Scaling and Attitude Measurement in Travel and Hospitality Research

1. Scaling and Attitude Measurement in Travel and Hospitality Research Research Methodologies CHAPTER 11

2. Introduction • A primary reason for measuring attitudes is to gain an understanding of the reasons why people behave the way they do. • To illustrate, attitude measurement has been used to: • Shed useful light on the attitudes of tourists toward national parks as vacation destinations • Identify the perceptions held by potential visitors various tourist-recreation regions • Provide a better understanding of the major vacation orientations that different households assume • Determine potential visitors’ perceptions of a country and its regions

3. Attitudes • Definition: an enduring predisposition towards a particular object or place constitute the affective component of an attitude • Components of an attitude: • Cognitive – consists of the individual’s beliefs and knowledge about a particular object, or the manner in which the object is perceived • Affective – an individual’s feeling of like or dislike for a particular object or place • Behavioral – reflects the action taken or the expressed intent to act with respect to a particular object or place

4. Characteristics of Attitude • Their level of specificity. They can range from being very general or global in nature to being very specific to a particular object, place, or event. • How closely the attitudes are linked to a person’s underlying value system • The intensity of the attitude, or how strongly the individual feels

5. The Attitude-Behavior Relationship • Attitudes are generally good predictors of behavior, but there are factors that exist that can affect the strength of this relationship and they are as follows: • The degree of correspondence in the measures of attitude and behavior entities • The extent to which behavior is influenced by situational factors • The importance an individual places on complying with the norms established by relevant others • The relevance or importance of an attitude • The manner in which an attitude is formed • The degree of confidence associated with an attitude

6. Properties of Scale • Measurement is the assignment of numerals to objects, according to some specified rule • The numerals represent a specific kind of scale, and care is required in determining which scale properties are applicable • The four major properties of scales are: • Nominal – numbers are used to classify objects, people, or characteristics • Ordinal – requires objects in one category to be described in relation to those in another category • Interval – when the distances between any two numbers on the scale are of known size • Ratio – scales that have a zero point as their origin

7. Attitude Measurement Scales • Thurstone Scale – also referred to as the “equal-appearing interval scale”, is designed to obtain a score that will identify a person’s position on a scale reflecting a particular attitude • Likert Scale – also referred to as the “summated ratings,” requires respondents to indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement with a set of statements concerning a particular attitude objective • Semantic Differential – consists of a set of bipolar adjectives that can be used to measure respondents attitudes towards organizations, brands, stores, etc.

8. Choosing a Scale • In deciding on a particular scale, a number of criteria must be considered: • The properties of the scale • The number of items/statements to be used in the scale • The importance of reliability and validity • The method of interviewing • There are also some technical considerations: • Including the extent of category description, treatment of respondent uncertainty or ignorance, balance of favorable and unfavorable categories, and whether comparison judgment id required

9. Constructing a Scale • There are three basic approaches to constructing a scale: • Select a scale that has been previously developed and tested by others • Develop a scale by either modifying an existing scale or introducing a new set of items • Develop a new scale that is valid • It involves eight steps: • Specify domain of construct - Collect Data • Generate sample of items - Asses reliability • Collect data - Asses validity • Purify measure Develop norms

10. Alternative Approaches to Attitude Measurement • Multidimensional Scaling – where individuals are asked to rate alternatives on the basis of perceived similarity to one another • Constant-Sum Scale – which asks respondents to allocate a fixed number of points to each characteristic in proportion to their relative importance • Conjoint Analysis – is an indirect approach to assessing attribute importance. It offers a means for addressing limitations. The technique involves the trade-off of alternatives having characteristics that are varied in systematic ways

11. Attitude Research and Tourism Management • The following illustrate how attitude research can lead to more effective marketing: • Identifying consumer benefits • Establishing segments and target selection • Designing marketing strategies • Implementing the marketing mix

12. Conclusion • An important aspect of understanding and predicting human behavior is the study of attitudes, that is, the knowledge, feelings, and behavioral components individuals have with respect to some object or activity • The attitude measurement in the travel and tourism area has offered and continues to offer considerable potential