Modeling residents’ WOM behavior toward tourism through altruism and the theory of reasoned action

Abstract

Residents are a key figure in the tourist and leisure experience because through their words and actions, they can become ambassadors for their locality and provide a distinctive image of the tourist destination. They are often motivated by the altruistic purpose of helping others or promoting their locality as a tourist destination. To determine if true altruism influences the attitudes, intentions and WOM behavior of residents, a model based on Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was tested in a small coastal city in southwestern Spain. The results show that the altruistic values of the residents directly and positively influence their attitudes toward WOM behavior and, though to a weaker degree, their WOM behavior. The research corroborates the basic postulates of TRA regarding the attitudes-intentions-behavior sequence and advocates the inclusion of the residents’ attitudes towards pro-tourism behavior in TRA-based models instead of the traditional attitude toward the object (tourism or tourist).