Tourists’ interpretations toward tourism destinations: viewpoint to apply locus of control theory

Abstract

Purpose Studying tourist behavior provides the privilege of diverging in the competition between destinations to attract tourists. Previous studies have explored the effects of tourist behavior on brand satisfaction, attachment and loyalty. However, there is a lack of studies that investigated the intuition behind shaping tourist behavior. To address this issue, this study aims to contribute to providing a viewpoint to apply locus of control (LOC) theory in the tourism context. LOC studies how individuals believe in controlling their feelings and judgment toward events.

Sustainability of Leisure Tourism Events from a Destination Social Responsibility Perspective: Do Attribution Theory Dimensions Matter?

“…There are other types of attribution, such as internal attributes—when an event is believed to be the result of a person’s choices and intentions—and external attributes—when an event is believed to be triggered by external forces. According to the idea of attribution, visitors are more likely to support CSR activities if they attribute their motivation to internal rather than external sources [ 33 , 34 ]. The controllability attribution dimension explains how travelers map controllable elements of a destination, such as tourism personnel, infrastructure, services, brands, management strategies, physical environments, social environments, legislation and regulations, and destination tourism policies, to their experiences.…”

Attribution Theory Revisited: Probing the Link Among Locus of Causality Theory, Destination Social Responsibility, Tourism Experience Types, and Tourist Behavior

“…LOC theory is significant in studying how individuals assign the events’ outcome responsibilities to themselves or others (Chang 2008; Jackson 2019; Jackson, White, and Schmierer 1996). LOC in the tourism context investigates how tourists assign and attribute the responsibilities of tourism events’ outcomes to themselves or external causes (Saleh 2021).…”

“…The importance behind studying DSR as an attribution shifting mechanism is that according to attribution theory, which explores how individuals build their judgments and interpretations: tourists are more likely to attribute positive holidays events to themselves (internal causes) with positive behavioral outcomes than attributing these positive events to service providers (external causes) (Folkes, Koletsky, and Graham 1987; Jackson 2019; Jackson, White, and Schmierer 1996; Saleh 2021). Therefore, we want to help tourism managers to shift tourists’ attribution to have positive behavioral outcomes regardless of tourists’ attribution either to themselves (internal causes) or to service providers (external causes).…”

The effect of experience quality on behavioral intentions mediated by tourist happiness and tourist satisfaction in an island destination

“…The characteristics of an island that differ in providing a unique and distinctive experience can provide a different quality of experience for tourists (Stavrianea & Kamenidou, 2022). The experience of travelling on an island is obtained from the atmosphere felt through the geographical environment and interaction with the environment in general (Saleh, 2021;Volo, 2021). Bringing the landscape of an island can provide a very meaningful experience for humans (Yu et al, 2019).…”

“…Tourists strive to feel a positive experience in an island destination to create satisfaction and Happiness through new and unique things (Orbaningsih et al, 2022). The tourist experience on an island can shape the Happiness and satisfaction of tourists (Saleh, 2021). Tourists feel Happiness and satisfaction and will have the Intention to visit the destination again.…”