How do destination social responsibility strategies affect tourists’ intention to visit? An attribution theory perspective
Publication Date
5-1-2020
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Volume
54
DOI
10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.102023
Abstract
Destination social responsibility (DSR) initiatives have recently received increasing attention as an effective way for destinations to maintain sustainable tourism development and competitive advantages. Through the lens of attribution theory, this study divided DSR strategies into proactive and reactive approaches and explored their influences on tourists' attribution and intention to visit a destination. This study also investigated the moderating role of information sources on the relationship between DSR strategies and tourists' attribution. The results of two experiments indicated that tourists' altruism attribution and visit intention tended to be higher when a destination applied the proactive (vs. reactive) DSR strategy. Tourists who got a reactive DSR message from an internal (vs. external) information source tended to generate stronger visit intention. The findings provide important implications for destinations to adopt appropriate DSR strategies and information channels for inducing tourists’ visit intention.
Funding Number
2019-ZD-38-05
Funding Sponsor
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Keywords
Attribution theory, Destination social responsibility, Information resource, Visit intention
Department
Hospitality, Tourism, and Event Management
Recommended Citation
Lujun Su, Qi Gong, and Yinghua Huang. "How do destination social responsibility strategies affect tourists’ intention to visit? An attribution theory perspective" Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.102023
