A web of relations. Modelling the relations among value orientations, travel motivation, accommodation choice, satisfaction and perceived change in a case study among young travellers in Italy

Being a booming and influential phenomenon, youth tourism has attracted the interest of both policymakers and academia. However, most studies are either concerned with a particular form of tourism, such as a gap year, or with a specific component of the tourism experience, such as satisfaction. Moreover, when antecedents of a tourism choice are considered, scholars tend either to focus on remote causes of behaviour, such as values or on more immediate ones, such as motivations. Consequently, an overview of the web of relations existing between (remote and immediate) antecedents and the whole range of components of a tourism experience is still lacking. The present study aims at closing this gap by identifying the relations between value orientations and the main travel’s experience components, i.e. motivation, accommodation’s characteristics, satisfaction, and perceived change. This study is part of a larger project aimed at evaluating young travellers’ openness to sustainable tourism offers. The whole project is theoretically grounded on pro-environmental psychology and on the premise that self-transcendence value orientations (such as a biospheric one) increase while self-enhancement value orientations (such as a hedonic one) weaken the chance of sustainable tourism choices. Previous studies in this research line have examined the influence of values on specific components of the travel experience, such as the travel motivation, or have attempted to look at relations among a more limited sets of variables than the present one. The present study aims at closing the circle by considering the impact of opposing value orientations on all main components of the tourism experience simultaneously. University students - a proxy for young tourists - who travelled independently in the year previous to the survey constitute the research’s sample. Considering remote antecedents of behaviour, the biospheric and hedonic value orientations are chosen because of their opposite impact on sustainable choices. Regarding immediate antecedents of behaviour, the focus is set on two out of the motivations emerging from previous studies by the authors, i.e. ‘Eco-sustainability’ and ‘Fun and Escaping’. Regarding the consumption of the experience itself, accommodation is singled out because of its major (and mostly negative) environmental impact. Satisfaction is considered because of its strategic importance in destination marketing. Finally, perceived change trough travel is also considered. Following previous studies by the authors, change is conceptualized as personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal change. In a quantitative research design, previously validated scales were used to measure value orientations, motivations, satisfaction and change. Unfortunately, for the accommodation choice, no validated scale existed at the time of data collection (August 2015). Therefore, a scale was developed by the authors. Data was collected at an Italian University using a Computer Assisted Web Interview (c.a.w.i.). The self-selected sample meeting the condition of independent travel consists of 510 respondents aged between 16 and 30 years. Out of the 510 independent travellers, 38 did not answer all relevant questions leaving 472 questionnaires for further analysis. Data analysis has been performed using a structural equations model combining the logic of factor analysis with multiple regressions. Results confirm that the value orientations influence travel motivations and that travellers experience alongside personal and interpersonal change also change in relation to nature (transpersonal). As expected, a biospheric value orientation influences positively the ‘eco-sustainable motivation’ while a hedonic value orientation influences positively the ‘fun and escaping motivation’ that, interestingly, also positively influences satisfaction. Most interestingly, results indicate the motivation and the degree of satisfaction with the tourism experience influence the type of change perceived. More specifically, personal ad interpersonal change are influenced positively by the ‘eco-sustainable’ motivation and satisfaction. Interpersonal change, moreover, is negatively affected by the ‘fun and escaping motivation’. Transpersonal change is influenced positively only by the ‘eco-sustainable motivation’. In other words, in evaluating the transformational power of travelling one should consider the traveller’s motivation and satisfaction. Finally, values and motivations also influence the accommodation's choice. ‘Fun and escaping’ motivated respondents rate location and feedback higher than other respondents; while respondents with high biospheric values are attracted by the structure’s sustainability policy. The main implication is that accommodations should cater for both type of motivations, by highlighting hedonic experiences at the location for one group and their sustainability stance for the other.