EXPLORING TRAVELERS’ DECISION-MAKING STYLES

Purpose The purpose of this study is to profile market segments using travelers’ Decision-Making Styles (DMS) as segmentation bases, and to identify similarities and differences between traveler segments regarding a series of psychographic and attitudinal characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Data is gathered from a sample of 426 travelers in Dubai and Shanghai via self-reported surveys. Analyses included factor, k-means cluster, discriminant and MANOVA. Findings Study findings reveal significant differences among the Rational, Adaptive and Daydreamer Decision-makers segments in their behavioral and attitudinal characteristics with respect to tourism involvement and destination images. Practical implications Findings provide important practical implications for generating effective marketing and positioning strategies based on the identified attitudinal characteristics of the traveler segments for DMOs. Originality/value A stream of recent tourism studies shows strong relationship between tourism i...