How subjective knowledge influences intention to travel

Abstract

This study analyzes tourist intention in the early phase of the tourists' decision-making process. Through correlations and web-experiments, we trace subjective knowledge through the tourists' accumulation of diagnostic cues inherent in a destination and the ways tourists falsely believe that having more knowledge can be beneficial. This research uncovers the negative relationship between tourists' subjective knowledge about a destination and their intention to travel. Subjective knowledge psychologically activates a higher degree of self-congruity with a destination, impregnating the destination with a sense of familiarity that curbs the intention to travel. The results indicate that practitioners need to understand the way that congruence between market-generated materials and tourists' sense of self can counterintuitively clog the decision-making process at the early stages.