Family Identity Bundles and Holiday Decision Making

Abstract

As the main contributor to leisure vacations, family travel is an important topic in academia; however, limited tourism research has addressed the subject. Most family travel studies have focused on who makes the decision with comparatively little attention paid to how. The present study argues that family travel decision making is determined by interactions between different individual, relational, and family identities using various communication approaches. Based on the family identity bundle framework, this research employs a longitudinal qualitative approach to examine 28 Chinese families’ summer holiday decision-making processes. The results indicate that two moderators (relationships with extended family and involvement in social groups through social media) strengthen the influence of identity bundles on decision making, as do different communication forms on decisions. Findings from this study contribute to the body of knowledge on family tourism decision making and provide suggestions for family tourism promotion.

Understanding Family Tourism: A Perspective of Bibliometric Review

“…With the expansion of the family tourism market, tourism scholars have gradually paid attention to research on family tourism. The content of studies includes family tourism decision-making ( Barlés-Arizón et al, 2013 ; Yang et al, 2020 ; Wang and Li, 2021 ), family tourism motivation ( Kim and Lehto, 2013 ; Wang et al, 2018 ), family tourism benefit ( Shaw et al, 2008 ; Lehto et al, 2009 ), and family tourism experience ( Rhoden et al, 2016 ; Wu et al, 2019 ). From the perspective of research objects, some studies focus on the roles of couples in the family ( Rojas-de-Gracia and Alarcón-Urbistondo, 2017 ).…”

The family experiences in the daily local-guided tours: Evidence from the sharing economy platform (Withlocals)

“…The literature review shows that scholars focus on a variety of topics related to family tourism. Much research has been conducted on family travel topics such as family holiday experience (Hilbrecht et al, 2008; Lehto et al, 2012), holiday (Carr, 2011), leisure (Hunter-Jones, 2014), or leisure activities (Lehto et al, 2013), experiential learning (Stone and Petrick, 2017), overseas educational travel (Fu et al, 2018), white-water rafting (Jamal et al, 2019), family identity interaction (Wang and Li, 2020) and dark tourism (Kidron, 2013). Furthermore, some attractions are designed for families to experience such as zoos (Turley, 2001), theme parks (Dwyer and Wickens, 2011), museums (Kidron, 2013), and package tours (Obrador, 2012).…”

An Interactive Family Tourism Decision Model

“…To date, children’s roles in tourism have attracted substantial scholarly attention. Wang and Li (2020) noted that publications on family tourism have skyrocketed since 2009: the keyword “children” is now one of the five most used keywords among tourism scholars, reflecting Canosa and Graham’s (2016, 2019) remark that “child-centered scholarship is gradually emerging in tourism research.”…”

“…Yet Wang and Li (2020) pointed out that despite expanding knowledge about who (i.e., family members) is involved in the family tourism decision-making process, little research has examined how such decisions are made, especially in terms of children’s travel choices. In the prevailing major–minor dichotomy, children are often marginalized as accessories who indirectly inform adults’ decisions.…”