The power of saying “thank you”: Examining the effect of tourist gratitude expression on resident participation in value co-creation

Resident-tourist interaction is an effective way to achieve higher experiential value for tourists. However, little is known about the role of tourist emotion in the resident–tourist value co-creation (RVC) process. Grounded in emotion as social information theory, this study proposes a moderated mediation model and explores whether and how tourist gratitude expression promotes RVC. Based on survey data from 571 residents, it finds that: 1) tourist gratitude expression positively affects RVC through both resident pride and place identity; 2) the effects of tourist gratitude expression on resident pride and place identity are stronger when tourists are perceived as having a higher level of sincerity, and 3) perceived tourist sincerity enhances the indirect effects of both resident pride and place identity in the relationship between tourist gratitude expression and RVC. The theoretical model proposed in this study provides an effective analytical framework for further studies.