A Generalized Approach to Tourist Ethnocentrism (GATE): Analysis of the GenE Scale for Application in Tourism Research

Abstract

The tourism phenomenon essentially entails a quest and encounter with the otherness, which are often articulated in the traveler’s involvement with worlds, values, and lives of those inhabiting other cultures. Tourists however, as ordinary people, are not immune to intergroup biases, which constitute important behavioral determinants. Drawing on seminal accounts from intercultural communication, marketing, and psychology, the authors propose a Generalized Approach to Tourist Ethnocentrism (GATE) which considers biased perceptions toward out-group members and their culture, while moving beyond the traditional scope of the home country’s economy. Additionally, the study explored and modeled the Generalized Ethnocentrism (GenE) scale for application in tourism research. A second data set (n=302) further confirmed the psychometric properties, along with the fit and robustness of the proposed model. The GenE is presented to tourism research as a Type II reflective first-order formative second-order construct, whose causal indicators include cultural bias and personal prejudice. Research implications are discussed.