Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Title

The Role of Attitude on Local Seafood Purchase Intention of Tourist Couples Visiting South Carolina: A Multi-level Approach

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 2015

Abstract

Despite the collective nature of tourism activity, the research focusing on group behavior in tourism literature is very rare. People usually travel with groups, mostly with their families who have influence on each other's travel decisions. Food as one of the unique aspects of a destination, has become a marketing tool for tourism planners. The preference of local food among tourist will create positive impact on the region and exploring the underlying factors of this preference will be beneficial for future marketing plans. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors influencing local food purchase intention of tourist couples visiting coastal areas of South Carolina through the use of modified Theory of Reasoned action and provide a better understanding of their decision making process by using Hierarchical Linear Modelling as data analyzing technique. Data was collected in Charleston and Beaufort from 180 tourist couples in October 2014. Results show that even if women have negative attitude towards oysters, their intention to purchase local seafood is not different than men. Positive variables have stronger influence on intention to purchase seafood at individual and couple level.The implications of this study will be discussed in three ways; theoretical, methodological and practical.

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