Defining and Operationalizing Eight Forms of Eudaimonia and Hedonia and Assessing Tourism-Specific Context-Dependency

Abstract

The development of wellbeing during a vacation and immediately afterward is well understood. It remains unclear, however, how eudaimonia and hedonia differ across typical home and vacation contexts. Given that eudaimonia and hedonia drive behavior, understanding contextual differences can guide the development of targeted behavioral change interventions, including those that entice tourists to behave in more environmentally or socially sustainable ways. This study (1) introduces to tourism research a conceptual framework that unambiguously defines eight forms of eudaimonia and hedonia, (2) operationalizes them, and (3) investigates their context dependency empirically. State level hedonia and eudaimonia are substantially higher on vacation, suggesting they represent promising targets for behavioral change interventions. The definitions and operationalization of the eight forms of eudaimonia and hedonia offer a unifying framework that facilitates cumulative tourism knowledge development on the role of hedonia and eudaimonia in tourism by ensuring new insights relate to the exact same constructs.