Change as a benefit from travelling: for me, for me & you, or for all? An exploratory study among Dutch students

Transcription

1 Change as a benefit from travelling: for me, for me & you, or for all? An exploratory study among Dutch students Dr Elena Cavagnaro, professor of sustainability in hospitality and tourism, Stenden UAS, The Netherlands Dr Simona Staffieri, Italian National Institute of Statistics, Italy International Seminar s Week 2016, University of Macerata 1 12/15/2016

2 Lay out Introducing Stenden University of Applied Sciences Introduction to the research line on Youth Tourism and to the paper Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

3 Stenden UAS Stenden UAS main location is Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Which are your first three associations with the Netherlands? And with Leeuwarden?

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5 Leeuwarden

6 Stenden Hotel Management School

7 Stenden Hotel Management School, 2 Hospitality Industry is fast growing, in million jobs (+75 million since 2011) 97% of all graduates from Stenden Hotel Mangament School program are employed within 4 months of graduation Stenden HMS offers: 4 year BA and 1 year MA Work experience through practice at Stenden Hotel Paid internships worldwide in fourth year or Grand Tour

8 Stenden Education & Research Real World Learning International: 25% of students comes from other countries than The Netherlands

9 International

10 Stenden Education & Research Real World Learning International: 25% of students comes from other countries than The Netherlands. Grand Tour: Stenden is also located in South Africa, Qatar, Thailand and on Bali. BA and MA.

11 Stenden Master Location: Leeuwarden Duration: 1 year Degree: Master of Arts (single degree) or Master of Science (dual degree) in: > International Leisure and Tourism Studies > International Hospitality & Service Management Proud partner of, UK:

12 Stenden Education & Research Real World Learning International: 25% of students comes from other countries than The Netherlands. Grand Tour: Stenden is also located in South Africa, Qatar, Thailand and on Bali. BA and MA. Knowledge development Applied Research: with the industry and for the industry Fundamental Research Linked to education: with and for BA & MA students International

13 Academy of International Hospitality Research Professor Conrad Lashley, Hospitality Studies Professor Sjoerd Gehrels, Innovation in Hospitality Professor dr. Elena Cavagnaro, Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism

14 Elena Cavagnaro

15 Elena Cavagnaro, research lines Leadership for sustainability Enhancing sustainable behaviour In hospitality, e.g. food waste During events In (youth) tourism

16 Lay out Introducing Stenden Introduction to the research line on Youth Tourism and to the paper Sustainability Relevance of the research line Youth Tourism Research line on Youth Tourism Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

17 Sustainability is 17 12/15/2016

18 What is this? 18 12/15/2016

19 Sustainability The ultimate goal of sustainability is to achieve a better quality of life for present and future generations all over the world (WCED, 1987) Sustainability requires that value is created on an environmental, social and economic dimension both at the level of society and at the level of organisations 19 12/15/2016

20 Sustainability as value creation Economic Value Profit Organisation Planet People Environmental Value Society Social Value

21 Society, organisations and Societies consist of organisations; organisations of individual human beings (P. Drucker) Which motivations guide human behaviour? 21 12/15/2016

22 Motivations Greed! Is greed the only or main human motivation? 22 12/15/2016

23 Sustainability & greed Economic Value Profit Greed Planet? Individuals? People Environmental Value Social Value

24 Motivation, continued People are driven by three sets of motivations: Care for me Egoistic values: to feel better right now (hedonic); to guard and improve my resources (gain) Care for me and you Altruistic values: care for others and act appropriately (normative) Care for all Biospheric values: care for nature and act appropriately (normative) 24 12/15/2016

25 Three Levels of Sustainability 25 12/15/2016

26 Impact November 2014: a bestseller April 2015: included in Thomson Reuters Social Sciences & Humanities Book Citation Index Winter 2016 (expected): Chinese translation by Tongji University 26 12/15/2016

27 Research line youth tourism The research that I will present today is part of a broader line of research aimed at understanding the travel experience of young tourists and nudging them towards more sustainable travel choices Why is this relevant?

28 Relevance, 1: Assumptions Among (Dutch) Tour Operators there is a general perception that young tourists are exclusively interested in cheap vacations with a high fun component and they do not care for sustainability

29 Relevance, 2: Reality? outube.com/wa tch?v=mymzm NR3qOA outube.com/wa tch?v=sjsagv HTL18

30 Relevance, 3: Assumptions Among (Dutch) Tour Operators there is a general perception that young tourists are exclusively interested in cheap vacations with a high fun component and they do not care for sustainability Translated into values: Youngsters are only motivated by hedonic values (fun) in their tourism experience

31 Relevance, 4: hedonic values Tourism is by definition an hedonic experience (Kim et al., 2012) Literature suggests that hedonic values are not by definition only connected with short term fun experiences (Lindenberg and Steg, 2007) Literature studying benefits that youngsters derive from a tourist experience, individuates a series of benefits such as advancing education (Stone & Petrick, 2013); developing an open mind (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006); increasing life skills (WTO, 2016); experiencing personal change (Leed, 1991; WTO, 2016)

32 Relevance, 5: Youth tourism Youth tourism: independent trips for periods of less than one year taken by people aged (UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation 2008 and 2016) Young tourists value is both material and immaterial: In % of total travellers were aged 16-29; total value estimated at USD 400 billion (UNWTO, 2016) Youth tourists are more resilient than older ones; tend to spend on destination; set future trends (UNWTO, 2016; Leask, Fyall & Barron, 2013)

33 Relevance, 6: Concepts Research on youth tourism is till fragile In the context of youth tourism, there is a lack of proper conceptualisation of notions such as tourism experience and change through travel There is a lack of specific scales measuring youth tourism experience

34 Tourism experience Tourism experience Needs Meaning Motivation Experience Evaluation Destination Companions Accomodation Satisfaction Change

35 Research line conceptual model Demographics Values Well being Attitude Tourism experience Gender Hedonic Ryff and Keyes (2005) NEP (Dunlap, 2008) Needs Meaning Motivation Age Egoistic Experience Family education level Altruistic Evaluation Satisfaction Change (Family) income Biospheric 35 12/15/2016

36 Research line conceptual model Demographics Values Well being Attitude Tourism experience Gender Hedonic Ryff and Keyes (2005) NEP (Dunlap, 2008) Needs Meaning Motivation Age Egoistic Experience Family education level Altruistic Evaluation Satisfaction Change (Family) income Biospheric 36 12/15/2016

37 Research line conceptual model Demographics Values Well being Attitude Tourism experience Gender Hedonic Ryff and Keyes (2005) NEP (Dunlap, 2008) Needs Meaning Motivation Age Egoistic Experience Family education level Altruistic Evaluation Satisfaction Change (Family) income Biospheric 37 12/15/2016

38 Research line conceptual model Demographics Values Well being Attitude Tourism experience Gender Hedonic Ryff and Keyes (2005) NEP (Dunlap, 2008) Needs Meaning Motivation Age Egoistic Experience Family education level Altruistic Evaluation Satisfaction Change (Family) income Biospheric 38 12/15/2016

39 Summing up There are several assumptions about young tourism experience: research needs to engage with these assumptions Research is needed to design and evaluate instruments to better understand youth tourism behaviour In the context of youth tourism, today I wish to share research on the influence of four value orientations on the tourism motivation to evaluate the assumption that youngsters only look for sun, strand and sex change through travel as a multidimensional concept: personal (I); interpersonal (me & you); towards nature (all) 39 12/15/2016

40 Research line conceptual model Demographics Values Well being Attitude Travel experience Gender Hedonic Ryff and Keyes (2005) NEP (Dunlap, 2008) Needs Meaning Motivati on Age Egoistic Experience, incl. accomodation choice Family education level Altruistic Evaluation Satisfaction Change (Family) income Biospheric 40 12/15/2016

41 Lay out Introducing Stenden University of Applied Sciences Introduction to the research line and the paper Sustainability Relevance of the research line Youth Tourism Research line on Youth Tourism Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

42 Literature review: Motivation Motivations ignite the decision-making process leading to a specific travel choice (Chang, 2007) To design a dedicated tourism offer, men needs to know the motivation of the target group (March and Woodside, 2005) Research has individuated a broad range of motivations In our previous research we have developed and tested a scale measuring motivation based on the existing literature (Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2014)

43 Literature review: sustainability values Values are trans-situational goals which serve as a guiding principle in a person s life (Schwartz, 1994) Four value orientations have been found to influence sustainable behaviour (de Groot and Steg, 2008; Steg et al., 2012) Hedonic - pleasure now Egoistic - costs and benefits for me Altruistic - costs and benefits for the other Biospheric - costs and benefits for nature

44 Literature review: travels benefits Research has individuated a wide range of benefits that (young) travellers derive from travelling such as Advancing education (Stone & Petrick, 2013) Cultural exchange (WTO, 1999; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006) Developing an open mind (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006) Reconstructing own identity (Smed, 2009) Increasing life skills (WTO, 2016) Experiencing personal change (Leed, 1991; WTO, 2016) 44 12/15/2016

45 Literature review: travels benefits, co Leed (1991) proposed to classify travel s benefits as falling under 2 categories Personal change, exemplified by increased knowledge through education Interpersonal change, exemplified by developing an open mind Existing studies make no reference to change in regard of the relation between the traveller and nature: this deficiency is particularly interesting in the context of sustainable tourism 45 12/15/2016

46 Sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005, p.12) In general, it presupposes a (more) caring attitude of the travellers toward other cultures and toward nature Specific forms of sustainable tourism, such as ecotourism, aim at increasing the traveller s awareness of nature s beauty and fragility (Björk, 2000)

47 Eco-tourism 47 12/15/2016

48 Summing up Literature individuates several benefits form travel, interestingly none considering nature Literature individuates personal and interpersonal change as a benefit from travel; it does not consider change in respect to nature Sustainable tourism look for a market of people motivated by other than hedonic values when choosing for a travel experience: is there a market out there? Sustainable tourism expects or aims at developing a more caring attitude towards nature: do young tourists feel changed also in regard to nature? 48 12/15/2016

49 Lay out Introducing Stenden University of Applied Sciences Introduction to the research line and the paper Sustainability Relevance of the research line Youth Tourism Research line on Youth Tourism Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

50 2 questions = 2 researches : is there a market out there? Answered by connecting values to motivation to travel : do young tourists feel changed also in regard to nature? Answered by first developing an appropriate scale Measuring perceived change 50 12/15/2016

51 Research method Quantitative research approach CAWI survey in the Netherlands in co-operation with TNS Nipo and ETFI (2014; non probability) and at Stenden UAS (2015; convenience) Value orientation: nine-point Likert scale proposed by Steg et al. (2012) Motivation: Staffieri (2013) Perceived change: Staffieri (2013) for personal and interpersonal change + items based on proenvironmental behaviour theories (Cavagnaro and Staffieri, 2016, ICGTS) and nature benefits theories for change towards nature 51 12/15/2016

52 Nature s benefits Biophilia hypothesis (Wilson, 1984) Biophilia: the inborn tendency to affiliate with life or lifelike processes Risk: extinction of experience (lees nature less contact with nature less opportunity to feel biophilia less interest in protecting nature) Restorative environments research: contact with unthreatening nature Reduces physical and psychological stress (Ulrich, 1983) Counters Attention Fatigue (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989) 52 12/15/2016

53 Research method, 2 Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to verify the internal consistency of the scale s items Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to verify the unidimensionality of the value orientations; to reduce the 14 items used to describe the travel motivation; to reduce the 9 items used to describe change Cluster analysis (k-means method) was used to individuate groups on the basis of value orientations & motivations 53 12/15/2016

54 Lay out Introducing Stenden University of Applied Sciences Introduction to the research line and the paper Sustainability Relevance of the research line Youth Tourism Research line on Youth Tourism Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

55 Results, 1: Descriptives Completed questionnaires: 423 (2014) and 297 (2015) Respondent age ranges between 16 and 29 years 61.1%(2014) and 100% (2015) of the respondents had an independent tourism experience Stenden sample is skewed towards female respondents (63%)

56 Results, 2: Value orientations Cronbach's alpha and PCA Value orientation Items Cronbach' s alpha KMO Total Variance Explained Hedonic Pleasure, enjoying life, gratification for oneself, exciting life, varied life, daring % Egoistic Social power, wealth, authority, influential and ambitious % Altruistic Equality, a world at peace, social justice, helpful, broadminded % Biospheric Respecting the earth, unity with nature, protecting the environment, preventing pollution, Beauty of nature %

57 Results, 3: Motivation PCA Label Items Description Nature and culture Friendliness and vogue Escapism and relaxation To experience beautiful natural landscapes To see the beauty of the place To be in contact with nature To know different cultures To observe animals that are not living in the country I came from To be active, sport Because I raised this with my friends on social media (e.g. Facebook) the expectation that I would take this trip Because most people think that it is necessary to do at least once in the life To interact with other people To feel more independent To interact with my friends To relax To have fun To have a break from everyday life First component of the PCA built considering 14 items related to the concept of motivation FC variance explained=24.0 Total Variance Explained=59.0 KMO=0.831 Second component of the PCA built considering 14 items related to the concept of motivation SC variance explained=21.2 Total Variance Explained=59.0 KMO=0.831 Third component of the PCA built considering 14 items related to the concept of motivation TC variance explained=13.8 Total Variance Explained=59.0 KMO=0.831

58 Results, 5: profiles open to sustainability Value orientation Motivation Label % of sample Altruistic and Biospheric higher than average; Hedonic and Egoistic lower Nature and culture higher than average; Friendliness and vogue and Escapism and relaxation lower Transcendentalist 13.3% All above average with Hedonic and Biospheric as the highest Nature and culture higher than average Pleasurable sustainability 14.8% Egoistic and Biospheric higher than average All represented with Friendliness and vogue as the highest Niche group 3.3% Egoistic values Friendliness and vogue higher than average, followed by Nature and culture Comrades 12.8%

59 Results, 6: profiles not open for sustainability Value orientation Motivation Label % of sample Hedonic and Altruistic above average Escapism and relaxation exclusively Social fun 17.0% All lower than average Escapism and relaxation exclusively Lazy young 23.3% All far above average Friendliness and vogue exclusively Friendliness 15.8%

60 Results, 7: Change Items with the highest degree of agreement: The travel/experience gave me a taste for more travel (86.2%) The travel/experience allowed me to socialise with different people (84.9%) The travel/experience has contributed to my personal growth (72.5%) This result confirms literature suggesting that the main travel benefit for youngsters is personal and interpersonal growth (Leed, 1991; Stone & Petrick, 2013) 60 12/15/2016

61 Results, 8: Change, co Items with lowest degree of agreement: The travel/experience helped me to feel in contact with nature (35.2%) The travel/experience convinced me that we need to protect natural resources (31.2%) The travel/experience changed my relationship with the natural environment (26.2%) Amazing: we still found it! Biospehric values are the less salient to people and the less easily accessed (Stern, Dietz & Guagnano, 1995; Steg et al., 2014) 61 12/15/2016

62 Change, co Influence of gender Men more than women (highly) agree that travelling has helped them to feel in contact with nature and convinced them of the need to protect natural resources (p value < 0.05) This result contradicts studies showing a higher propensity of women to be open for biospheric values (Diamantopoulos, 2005; Meek and Sullivan, 2012) 62 12/15/2016

63 Results, 9: Change PCA Label Items Description Personal: ME Towards nature: ALL Interpersonal: ME & YOU 63 12/15/2016 The travel/experience changed my way of being. The travel/experience changed my life. The travel allowed me to know myself better. The travel experience has contributed to my personal growth. The travel experience opened my horizons. The travel experience helped me to feel in contact with nature. The travel experience changed my relationship with the natural environment. The travel experience convinced me that we need to protect natural resources. The travel experience gave me a taste for more travel. The travel experience increased my openness to other cultures. The travel experience helped me gain a greater cultural awareness. The travel experience allowed me to socialise with different people. Binary variable, built considering the median value of the First component (FC), obtained from PCA, of the 12 items related to the concept of change. FC variance explained=43.4% Total Variance Explained=66.2% KMO=0.864 Binary variable, built considering the median value of the Second component (SC), obtained from PCA, of the 12 items related to the concept of change. SC Variance Explained=14.4% Total Variance Explained=66.2% KMO=0.864 Binary variable, built considering the median value of the Third component (TC), obtained from PCA, of the 12 items related to the concept of change. TC Variance Explained=8.4% Total Variance Explained=66.2% KMO=0.864

64 Lay out Introducing Stenden University of Applied Sciences Introduction to the research line and the paper Sustainability Relevance of the research line Youth Tourism Research line on Youth Tourism Main points from the literature Research method Main results and discussion Conclusion

65 Limitations Both studies present some limitations: They refer to only one measurement at a certain moment in time: need for longitudinal studies. They sampled either only among Dutch Youngsters (2014) or only among students at a Dutch university (2015): need for studies in other countries considering also non-students. The research has been replicated in: Italy (University of Macerata) China (Dalian University) Vietnam (Hoa Sen University) 65 12/15/2016

66 Conclusion These studies have Identified target groups of young tourists open for a sustainable proposition identified three dimensions of change through travel It opens up the possibility to design sustainable tourism offers geared towards the different motivations The new dimension of change may be used for further research on antecedents of such a change to measure the success for those travel forms that aim at positively influencing the attitude of travellers towards nature, such as eco-tourism /15/2016

67 Thank you for your attention! Questions and suggestions are welcome! If you have further suggestions or questions please write to: 67 12/15/2016