Tourist Attribution toward Destination Brands: What Do We Know? What We Do Not Know? Where Should We Be Heading?

Abstract

Although tourists’ judgments and interpretations are pivotal to fathom the essence behind their behavior toward tourism destination brands, there is a lack of investigation into theories that deal with tourists’ decisions and interpretations. To address this issue, this study investigates two critical theories in the tourism marketing literature: attribution and locus of control theories in the destination branding context. These theories heavily influence tourists’ perceptions and interpretations of the destination brands. Thus, using the PRISMA methodology (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), we inductively evaluated and synthesized the literature on attribution theory and destination branding from highly indexed journals in the ABDC list index. The research encompasses the issues of “What we know?”, “What we do not know?”, and “Where should we be heading?”. This study will better grasp the implications of attribution and locus of control theories in the literature on tourism marketing. The study would also explore how this hypothesis affects travelers’ assessment and interpretation of destination brands. The study found the potential to assess the implications of attribution and locus of control theories in the tourism marketing literature. The research would provide insights into how these ideas affect tourists’ evaluation and interpretation of destination brands. It would also offer other techniques that marketers may employ to influence consumer behavior.