Predicting place attachment through selfie tourism, memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being

Abstract

Purpose Selfie tourism is a fast-growing phenomenon. Given the convenience of photo-snapping and photo-sharing on social media, selfie tourism is seen as an emerging trend among travelers. This phenomenon gave consequence toward travelers’ behavior, especially on how it can affect their memorable tourism experience and place attachment. This paper aims to examine the relationship between selfie tourism, memorable tourism experience, hedonic well-being and travelers’ place attachment. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered survey method is used. This research was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, consequently, the data were collected via Google Form (online). The respondents are tourists who have visited various tourism destinations in West Sumatera, Indonesia. To test the hypotheses of this study, questionnaires are distributed to 450 respondents. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results of this study shows that selfie tourism has a positive and significant relationship toward both memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being. In addition, memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being also have a significant relationship with place attachment. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study lies in the limited reference to the relationship between selfie tourism and memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being, because this is the first study to examine the relationship of these variables. This study also has not tested the direct relationship between selfie tourism and place attachment and has not considered eudaemonic well-being as an antecedent of place attachment. Further research will discuss the direct effect of selfie tourism and eudaemonic experience on place attachment, as well as the moderating effect of memorable tourism and hedonic well-being. Practical implications This study shows the benefits obtained by tourism managers in preparing selfie facilities, as well as the ability to create meaningful experiences. It provides tourism practitioners with an understanding that tourist place attachment can be improved by both memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being. Furthermore, both memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being can be affected by selfie tourism. This understanding can enhance the tourism providers’ strategy to improve services that fit the characteristics of today’s tourists. Therefore, selfie tourism, memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being can support tourism sustainability, especially in creating place attachments. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that investigated the relationship between selfie tourism, memorable tourism experience and place attachment. From a market-specific context, this is also the first study that investigated the antecedents of place attachment on West Sumatera’s tourism.

What is the role of place attachment and quality of life outcomes in employee retention?

“…The concept of "place" Interacting with "place" is achieved by experiencing tangible offerings, local activities and footprint tracking in the luxury market (Kimes and Ho, 2018;Trinanda et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2021). Connecting to a "place" or a destination can be achieved via hotel CSR initiatives that are embedded in guest programs such as carbon footprint tracking, consuming local ingredients, supporting local artists or cooks and providing service to the local community (Abaeian et al, 2019;Pechlaner et al, 2011).…”

“…The proper, credible communication of CSR initiatives by a company can attain the strength of a successful consumer or employee brand through the conveyance of QOL (Perez, 2019). Consequently, consumers and employees experience QOL through the means of self-discovery, engagement in authenticity, place attachment, hedonic well-being and loyalty (Mensah et al, 2021;Perez, 2019;Souza et al, 2019;Trinanda et al, 2021). These items, holistically combined, create a high value proposition for employees.…”

“…Similarly, the employee's connection to place is through the interaction and contribution to the community via their work. Both internal and external connectivity to place is achieved by the corporation and these experiences are designed by the corporation itself (Abaeian et al, 2019;Kimes and Ho, 2018;Trinanda et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2021).…”

“…Positive quality of life outcomes achieved by a hotel company's CSR initiatives Recent studies conclude that to assist hospitality employers with designing an experience for employees that incorporates "place" QOL outcomes should be created through tangible and psychological benefits that are attributed to organisation-driven CSR initiatives (Pechlaner et al, 2011;Santhosh and Baral, 2015;Souza et al, 2019;Trinanda et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2021). QOL outcomes for employees are listed in Table 1 to dichotomize the tangible and psychological benefits between the two stakeholders.…”

“…The objective of this article is to determine whether CSR initiatives being offered to employees result in QOL outcomes that positively affect them. These QOL outcomes include self-identification, engagement in authenticity, place attachment, hedonic well-being and loyalty (Pechlaner et al, 2011;Santhosh and Baral, 2015;Souza et al, 2019;Trinanda et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2021). In addition, the second objective here is to explore whether employeefacing CSR initiatives that generate QOL outcomes might help to enhance employee retention and productivity.…”