Managing the experience co-creation in tourism

Abstract

Studies until now revealed the common acceptation about the arising importance of co-creation for the satisfaction of the market and the consequent success of the company. Despite that, there is the general recognition that theory and practice about co-creation are still at an initial phase, and not all the potentials of this process have been explored. This is true especially in the tourism industry. Starting from these considerations, this research aims to elaborate and to test a model useful to contribute to the relevant issue of designing and managing the role of tourists as experiences co-creators in Tourism Industry. In particular, the study analyzes the link between the role of the tourists as experience co-creators and their satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness. According to the post-positivist paradigm here adopted, the study drew from a deep literature analysis the block of theoretical knowledge useful to define the hypotheses tested through a survey conducted on tourists of Napoli. The direct interaction of tourists with tourist operators, the active participation of tourists during the trip experience, the sharing of tourist experience with others, the degree of experience co-creation, the tourists satisfaction for the experience lived, the tourists level of expenditure during the trip, and the tourists happiness were measured using different scales adapted from previous researches which are discussed in the literature review. The empirical analysis starts with the identification of the respondents’ profile, with socio-demographical and behavioural aspects. After that, statistical analysis with exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis is conducted in order to understand the relationships among the constructs identified. Findings show significant and positive relationships between direct interaction and degree of co-creation, active participation and degree of co-creation, sharing of experience and degree of co-creation, and between degree of co-creation and tourists’ satisfaction, level of expenditure and happiness. Furthermore, the results revealed not hypothesized relationships between direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience. This study aims at contributing to the growing body of knowledge about the concept of co-creation, focusing on the experience co-creation in tourism industry, highlighting the importance of experience co-creation in influencing the tourist satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness, and posing the attention on the direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience as main influencers of the experience co-creation degree. [edited by author]