Family Identity Bundles and Holiday Decision Making

Abstract

As the main contributor to leisure vacations, family travel is an important topic in academia; however, limited tourism research has addressed the subject. Most family travel studies have focused on who makes the decision with comparatively little attention paid to how. The present study argues that family travel decision making is determined by interactions between different individual, relational, and family identities using various communication approaches. Based on the family identity bundle framework, this research employs a longitudinal qualitative approach to examine 28 Chinese families’ summer holiday decision-making processes. The results indicate that two moderators (relationships with extended family and involvement in social groups through social media) strengthen the influence of identity bundles on decision making, as do different communication forms on decisions. Findings from this study contribute to the body of knowledge on family tourism decision making and provide suggestions for family tourism promotion.