Search

Environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) matters a great deal for the long-term success of tourist destinations. Building upon the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, the current study constructed an integrated model to demonstrate perceived destination eco-friendly reputation as a stimulus; consumption emotions (positive and negative) as organism; tourism satisfaction, recollection, tourist environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) as response. Notably, tourists' recollection is seen within this S-O-R framework as the formation mechanism for prescribed action and consequently as an example of script theory and the generation of consumer responses, thus connecting elements of behavioral and cognitive psychology in a unified framework. Survey data from 522 Chinese tourists were used to empirically examine the integrated tourist ERB model. The findings suggest that destination eco-friendly reputation positively impacts both positive emotions and tourist satisfaction, and eco-friendly reputation negatively impacts negative emotions. Positive emotions significantly and positively influence tourist satisfaction, tourists' recollection, and ERB. Conversely, negative emotions have a significant negative effect on these constructs. Moreover, tourist satisfaction positively influences recollection and ERB, and recollection in turn positively affects ERB. Theoretical insights and practical implications are discussed in this paper.

This paper combines game theory with Land Ethics to demonstrate a path forward for sustainable development. Our findings indicate that two likely equilibria can be reached. One equilibrium focuses on high short-term profits, but with ecological damage leading to less cumulative profits. The second equilibrium requires ecological maintenance costs (thus less short-term profits) yet yields greater cumulative profits. The comparison of the two equilibria and using the historical perspective of the Wisconsin Dells demonstrates how communities that embrace a Land Ethic can reach the equilibrium that produces greater long-term benefits.

Purpose The impact of destination reputation on tourists’ behavior has not received sufficient attention in the tourism literature. Built upon the signaling theory and the well-documented stimulus-organism-response framework, the purpose of this paper is to propose and assess a theoretical model that captures relationships among destination reputation, place attachment, tourist satisfaction, and the search for alternative destinations. Design/methodology/approach Using the covariance-based structural equation modeling technique, this study empirically tested the conceptual model with a convenience sample of Chinese tourists who visited a popular coastal urban tourism destination in China. Findings Findings reveal that destination reputation positively impacts perceived place dependence, place identity, and tourist satisfaction. In addition, place dependence positively affects tourist satisfaction, but place identity has no significant impact on tourist satisfaction. As expected, tourist satisfaction negatively influences tourists’ search for alternative destinations; however, place identity positively influences tourists’ search for alternative destinations. Originality/value Few studies in the tourism literature explore the role of destination reputation in the tourist decision-making process. The present study’s unique contribution lies in its examination of destination reputation on tourists’ behavior. In addition, this study includes the search for alternative destinations as an important behavioral outcome into the proposed model. Some tourists explore alternative destinations even though they are willing to revisit and spread positive messages about the destination they already visited. Therefore, the continuous searching behavior is worthy of investigation in tourism studies.

Purpose This study aims to examine consumption emotions and customer–company identification as mediating variables to explore the association of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on green consumer behavior in a hospitality–lodging context. Design/methodology/approach Using a stimulus–organism–response framework, an integrated model is developed. The hypothesized relationships of the research model are tested using the structural equation modeling technique. Data were gathered from hotel guests at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in China. Findings Perceived CSR directly affects positive emotions, negative emotions and customer–company identification. Positive emotions significantly influence customer–company identification. Positive emotions and customer–company identification partially mediate the relationship between perceived CSR and green consumer behavior. Hotel type was not found to be a moderating factor. Research limitations/implications Perceived CSR can act to influence consumers’ behaviors more broadly via an increased likelihood of engaging in green consumer behavior. Implementing CSR strategies at the company level may provide additional benefits to society as a whole. The proposed relationships need to be replicated in other service organizations, segments and cultures to better assess the generalizability of the findings. Originality/value This study investigates the association between consumption emotions and customer–company identification, which has been missing in the tourism/hospitality literature. This study also extends previous CSR literature by examining the potential moderating role of hospitality type.

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth while considering exports simultaneously. Governments in many countries have been developing and deploying strategies to attract tourism receipts as a means for economic growth. However, assessing the potential impact of tourism on economic growth among large economies is still in its infancy. Design/methodology/approach Using a vector error correction model framework, this study examines the relationship among exports, gross domestic product (GDP) and tourism receipts (including international tourism receipts and domestic tourism receipts in two separate models) with macro data that covers two recent decades (1994-2013) in China. Findings The empirical findings confirm the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship in each of these two tri-variate models. The empirical findings reveal that (1) both tourism-led-growth and export-led-growth hypotheses are supported, (2) the growth rate of tourism receipts exhibit a higher relevance with GDP growth than export growth and (3) the growth rate of international tourism shows a higher relevance with GDP growth than domestic tourism growth. Originality/value Using macroeconomic data collected by the Chinese government, the current study employs an advanced econometric methodology to explore the potential benefits of tourism on economic growth in China.

This study focuses on domestic tourists at a World Heritage Site located in China and investigates the relationship of three important visitor perceptions (i.e., service fairness, destination image, and service quality) with tourism destination loyalty (i.e., positive word-of-mouth referrals and revisit intentions) through overall destination satisfaction and trust toward destination service providers. The structural equation modeling findings generally support the conceptual model and indicate that service fairness and service quality have a significant and positive impact on overall destination satisfaction and trust toward destination service providers, while destination image has a significant effect on overall destination satisfaction but not on trust toward destination service providers. In addition, the investigated perceptions-loyalty relationships are found to be mediated by overall destination satisfaction, but not necessarily by trust toward destination service providers. The paper includes discussions of the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.

This study aims to build and test a theoretical model of tourist expectation formation and seeks to explore the gender differences regarding how tourists form their expectations toward a travel destination. Survey data were obtained from 774 outbound Chinese tourists to Macao, and structural equation modelling was used to test the model and proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that travel motivation, advertising, and word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations influence travelers' cognitive image and cognitive image interacts with affective image to form individuals' expectations toward travel destinations. Notably, the impacts of travel motivation and advertising on cognitive image, and of cognitive image on tourist expectations were significantly stronger for males than females, while the effects of WOM on cognitive image and of affective image on tourist expectations were stronger for females than males. Both theoretical and practical implications of these important findings are discussed.

This study presents a cognitive appraisal model that identifies consumption emotions and trust as key mediators in the relationship between perceived service fairness and behavioral intentions (i.e., revisit intentions and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals). The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to examine empirically a conceptual tourist behavior model using questionnaires answered by 541 tourists in Xiamen, a “garden city” in China. The findings confirmed the mediating role of emotions and trust, which imply that the travel behavioral intentions formation process is both an emotional experience process and a relationship building process between tourists and the destination service providers. By understanding the relationship and linkages between perceived service fairness and behavioral intentions, city managers, urban tourism managers, and service providers can formulate more effective marketing strategies to strengthen tourists’ loyalty, revisit and WOM referral intentions.

Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory and the justice theory from the marketing and tourism literature, this study attempts to illuminate the embedded impact of tourist experience on overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions in a cognitive-affective-behavioral framework. The findings suggest that service fairness is an antecedent of consumption emotions (positive and negative) that, in turn, influence satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the context of Chinese natural heritage tourism. Notably, the results highlight the mediating role of tourists’ consumption emotions. This article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications to heritage tourism researchers and managers.

This article contributes to recent tourism literature on destination competitiveness by proposing a multidimensional tourism destination competitiveness construct pertinent to a Chinese tourism context. The proposed construct was empirically examined using both an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis framework using survey data from a wide spectrum of tourism specialists in China. The findings suggest that Chinese tourism destination competitiveness consists of five underlying dimensions: destination management, tourism resources, tourism superstructure, infrastructure, and destination-supporting factors. The relative importance of the identified dimensions is also reported. This article concludes with noted study limitations and a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Built upon the tourism and marketing literature, a conceptual model depicting the relationship among tourism destination image components, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions was proposed. A conceptual model consisting of six hypotheses was empirically tested using survey data from 550 Chinese tourists who visited Zhang-Jia-Jie, a major Chinese tourism destination shown on the list of the World Natural Heritage. The empirical findings reveal that: (a) overall tourism destination is reflected by both cognitive image and affective image, and (b) overall tourism destination image has an indirect impact on behavioral intentions through satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed before the article concludes with limitations and directions for future research.

The emergence of Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0 has planted the concept of social networking firmly into the tourism industry. Given the increasingly large number of users on social network sites (SNSs) and their high level of interaction, this study explored the underlying motivations and barriers of travel knowledge sharing on SNSs among undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. The results identified 3 major motivating factors that drive young SNSs users' intention to continue travel knowledge sharing. In contrast, privacy concerns and time issues were found to be the major barriers among those who were not involved in SNS-based travel knowledge sharing. The article also discusses implications for developing strategies to understand and benefit from SNS-based travel knowledge sharing.

As an evolving area of academic investigation, service failure and recovery research is particularly relevant in the tourism field but research is still lacking. This study identifies and classifies commonly experienced service failures and recovery strategies as perceived by tourism customers that result in overall (dis)satisfying encounters. The effectiveness of service recovery strategies is assessed via behavioral responses. Specifically, switching behaviors of (dis)satisfied consumers, the extent of word‐of‐mouth engaged in, and its valence are investigated.

This study investigates the determinants and outcomes of relationship quality in the context of the Chinese travel industry. A conceptual model was developed and tested to identify the determinants and outcomes of relationship quality. Partial least squares analyses on the survey data show that five of six proposed predictors have significant influence on relationship quality, and a higher level of relationship quality results in better reputation and stronger customer loyalty. The findings will provide travel agency managers with guidelines to develop and implement effective marketing strategies in the Chinese tourism market.