Explaining conative destination image through cognitive and affective destination image and emotional solidarity with residents

Abstract

It is nearly impossible to consider a destination without also acknowledging its people as well as the relationship visitors have with such residents. Employing a hierarchical structure of destination image, this study examined how emotional solidarity along with cognitive and affective image explain conative image of Greece among Serbian visitors who had recently visited. Targeting Serbians living in Novi Sad, survey data were collected on-site as well as through online means, resulting in 401 completed questionnaires for analysis. Structural equation modeling revealed that five of the six proposed hypotheses were supported from the developed theoretical model. Overall, emotional solidarity, cognitive image and affective image were able to predict 70% (R2 = 0.70) of the variance in conative image. Implications for theory and practice along with limitations and future research opportunities are discussed at the close of the paper.