Abstract
Tourist inspiration is an emergent topic. Although studies in the psychology and marketing fields have examined inspiration theory, relevant concepts and measurement tools are lacking for tourist inspiration in the context of tourism. This research reports on two studies: Study 1 employed a literature review to conceptualize tourist inspiration and to develop a scale with satisfactory reliability and validity. In Study 2, the developed tourist inspiration scale was applied to identify the relationship between the antecedents (i.e., openness to experience, proactive personality, and existential authenticity) and consequences (i.e., transcendent tourist experience and tourist satisfaction) of tourist inspiration. The theoretical and practical implications were then presented with suggestions for future studies.
TopIntroduction
The inspiration theory originated from social psychology. Thrash and Elliot (2003) conceptualized inspiration as a specific intrinsic motivational state. Inspiration is evoked by connections with external sources that are realized into new thoughts (Thrash & Elliot, 2003). Oleynick et al. (2014) defined inspiration as ‘a motivational state that compels individuals to bring ideas into fruition.’ Thrash and Elliot (2004) asserted that inspiration is a hybrid construct; it involves the formation of the inspired-by, or the evocation of inspiration by an object or person, and the inspired-to, or the motivation that follows evocation. Therefore, inspiration is an intrinsic motivational state in which a person transition from inspired-by to inspired-to.
Böttger et al. (2017)
defined customer inspiration as a two-staged construct comprising an inspired-by and an inspired-to. The study indicated that customer inspiration is affected by environmental factors, namely the customers’ inspiration source and consumer motivations. Customer inspiration affects three outcome variables: emotion, attitude, and behavior. Studies have confirmed that inspiration can lead to development of well-being (Su et al., 2021), meaning in life (Csikszentmihalyi & Seligman, 2000), and satisfaction of the need to pursue higher ideals, such as creativity, meaning, and spiritual truth (Thrash & Elliot, 2004). However, theories and literature related to inspiration in the field of tourism is still rare.
Transformative tourism has gradually developed into a trend in the industry (Zhao & Agyeiwaah, 2023). Christie and Mason (2003) defined transformative tourism as ‘the practice of organized tourism that leads to a positive change in attitudes and values among those who participate in the tourist experience.’ Examples of transformative tourism activities include, but are not limited to, volunteer tourism, mindful travel, pilgrimage-related trips, and study abroad (Reisinger, 2015). Studies have indicated that the meaning and responsibility tourists gained through volunteer activities affected their perceived meaning of life (Coghlan & Weiler, 2018; Robledo & Batle, 2017). Two inferences can be made about volunteer tourism experiences. The first is that external stimuli, such as living environment, evoke an inspired-by state in tourists when they seek new experiences during their travels. The second is that motivations related to inspiration can initiate a change during the tourism experience, such as motivations to encounter new people or things. Therefore, to seek new experiences, tourists’ inspiration must transition from inspired-by to inspired-to. Packer and Ballantyne (2016) proposed a multifaceted model of tourist experiences, with experiences defined as belonging to 10 types, namely physical, sensory, restorative, introspective, transformative, hedonic, emotional, relational, spiritual, and cognitive. Inspiration is a crucial element of transformative experiences. Thus, transformative tourism can inspire and change tourists.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Proactive Personality: The tendency to initiate and seek constructive change in the surrounding context.
Tourist Satisfaction: The overall subjective judgment and evaluation that a tourist makes regarding the trip.
Transcendent Customer Experience: A feeling similar to that of self-transformation, awakening, separation from the mundane, and larger external phenomena.
Existential Authenticity: A potential existential state of Being that is to be activated by tourism activities.
Transformative Tourism: the practice of organized tourism that leads to a positive change in attitudes and values among those who participate in the tourist experience.
Openness to Experience: The extent to which a tourist’s willingness to explore accepts a novel experience, divergent thinking, and ideas.
Tourist Inspiration: An intrinsic motivational state of tourists, which helps them to transition from the reception of external incentives to an internal pursuit of travel-related goal.