The interplay of personality traits and motivation in leisure travel decision-making during the pandemic

Naman Sreen; Anushree Tandon; Fauzia Jabeen; Shalini Srivastava; Amandeep Dhir

doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2023.101095

The interplay of personality traits and motivation in leisure travel decision-making during the pandemic

Tour Manag Perspect. 2023 Mar:46:101095. doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2023.101095. Epub 2023 Mar 10.

Authors

Naman Sreen¹, Anushree Tandon^{2

3

4}, Fauzia Jabeen⁵, Shalini Srivastava⁶, Amandeep Dhir^{7

6

8}

Affiliations

¹ O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India.
² University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 2, Joensuu 80100, Finland.
³ European Forest Institute, FInland.
⁴ University of Turku, Yliopistokatu 6, Joensuu 80100, Finland.
⁵ College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁶ Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India.
⁷ Department of Management, School of Business & Law, University of Agder, Norway.
⁸ Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.

Abstract

COVID-19 has negatively affected the travel and tourism industry and may continue to do so in the future. Therefore, hospitality businesses need to pay attention to consumer reactions, concerns, and motives for travelling in this era. This study leverages the stimulus-organism-behaviour-consequence (SOBC) model to examine psychological factors that influence Japanese travellers' intention to travel and willingness to pay premiums for safe travel by analysing data from 790 respondents. The findings of the study reveal that extraversion positively associates with introjected motivation and negatively with amotivation. Neuroticism personality type positively associates with amotivation and negatively associates with introjected motivation. Introjected motivation positively associates with perception of safe travel during COVID-19, whereas amotivation has a non-significant association with perception of safe travel during COVID-19. Perception of safe travel positively associates with intention to travel and willingness to pay premiums for safe travel. Finally, intention to travel has no effect on willingness to pay premiums for safe travel. These findings provide valuable theoretical and managerial implications.

Keywords: Extraversion; Japan; Neuroticism; Perception of safe travel during COVID-19; SOBC; Willingness to pay premium for safe travel.