Understanding accommodation managers’ crisis planning intention: An application of the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

Despite the potential of crisis planning and preparedness to create more resilient tourism organisations, the majority of past studies concerned with tourism crises have focused on response and recovery, rather than on crisis planning. Further, most are descriptive in nature and few have undertaken a predictive or explanatory research approach underpinned by a strong theoretical framework. This study attempts to provide a deeper understanding of the psychological factors that influence crisis planning in the Australian accommodation industry. The theory of planning behaviour (TPB) was extended to examine the influence of attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioural control and past experience on crisis planning intentions. Data were collected through a nationwide online survey in Australia (N=386) and analysed by path analysis using structural equation modelling. In terms of predicting crisis planning intentions, three individual psychological factors (attitude, subjective norms, and past crisis experience) were identified as the key factors that influence crisis planning behaviour, while the path coefficient between perceived control and behavioural intentions was not found to be significant. These findings suggest that managers and industry associations should articulate the advantages of crisis planning and provide resources, tool kits, and workshops to support attitude change and boost reference group support. These findings will also be of interest to tourism sectors other than the accommodation industry, and to countries other than Australia. Future research avenues based on the findings are also outlined.