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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.

Data are gathered from a sample of 426 travelers in Dubai and Shanghai via self-reported surveys. Analyses included factor, k-means cluster, discriminant and MANOVA.

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.

Findings provide important practical implications for generating effective marketing and positioning strategies based on the identified attitudinal characteristics of the traveler segments for destination marketing organizations.

A stream of recent tourism studies shows a strong relationship between tourism involvement and destination images, yet very little research has tackled the issue of how these critical variables can be affected by individuals’ decision-making styles. This study explores and tests the relationships among DMS, tourism involvement and destination image using a factor-cluster approach.

As traditional paper manuals and step-by-step instructions have shown to discourage new product learning because of a lack of exploration, the purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer learning from an online and andragogical, that is, adult learning, perspective by identifying relevant consumer e-learning processes in new product learning.

This paper uses thematic and trace analyses on a multi-method data collection, that is, extant e-learning courses, in-depth interviews and non-participant observations.

Emerging findings give light on customized, interactive and iterative e-learning processes depending on consumers’ previous experiences, their learning orientation as adult learners and the characteristics of the online environment. Results provide evidence for the existence of three learning strategies and show how the online environment comes shifting traditional consumer learning paradigms.

This paper contributes to the literature on consumer behavior on two levels. First, the findings highlight the importance of taking an andragogical standpoint to provide a more nuanced and realistic view on consumers’ learning processes in new product learning. Second, the results show how the exploration and interactivity provided by the online environment present beneficial prerequisites for effective consumer learning. More than just being an alternative, online learning is complementary to offline modes of learning to improve consumers’ overall learning experience.

This paper introduces the seven empirical studies on vacation decision making in this special issue of IJCTHR. The paper compares the findings of these seven studies to traditional models of vacation decision making, and highlights a number of new perspectives for research into vacation decision making.

Five themes appear in these contemporary studies of vacation decision making: the multifaceted nature of the vacation; joint decision making by members of the household; impact of the type of vacation trip on the decision making process; the role of the internet in vacation decision making; and the role of socio‐psychological variables in vacation decision making.

The paper provides recommendations for future research in vacation decision making, in light of contemporary changes in the travel and tourism industry.

The value of this paper lies in its review of traditional approaches to researching vacation decision making, and advice provided for future research on the topic.

Tourists' special possessions are under-studied in consumer research despite their importance in self-identity development. Furthermore, extant studies about tourist souvenirs fail in providing an extensive and in-depth view of souvenirs, and in exploring both their functional and symbolic dimensions. This paper aims to better and deeply understand the symbols and meanings attached to tourist souvenirs as well as the functions they fulfil in contemporary consumption.

A naturalistic interpretive approach has been privileged. A total of 19 informants have been interviewed and observed at home in a triangulation perspective. Interview transcripts, field notes, and pictorial material were analyzed and interpreted through the grounded theory approach.

A new typology of four types of symbolic souvenirs including touristic trinkets, destination stereotypes, paper mementoes, and picked-up objects is developed. The typology is grounded on four major functions souvenirs may fulfil in terms of meanings and identity construction, that is: categorization, self-expression, connectedness, and self-creation.

This study contributes to a better knowledge of tourist souvenirs, which is a typical case of consumers' special possessions that may be central in self-identity processes. Considered as powerful “messengers of meaning”, tourist souvenirs help consumers to maintain material links with cherished past experiences and to convey individual and cultural meanings to their broader existence. Typologies such as the one developed in this paper are crucial not only for researchers but also for marketers and retailers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the city break travel decision, and in particular, to develop a decision making model that reflects the characteristics of this type of trip taking.

The research follows a sequential mixed methods approach consisting of two phases. Phase One involves a quantitative survey of 1,000 visitors to Dublin. The research distinguishes and compares city break and non‐city break visitor cohorts. Phase Two entails a qualitative analysis (involving 40 in‐depth interviews) that specifically examines the decision making behavior of city break visitors.

The research shows city break trips to be relatively inexpensive, uncomplicated, and discretionary in nature. The city break travel decision emerges from quite distinct motives where situational factors proved particularly influential. The decision process mostly entailed low involvement / limited problem solving behavior with strong internet usage evident throughout.

The findings show that many traditional decision making models have problems incorporating contemporary travel decisions such as city breaks. This is because such models generally fail to recognize a non‐systematic approach to decision making, where travelers do not necessarily undertake the process in distinctive stages, and where emotional elements are as relevant as functional ones. This study supports the need for a range of models that are reflective of the differences that exist in travel decision making – models that can distinguish the specific nuances and characteristics of particular decision situations.

This paper aims to uncover the relationships between marital power and influence strategies used during couples' vacation decision processes. Marital power includes two dimensions: the first dimension is objective and composed of actual economic resources; the second is subjective and composed of feelings such as spousal love or self‐esteem.

192 couples completed a questionnaire that included statements describing different influence strategies utilized during the vacation purchase‐decision process; respondents indicated the frequency with which they employed each strategy.

Subjective marital power is associated with the use of spousal influence strategies. Objective marital power does not predict the use of these strategies.

These findings highlight a hitherto understudied aspect of marital power – subjective power.

Consumer researchers and vacation marketers should take into account the subjective marital power balance and its impact on influence strategies during couples' vacation decision processes.

This study shows that during a vacation decision process, the marital power balance between partners impacts on the choice of spousal influence strategies. Secondly, economic power is not the dominant factor that affects the choice of influence strategy; rather, interpersonal power is influential in the use of spousal influence strategies during the vacation decision process.

Information‐search for vacation decision‐making can occur in two different contexts: an individual one, in which one forms one's preferences, and a social one in response to discussions with partners and family members. This paper focuses on the latter.

By means of a longitudinal study the research investigates the main topics of discussion in couples, and the information sources couples use in their discussion. Furthermore, the research investigates whether the information sources used depend on the nature of the sub‐decision – search‐determined or experience‐determined – the couples discuss.

The research finds that there is considerable discussion between partners and that the amount of discussion varies in relation to the type of sub‐decision. During these discussions, the use of different information sources is widespread. More generally, the study confirms the overall importance of the social context: information sources used in the social context are different from sources used in the individual context. The research does not confirm the expected relationship between the nature of a sub‐decision and the type of information source used. As the decision process proceeds over time, the role of objective information sources increases in discussions.

Compared with the classical individual approach to researching tourist information search, the social context of information‐searching needs other market research data, to provide insight into the topics of discussion. Tourism marketing messages in a social decision context should be directed to significant others, as these messages are likely to be used as important information sources during the joint vacation decision process in couples. In this respect, the use of electronic word‐of‐mouth offers new opportunities for vacation marketing.

A new perspective on information search: the relevance of social contexts.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumer self‐confidence, product expertise, and travel experience in the context of travel information search during vacation planning.

The research design is based on a panel study to monitor trip planning processes of Austrian travelers. A structural model is used to assess to what degree consumer self‐confidence, product expertise, and travel experience affect travel information search and to examine the influence of consumer self‐confidence on product expertise.

Findings from the study show that consumer self‐confidence significantly affects product expertise. Travel experience, on the other hand, positively influences product expertise that again is positively related to travel information search. No significant relationship is established between travel experience and travel information search.

While most of the previous studies investigated information search using cross‐sectional data, this study addresses the need for more accurate research on information search adopting a panel design. One major limitation of the study is the small sample size. Results from a larger sample might be different in regards to the magnitude of the relationships.

This study contributes to the overall understanding of how knowledge and ability‐related factors impact travel information sourcing. The tourism literature reveals no other study that has simultaneously quantified consumer self‐confidence and product expertise during trip planning.

The purpose of this paper is to describe theory building and testing of dual processing of tourist reasoning, judgment, and actions.

The paper applies micro‐tipping point theory and qualitative comparative analysis, using case study data.

Maps of the reasoning, judgments, and actions of five parties of tourist buying major services support dual‐processing theory of deciding on destination choices.

This report does not include the attempt to generalize the findings to large survey samples of informants.

Executives need to go beyond recognizing that what tourists report consciously may differ substantially from what they think unconsciously and to plan on collecting data on both dual processing modes of thinking.

This paper breaks new ground in applying dual‐processing theory in tourist behavior of buying major tourist services.