Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Predicting Place Attachment Through Selfie Tourism, Memorable Tourism Experience and Hedonic Well-Being
Predicting Place Attachment Through Selfie Tourism, Memorable Tourism Experience and Hedonic Well-Being
PAGE 412 j INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM CITIES j VOL. 8 NO. 2 2022, pp. 412-423, Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-5607 DOI 10.1108/IJTC-09-2020-0188
Taberner, 2020; Williams and Roggenbuck, 1989). Place attachment can also be defined as a
positive feeling, an individual’s attachment to the environment (Wolf et al., 2014; Woosnam
et al., 2018). In conclusion, place attachment is a feeling of emotional attachment to a
traveler’s destination. Place attachments will generate many benefits for a tourist destination.
Travelers who have a strong place attachment will automatically be loyal and will return to the
place because they feel an emotional attachment (Yanju and Derong, 2016; Zhang et al.,
2019). Furthermore, a tourist who has a strong place attachment will actively promote the
tourist spot to others, through positive messages (Williams and Roggenbuck, 1989). In
marketing science, emotional attachment is a continuation of loyalty (Xu and Zhang, 2016). If
loyalty is the desire to keep visiting from time to time (Alves and Costa, 2015; Artal-Tur and
Sanchez-Casado, 2019), place attachment is more than that (Ramkissoon et al., 2014).
Travelers who have a place attachment will always feel the longing to return (Pham and Chen,
2015).
According to previous research, many factors can influence a tourist’s place attachment
(Qian et al., 2010; Ramkissoon and Mavondo, 2015). However, travelers’ experience has
the strongest influence (Vada et al., 2018). Conceptually, all the positive experiences that
tourists get are summarized in a concept known as the memorable tourism experience
(Shang et al., 2020). Memorable tourism experience is the positive memories that travelers
have after conducting tourism activities (Tsai, 2016; Vada et al., 2019). Memorable tourism
experience has a positive influence on place attachments (Voigt et al., 2010). Memorable
tourism experience is formed by experiences or activities carried out by tourists while in
tourist attractions (Souza et al., 2019). These activities may include taking documentation or
selfies, eating culinary delights, shopping or shopping, as well as meaningful activities such
as historical tracing, learning tours and so on. A good memorable tourism experience will
result in tourists happiness, satisfaction and joy known as well-being’ (Scannell et al., 2019).
There are two types of well-being, namely, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being
(Sharma et al., 2017). Hedonic well-being is a feeling of pleasure or joy due to pleasant
activities, while eudaemonic well-being is a feeling of pleasure that arises from receiving
learning, increasing personal skills or knowledge (Son and Wilson, 2012; Stone et al., 1999;
Vada et al., 2019). In this study, by considering selfie activity as the initial antecedent, the
researchers only used hedonic wellbeing as a factor that affects place attachment.
Currently, research linking selfie tourism with memorable tourism experience and place
attachments are rarely published. Due to the limitations of research that discusses the
relationship between these variables, academics and tourism practitioners do not have
comprehensive information regarding current tourist behavior. The development of
technology creates changes in tourist behavior (Zhang and Dong, 2021; Ponsignon and
Derbaix, 2020), especially in terms of creating memorable experiences and a sense of
happiness when traveling (Bigne et al., 2020). This creates a gap in academic discussions
about the topic. This study aims to fill this gap, by formulating selfie tourism as an
antecedent of place attachments. Furthermore, this study also aims to examine the
relationship between memorable tourism experience, hedonic wellbeing and travelers’
place attachment. This paper is projected to expand academic discussion regarding the
factors that can influence the place attachment of a destination
2. Literature review
2.1 Place attachment
The concept of place attachment has been discussed in various disciplines, such as tourism,
marketing, psychology and others. Particularly in tourism, this concept has been explored by
researchers as part of the understanding tourist behavior (Chen et al., 2018; Taberner, 2020;
Souza et al., 2019; Hosany et al., 2017; Wolf et al., 2014). In general, place attachment is
defined as an individual’s emotional attachment to a place (Cheng et al., 2013). As stated by
3. Research methodology
3.1 Population, sample and data collection procedures
The respondent of this study are tourists’ that have visited destinations in Indonesia,
specifically in West Sumatera. This research was conducted at the time of the COVID-19
pandemic; therefore, the questionnaire was distributed online via Google Forms. There
were 450 respondents who filled out the questionnaire, which met the specified sample size
criteria. The number of respondents has met Weston and Gore (2006) recommendation to
have a minimum sample size of 200 for any SEM analysis. SEM is mostly used for research
that is designed to confirm a research study design rather than to explore or explain a
phenomenon (Fan et al., 2016). The respondents were West Sumatera tourists’ during the
data collection and agreed to participate. The respondent also should be interested to visit
West Sumatera in the future, which describes their place attachments. Before filling out the
questionnaire, there was one control question to ensure that the respondents were the right
person for the study, namely, whether they would revisit West Sumatra in the future. If the
answer is “yes,” the respondent will be asked to fill out a questionnaire.
Memorable
Tourism
Experience
H4
H2
Place
Selfie Tourism H1 Aachment
H5
Hedonic Well H3
Being
4. Results
After data collection that has been carried out from March to Juli 2020, it was found that all
of the respondents were Indonesians, and most of them were female (56.5%). In terms of
respondent’s age, most of them were under 40 years old (88,4%). In terms of average
expenditure, most of the respondents had spent 5 million rupiahs (equal to 350 us
dollars). Then, most of the respondents had traveled 5 times in a year (45.7%). In terms of
educational level, most of them were graduated from senior high school (53.3%).
This study found that all the relationships are significant. Table 4 shows the hypothesis
testing for the relationships. It shows that most the relationship has significant value of 0,000
except for H3. This means that all the hypothesis are accepted. It can be seen in Figure 2.
4.1 Discussions
Selfie tourism as an antecedent of tourist behavior is the novelty of this research. This study
found selfie tourism has a positive and significant effect on memorable tourism and hedonic
well-being (H4 and H5). Although the discussion of the relationship between these variables
is relatively new in tourism marketing theory, several previous studies have explained selfie
tourism as a concept. Mostafanezhad and Norum (2018) mention that the travelers purpose
is to satisfy their emotional feelings through Facebook posts. Photography is an integral
H1 memorable tourism experience ! hedonic well being 0.819 0.081 10.155
H2 memorable tourism experience ! place attachment 0.796 0.091 8.785
H3 hedonic well-being ! place attachment 0.138 0.062 2.225
H4 selfie tourism! memorable tourism experience 0.600 0.044 13.642
H5 selfie tourism ! hedonic well being 0.203 0.055 3.711
Notes: p < 0.05; p < 0.10; S.E = Standard Error; CR = Critical Ratio; Sig = Significance probability
Memorable
Tourism
Experience
0.796***
0.600***
0.819*** Place
Selfie Tourism Aachment
0.203*** 0.138**
Hedonic
Well Being
component of the contemporary tourist experience (Weiler et al., 2021). The results of this
study open up opportunities for a wider discussion.
Furthermore, a memorable tourism experience also has a significant effect on hedonic well-
being (H3). This means that the pleasure felt by travelers, among other factors, is
determined by how meaningful the experience is (Aroeira et al., 2016). Also, this study
proposes a positive and significant relationship between memorable tourism and hedonic
well-being toward place attachments. The results of the study support the two proposed
relationships, memorable tourism experience and hedonic well on place attachments (H1
and H2). These findings confirm and reinforce the results of recent studies, which suggest
emotional feelings toward a tourist destination are determined by these two variables
(Aroeira et al., 2016; Johari and Anuar, 2020; Tsai, 2016).
Although place attachment is multi-dimensional, through this research we understand that
the strategy of creating meaningful experiences, as well as travelers well-being in tourism
activities, are the right determinants of creating place attachments. Among the various
activities that produce meaningful experiences, one of which is the selfie activity.
Based on hypothesis testing, it was found that all research objectives have been met. This
research has implications for both academics and tourism practitioners. First, academics
can expand the discussion about memorable tourism experiences and hedonic well-being
with selfie tourism. This understanding can increase the study of traveler’s motivation when
making visits. Second, for tourism practitioners and tourism stakeholders, this research
provides resources that can be applied in developing a tourism marketing strategy. Tourist
destination managers who want to create a memorable experience and pleasure for their
visitors can provide various facilities that support selfie activities (Dinhopl and Gretzel, 2015;
4.2 Conclusions
4.2.2 Practical contributions. This study shows the benefits obtained by tourism managers
in preparing selfie facilities, as well as the ability to create meaningful experiences. It
provides tourism practitioners with an understanding that tourist place attachment
can be improved by both memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being.
Furthermore, both memorable tourism experience and hedonic well-being can be
affected by selfie tourism. This understanding can enhance the tourism providers
strategy to improve services that fit the characteristics of today’s tourists. Therefore,
selfie tourism, memorable tourism experience, and hedonic well-being can support
tourism sustainability, especially in creating place attachments.
References
Alves, A. and Costa, P.D. (2015), “Tourist destination loyalty: a multidimensional perspective”, available
at: search.proquest.com
Aroeira, T., Dantas, A.C. and Gosling, M.S. (2016), “Memorable tourist experience, cognitive perception,
reputation and loyalty to the destination: an empirical model”, Turismo: Visão e Ação, Vol. 18 No. 3,
pp. 584-610.
Artal-Tur, A. and Sanchez-Casado, N. (2019), “Exploring tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty”,
Tourist Destination Management, Springer, Cham, pp. 75-99.
Bentler, P.M. and Bonett, D.G. (1980), “Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of
covariance structures”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 88 No. 3, pp. 588-606.
Bernardo, F. and Palma-Oliveira, J. (2013), “Place identity, place attachment and the scale of place: the
impact of place salience”, Psyecology, Vol. 4 No. 2.
Souza, L.H., Kastenholz, E. and Barbosa, M.L.A. (2019), “Tourist experience, perceived authenticity,
place attachment and loyalty when staying in a peer-to-peer accommodation”, International Journal of
Tourism Cities, Vol. 6 No. 1.
Stone, A.A., Shiffman, S.S., DeVries, M.W., Kahneman, D. (1999), Well-Being: The Foundations of
Hedonic Psychology, Russell Sage Foundation . . ..
Suzuki, H. and Fujii, S. (2008), “Study on effects of place attachment on cooperative behavior local area”,
Infrastructure Planning Review, Vol. 25.
Trinanda, O. and Sari, A.Y. (2019a), “# MeTourism: how selfies affect re-visit intention in narcissistic age”,
1st International Conference on Economics, Business, Entrepreneurship, and Finance (ICEBEF 2018),
Atlantis Press, pp. 593-597.
Trinanda, O. and Sari, A.Y. (2019b), “Selfie tourism dan electronic word of mouth sebagai anteseden re-
visit intention”, Jurnal Benefita, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 526-535.
Tsai, C.T. (2016), “Memorable tourist experiences and place attachment when consuming local food”,
International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 18 No. 6.
Tsaur, S.H. and Sun, C.Y. (2009), “Antecedents and consequences of place attachment”, Journal of
Geographical Science, Vol. 55, pp. 43-63.
Urry, J. and Larsen, J. (2011), The Tourist Gaze 3.0, Sage Publication, London.
Vada, S., Prentice, C. and Hsiao, A. (2018), “The influence of tourism experience and well-being on place
attachment”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 47, pp. 322-330.
Vada, S., Prentice, C. and Hsiao, A. (2019), “The influence of tourism experience and well-being on place
attachment”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 47.
Voigt, C., Howat, G. and Brown, G. (2010), “Hedonic and eudaimonic experiences among wellness
tourists: an exploratory enquiry”, Annals of Leisure Research, Vol. 13 No. 3.
Weiler, B., Gstaettner, A.M. and Scherrer, P. (2021), “Selfies to die for: a review of research on self-
photography associated with injury/death in tourism and recreation”, Tourism Management Perspectives,
Vol. 37.
Weston, R. and Gore, P.A.G. (2006), “A brief guide to structural equation modeling”, The Counseling
Psychologist, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 719-751.
Williams, D.R. and Roggenbuck, J.W. (1989), “Measuring place attachment: some preliminary results”,
NRPA Symposium on Leisure Research, San Antonio, TX, Vol. 9.
Wolf, K.L., Krueger, S., Flora, K. (2014), “Place Attachment and meaning-A Literature Review,“ Green
Cities: Good Health, available at: www.greenhealth . . ..
Woosnam, K.M., Aleshinloye, K.D., Ribeiro, M.A. (2018), “Social determinants of place attachment at a
world heritage Site”, Tourism, . . ..
Xu, Z. and Zhang, J. (2016), “Antecedents and consequences of place attachment: a comparison of
Chinese and Western urban tourists in Hangzhou, China”, Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, Vol. 5 No. 2.
Yanju, J. and Derong, L. (2016), Tourists’ Perception of Urban Service, Place Attachment and Loyal
Behaviors: A Case Study of Xiamen, Geographical Research.
Zhang, J. and Dong, L. (2021), “Image monitoring and management of hot tourism destination based on
data mining technology in big data environment”, Microprocessors and Microsystems, Vol. 8, p. 103515.
Zhang, C.X., Fong, L.H.N. and Li, S.N. (2019), “Co-creation experience and place attachment: festival
evaluation”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 81, pp. 193-204.
Zhang, H., Wu, Y. and Buhalis, D. (2018), “A model of perceived image, memorable tourism experiences
and revisit intention”, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Vol. 8, pp. 326-336.
Corresponding author
Okki Trinanda can be contacted at: okki.trinanda@fe.unp.ac.id
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com