Abstract

This research theorizes and empirically investigates the concept of brand anthropomorphism in the context of tourist destinations, namely, destination anthropomorphism. First, we demonstrate that anthropomorphizing a culturally distant tourist destination (e.g., Tokyo, Japan; Hanoi, Vietnam) leads to consumers’ lower intentions to travel to the destinations, whereas this negative destination anthropomorphism effect is attenuated for culturally close tourist destinations (e.g., London, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia). In contrast, as anticipated, this research reveals that destination anthropomorphism leads to positive consumer reactions for destinations within the same culture (e.g., Seward, Alaska, USA). As such, we provide insights into the effects of anthropomorphizing in-group versus out-group entities in the realm of tourism and travel. Specifically, we show the negative downstream effects of anthropomorphizing entities that belong to a different group (i.e., out-group), which results in tourists’ heightened perceptions of a key perceived travel risk, social risk, that manifests as lower intentions to visit that destination. Finally, this research provides critical managerial recommendations that can be incorporated into advertising strategies not only to enhance communication effectiveness but also to avoid negative repercussions of destination anthropomorphism.

摘要

本文对旅游目的地环境下的品牌拟人化概念进行了理论化和实证研究，即目的地拟人化。首先，我们证明，将文化上遥远的旅游目的地（例如，日本东京；河内，越南）进行拟人化，会降低消费者前往目的地的意愿，而对于文化上接近的旅游目的地（例如，英国伦敦；澳大利亚悉尼）。相反，正如预期的那样，这项研究表明目的地拟人化会导致消费者对同一文化内目的地的积极反应（例如，美国阿拉斯加州的苏厄德）。因此，我们提供了关于在旅行和旅行领域中拟人化组内实体与组外实体的影响的见解。具体而言，我们显示了属于不同组（即外组）的拟人化实体的负面下游影响，这会导致游客对主要感知到的旅行风险，社会风险的感知增强，表现为访问该网站的意图较低目的地。最后，这项研究提供了重要的管理建议，这些建议可以纳入广告策略中，不仅可以提高沟通效率，还可以避免对目的地拟人化的负面影响。