Family versus couples: How travel goal influences evaluations of bundled travel packages

This research investigates how travel goal activates judgmental heuristics when choosing a travel package. Family travelers must consider the complex needs of all family members, whereas couples face simpler demands. Since motivations vary according to traveling companions, the decision-making processes are different by the travel goal. Pricing is a determinant of decisions for travel packages bundled with add-on items. When the decision process requires less mental effort, the availability heuristic operates when filtering products by travel goal, and the representativeness heuristic works when seeking consistency between add-on items and the travel goal. Dual processing theories suggest that goal influences the motivation to process information systematically or automatically when making choices. An experiment was conducted to examine how the decision-making process differs as a function of travel goal, price bundling, and the consistency between the travel goal and add-on item. The findings suggest that judgmental heuristics influence travel purchase decision when motivation to process information is low. Specifically, the current research supports the proposition that automatic processing influences couples’ travel decisions while systematic processing works for family travel decisions. The research suggests the use of an effective segmentation for vacation packages in the online purchase environment and highlights the importance of a travel goal in decision-making.

The Vexing Volunteer’s Dilemma

A volunteer’s dilemma exists when a prosocial act such as volunteering leaves the volunteer better off than if no one had volunteered but worse off than if someone else had volunteered. Ideally, a person would do what others are not doing. Research has identified psychological processes and judgmental heuristics affecting the likelihood of volunteering. People volunteer inasmuch as the other person is psychologically close, they project their own choice to others, they believe that they volunteer more than others, and they ascribe moral value to volunteering. These heuristics promote volunteering and tend to create value, but they also create risks of overvolunteering. These heuristics are discussed in the context of egocentric perception and concern with reputation.

Risk versus Reward: When Will Travelers Go the Distance?

Online reviews have a powerful influence on travel purchase decisions and outweigh other considerations, including price. Price and location are primary factors influencing hotel selection. This research investigates the influence of reviews and location on travel decisions for a spring break vacation in Cancun. Prospect theory and judgmental heuristics provide a theoretical foundation for the prediction that people will exert greater effort to avoid risk versus seek reward. Participants chose between two resorts that varied in review valence and distance from the popular area in an experimental design. Participants preferred a resort with neutral versus negative reviews regardless of distance, but preference for a positive versus neutral resort declined as distance increased. When both resorts had neutral reviews, location was the main determinant of lodging choice. The findings suggest that locational superiority can be offset by negative reviews, whereas locational inferiority can be overcome by maintaining good reviews online.