Can travelling abroad experiences trigger tourist misbehaviours? The role of moral relativism

Abstract

Previous research has disproportionately focused on the positive impacts of travelling abroad experiences (TAEs) on various aspects including well-being, learning and creativity. This research challenges the conventional wisdom that TAEs are always beneficial by revealing a potential dark side of TAEs: an increase in tourist misbehaviours. The survey evidence (N = 805) with PLS-SEM analysis indicates that accumulated TAEs motivated tourists to engage in misbehaviours by increasing their moral relativism. This research contributes to the literature on tourist misbehaviours by uncovering one of its key driving forces, namely accumulated TAEs together with the internal psychological mechanism of moral relativism. It also advances the moral psychology literature by revealing accumulated TAEs as a driver of moral relativism. The findings provide managerial implications to prevent tourist misbehaviours.