Digital Commons Network^™

I Didn’T Have The Time Of My Life: Qualitative Data Collection Challenges At The 2017 Dirty Dancing Festival, Stefanie Benjamin, Whitney Knollenberg

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

In August 2017 two brave researchers embarked on a journey to try a novel approach to collect data at the Dirty Dancing Festival at Lake Lure, North Carolina, United States. Our hope was to utilize qualitative data collection methods to empower the attendees at the festival to share their lived experiences of the festival through their lens. We asked them to upload their photos using social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, several unforeseen circumstances, including lack of wireless internet, impaired the data collection. Even with a backup of ipads for data collection, our efforts were challenged. In this …

Introducing A Framework To Assess Agritourism’S Impact On Agricultural Literacy And Consumer Behavior Towards Local Foods, Sara Brune, Whitney Knollenberg, Kathryn Stevenson, Elke Grether, Carla Barbieri

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Agritourism operators frequently incorporate educational opportunities about agricultural products and farming in their tourism experiences, but the educational potential of agritourism on visitors has not been measured. This potential impact of agritourism is important considering the environmental and economic sustainability of food systems depend on agriculturally literate citizens and policymakers. The purpose of this work is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework that will help determine the role of agritourism experiences in influencing agricultural literacy and local food purchasing behavior among consumers. To achieve this purpose, this work will account for the potential for agritourism experiences to impact both …

Anticipated Knowledge In Consumers’ Intentions To Visit Green Hotels: Extending The Theory Of Planned Behaviour., Rawan Nimri

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

This study explores a knowledge-related framework based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to more comprehensively explain the formation of customers’ intention to visit a green hotel. In particular, the extended TPB incorporates green hotel knowledge into the original TPB model. Results of structural equation modelling revealed that the proposed model provides a better fit with the data, and explains significantly greater amounts of variance in consumers’ visit intention. The results suggest that decision-making models such as the TPB incorporate knowledge. In this study, all relationships appeared to be significant as conceptualized according to the TPB. The findings …

Implications Of Couchsurfing: Sustainability, Education, Capitol, Donald Roberson

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Implications of Couchsurfing (CS): Sustainability, Education, Capitol

Abstract

Some travelers are motivated beyond simply arriving at beautiful destinations. Money, budget travel, and convenience are also important concerns. Recent growth of the community of Couchsurfing (CS) is worth a reflection concerning its portrayal of our society. The sustainability of CS is an interesting phenomena. Simply sharing a couch, rather than building a hotel can reverberate with themes of ecology and preservation. Further, if the CS participants take their genre seriously, then the ensuing conversation and relationships can indeed have an impact throughout the world. Therefore, it is worth our time to …

Expanding The Profile Of Short Term Vacation Rental (Stvr) Hosts In Savannah, Ga, Emily Yeager, Bynum Boley, Cari Goetcheus, Meredith Welch-Devine

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Expanding the Profile of Short Term Vacation Rental (STVR) Hosts in Savannah, GA

Abstract

This research explores the complex identities of STVR hosts through their roles as entrepreneurs and residents in the communities that they host and live. Additionally, this research studies how hosts’ fluid identity uniquely positions them as potential sustainable entrepreneurs in their community. A total of 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with hosts or STVR managers that were once hosts. As entrepreneurs, extrinsic motivations are often initial drivers for hosting but intrinsic benefits become integral to the enjoyment of hosting and an important motivator for continued participation. …

Entrepreneurship In Tourism Education: A Self-Efficacy Approach, Bruno S. Ferreira, Duarte Morais, Gene Brothers

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

This paper is a report of a study to measure changes in tourism e-microentrepreneurial self-efficacy (TeMSE) in undergraduate students after attending an introductory survey course on tourism management. Given that high entrepreneurial self-efficacy is associated with enterprise success, enhancing levels of TeMSE is warranted to grow a more just tourism economy in a sector largely controlled by profit-oriented large corporations. This need is stronger among women, who may doubt their entrepreneurial competences due to stereotyped gender-role socialization. Consequently, universities have become aware of the importance of developing entrepreneurial potential, and are focusing on equipping students with skills and abilities necessary …

Inner- Versus Social-Driven Travel Motivations Among People With Mobility Challenges: Extending The Travel Motivation Interpretation With A New Horizon, Ye Zhang, Jie Gao, Peter Ricci, Anil Bilgihan

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Employing Self-determination Theory to explore travel motivational patterns among People with Mobility Challenges, this study extends the travel motivation conceptualization with a distinction of driving forces underlying travel motivations. The revealed variations in travel-facilitating effects and motivation-cultivating mechanisms across a spectrum of differentially driven motivations support the distinction. The cross-context reliability of the distinction was also checked through a challenge-level experimental manipulation. Specifically, the inner-driven self-determined motivations better facilitate PwMC’s travel pursuits when travel challenges are significant, whereas social-driven controlled motivations dominate travel facilitation at low-challenge levels. The support of autonomy, competence, and relatedness is found to facilitate both self-determined …

The Impact Of Personal Values And Attitudes On Responsible Behavior Toward The Environment, Minseong Kim, Svetlana Stepchenkova

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Prior research on nature-based tourism has examined determinants of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior from a personal value perspective. However, a nature-based destination needs both the economic benefits from tourists’ spending and the environmental benefits from tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. Thus, based on the value-belief-norm and trust transfer theories, this study integrated altruistic value and attitudes toward a nature-based destination’s eco-travel and the destination to predict destination loyalty and positive word-of-mouth about the eco-travel as well as environmentally responsible behavior among domestic tourists. This study collected and analyzed data from 289 domestic tourists visiting Jeju Island, South Korea. The results of …

Tourists Perceived Value And Experience Preference Based On Ar Technique, Shan Jiang

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

National park in China are to design activities to optimize visitor benefits while still protecting resources, and it is critical to understand what visitors prefer from their park experience and their perceived value in order to attainment their benefits. This research studies Potatso NP in Yunnan Provence as a case, by applying AR technology in tourists experience, investigates the relationship of tourist preference and perceived value to profile potential tourist market characteristics of Chinese national park. Correlation analysis was conducted and it is found that 1) there is correlation of cultural and social dimension on both AR preference and perceived …

Governance Keeping Up With Sharing Economy Innovations, Seojin Lee, Christine A. Vogt, Woojin Lee, David Swindell

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

The sharing economy presents new regulatory issues by raising inquiries into market innovation and government intervention. This research focuses on policy areas that have not received much attention in the current debate on the sharing economy, particularly in the tourism literature. Based on the survey on local government officials in the U.S. cities and counties (n=599), the research aims at (1) exploring stakeholder groups that are perceived to be influential in acting on legislation among policymakers and (2) examining determinants that influence legislative status with a focus on sharing economy innovations. The results indicate that legislative status is …

Family Trips And Academic Achievement In Reading During Early Childhood: Evidence From A National Study, So Young Park, Jee Bin Ahn, Bing Pan

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

This study investigates a popular belief: family trips provide educational benefits for children. Based on the theoretical background of experiential learning, we empirically examine the impact of family trips on academic achievement in early childhood using Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) data collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). The 3,224 children included in the study are a nationally representative sample. The results show that family trips–especially those to museums, art galleries, and historical sites–has positive impact on children’s academic achievement in reading. As the experiential learning requires reflection and experimentation and is …

Mobile Versus Pc: Does Device Type Affect Online Survey Response Quality For Tourism Research?, Suiwen Zou, Karen P.S. Tan, Xiang (Robert) Li

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

The use of mobile devices to complete online surveys is trending upward and is likely to continue unabated for some time. With this growth, there is a growing interest in how to make mobile devices a viable way to administer self-report online surveys among researchers. Utilizing a large-scale online panel survey, the current study compares the quality and pattern of responses collected from mobile device respondents to those collected from PC/laptop respondents. It is found that although mobile respondents tended to provide shorter answers to open-ended questions than PC/laptop respondents, response quality was not significantly different between the two groups. …

A Culturally Relevant Symbol: Participant Engagement In A Volunteer Tourism Music-Conservation Youth Education Program, Lana M. Olsen

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

TTRA 2018 Short Abstract

A culturally relevant symbol: Participant engagement in a volunteer tourism music-conservation youth education program

Abstract

Volunteer-led travel educational programs focus on diverse community initiatives. Daraja Music Initiative (DMI), a US-Tanzanian nonprofit, indicates they are “providing an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability through music...by actively engaging students and the community with the power of music” (DMI, 2018). Thirteen interviews and four focus groups were conducted with volunteer tourists, community members and youth, during summer 2017 in Moshi, Tanzania, in order to seek perspectives on what engagement means and explore the concept of engagement through a new theoretical …

There’S No Place Like Home! The Impact Of Accommodations Homescape On Traveler Well-Being, Courtney S. Suess, Makarand Amrish Mody, Tarik Dogru

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Airbnb continues to gain popularity as an alternative to hotels, with the home-like setting being a critical differentiating factor. However, the tourism literature has not explored whether and how accommodation environments are facilitating traveler “at home” experiences and the impact of these experiences on the critical outcome of well being. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we develop a model of homescape in the accommodations industry and identify, operationalize, and measure its components. Second, we examine the impact of the homescape on travelers’ experience and overall well-being in both Airbnb and hotel accommodations. Surveying 740 participants who were …

A Study Of Tourism Advertising Effects: Advertising Formats And Destination Types, Lisheng Weng, Zhuowei Huang

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

This study proposes and empirically tested the AUIDC framework for tourism advertising effects with five variables: Attention, Utilitarian, Interest, Desire, and Credibility. To examine the tourism advertising effects across different destination types and advertising formats, a 2 (destination type: cultural vs. natural) ×3 (advertising format: VR vs. video vs. print) between-subject experiment was designed and tested. A sample of 307 participants was surveyed in this study. Findings indicate that the tourism advertising effects do not differ across the three ads formats of print, video, and VR. VR is even less effective for destinations primarily featuring natural sceneries. Theoretical and managerial …

Do Tourists Change Their International Travel Plans In Times Of Terror?, Muhammet Kesgin, Linden W. Pohland

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

This study presents the preliminary findings of a broader investigation into the level of concern regarding international travel at times of terrorist attacks. The results indicate that there is not a significantly different pattern in demographic characteristics regarding the level of concern. The preliminary findings reveal a strong association between media searching behavior regarding terrorist attacks and level of concern in international travel. Tourists are selective in their destination choice with a tendency to travel more developed destinations. However, tourists demonstrate that they do not change their trip once destination choice is made even in the case of terrorist attacks. …

Testing The Presumed Effects Of Service Performance, Theme, Personalization, And Multisensory Appeal On Quality Of Structured Experiences, Garry Ellis, Andrew Lacanienta, Patti Freeman, Brian Hill

Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally

Testing the Presumed Effects of Service Performance, Theme, Personalization, and Multisensory Appeal on Quality of Structured Experiences

Abstract

We evaluated service quality and experience structuring performance on subjective quality of experience in Hawaii. Two trained teams of education tourists visited major attractions on three Hawaiian Islands. One team (four members) evaluated service quality and experience structuring performance at each of 23 attractions while the other team (14 members) independently completed measures of the quality of their experiences at each attraction. Two hundred forty-seven experience equality observations were collected. Service quality was evaluated using the SERVQUAL dimensions identified by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, …