Background: Visual metaphors (VMs) have gained significant attention from cognitive linguists for their ability to help learners understand linguistic structure. However, few studies have explored how incorporating a VM-supported instructional design can help instructors elucidate the abstract concepts of the business model canvas (BMC) to enhance student learning. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate undergraduate students' learning of the BMC via the use of instructional videos that incorporate VM procedures, animations, texts and drawings. Methods: This study applies flow theory to the development of the proposed research framework, and a quasi-experimental design was employed with 185 student participants. Data collected from the participants via a survey, as well as pretest and posttest were analysed via partial least squares. Results and Conclusions: The results indicated that VM-supported instructional design significantly impacted students' self-efficacy, flow experience, perceived task value and perceived learning performance. However, those variables had no significant impact on actual learning performance (i.e., actual knowledge gain). Implications: The implications for theory and practice are discussed to offer valuable suggestions to instructors and researchers regarding the application of VM-based tools/procedures to the teaching tasks of the BMC or other management-related learning subjects.