Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025
Leveraging Pricing Strategies for Destination Management: The Impact of Algorithm-led Versus Human-led Price Discrimination on Tourist Attitudes Toward Destinations
Tourists frequently experience two types of price discrimination: algorithm- and human-led. However, research on their influence on tourist attitudes toward destinations is limited. This study conducted four experiments to compare the impact of algorithm- and human-led (by local travel agency staff) price discrimination on tourists’ attitudes toward destinations, using attribution theory and a single-factor between-subjects design with manipulation checks. The results indicated that human-led price discrimination had a more negative effect on tourist attitudes and that the main effect was mediated by trust in the residents. The moderating role of current socioeconomic status was also examined, revealing that the negative influence of human-led price discrimination on trust in residents was stronger among tourists with high socioeconomic status. This study extends existing literature on price discrimination and attribution theory. Practically, it underscores how tourist attitudes toward a destination can be affected by leveraging price discrimination by type.
AliM.HassanM. (2023). Green management practices and trust for green behavioral intentions and mediation of ethical leadership. An attribution theory perspective in tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(9), 3193–3215. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-04-2022-0506
2.
AntonoplisS. (2023). Studying socioeconomic status: Conceptual problems and an alternative path forward. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(2), 275–292. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221093615
3.
ArenalA.ArmuñaC.FeijooC.RamosS.XuZ.MorenoA. (2020). Innovation ecosystems theory revisited: The case of artificial intelligence in China. Telecommunications Policy, 44(6), 101960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2020.101960
4.
BainR. (1928). An attitude on attitude research. American Journal of Sociology, 33, 940–957. https://doi.org/10.1086/214598
5.
BalogluS.MangalogluM. (2001). Tourism destination images of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Italy as perceived by US-based tour operators and travel agents. Tourism Management, 22(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0261-5177(00)00030-3
6.
BergemannD.BrooksB.MorrisS. (2015). The limits of price discrimination. American Economic Review, 105(3), 921–957. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20130848
7.
BoukambaH. K.OiT.SanoK. (2021). A generalized approach to tourist ethnocentrism (GATE): Analysis of the GenE Scale for application in tourism research. Journal of Travel Research, 60(1), 65–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519895128
8.
BrewsterZ. W. (2012). Racially discriminatory service in full-service restaurants: The problem, cause, and potential solutions. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(4), 274–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965512458178
9.
BrowningV.SoK. K. F.SparksB. (2013). The influence of online reviews on consumers’ attributions of service quality and control for service standards in hotels. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1–2), 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2013.750971
10.
ByrneJ. (2012). When green is white: The cultural politics of race, nature and social exclusion in a Los Angeles urban national park. Geoforum, 43(3), 595–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.10.002
11.
CastañedaJ. A.FríasD. M.RodríguezM. A. (2007). The influence of the Internet on destination satisfaction. Internet Research, 17(4), 402–420. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240710828067
12.
ChenN.HsuC. H. C.LiX. (2018). Feeling superior or deprived? Attitudes and underlying mentalities of residents towards Mainland Chinese tourists. Tourism Management, 66, 94–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.11.007
13.
ChenY.-F.PangT.-T.KuslinaB. H. (2023). The effect of price discrimination on fairness perception and online hotel reservation intention. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 18(3), 1320–1337. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer18030067
14.
ChoiS.SongM.JingL. (2023). Let your algorithm shine: The impact of algorithmic cues on consumer perceptions of price discrimination. Tourism Management, 99, 104792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104792
15.
CorleyK. G.GioiaD. A. (2011). Building theory about theory building: What constitutes a theoretical contribution?Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 12–32. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0486
16.
CuiR.LiJ.ZhangD. J. (2020). Reducing discrimination with reviews in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from field experiments on Airbnb. Management Science, 66(3), 1071–1094. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3273
17.
DalmageH. M. (2019). Traveling across racial borders: TripAdvisor and the discursive strategies businesses use to deny racism. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 5(4), 518–531. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218785919
18.
DiemerM. A.MistryR. S.WadsworthM. E.LópezI.ReimersF. (2013). Best practices in conceptualizing and measuring social class in psychological research. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 13(1), 77–113. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12001
19.
DingY.WuJ.JiT.ChenX.Van LangeP. A. M. (2017). The rich are easily offended by unfairness: Wealth triggers spiteful rejection of unfair offers. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 71, 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.03.008
20.
DuaniN.BaraschA.MorwitzV. (2024). Demographic pricing in the digital age: Assessing fairness perceptions in algorithmic versus human-based price discrimination. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 9(3), 257–268. https://doi.org/10.1086/729440
21.
EdelmanB.LucaM.SvirskyD. (2017). Racial discrimination in the sharing economy: Evidence from a field experiment. American Economic Journal Applied Economics, 9(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160213
22.
EsserF.VliegenthartR. (2017). Comparative research methods. In MatthesJ.DavisC. S.PotterR. (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 248–269). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0035
23.
FangD.ZhangG.YangX.LiuY. (2024). Should I believe this review? The impact of nicknames on perceived authenticity of online reviews in peer-to-peer accommodation. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 41(8), 1107–1123. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2024.2379312
24.
FarmakiA.KladouS. (2020). Why do Airbnb hosts discriminate? Examining the sources and manifestations of discrimination in host practice. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 42, 181–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.01.005
25.
FessingerM. B.KoveraM. B. (2022). From whose perspective? Differences between actors and observers in determining the voluntariness of guilty pleas. Law and Human Behavior, 46(5), 353–371. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000501
26.
FuT.LiS.XuJ.LiuM.ChenG. (2023). Examining tour guide humor as a driver of tourists’ positive word of mouth: A comprehensive mediation model. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(5), 1824–1843. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-05-2022-0587
27.
GinderW.KwonW.-S.ByunS.-E. (2021). Effects of internal–external congruence-based CSR positioning: An attribution theory approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(2), 355–369.
28.
GirouxM.FranklinD.KimJ.ParkJ.KwakK. (2022). The impact of same versus different price presentation on travel choice and the moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status. Journal of Travel Research, 61(3), 674–695. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520988903
29.
GriskeviciusV.AckermanJ. M.CantX. F. A.DeltonM. S.RobertsonA. W.SimpsonT. E.ThompsonJ. A.TyburM. E., E. J. M., (2013). When the economy falters, do people spend or save? Responses to resource scarcity depend on childhood environments. Psychological Science, 24(2), 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612451471
30.
GrundnerL.NeuhoferB. (2021). The bright and dark sides of artificial intelligence: A futures perspective on tourist destination experiences. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 19, 100511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100511
31.
GuttentagD.SmithS. L. J. (2022). The diffusion of Airbnb: A comparative look at earlier adopters, later adopters, and non-adopters. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(20), 3225–3244. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1782855
32.
HairJ. F.RisherJ. J.SarstedtM.RingleC. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr-11-2018-0203
33.
HanW.BaiB. (2022). Pricing research in hospitality and tourism and marketing literature: A systematic review and research agenda. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(5), 1717–1738. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-08-2021-0963
HayesA. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications.
36.
HeiderF. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
37.
HsuC. H. C.ChenN. (2019). Resident attribution and tourist stereotypes. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 43(4), 489–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348018823903
38.
HsuP.-Y.KuE. C. S.LaiT.-C.HsuS. (2022). Developing a Muslim tourism market: The perspective of travel agencies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 5(1), 166–185. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-08-2020-0155
39.
HuangG. I.KarlM.WongI. A.LawR. (2023). Tourism destination research from 2000 to 2020: A systematic narrative review in conjunction with bibliographic mapping analysis. Tourism Management, 95, 104686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104686
40.
HudsonS.SoK. K. F.MengF.CárdenasD.LiJ. (2020). Racial discrimination in tourism: The case of African-American travellers in South Carolina. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(4), 438–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1516743
41.
InesonE. M.YapM. H. T.WhitingG. (2013). Sexual discrimination and harassment in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.04.012
42.
JacksonM. (2019). Utilizing attribution theory to develop new insights into tourism experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 38, 176–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2018.04.007
43.
JangS. M. (2013). Framing responsibility in climate change discourse: Ethnocentric attribution bias, perceived causes, and policy attitudes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.07.003
44.
KalargyrouV.CostenW. (2017). Diversity management research in hospitality and tourism: Past, present and future. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(1), 68–114. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-09-2015-0470
45.
KimD.ChenZ.HwangY. (2011). Are we really measuring what we think we’re measuring? Assessing attitudes towards destinations with the implicit association test. International Journal of Tourism Research, 13(5), 468–481. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.821
46.
KimH.JangS. (2020). Do status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility really drive compensatory consumption?International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102615
47.
KimH.SoK. K. F. (2023). The evolution of service failure and recovery research in hospitality and tourism: An integrative review and future research directions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 111, 103457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103457
48.
KimJ.GirouxM.ParkJ.LeeJ. C. (2022a). An evolutionary perspective in tourism: The role of socioeconomic status on extremeness aversion in travel decision making. Journal of Travel Research, 61(5), 1187–1200. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875211024738
49.
KimJ.ParkJ.SeptiantoF. (2022b). The impact of socioeconomic status on preferences for sustainable luxury brands. Psychology and Marketing, 39(8), 1563–1578. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21671
KimM. S.BakerM. A. (2024). Sustainable tourism employment: A comprehensive overview of tourism employees’ experience from a tourist-employee interaction perspective. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 60, 228–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2024.07.009
52.
KimY.JungJ.NaJ. (2022c). Socioeconomic status differences in psychological responses to unfair treatments: Behavioral evidence of a vicious cycle. PLoS One, 17(6), e0268286. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268286
53.
LeeJ.ParkS. (2019). Price discrimination by language: Field experimental evidence from a shopping mall. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 63, 69–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2018.07.004
54.
LiF.HeX. (2023). The interaction effect of reward type and mindset on online travel community promotion intention: The mediating roles of identification and community commitment. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 40(4), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2023.2245421
55.
LiF.MaJ. (2023). The effectiveness of the destination logo: Congruity effect between logo typeface and destination stereotypes. Tourism Management, 98, 104772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104772
LiH.CaiD.LiG.HuM. (2025). The “beauty premium” phenomenon: Appearance discrimination in the p2p market. Journal of Travel Research, 64, 783–811. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875241227611
58.
LimJ.-E. (2020). Understanding the discrimination experienced by customers with disabilities in the tourism and hospitality industry: The case of Seoul in South Korea. Sustainability, 12(18), 7328. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187328
59.
LiuJ.WangC.FangS.ZhangT. (2019). Scale development for tourist trust toward a tourism destination. Tourism Management Perspectives, 31, 383–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.07.001
60.
LiuY.ZhangG.HighamJ. (2025). Switching off for the planet: ‘surface mimicry’ and energy saving practices in peer-to-peer accommodation. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 33, 548–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2024.2354884
61.
LiX.YangX. (2022). Tourist trust toward a tourism destination: Scale development and validation. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 27(6), 562–580. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2022.2091943
62.
LiY.TuJ.HeM.LiuP. (2023). Polluted psyche: The effect of regional discrimination on tourists’ unethical behavior intention. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(11), 4051–4069. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-11-2022-1325
63.
LuohH.-F.TsaurS.-H. (2011). Customers’ perceptions of service quality: Do servers’ age stereotypes matter?International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(2), 283–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.09.002
64.
MalleB. F. (2022). Attribution theories. In DerekC. (Ed.), Theories in social psychology, second edition (pp. 93–120). Wiley-Blackwell.
65.
MartinkoM. J.MackeyJ. D. (2019). Attribution theory: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(5), 523–527. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2397
66.
McKercherB.PackerT.YauM. K.LamP. (2003). Travel agents as facilitators or inhibitors of travel: Perceptions of people with disabilities. Tourism Management, 24(4), 465–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0261-5177(02)00107-3
67.
NagarR.ShaniA.PoriaY. (2022). “You feel like a second-class guest”: Customer discrimination against Arab guests in Israeli hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 103, 103216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103216
68.
NaminA.GauriD. K.KwortnikR. J. (2020). Improving revenue performance with third-degree price discrimination in the cruise industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 89, 102597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102597
69.
OsinN.PoratD. (Eds.) (2005). Legislating against Discrimination: An international survey of anti-discrimination norms. Martinus Nijhoff.
70.
PachuckiC.GrohsR.Scholl-GrissemannU. (2022). No story without a storyteller: The impact of the storyteller as a narrative element in online destination marketing. Journal of Travel Research, 61(8), 1703–1718. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875211046052
71.
ParkJ.KimJ.KimS. (2022). Evolutionary aspects of scarcity information with regard to travel options: The role of childhood socioeconomic status. Journal of Travel Research, 61(1), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520971040
72.
PetersU.HoneycuttN.De BlockA.JussimL. (2020). Ideological diversity, hostility, and discrimination in philosophy. Philosophical Psychology, 33(4), 511–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2020.1743257
73.
PullerS. L.TaylorL. M. (2012). Price discrimination by day-of-week of purchase: Evidence from the U.S. Airline industry. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 84(3), 801–812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2012.09.022
74.
QuY.JoW.ChoiH. C. (2020). Gender discrimination, injustice, and deviant behavior among hotel employees: Role of organizational attachment. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 21(1), 78–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008x.2019.1619498
75.
SalehM. I. (2023). Attribution theory revisited: Probing the link among locus of causality theory, Destination social responsibility, tourism experience types, and tourist behavior. Journal of Travel Research, 62(6), 1309–1327. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875221119968
76.
SalehM. I. (2024). When do tourists defend tourism service providers’ reputations? Insights from attribution theory. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 25, 686–708. https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2022.2142998
77.
SeeleP.DierksmeierC.HofstetterR.SchultzM. D. (2021). Mapping the ethicality of algorithmic pricing: A review of dynamic and personalized pricing. Journal of Business Ethics, 170(4), 697–719. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04371-w
78.
SeptiantoF.SeoY.LiL. P.ShiL. (2023). Awe in advertising: The mediating role of an abstract mindset. Journal of Advertising, 52(1), 24–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2021.1931578
ShangY.LiF.SuQ. (2023). The influence of big data-enabled price discrimination on tourists’ continuance usage intention to mobile applications: A technology threat avoidance perspective. Current Issues in Tourism, 26(19), 3209–3230. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2022.2111297
81.
ShepelakN. J. (1989). Ideological stratification: American beliefs about economic justice. Social Justice Research, 3(3), 217–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01048450
82.
SigalaM. (2018). New technologies in tourism: From multi-disciplinary to anti-disciplinary advances and trajectories. Tourism Management Perspectives, 25, 151–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2017.12.003
83.
Sirakaya-TurkE.NyaupaneG.UysalM. (2013). Guests and hosts revisited: Prejudicial attitudes of guests toward the host population. Journal of Travel Research, 53(3), 336–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287513500580
84.
SjöbergR. L. (2022). Five psychological mechanisms that might bias learning from neurosurgical complications: Case discussions and a narrative review. British Journal of Neurosurgery, 36(3), 323–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/02688697.2021.1981242
85.
StylidisD. (2022). Exploring resident–tourist interaction and its impact on tourists’ destination image. Journal of Travel Research, 61(1), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520969861
86.
StylidisD.ShaniA.BelhassenY. (2017). Testing an integrated destination image model across residents and tourists. Tourism Management, 58, 184–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.014
87.
SuL.JiaB.HuangY. (2022). How do destination negative events trigger tourists’ perceived betrayal and boycott? The moderating role of relationship quality. Tourism Management, 92, 104536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104536
88.
SuQ.LiF. (2023). How cute mascots affect relationships with tourism destinations: A moderated mediation model. Tourism Management, 99, 104782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104782
89.
TianG.WuW. (2023). Big data pricing in marketplace lending and price discrimination against repeat borrowers: Evidence from China. China Economic Review, 78, 101944. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2023.101944
90.
TsaurS.-H.YenC.-H.TengH.-Y. (2018). Tourist–resident conflict: A scale development and empirical study. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 10, 152–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2018.09.002
UgurZ. B. (2021). How does inequality hamper subjective well-being? The role of fairness. Social Indicators Research, 158(2), 377–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02711-w
van der RestJ.-P.SearsA. M.KuokkanenH.HeidaryK. (2022). Algorithmic pricing in hospitality and tourism: call for research on ethics, consumer backlash and CSR. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 5(4), 771–781. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-08-2021-0216
96.
van HoornA. (2015). Individualist–collectivist culture and trust radius: A multilevel approach. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(2), 269–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022114551053
97.
VigliaG.AbrateG. (2014). How social comparison influences reference price formation in a service context. Journal of Economic Psychology, 45, 168–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.09.003
98.
WangJ.ZhouZ.CaoS.LiuL.RenJ.MorrisonA. M. (2025). Who sets prices better? The impact of pricing agents on consumer negative word-of-mouth when applying price discrimination. Tourism Management, 106, 105003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2024.105003
99.
WangL.YouY.YangC.-M. (2020). Restrained by resources: The effect of scarcity cues and childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on consumer preference for feasibility. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(3), 557–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.01.007
100.
WangS.JiC.HeH.ZhangZ.ZhangL. (2021). Tourists’ waste reduction behavioral intentions at tourist destinations: An integrative research framework. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 25, 540–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.12.010
101.
WuM.-Y.PearceP. L. (2014). Chinese recreational vehicle users in Australia: A netnographic study of tourist motivation. Tourism Management, 43, 22–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.010
YeB.Zhang QiuH.YuenP. (2012). Perceived discrimination in the context of high and low interactions – Evidence from medical and general tourists. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 17(6), 635–655. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2011.635665
104.
ZhangJ.WuB.MorrisonA. M.TsengC.ChenY.-C. (2016). How country image affects tourists’ destination evaluations: A moderated mediation approach. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 42(6), 904–930. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348016640584
105.
ZhangY.PrayagG.SongH. (2021). Attribution theory and negative emotions in tourism experiences. Tourism Management Perspectives, 40, 100904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2021.100904
106.
ZhongW.GaoF.XiaL. (2025). The impact of consumer socioeconomic status on their preferences for human versus robot service agents in luxury shopping contexts. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 24(1), 156–177. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.2413
107.
ZhouL.LiuJ.LiuD. (2022). How does discrimination occur in hospitality and tourism services, and what shall we do? A critical literature review. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(3), 1037–1061. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-07-2021-0849
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
