Does getting along matter? Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities

Lee, LW ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3818-4445, Boon, E and McCarthy, IP, 2021. Does getting along matter? Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities. Tourism Management, 87: 104381. ISSN 0261-5177

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Abstract

Guided group activities, where tourists consume with other tourists, are common and important. Although literature suggests customer-employee rapport impacts customer satisfaction, the composition and impact of tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities have received minimal attention. We use a three-study mixed method approach to conceptualize and examine tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities. Study 1 identifies two recognized dyadic dimensions of tourist-tourist rapport (enjoyable interaction and personal connection) and two new group-based dimensions (group attentiveness and service congruity). Study 2 (video experiment) and Study 3 (field experiment) find that enjoyable interaction and personal connection mediate the relationship between group attentiveness and service congruity with satisfaction. Thus, tourist-tourist rapport in a group context is more multidimensional and complex than previously conceptualized for customer-employee rapport and non-group contexts. Further, we find tourist-tourist rapport is a critical service factor such that high levels satisfy, while low levels dissatisfy.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Tourism Management
Creators: Lee, L.W., Boon, E. and McCarthy, I.P.
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: December 2021
Volume: 87
ISSN: 0261-5177
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104381
DOI
S026151772100100X
Publisher Item Identifier
1445575
Other
Rights: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Divisions: Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by: Laura Ward
Date Added: 14 Jun 2021 14:27
Last Modified: 25 Jan 2022 11:39
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/43060

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