A Study of Consumers’ Intentions to Participate in Responsible Tourism Using Message Framing and Appeals

Abstract

Since responsible tourism (RT) emerged as a critical issue in the tourism literature in the early 2000s, the challenge has been how to encourage consumers to practice RT. In this context, the goal of this study is to examine effective ways to promote individuals’ RT behavior using message framing and appeals. The present study used campaign advertisements as a stimulus and employed a 2 × 2 factorial design ((message framing: gain framing vs. loss faming) × (appeal: rational appeal vs. emotional appeal)) in the experiment. In addition, the study investigated the moderating impact of involvement on people’s attitude towards advertising and intention to participate in RT. Independent-sample t-tests and a two-way analysis of variance were used to verify the hypotheses. The results of the study revealed that gain-framed messages had a greater influence on individuals’ attitude towards the advertisement and their intention to participate in RT than loss-framed messages in the low-involvement group. Furthermore, rational and emotional appeals had a greater influence on people’s attitude towards the advertisement in the high- and low-involvement groups, respectively.

Effectiveness of message framing in changing COVID-19 vaccination intentions: Moderating role of travel desire

“…Furthermore, our study found that rational appeal messages led to higher vaccine risk perceptions than emotional appeal messages. Rational/emotional message appeal has frequently been used in the tourism and hospitality research context ( Byrd et al, 2021 ; Yoon, Jeong, Chon, & Yoon, 2019 ; Wang, Kim, & Agrusa, 2018 ; Wang, Shen, Ye, & Zhou, 2020 ). However, this is the first study that investigates the effect of rational/emotional message appeals on attitudes and behaviors in the context of novel COVID-19 pandemic ( Koinig, 2021 ) and travel and tourism context.…”

Effectiveness of Travel Social Media Influencers: A Case of Eco-Friendly Hotels

“…Although the quality of message arguments has been extensively studied concerning online consumer reviews (Jiang et al 2020; Jun and Holland 2012; Ruiz-Mafe, Chatzipanagiotou, and Curras-Perez 2018), its role in messages posted by third-party actors such as SMIs has been largely ignored. Furthermore, the few studies that have looked at the efficacy of message argument quality in sustainability communication in the tourism and hospitality context have yielded contradictory results (Wang and Lehto 2020; A. Yoon et al 2019).…”

“…Second, it reveals the underlying constructs that influence travelers’ intentions to make pro-sustainable travel decisions (Balaji, Jiang, and Jha 2019). Third, it adds to our understanding of the efficacy of message framing (Wang and Lehto 2020; A. Yoon et al 2019) by examining the efficacy of attribute-value messages and simple recommendation messages when posted by a third-party actor—in this case, an SMI.…”

Interactive effects of message framing and information content on carbon offsetting behaviors

“…A number of studies have explored the effects of message framing on hotel guests' recycling (( Blose, Mack, & Pitts, 2015 ); Grazzini et al, 2018 ; Kim & Kim, 2014 ; Yoon et al, 2019 ), booking intentions ( Sparks & Browning, 2011 ), in-room green communication strategies ( Lee & Oh, 2014 ), destination selection and image perception ( Amar et al, 2017 ; Zhang et al, 2018 ), and towel re-use ( Goldstein et al, 2008 ). However, studies evaluating the relative benefits of gain- or loss-framed messages have shown mixed results.…”