Existential Authenticity and Anxiety as Outcomes: The Tourist in the Experience Economy

Ksenia Kirillova, Xinran Y. Lehto, Liping Cai

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

141 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The idea of meaning-making as embedded in the experience economy 3.0 implies that greater consumption does not lead to greater contentment, and thus, products that have the capacity to meaningfully transform a consumer are to constitute the ultimate economic offering. Conceptualizing transformation as changes in tourist existential authenticity and anxiety, this study investigates the effect of tourism on these existential dimensions. Utilizing the survey data, we find positive effects and discover that perceived meaningfulness is the major influencing factor. Additionally, the type of tourism experiences, travel party size, tourist gender, age, and educational level significantly affect tourist existential authenticity and anxiety.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13-26
Number of pages14
JournalInternational Journal of Tourism Research
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017

Keywords

  • existential anxiety
  • existential authenticity
  • experience economy
  • meaningfulness
  • tourism experience

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Transportation
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Existential Authenticity and Anxiety as Outcomes: The Tourist in the Experience Economy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this