Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series - Report No. 24-153 - The Effect of Characterization on Narrative Enjoyment

Sep 17, 2026

Fictional characters are central to entertainment media, and audiences engage with them as if they were real acquaintances. This engagement fuels platforms where viewers rate fictional personalities, creating measurable signals of audience perceptions. The study analyzes two large-scale datasets of audience personality ratings and finds that higher dispersion in these ratings predicts lower character appreciation and weaker film commercial performance. Experiments replicate the dispersion effect, showing that personality incoherence undermines narrative outcomes via character identification and additional boundary conditions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages72

Reading Time3 h 1 min

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1 Introduction

Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series 2024 Report No. 24-153 The Effect of Characterization on Narrative Enjoyment: An Empirical Investigation of Personality Incoherence in Movie Characters Qiang Zhang, Yunhui Huang and Xiaoyan Deng “The Effect of Characterization on Narrative Enjoyment: An Empirical Investigation of Personality Incoherence in Movie Characters” © 2024 Qiang Zhang, Yunhui Huang and Xiaoyan Deng MSI Working Papers are Distributed for the benefit of MSI corporate and academic members and the general public. Reports are not to be reproduced or published in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission. The Effect of Characterization on Narrative Enjoyment: An Empirical Investigation of Personality Incoherence in Movie Characters Qiang Zhang Yunhui Huang Xiaoyan Deng Current version: June 18, 2024 Qiang Zhang ([zhangqiang@cuhk.edu.cn](zhangqiang@cuhk.edu.cn)) is an assistant professor of marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Yunhui Huang ([yunhuihuang@hkbu.edu.hk](yunhuihuang@hkbu.edu.hk)) is an assistant professor of marketing at the Hong Kong Baptist University. Xiaoyan Deng ([deng.84@osu.edu](deng.84@osu.edu)) is an associate professor of marketing at the Ohio State University. We thank Fanqi (Vicky) Yang for her excellent assistance in this research. The Effect of Characterization on Narrative Enjoyment: An Empirical Investigation of Personality Incoherence in Movie Characters Abstract Fictional characters are pivotal to entertainment media such as movies and TV shows, where audiences engage with them as though they were real-life acquaintances. This engagement has spurred the growth of websites where viewers can rate the personalities of these fictional entities. This research argues that these ratings, reflecting audience perceptions, can be leveraged by researchers and marketers to gauge the success or failure of characterization. The authors explore this idea by analyzing two large-scale datasets on audience-provided personality ratings for fictional characters. They discovered a compelling pattern: dispersion in personality ratings correlates negatively to audience appreciation of the characters and the commercial success of the films. Drawing from narrative comprehension and personality judgment literature, the authors then propose that high dispersion in personality ratings reflects that a character’s personality traits are presented inconsistently, incoherently, and inaccurately within the narrative, leading to negative outcomes. Further experimental studies replicate this dispersion effect and confirm the hypothesis that personality incoherence drives these findings. Additionally, the authors pinpoint character identification as the underlying mechanism and identify two theorybased, managerially relevant boundary conditions. Overall, this research enhances the understanding of entertainment products and offers insights for managerial decisions in character development. Keywords: movie characters, personality incoherence, personality judgment, character identification, entertainment marketing, online reviews 1 Introduction Movies and TV series owe their success not just to compelling storylines but significantly to the characters that inhabit them. From Indiana Jones to James Bond, Sheldon Cooper to Carrie Bradshaw, iconic characters contribute financially far beyond box office revenue. For example, Batman has generated nearly 30 billion US dollars in revenue. However, 72% of this revenue comes from branded merchandise, which significantly surpasses the movies’ box office earningsat 23% .1 In addition to their economic impact, iconic characters deeply embed themselves in the minds of audiences, exerting a significant psychological influence. Research in media psychology has shown that audiences not only appreciate and mimic fictional characters but may also regard them as real-life acquaintances

FAQs

What is the main question of the paper?

How characterization influences narrative enjoyment, using audience personality ratings of movie characters as the key lens.

What do the authors find about dispersion in personality ratings?

They find that greater dispersion in personality ratings is associated with lower audience appreciation and reduced commercial success of the films.

How do experiments contribute to the conclusions?

Experimental studies replicate the dispersion effect and support the hypothesis that personality incoherence drives the observed outcomes, with character identification acting as the mechanism.

Sep 17, 2026

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