Morality expression drives favorable consumer outcomes for P2P tour guide: The role of elevation, trust, and enjoyment

Abstract

The emerging peer-to-peer platforms enable individual tour guides to market themselves via online profiles. Given the growing societal interest in responsible tourism, tour guides can utilize online profiles to communicate responsible tourism endeavors that showcase positive moral character. However, how consumers respond to such expressions of responsible conduct is unknown. Through four experiments, we find that a moral self-description (vs. social or control) elicited higher elevation, further enhancing trust and enjoyment, leading to more favorable consumer responses (i.e., booking intention, willingness to pay, and likelihood to recommend). Thus, the underlying mechanisms are explained by elevation, trust, and enjoyment. Moreover, consumers' self-esteem and tour guides' motives are two boundary conditions. Specifically, positive reactions to the tour guide's morality expression are more pronounced among high self-esteem individuals and when the guide is intrinsically motivated. This research contributes to the literature on P2P tourism services and offers practical implications for tourism providers.