Worry and anger from flight delay: Antecedents and consequences

Abstract

AbstractTourists may experience the same negative event during their travel but evoke different emotions, some may express anger, and others undertake dangerous actions. An understanding of the relationship between such negative events, the emotions elicited, and tourists' subsequent actions will help in managing these emotional situations. This study adopts cognitive appraisal theory to examine the antecedents of tourists' negative emotions (worry and anger) evoked by a flight delay and their respective effects on tourists' behavioural intentions. Data were collected from 610 tourists who experienced a flight delay during travel. The results demonstrate that, as predicted by cognitive appraisal theory, the appraisal dimensions of goal incongruence, certainty, and other agency are the common determinants of worry and anger, whereas the appraisal of circumstance agency is negatively related with anger. The results also reveal that anger can lead to tourists' switching intentions, complaining behaviours, and negative word‐of‐mouth, whereas worry only affects complaining behaviours. This study extends our knowledge of appraisal dimensions that lead to tourists' emotions of worry and anger. It also discusses the impacts of such emotions have on tourists' behavioural intentions.