When compatriot tourists behave badly: The impact of misbehavior appraisal and outgroup criticism construal

Abstract

Research on tourist misbehaviors remains limited. This paper contributes to the literature by providing an improved conceptualization of tourist misbehavior, proposing that violating social norms of conduct and causing harm to other people/objects/environment are two essential constituents of tourist misbehavior. It offers a framework to capture the process of individuals' appraisal of misbehaviors committed by compatriot tourists in the international travel context and discuss the downstream consequences in the tourism ecosystem. Ingroup bias and the black sheep effect are identified as two psychological mechanisms underlying people's evaluations of compatriot tourist misbehavior, and metastereotype activation is believed to influence people's responses toward the destination-generated criticism. The paper further discusses emotional solidarity and cultural distance as potential mitigators of the negative impact of resident criticism of the misbehavior. Practically, the framework informs destinations on the development of education and marketing communication collateral. • Tourist misbehavior is commonplace and have caused disruptions across destinations. • Violating norms of conduct and causing harm to others constitute misbehavior. • Ingroup bias and black sheep effect underlie appraisal of compatriots' misbehavior. • Metastereotype activation may influence people's construal of residents' criticism. • Emotional solidarity and cultural distance may mitigate effects of metastereotype.