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Defining and Operationalizing Eight Forms of Eudaimonia and Hedonia and Assessing Tourism-Specific Context-Dependency
Abstract
The development of wellbeing during a vacation and immediately afterward is well understood. It remains unclear, however, how eudaimonia and hedonia differ across typical home and vacation contexts. Given that eudaimonia and hedonia drive behavior, understanding contextual differences can guide the development of targeted behavioral change interventions, including those that entice tourists to behave in more environmentally or socially sustainable ways. This study (1) introduces to tourism research a conceptual framework that unambiguously defines eight forms of eudaimonia and hedonia, (2) operationalizes them, and (3) investigates their context dependency empirically. State level hedonia and eudaimonia are substantially higher on vacation, suggesting they represent promising targets for behavioral change interventions. The definitions and operationalization of the eight forms of eudaimonia and hedonia offer a unifying framework that facilitates cumulative tourism knowledge development on the role of hedonia and eudaimonia in tourism by ensuring new insights relate to the exact same constructs.
Leisure tourism can be analyzed as a mechanism to rebuild human capital depleted by work. Human capital is an essential input to human economies, and possesses a corresponding economic value. Therefore, tourism possesses an economic value additional to expenditure and multipliers, which can be seen as investments in increasing human capital as an asset. Calculating the financial value of human capital gains is likely to prove a more powerful political tool for the tourism sector, than current political perceptions as discretionary leisure.
This study examined two different aspects of tourist experiences, and compared how they affect satisfaction and place attachment. Four tourist eudaimonic experience constructs-"meaning, self-con-nectedness, accomplishment, and personal expressiveness"-and four hedonic constructs-"positive affect, negative affect, carefreeness, and hedonic enjoyment"-were selected. By utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA), the study suggests that providing hedonic experience is likely to enhance the satisfaction level and that regardless of the presence of other enhancers, an adequate level of he-donic experience is necessary. For achieving high place attachment, tourist eudaimonic experience is one of the (substitutable) determinants, although an adequate level of hedonic experience must also be provided. Accordingly , this study highlights the differences between two tourist happiness experiences and acknowledges whether destinations should prioritize either of them or not abandon both.
One of the interesting behaviors practiced by citizens across the globe is the pursuit of outdoor recreational activities featuring elements of personal risk and danger. These types of activities are now becoming a global mainstay for many individuals, economies, and organizations. This study examined the underlying motivations and subsequent behaviors associated with risk-taking recreational activities and used the concepts of eudaimonics and hedonics to examine the motivations for participation from individuals engaging in three different adventure activities occurring in eight different locations. Recruitment took place in several forms, including in-person solicitation of participants at the activity areas, which consisted of mountain biking trailheads, rock climbing areas, and whitewater sites. Data were collected from three popular outdoor adventure activities (OAAs), including mountain biking, rock climbing, and whitewater boating. This study employed the use of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to investigate the relationship between two independent variable sets, including (1) the activity type, and (2) the level of experience, gender, type of activity, and the dependent variables of the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities (HEMA) scale (eudaimonic and hedonic). In addition, a cumulative odds ordinal logistic regression with proportional odds was utilized to determine the effects of expertise level and activity type on reported eudaimonic and hedonic motivations. A qualitative interview process was utilized to further investigate participant responses surrounding eudaimonic and hedonic motivational perspectives. The results indicated slight variations in experience level in the underlying motivations. Furthermore, qualitative inquiry revealed several motivation categories and diversity in the way those motivations were present throughout the recreation activity.
Due to easy travel information access, tourists nowadays are susceptible to invidious
post-purchase comparisons (e.g. realizing a better deal after purchase), which may
compromise their satisfaction and further hurt the business. To understand this less-
tapped issue, particularly in a context closer to reality where people spend limited
discretionary income on both tourism experiences and material possessions, this study
investigates to what extent people are disturbed by invidious comparisons in tourism
experiential versus material consumptions. Drawing on the experience
recommendation theory and eudaimonia-hedonia literature, we propose the presence
of eudaimonic consumption motive as a critical determinant of resistance to invidious
comparisons. Moreover, the implicit eudaimonic motive is the key contributor to the
greater resistance of tourism experiential purchases to invidious comparisons than
material purchases. Findings from two experimental studies supported these
propositions. This study bridges and expands both experience recommendation and
eudaimonia literature, while also informs approaches for alleviating invidious
comparisons.
Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is an important means of enhancing well-being. Although previous research has typically documented the cross-sectional associations between LTPA and wellbeing, the longitudinal bidirectional association remains relatively
unexplored. Using a latent growth curve model, this study examined the longitudinal association between the intensity of LTPA, psychological well-being, and social well-being. The results revealed that the longitudinal associations differed, depending on the intensity of the LTPA and the type of well-being. Specifically, the longitudinal associations of moderate LTPA with psychological and social wellbeing were bidirectional. However, psychological and social wellbeing at baseline directly influenced the growth of vigorous LTPA, but not conversely (i.e. vigorous LTPA at baseline ! change in psychological
and social well-being), indicating no bidirectional association. These findings could contribute to a better understanding of ways in which different intensities of LTPA are associated with distinct types of well-being over a long time.
How well-being changes over the course of a vacation is unclear. Particular understudied areas include the eudaimonic dimension of well-being, the comparison between eudaimonia and hedonia, and the role of activity type. Using an integrated model, two studies which combined survey and experiment were conducted to examine the change patterns of eudaimonia and hedonia, the difference of change patterns between eudaimonia and hedonia, and the moderating role of activity type. Hedonia and eudaimonia both significantly changed via a ‘first rise then fall’ change tendency over the course of a vacation. Compared to hedonia, eudaimonia has lower change intensity over the course of a vacation; eudaimonia achieved in a challenging (vs. relaxing) activity is more. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
In two studies (N = 191, N = 342), we tested whether the difference between hedonic orientation (prioritizing pleasure, comfort/painlessness) and eudaimonic orientation (prioritizing authenticity, excellence, growth) mapped onto a difference between narrow focus of concern (me, now, tangible) and broad scope of concern (we, future, broad implications). We found that eudaimonic orientation related more consistently to indices of broad scope of concern including prosocial/proenvironmental behaviors/values, future time perspective, and abstract/high-level construal of events. Hedonic orientation related to indices of narrow focus of concern including certain egoistic values (power/wealth, influence), and present hedonistic/fatalistic time perspective. Eudaimonic orientation also related to certain egoistic values (influence, ambition), and present hedonistic time perspective. Thus, we found asymmetry favoring eudaimonic orientation when it came to benefitting the surrounding world. Also, while hedonic orientation was primarily linked with narrow focus of concern, eudaimonic orientation was linked with a balance of broad and narrow concerns.
Twenty percent of all global greenhouse emissions are food-related. Tourism and hospitality contribute significantly, with food accounting for nearly half of the waste these sectors produce. One type of food waste – plate waste – could easily be avoided. Plate waste is the food people leave behind uneaten on their plates. It does not increase the enjoyment of the meal, yet costs the hotel money, and harms the environment. We develop and test – in a quasi-experimental field study – a game-based intervention that reduces plate waste by 34 percent, and is available for immediate adoption by hotels globally. Our study contributes to theory by demonstrating the power of increasing pleasure in pleasure-seeking contexts when aiming to change environmentally significant tourist behaviour. Our findings also challenge established behavioural theories, which postulate that people's beliefs are the key drivers of pro-environmental behaviour.
The existential authenticity theory and eudaimonism theory imply that perceived cultural distance facilitates existential authenticity, which then conduces to hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. This study examined these presumptions basing on quantitative data collected through questionnaire survey in China. Results suggest that perceived cultural distance is not related to existential authenticity, and existential authenticity is positively related to hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Hence, physically breaking away from one's home culture does not guarantee existential authenticity, and experiencing greater existential authenticity is related to correspondingly greater hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Theoretical and practical implications of this research are also discussed.
This study aims to theoretically and methodologically contribute to tourism research by testing the philosophical assumption that hedonia is a necessary condition of eudaimonia in the context of tourist experiences. Based on a review of existing literature, four tourist eudaimonic elements were selected for this study, including meaning, self-connectedness, accomplishment, and personal expressiveness. In addition, four hedonic elements were selected, including positive affect, negative affect, carefreeness, and hedonic enjoyment. The results statistically confirm that tourist hedonic experiences are necessary-but-not-sufficient for eudaimonic experiences. Contrary to our theoretical assumption, however, (low) negative affect could not be positioned as a necessary condition of eudaimonic experiences in tourists. This study empirically supports the necessary–sufficient relationship between hedonia and eudaimonia in the context of tourism. It contributes methodologically to the existing literature by testing the necessity condition between tourism-related constructs in a statistically rigorous way with a newly developed analysis method.
Informed by the hedonic consumption value framework, this research explores the relationships between individuals' environmental views, consumption values, and intentions to engage in conservation volunteer travel, to argue that contemporary conservation volunteer travel needs to be re-conceptualized. Such perspective on conservation volunteer travel takes into account young adults' desires for hedonic travel experiences. The study results expose that hedonic and utilitarian values of conservation volunteer travel mediate the relations between of pro-environmental views on the intent to volunteer in conservation projects. In other words, through participation in conservation volunteer travel, consumers gain both hedonic pleasure as well as a sense that their actions are needed given increasing global environmental degradation.
Learning is often a central element of tourism. Tourists can learn actively, i.e. with a specific purpose, as well as passively through the comparison of values, norms and customs. It has been argued that travel supports active learning that has positive outcomes for sustainability, for instance, in the context of conservation. Yet, the complexity of active and passive learning processes and their outcomes for environmental sustainability and sustainable lifestyles remain insufficiently understood. Against this background, the paper discusses selected learning outcomes for transportation (air travel), accommodation (hotels) and activities (theme park visits). Findings suggest that “desirable” learning (defined as pro-sustainable development learning) in tourism may be very limited, while in particular, passive learning processes which redefine social norms frequently have outcomes that are largely detrimental to sustainable lifestyles. They include forms of moral licensing, the diffusion of responsibilities as well as the attenuation of the negative consequences of travel. Given the economic, social and cultural importance of tourism vís-a-vís its global implications for environmental sustainability, learning outcomes in tourism deserve to be studied in greater detail, while strategies need to be devised to enhance sustainable learning effects.
This study develops a model based on the developmental theory of place attachment. The model considers the influence of tourists’ emotions on place attachment and the mediating effects of satisfaction and place attachment on the relationship between tourists’ emotions and intention to recommend. The model was tested using data collected from 464 international tourists at the end of their trip to Thailand. Results show that positive emotions, negative emotions and satisfaction are significant determinants of place attachment. In particular, negative emotions display a positive relationship with place attachment. In addition, only satisfaction mediates the relationship between tourists’ emotions and intention to recommend. Findings highlight the need for researchers to incorporate emotions in modeling place attachment and offer implications for marketers promoting Thailand as a tourist destination.
This study employs a qualitative research approach where focus groups (n = 11) with key stakeholders were used to understand how tourism investors view the concept of well-being in relation to tourism and the potential to use it as a tourism product resource. Findings validated by a wider group (n = 50) exposed the barriers and enablers of implementing well-being in this way. The potential for businesses and policymakers to transform these barriers into enablers was also identified. In addition, study findings were mapped onto a robust model extracted from the public health sector and applied in a tourism context using a systems theory approach. This further highlighted the potential offered to the fields of public health and tourism in the concept of well-being, and demonstrated the well-being value of tourism. Data from this research will aid tourism business practice and development by embedding a well-being philosophy for tourism destinations' strategies.
This chapter summarizes the work of Veronika Huta and researchers who have used her measure of eudaimonic and hedonic orientations. Huta collaborated with Waterman to classify definitions of eudaimonia and hedonia into four categories – orientations/motives/values, behaviors, experiences/feelings, and functioning/habits/abilities. In an ongoing study of various measures, Huta performed preliminary analyses showing that hedonic experiences (e.g., positive affect, carefreeness) formed a separate factor from eudaimonic experiences (e.g., feelings of meaning/value, accomplishment, interest); eudaimonic and hedonic orientations also formed distinct factors. Recently, Huta developed an expanded characterization of eudaimonia and hedonia in all four definition categories, including the cell that has heretofore been neglected – healthy hedonic functioning – to complement Ryff’s theory of eudaimonic functioning. In the HEMA scale developed by Huta (Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities), eudaimonia is defined as an orientation toward authenticity, meaning/broad concerns, excellence/morality, and growth/maturity; hedonia is defined as an orientation toward pleasure/satisfaction and comfort/ease. HEMA eudaimonic and hedonic orientations have correlated with somewhat different niches of personal well-being experience, need satisfaction, health behavior, and functioning; the combination of eudaimonic and hedonic orientations related to higher scores on well-being than either pursuit alone. Eudaimonic pursuits were linked with more positive contributions to others, society, and the environment. Only a eudaimonic orientation related to abstract thinking and future time perspective. Finally, only eudaimonia related to having parents who were responsive and demanding. The chapter concludes with philosophical thoughts on why eudaimonia and hedonia are both good, and how one pursuit is higher while the other is more fundamental.
In recent years, participation in flamenco, as a cultural art form, has gained momentum within Spain and internationally. Engagement in flamenco music and dance workshops in Spain has also become an increasingly significant tourism activity. Despite this trend, little research has looked into the nature of leisure experiences of flamenco. This paper seeks to address this knowledge gap by exploring how tourists experience flamenco music and dance courses in the city of Seville. Through a grounded theory research strategy in which in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty participants, the study reveals that four key themes characterise tourists' experiences of flamenco. These are: the social and physical environment, which refers to physical flamenco spaces in Seville and tourists' interactions with instructors and peers; secondly, the experience of challenge, characterised by hardship and sacrifice in the pursuit of flamenco; thirdly, activation of the sensual body or a sense of arousal; and lastly, an intrinsic and deep desire for self-discovery. The study demonstrates that the flamenco tourist experience strongly contributes to self-realisation and fulfilment of those who engage in it, or in other words, that the flamenco tourist experience is eudaimonic in character. The interview findings were linked to literature on self-realisation, self-fulfilment, true self, stress related growth and related eudaimonic themes. Eudaimonia, or a sense of personal expressiveness and self-realisation, has not been previously established in this context. Therefore the research findings provide a theoretical understanding of what a eudaimonic tourist experience of dance and music may look like.
The validity of organizational research relies on strong research methods, which include effective measurement of psychological constructs. The general consensus is that multiple item measures have better psychometric properties than single-item measures. However, due to practical constraints (e.g., survey length, respondent burden) there are situations in which certain single items may be useful for capturing information about constructs that might otherwise go unmeasured. We evaluated 37 items, including 18 newly developed items as well as 19 single items selected from existing multiple-item scales based on psychometric characteristics, to assess 18 constructs frequently measured in organizational and occupational health psychology research. We examined evidence of reliability; convergent, discriminant, and content validity assessments; and test-retest reliabilities at 1- and 3-month time lags for single-item measures using a multistage and multisource validation strategy across 3 studies, including data from N = 17 occupational health subject matter experts and N = 1,634 survey respondents across 2 samples. Items selected from existing scales generally demonstrated better internal consistency reliability and convergent validity, whereas these particular new items generally had higher levels of content validity. We offer recommendations regarding when use of single items may be more or less appropriate, as well as 11 items that seem acceptable, 14 items with mixed results that might be used with caution due to mixed results, and 12 items we do not recommend using as single-item measures. Although multiple-item measures are preferable from a psychometric standpoint, in some circumstances single-item measures can provide useful information. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Positive psychology and the new discourse on happiness that it brings represents an influential development in the field of psychology which has, in the short duration of its existence, grown into a powerful presence in the therapeutic culture of our time. This article examines this phenomenon from the standpoint of the theory of neoliberal governmentality, uncovering subtle and implicit logics of government centered on the production of a distinctly neoliberal subjectivity. Two principal points are advanced in this discussion: first, the relevance of governmentality theory to the study of positive psychology is argued on the basis of the need to theoretically explore the productivity of this discourse in shaping new subjectivities. Second, happiness itself, as an empirical case for governmentality theory, is argued to possess value for the rethinking of certain theoretical biases within the governmentality approach, which tend to emphasize rationality at the expense of emotions. These points are presented through theoretical arguments and the analysis of positive psychology texts.
Interest in eudaimonia (e.g., growth, meaning, authenticity, excellence) and its distinction from hedonia (e.g., pleasure, enjoyment, comfort, absence of distress) is growing rapidly, as researchers recognize that both concepts are central to the study of well-being. Yet research on these concepts faces challenges as well: findings based on different operationalizations can be quite discrepant; definitions of eudaimonia and hedonia sometimes fall into different categories of analysis (e.g. when eudaimonia is described as a way of functioning, hedonia as an experience); and the terms eudaimonia and hedonia are sometimes defined vaguely or applied to concepts that may be mere correlates. To aid in addressing these challenges, we propose the following terminology and classification for discussing conceptual and operational definitions: (1) degree of centrality – differentiating concepts that are core (i.e., definitional), close-to-core (i.e., given some attention but not central), and major correlates; (2) category of analysis– identifying which of the following categories a definition represents: (a) orientations (orientations, values, motives, and goals), (b) behaviors (behavioral content, activity characteristics), (c) experiences (subjective experiences, emotions, cognitive appraisals), (d) functioning (indices of positive psychological functioning, mental health, flourishing); and (3) level of measurement – identifying whether a definition is used for trait and/or state comparisons. The work of scholars with a program of research on eudaimonia or the distinction between eudaimonia and hedonia is reviewed and discussed within the framework of the proposed classification; several points of convergence and divergence across definitions are highlighted; and important questions and directions for future research are identified.
Surveys are the main instrument of data collection in empirical tourism research. The quality of the collected data depends on the quality of survey questions asked. This paper provides theory- and evidence-based guidance on designing good survey questions to increase the validity of findings resulting from survey research in tourism.
Destinations are more likely to be successful if they recognize the experiential qualities of their offerings. However, with some exceptions, research into the emotional content of the destination experience remains largely underexplored. This current research addresses this lacuna and empirically investigates the dimensions of tourists’ emotional experiences toward hedonic holiday destinations. Adopting a rigorous scale development procedure, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identify three salient dimensions to represent the Destination Emotion Scale, namely, joy, love, and positive surprise. In addition, tourists’ emotional experiences are related to satisfaction, which in turn has a significant influence on behavioral intentions. Findings offer important implications for destination marketers in relation to branding and emotional experience management.
The goal of the research reported in this article was to develop a model describing how positive and negative affect associated with specific experiences of a travel trip influence tourists’ overall sense of well-being (life satisfaction). The model is based on the theoretical notion that a travel trip influences life satisfaction through tourists’ experiences of positive and negative affect associated with a recent tourist trip couched within various life domains (e.g., social life, leisure life, family life, cultural life, health and safety, love life, work life, and financial life). We conducted two studies. The first study was qualitative, designed to identify specific sources of positive and negative affect generated by the most recent tourist trip experiences in the context of various life domains. The second study involved a survey of tourists ( N = 264) to test the model in a formal manner. The data provided support for the overall model; the data also helped identify specific sources of positive and negative affect that play a significant role in tourists’ overall sense of well-being. Specific managerial recommendations are made for tourist operators based on the study findings.
This chapter compares eudaimonic motives and hedonic motives in terms of their well-being correlates and consequences, the personality characteristics associated with them, and the behavior of one’s parents. A key conclusion is: We need to pursue both eudaimonia and hedonia to achieve the greatest and most well-rounded personal well-being. This is true for several reasons: eudaimonia and hedonia lead to somewhat different forms of well-being, so that only people with both pursuits have the more comprehensive range of well-being benefits; people that pursue both eudaimonia and hedonia have higher degrees of certain forms of well-being than people with only one of these pursuits; and eudaimonic pursuits may be better at promoting well-being at a later point in time, while hedonic pursuits may be better at promoting well-being in the immediate moment, so that eudaimonic and hedonic pursuits may fill different niches over time. While both eudaimonia and hedonia relate to personal well-being, eudaimonia pursuits appears to contribute more than hedonia pursuits to the well-being of other people. This chapter also provides an initial outline of the differing strengths, personalities, and backgrounds of people who pursue eudaimonia versus hedonia.
The global aspiration to mitigate climate change puts substantial pressure on the tourism sector – one of the most polluting industries – to operate in more sustainable ways. This study reviews intervention experiments in tourism and hospitality aimed at making tourist behaviour more sustainable. The analysis of 53 field experiments reveals the most promising intervention strategies. The resulting knowledge map highlights that past intervention studies were limited to only a small number of relevant target behaviours and intervention types, pointing to many unexplored areas that require urgent attention in future.
Most practical interventions the tourism industry deploys to make tourists behave in more environmentally sustainable ways when they are at their premises or destination – such as the request to reuse towels to protect the environment – rely on attention and cognitive processing. We propose that focusing instead on habit, as the key construct, will be more effective in achieving behavioural change. This study discusses the – largely neglected – role of habit in our understanding of tourist behaviour and provides initial empirical proof of concept of the explanatory power of habit. Findings suggest that entirely new types of behavioural interventions should be developed, which aim at breaking bad vacation habits through disrupting automaticity, such as reducing plate size to prevent overfilling of plates at the buffets, and re-establishing good habits people enact at home, such as by asking people to treat the hotel the same way they do their own home.
Grounded in the behavioral reasoning theory, this study aims to determine the impact that green brand awareness (GBA) and perceived green brand credibility (PGBC) have on consumers' choice behavior for green electronics in the context of an emerging country. Furthermore, by focusing on a novel perspective of expected eudaimonic well‐being, the mediatory role of expected self‐acceptance (ESA) and expected social contribution (ESC) and the moderating role of green altruism were empirically tested. Data were collected surveying 556 consumers from twin cities of Pakistan applying longitudinal research design. The findings indicate the direct and indirect impacts of GBA and PGBC on consumers' choice behavior via ESA and ESC as mediators. Also, the interactive effect of green altruism with ESA and ESC has been found to augment consumers' choice behavior. Moreover, this study encourages organizations to focus on the consumers' perceptions of self‐responsiveness and social responsibility to attract them to choose green brands.
Building on existing evidence that tourism contributes to wellbeing, this study aims to investigate how both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing changes after a holiday. A longitudinal inquiry involving three waves of observation (during, the fourth week, and the eighth week following a holiday) was carried out in five tourism cities in China, using Latent Growth Curve models to analyze change. Results suggest that life satisfaction – an indicator of hedonic wellbeing – does not decline as expected whereas other indicators of hedonic wellbeing declined dramatically in the first month and then mildly in the second month following a holiday. Comparatively, eudaimonic wellbeing declined gradually and mildly during the same two-month intervals. Higher levels of optimal tourism experiences predicted slower declines of both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.
Experiences of happiness, dividable into hedonia and eudaimonia, are the integral part of holistic travel experience. Hedonia refers to happiness derived from pleasure seeking and pain avoidance, whereas eudaimonia refers to happiness derived from life meaning enrichment and self-connectedness facilitation. As the current study theorizes and verifies, hedonia and eudaimonia generate separate impact on destination loyalty directly and through partial mediation of overall satisfaction. The research result sheds further light on how to drive destination loyalty via experiences of happiness.
This study examines the impact of integrated resort brand experiences (IRBEs) on customer well-being through the satisfaction of psychological needs. Partial least squares path modeling tests the hypotheses using a sample of 535 integrated resort customers. The results reveal that four dimensions of IRBE (i.e., sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual) have differing effects on needs satisfaction dimensions (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Furthermore, the results show that autonomy and relatedness needs positively influence both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Thus, this study strongly demonstrates that specific brand experiences play an important role in the transformation of needs satisfaction into well-being. The current article appears to have a significant application of the concept of needs satisfaction on tourism brand marketing but it has not been tested empirically. Also, this article describes the significance of multidimensional IRBE to marketing strategy.
Recently, tourism scholars have recognized that travel can create transformation, including (1) personal benefits such as improved wellbeing and personal growth and (2) societal benefits such as increased open-mindedness and more positive pro-environmental attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Expanding and integrating this research, this experimental study tests whether travel experiences, with eudaimonic elements of self-discovery and a sense of meaning, lead to these benefits and tests a proposed process where these experiences influence personal changes that subsequently create societal benefits. Specifically, using an online MTurk sample (n = 481) with a broad range of recent vacation experiences, we test whether (1) post-trip self-reflection on eudaimonic travel experiences (2) creates affective responses (3) that lead to self-transcendent changes and (4) subsequent post-trip philanthropy among recent travelers. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that philanthropic effects of travel were initiated by the eudaimonic self-reflections via eudaimonic affect and self-transcendent outcomes. This study contributes to the research linking eudaimonia and travel and provides insights into the ways that the travel industry can be harnessed as a potent tool for promoting personal meaning, self-transcendence, and prosocial outcomes. ARTICLE HISTORY
Tourists’ well-being is significant in tourism marketing as it influences behavioural intentions. Using the topdown and bottom-up theories of well-being, this study examined how travellers’ goals, memorable tourism experiences and traveller well-being influences behavioural intentions. Goals and well-being were operationalized into hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions. Data was collected from 430 recent travellers to investigate
the relationship between goals, memorable tourism experiences, well-being and behavioural intentions. The results showed that goals were significantly related to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and that memorable tourism experiences mediated this relationship. The findings also showed that hedonic well-being has a significant effect on revisit intention and positive word-of-mouth, whilst eudaimonic well-being did not have a significant effect on behavioural intentions. This research makes theoretical contributions to the literature on destination loyalty and enriches the positive psychology literature. Discussion of the study findings and implications for academics and practitioners conclude the paper.
As public funding to support nature conservation continues to decline, building a commitment to ecological restoration through volunteer travel is key to addressing a range of environmental concerns. This study contributes the first utilization of Bandura’s self-efficacy (SE) mechanism in the context of environmental volunteer travel demonstrating how environmental stewardship, hedonic experience, and environmental SE relate to one another in this particular setting. The study results suggest that while environmental volunteer travelers appear to be driven by one’s beliefs that participation in ecological restoration is a worthwhile activity; motivations to participate in ecological restoration projects can be strengthened or weakened depending on the promise of hedonic experiences. These results shed light on the likely shift in what motivates young adults to engage in travel and volunteering in ecological restoration projects around the world. This is important because a better understanding of what can persuade young adults to travel and engage in ecological restoration enables for the tailoring of environmental volunteering programs to meet individuals’ expectations.
As president of APA in 1998, I organized researchers and practitioners to work on building well-being, not just on the traditional task of reducing ill-being. Substantial research then found that well-being causes many external benefits, including better physical and mental health. Among the applications of Positive Psychology are national psychological accounts of wellbeing, Positive Psychotherapy, the classification of strengths and virtues, Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, and Positive Education. Positive Psychology has spread beyond psychology into neuroscience, health, psychiatry, theology, and even to the humanities. Positive Psychology has many critics, and I comment on the strongest criticisms. I conclude with the hope that the building of well-being will become a cornerstone of morality, politics, and religion. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology Volume 15 is May 7, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Three experience-sampling studies explored the distributions of Big-Five-relevant states (behavior) across 2 to 3 weeks of everyday life. Within-person variability was high, such that the typical individual regularly and routinely manifested nearly all levels of all traits in his or her everyday behavior. Second, individual differences in central tendencies of behavioral distributions were almost perfectly stable. Third, amount of behavioral variability (and skew and kurtosis) were revealed as stable individual differences. Finally, amount of within-person variability in extraversion was shown to reflect individual differences in reactivity to extraversion-relevant situational cues. Thus, decontextualized and noncontingent Big-Five content is highly useful for descriptions of individuals' density distributions as wholes. Simultaneously, contextualized and contingent personality units (e.g., conditional traits, goals) are needed for describing the considerable within-person variation.
This study aims to explain tourist happiness by examining a specific destination in which happiness is generated for tourists via their travel behavior at the destination. Building upon the spillover theory of happiness, we developed a destination-based model of tourist happiness, which is shaped by destination image and service quality and mediated by tourist satisfaction and life satisfaction. This model was tested using data from 1048 inbound tourists in Switzerland in 2015. We found that destination image is positively associated with life satisfaction, eudaimonia, and positive and negative affect; no evidence indicated the effect of service quality on life satisfaction and negative affect. In particular, life satisfaction can largely predict eudaimonia and positive and negative affect. We also discovered that negative affect is poorly explained by its antecedents in the tourism context, suggesting that tourists are reluctant to link their travel experiences to negative affect.
Travel narratives can shape tourist imaginings about places, and are a useful tool for understanding tourist experiences. One long-standing media trope is the transformative potential of travel to Italy, especially for women. In this qualitative phenomenological study, contemporary non-fiction books written by women about their travel experiences in Italy were analysed, using well-being as a theoretical framework. Six well-being dimensions were found to be present in these narratives, with the first five reflecting the dimensions of the DRAMMA model of triggers promoting well-being in leisure, alongside an additional dimension drawn from the PERMA model of well-being. Both hedonic and eudaimonic forms of well-being were mentioned. Identity, in terms of self-discovery and reinventing oneself, underpinned a number of these dimensions. The study extends work on travel imaginings beyond the fictional literary or film context and has practical implications for the promotion of destinations and marketing tourism as an avenue towards well-being.
Experiential marketing and the quest to create memorable and extraordinary customer experiences have become central to tourism. However, implementing the concept of experiential marketing has been problematic due to a lack of knowledge regarding what makes experiences memorable, as well as inattention to the subjective and personal nature of experiences. This study explores the nature of individual experiences, particularly with regard to personal outcomes, emotions and meanings, by investigating tourists’ experiences of the same activity in three different consumption contexts. The influence of consumption context as well as significant differences in personal outcomes were evident, and more profound and meaningful than previous research suggests. Findings point to a need to understand tourist consumption experiences beyond hedonic enjoyment of the moment, and consider their broader implications on well-being and quality of life. Implications for tourism providers and experiential marketing are discussed.
When conducting a double-blind clinical trial to evaluate a new treatment, the investigator is faced with the problem of what to give the control group. If there is no existing acceptable and beneficial treatment against which the new treatment can be compared, the reasonable approach would be to give the control group no treatment at all, but this raises concerns that subjects may have hidden expectations or preferences that could influence the outcome. One solution is the use of a harmless “sham” treatment that is similar in all aspects such that the subjects and those administering the treatments cannot determine whether a subject is in the study group or the control group. This sham treatment is called the placebo. This entry discusses historical usage, difficulties with the placebo research design, and the placebo effect. The term Placebo Domino … (“I shall please the Lord …”) appears in a 5th-century placebo ...
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This study offers an empirical application of the tripartite model of context, likelihood, and consequences for understanding risk in tourism among young women engaging in sexual risk-taking. Data, collected via an online survey (N = 853; mean age of 23.5 years), were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent and paired samples t-tests, and exploratory factor analysis. The women identified eight to nine days long, rest and relaxation, sightseeing, and backpacking tourist experiences in tropical destinations and European countries as the ultimate settings for sex with a steady and casual sexual partner. In assessing the likelihood of engaging in sexual risk-taking, a distinct difference between reported moderate personal propensity and a higher evaluation of people's general proclivity was identified. Expected consequences were classified into three motivational/reward factors: Anonymous Experimentation, Safe Thrills and Empowerment, and Fun and Less Inhibition. Theoretical insights regarding sexual risk-taking in tourism and implications for related health promotion programs are discussed.
Recently, the disagreement that separates hedonic from eudaimonic philosophers has spread to the science of wellbeing. This has resulted in two opposing perspectives regarding both wellbeing concepts and proposed pathways to wellbeing. Whilst contention continues, most contemporary psychologists now agree that hedonic and eudaimonic approaches each denote important aspects of wellbeing. This has led to integrated wellbeing conceptualisations, in which the combined presence of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing components is referred to as ‘flourishing’. In regard to the attainment of wellbeing, research simultaneously investigating hedonic and eudaimonic pathways suggests that a life rich in both types of pursuits is associated with the highest degree of wellbeing. Despite this assertion, previously underemphasised methodological limitations question the validity of such claims. To further progress this important area of investigation, future research directions to ameliorate said limitations are explored. It is recommended that the past tendency to contrast and compare hedonia and eudaimonia be abandoned, and instead that the inherent value of both be recognised. Time-use research methods are needed to cross-validate past findings obtained from cross-sectional research, which will make it possible to transition from purely descriptive conclusions to applied conclusions.
This study develops and tests a model of self-expressiveness in sport tourism, defined as the extent to which a tourist perceives that a sport activity is reflective of his or her personal identity. Self-expressiveness in a sport activity experienced by a tourist should depend on the activity’s perceived difficulty, perceived effort, perceived importance, and potential for self-realization. In turn, a tourist’s self-expressiveness in a sport activity should exert a positive influence on the tourist’s experience of personal happiness (subjective well-being). The results of two surveys involving 1,251 travelers who participated in a dance festival (study 1) and ski activities (study 2) during their vacations confirm the hypotheses, revealing several interesting theoretical and managerial implications.
The paper examines the family vacation phenomenon by comparing parents on vacation (n = 203) with parents during daily life (n = 246) in terms of two psychological constructs: regulatory focus and parenting style. Results revealed that parents in both samples were similar in their ‘regulatory focus of promotion’ (need for challenges) and ‘parenting styles’ (permissive and authoritarian), but parents on vacation scored lower on both need for security (‘regulatory focus of prevention’) and authoritative ‘parenting style’. The findings suggest that parents, especially mothers, view family vacation as an opportunity to relax and release parental control. The findings' theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using different measures of constructs in research to develop robust evidence of relationships and effects is seen as good methodological practice. This assumes these measures possess high convergent validity. However, proxies—alternative measures of the same construct—are rarely perfectly convergent. Although some convergence is preferred to none, this study demonstrates that even modest departures from perfect convergent validity can result in substantial differences in the magnitudes of findings, creating challenges for the accumulation and interpretation of research. Using data from published research, the authors find that substantial differences in findings between studies using desired and proxy variables occur even at levels of convergent validity as high as r = .85. Implications of using measures with less-than-ideal convergent validity for the interpretability of research results are examined. Convergent validities above r = .70 are recommended, whereas those below r = .50 should be avoided. Researchers are encouraged to develop and report convergent validity data.
New research is emerging on the relationships between tourism and quality of life (QOL) and subjective well-being (SWB). This paper develops a measure of SWB and reports findings from a two-step survey that measured changes in well-being amongst low-income individuals who had received financial support to access a holiday break (‘social tourists’). This is the first study to assess well-being amongst social tourists. The findings indicate that tourism contributes to social tourist’s well-being. There are greater effects in some areas including psychological resources, leisure and family life domains contributing to social well-being. Social tourists have lower levels of SWB than the general population. Further studies are needed to compare tourism’s contribution to SWB amongst mainstream tourists.
With the growing trend of volunteer vacations, research has been warranted in regard to understanding the motivational factors of individuals who participate in such endeavors. With this understanding, the goal is to increase these travel offerings in the industry, which will bring better understanding between cultures. This study examines different travel motivation factors for someone who chooses to use part of their vacation participating in volunteer or humanitarian activities. Considering that ‘mission’ often has connotations of a religious purpose, the phrase ‘travelling with a purpose’ brings on even more significance as this concept expands. To understand travel motivation in general, a variety of scales and theories have been researched. Maslow, Dann, Iso-Ahola, Plog and Pearce are some included in the Literature Review. A qualitative focus group and semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. The analysis of the data revealed that four main themes for why people traveled with a purpose emerged. Cultural immersion was a strong objective; the desire to give back; the camaraderie that occurs on volunteer vacations; and the fourth theme focused on family. Non-verbal communication and bonding occurs at several levels with the local people and family members. This is a good example of cultivating peace through tourism.