Re-theorizing social emotions in tourism: applying the theory of interaction ritual in tourism research

Abstract

Although social emotions can serve as an effective analytic lens through which to study residents’ reactions to tourists and tourism, limited theoretical discussion exists examining how social emotions are related to perceptions or behaviors. Extant literature instead has knitted together empirical support in postulating the relationships among social emotions, perceptions, and behaviors. While such an approach is also considered theoretical in a broad sense, resultant findings can be disjointed across research, making replication more difficult. In response, this article introduces the interaction ritual theory and discusses how the theory can strengthen the theoretical connection between social emotions and other constructs. In so doing, this article suggests that the notions of emotional energy and social marketplace are useful in explaining how residents’ perceptions and behaviors change as they respond to tourists and tourism. This article also discusses limitations of the theory and how they can be addressed by considering the theory in tandem with the emotional solidarity theory.