experiences marketing ecosystem.