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201822 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201822 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2025 145 pages Masters Thesis Academic theses en Yue, Haixin Lu, Junyu Zhang, Xianfeng Li, Ting Arizona State University Partial requirement for: M.S., Arizona State University, 2025 Field of study: Social Work As an innovative technology, the Metaverse has great potential to transform the tourism industry. Research on Metaverse tourism has gained attention, but there is still a lack of exploration into how this new tourism model shapes tourists' experience and influences their behavioral intentions. This study applies socio-technical systems theory to explore the core elements of tourists' Metaverse experience from both social and technological perspectives. It further examines how perceived restorativeness mediates between the experience elements and tourists' behavioral intentions. Using a mixed-methods approach, Study 1 conducted unstructured interviews with 20 participants to identify six core experience elements: authenticity, entertainment, novelty, active control, social presence, and interaction. Study 2 used quantitative methods to examine how these elements affect tourists' behavioral intentions, i.e., the Metaverse usage intention, offline destination visit intention, and word-of-mouth intention, with the underlying mechanism of perceived restorativeness. The empirical results (N = 455) show that authenticity, entertainment, novelty, active control, and social presence positively correlate with perceived restorativeness, while interaction and perceived restorativeness are not significantly correlated. In addition, perceived restorativeness is the vital inner mechanism to shape tourists’ behavioral intentions.This research contributes to the understanding of tourists' behavioral intentions in the context of Metaverse tourism by extending the socio-technical systems theory to the study of tourist experiences. It also demonstrates how Metaverse tourism experiences influence behavioral intentions through perceived restorativeness, highlighting their potential to impact offline destination visit intentions. The study can also provide valuable insights for policymakers, tourism technology developers, and industry practitioners. Social Work Metaverse Tourism Experience and Tourist's Behavioral Intentions: The Mediating Role of Perceived Restorativeness