The Influence of Animosity, Ethnocentric Tendencies, and National Attachment on Tourists’ Decision-Making Processes during International Conflicts

Abstract

This study expands the empirical evidence amassed to date concerning tourists’ decision-making processes in a situation of conflict between a country of origin’s market and country of destination. It uses the constructs of animosity, national attachment, consumer ethnocentrism, country image, and perceptions of the state of bilateral relations in order to examine three intent to visit scenarios. To obtain the robust results, the study uses two methods of analysis from distinctly different repertoires of techniques, such as traditional statistical and data-mining approaches, and applies them to each scenario. The results consistently indicate a high level of influence of general animosity and ethnocentric tendencies in addition to country image and bilateral relation variables in tourists’ decision making. The situational context of the study is the conflict between China, the country of origin, and South Korea, the country of destination, over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.