Leveraging elevation to deter deviant tourist behaviours

Abstract

Deviant tourist behavior is a critical issue as it poses risks to the safety and well-being of tourists, destinations, and local communities. In the current research, we examine how elevation - a unique and powerful other-praising emotion - serves as a deterrent to tourist behaviors that deviate from socially accepted norms. The results from three scenario-based experiments and one field experiment show that when tourists feel elevated, they are less inclined to engage in deviant behaviors. Furthermore, this research elucidates role model influence and moral self-efficacy as the psychological mechanism underlying these effects. Moreover, the effect is moderated by tourists' sense of power. Altogether, the findings from this research provides significant theoretical and managerial implications for reducing deviant tourist behaviors through eliciting elevation among tourists.