Unpacking risk aversion and uncertainty avoidance: an analysis from a tourists’ personality traits and information search perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tourists’ behaviours are significantly affected by their risk aversion and uncertainty avoidance. However, several studies found that these two traits are often used interchangeably. Using partial-least-squares structural equation modelling to analyse data obtained from 386 Chinese residents, this paper unpacks how two concepts relate to tourists’ personality traits and their various information search behaviours. While results confirm similarities between the two concepts, including how they affect tourists’ pre-purchase information search and their associations with personality traits such as agreeableness, extraversion, and openness, they also surface their inconsistent association with conscientious and neurotic personalities traits, as well as tourists’ ongoing information search behaviour. Findings suggest that the relationship between risk aversion and uncertainty avoidance is more complex than previously thought, with some apparent dissimilarities in terms of how each concept affects consumer behaviour. Future research and practice in tourist management should consider these two interrelated but not always identical concepts to arrive at more precise conclusions.