Motivation and Involvement as Antecedents of the Perceived Value of the Destination Experience

Abstract

Research acknowledges the tourist as imperative in creating experience value. Building on this premise, the present study offers an integrated approach to understanding tourists' experience values and attempts to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence of causal relationships between the motivation, involvement, and the experience value of the destination, hereafter called experience value. Using a sample drawn from tourists in Norway, the research model investigates relationships between the three constructs, using a structural equation modeling approach. The results indicate that motivation and involvement are linked to tourists' experience value and motivation affects the level of involvement. In order to facilitate for tourists to cocreate experience value then, not only should the industry recognize experiences that tourists value but should also acknowledge motivation and involvement as essential in value creation for tourist experiences. © 2012 SAGE Publications.