{"title":"Ageism in tourism: an intergroup contact theory approach","authors":"Krisztina Kolos, Zsófia Kenesei","doi":"10.1080/14766825.2023.2178315","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The diversity of tourists in terms of age poses challenges for the tourism industry; tourist experience may be hindered by stereotypes and prejudices directed at older people. This study introduces the concept of ageism in tourism and empirically tests it by relying on intergroup contact theory. Specifically, the antecedents of ageism in tourism are explored by investigating the impact of contact quality on ageism and addressing the mediating roles of metastereotypes and aging anxiety, and the moderating role of gender. This study is based on a survey using a self-administered questionnaire with 530 responses. Data were collected from young people aged 18–35. Based on SEM modeling, our results confirm the direct link between contact quality and ageism in tourism and find evidence for the mediating role of metastereotypes. The moderating role of gender is identified in the relationship between aging anxiety and ageism suggesting that men and women have different coping strategies when facing aging anxiety. To reduce ageism in the tourism industry, intervention efforts are needed. Based on our findings, we propose a combination of educational and intergenerational contact interventions.","PeriodicalId":46712,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2023.2178315","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT The diversity of tourists in terms of age poses challenges for the tourism industry; tourist experience may be hindered by stereotypes and prejudices directed at older people. This study introduces the concept of ageism in tourism and empirically tests it by relying on intergroup contact theory. Specifically, the antecedents of ageism in tourism are explored by investigating the impact of contact quality on ageism and addressing the mediating roles of metastereotypes and aging anxiety, and the moderating role of gender. This study is based on a survey using a self-administered questionnaire with 530 responses. Data were collected from young people aged 18–35. Based on SEM modeling, our results confirm the direct link between contact quality and ageism in tourism and find evidence for the mediating role of metastereotypes. The moderating role of gender is identified in the relationship between aging anxiety and ageism suggesting that men and women have different coping strategies when facing aging anxiety. To reduce ageism in the tourism industry, intervention efforts are needed. Based on our findings, we propose a combination of educational and intergenerational contact interventions.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change ( JTCC ) is a peer-reviewed, transdisciplinary and transnational journal. It focuses on critically examining the relationships, tensions, representations, conflicts and possibilities that exist between tourism/travel and culture/cultures in an increasingly complex global context. JTCC provides a forum for debate against the backdrop of local, regional, national and transnational understandings of identity and difference. Economic restructuring, recognitions of the cultural dimension of biodiversity and sustainable development, contests regarding the positive and negative impact of patterns of tourist behaviour on cultural diversity, and transcultural strivings - all provide an important focus for JTCC . Global capitalism, in its myriad forms engages with multiple ''ways of being'', generating new relationships, re-evaluating existing, and challenging ways of knowing and being. Tourists and the tourism industry continue to find inventive ways to commodify, transform, present/re-present and consume material culture. JTCC seeks to widen and deepen understandings of such changing relationships and stimulate critical debate by: -Adopting a multidisciplinary approach -Encouraging deep and critical approaches to policy and practice -Embracing an inclusive definition of culture -Focusing on the concept, processes and meanings of change -Encouraging trans-national/transcultural perspectives