Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify perceived inhibitors and perceived facilitators in the pleasure travel destination choice process. A two stage travel destination choice model was developed based on the concept of evoked set: (1) evolution of an evoked set from the awareness set; and (2) destination selection from the evoked set. It was hypothesized that cognitive dissonance theory and maximum utility theory would explain each stage of the destination choice process. Perceived inhibitors (PI) and perceived facilitators (PF) were operationalized based on the Fishbein multiattribute model. The magnitude of cognitive dissonance was defined as the difference between PF and PI. Multi-item scales to measure these constructs were developed through the following four steps: (1) conceptualization of three attitude dimensions from a review of related literature; (2) development of scales from a set of items describing perceptions of destination attributes related to each of the three dimensions; (3) factor-analysis of respondents' item scores to confirm the proposed dimensionality; and (4) scale validation. In early February, 1987, a field survey was administered to a judgement sample (n = 359) to identify potential travelers' awareness sets of their summer/fall vacation destinations and to measure PI and PF toward alternative destinations in the awareness set. In May, a second survey was administered to the respondents who indicated that they were likely to take vacation trips in the first survey (n = 204) in order to identify their finalized destination as well as their evoked set. From the results of the hypotheses testing, it was found that perceived net utility was influential in whether or not a potential destination in the awareness set was selected for the evoked set, whereas both cognitive dissonance and perceived net utility were influential in whether or not an alternative in the evoked set was selected as a final destination. These findings provided a theoretical foundation for a cognitive disaggregate model to predict travel destination choice behavior.
Um, Seoho (1987). The roles of perceived inhibitors and perceived facilitators in the pleasure travel destination choice process. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -748214.