The Role of Causal Attribution in the Structural Model of the Negative Tourism Experience

The present study tests the antecedents and consequences of tourists’ causal attribution after negative destination experiences. Adopting the attribution theory of Heider (1958) and Kelley (1973), the study probes if seriousness of the negative experience affects individuals’ causal attribution and if satisfaction and post-trip loyalty are its consequences. It further examines if pre-trip loyalty and tourism situations affect the model. A two (seriousness) × two (pre-trip loyalty) × two (setting) experimental design with eight scenarios was used. The proposed structural model with experience as a predictor, satisfaction as its consequence, attribution constructs as their mediators, and post-trip loyalty as the outcome was tested by using AMOS 18. Results confirmed that stability and globality dimensions of attribution are affected by the seriousness of negative incidents. These two dimensions also were identified as important predictors of tourist satisfaction. Results also showed that there are differences in the coefficients of the model by different pre-trip loyalty and tourism situations. Attribution theory can be applied in tourism settings: the importance of each dimension of attribution is different and the function of attribution also varies by different conditions