Characterizing and Shaping the Formation Process of Embodied Experience of Chinese Outbound Volunteer Tourists

Abstract

ABSTRACT Volunteer tourism has been increasingly developed as an experiential mode of alternative tourism option. Apart from the western sources of volunteer tourists, potential market from mainland China is gaining more academic and marketing attention, with its distinctive characteristics of volunteer spirit and embodied experience. This study presents a qualitative content analysis of the collection of online travel notes provided by Chinese volunteer tourists between January 2016 and June 2019. Based on the Embodiment Theory (ET), this study elucidates the characteristics and the formation process of the embodied volunteer tourist experience, especially the components during their stay in the destinations. The content-analyzed components were further verified by an Exploratory Factor Analysis to extract the determinants to the embodiment of volunteer experience. Confirmation Factor Analysis was then performed using a sample of 211 volunteer tourism participants to create a relational structure of the dimensions of volunteer tourist experience. These results shape and advances the theoretical understanding of the volunteer tourist experience by Chinese participants, and provide practical implications to the planning, organization, and management of volunteer tourism destinations.