Should I Travel? Moral Motivation During Crises

Zhang, Carol X.; Fong, Lawrence; Li, Shina

Abstract

While our travel decisions involve many decisions related to the right or wrong way to behave, our understanding of morality in tourism is largely underdeveloped. Currently, we are hoping for a more responsible and sustainable future after the pandemic. However, we still lack understanding of how moral motivations influence people’s travel behavior during a crisis for better crisis management. Against the background of COVID-19, this study develops the moral motivation of travel amid public health crisis (MMTPHC) scale and tests its influence on travel behavior to advance our understanding of morality in tourism. Specifically, two moral motivations (compliance with anti-epidemic policy related to traveling and shame) discourage people’s travel intentions. However, concern about public denunciations and empathy toward others encourage travel intention. We also found shame and concern for public denunciations mediate the relationships between face concerns and travel intentions. Practical implications are suggested.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 29, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 14, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 14, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 22, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 22, 2024
• Journal: Journal of China Tourism Research
• Print ISSN: 1938-8160
• Electronic ISSN: 1938-8179
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2024.2329652
• Keywords: Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/33012696
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19388160.2024.2329652
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=wctr20; Received: 2023-03-16; Accepted: 2024-01-29; Published: 2024-03-14