Introduction:
Within the field of tourism, academics continually seek to contribute to knowledge development in efforts to improve our understanding of the causes of tourist behaviour. While our academic roots run deep, we have historically borrowed and applied theoretical frameworks (along with the supporting paradigmatic assumptions) from our parent disciplines. For example, tourism researchers may use economic, sociological, or psychological theories as the casual basis for tourist behaviour.
Several issues may then be identified in selecting the appropriate theory to use in a tourism research study.
- The indicator of behaviour and its correlates: In behavioural studies, researchers study the behaviour (either intentional or actual) of a tourist. There are substantial criticisms of the usefulness of intention as a predictor of future behaviour. Alternatively, if actual behaviour is studied, the decision to undertake the behaviour may have been taken in a different decision context and many days, weeks, or months prior. Thus, the ability of the tourist to recall their reasons for a decision is compromised.
- The theory time lag: There may be problems with the theories used to study behaviour. Since theories used in the tourism field come from other disciplines, a gap in time may exist between their development and transfer to applied fields. This might be evident by identifying when the theory was developed in the original discipline and when it was first applied (or became commonly applied in tourism research).
- Theory stickiness: The transfer of knowledge into tourism comes from researchers’ awareness of and utilisation of new theories. Existing tourism researchers may have an incentive to continue to use theories in which they have developed expertise. There may be a stickiness in the theories applied in tourism with more recent theories from a discipline not being used. Many theories used in tourism today come from the 1950s and 1960s and are based on the paradigms and assumptions of that time.
A related issue is that reviewers of research manuscripts submitted to tourism journals may not be aware of new theoretical advancements and their applications, leading to a bias towards rejecting of new theory.
- Theory selection: There are usually several competing theories and paradigmatic assumptions that are found in each discipline. Further, the theory stickiness problem is also evident in disciplines. These various disciplinary theories each have an associated paradigm, set of assumptions, and criticisms that are important to understand when choosing to apply that theory to tourism. The selection of the ‘best’ theory may not be clear.
- Literature review restrictions: Because of these problems, the body of knowledge published in tourism journals may be subject to criticism. Further, if tourism researchers are not aware of these possible problems, then they may restrict their reviews of past literature to tourism journals only, leading to a lack of application of the wider literature. As discussed above, the problem is compounded by journal manuscript reviewers who may not be aware of new theoretical perspectives and therefore be overly critical of new concepts.
These problems suggest that tourism researchers need to be cognizant of the status of the theory they use, their assumptions, and their status in the current literature of the original discipline. This awareness should include knowledge of the paradigmatic assumptions, criticisms, and competing theories. Importantly, a researcher applying a theory should be aware of the scope of the theory. A number of theories have been extended this way and arguably in ways inconsistent with the original assumptions.
The editors of this special issue consider it is incumbent upon tourism researchers to use theories consistent with their status in the original disciple and to be aware of the paradigmatic assumptions, scope, and application. Further, they believe that researchers should seek to use the ‘best’ appropriate theories based on this knowledge.
Call for papers:
The special issue editors call for papers that examine theories used in tourism to study behaviour (e.g., behavioural intention, actual behaviour, and decision-making), to discuss their existing status in tourism and outstanding criticisms and compare this to that in the original discipline. Thus, we invite authors to submit conceptual, review or empirical manuscripts, as long as the works provide critical arguments about the historical positioning and application of behavioural theory/ies in tourism and its original context, discuss challenges and advantages, and propose direction for future application of the theory/ies or alternative theories referring to the original discipline.
