When the tourist home environment is so similar to a distant foreign destination: Evidence of constant vicarious experience effect on college students

Abstract

Vicarious experiences in tourism possess significant marketing implications. While numerous studies have explored how various forms of vicarious experiences can impact an individual, the role of different time spans as a key factor determining the extent of said impact has been neglected in prior research. To address this gap, the present study thus bridges environmental psychology with the context of tourism and applies the theory of mental representations. An experiment (n = 359) was designed to examine differences in select mental representation dimensions (cognitive, affective, conative, and sensorial) among male and female Chinese college students who have zero/medium/maximum durations of constant vicarious experiences related to European destinations in their home environment. The results indicate that the medium duration of constant vicarious experiences leads to the most positive changes in cognitive and conative dimensions, while the longest constant vicarious experiences produce desirable affective dimension outcomes. Moreover, male college students seem to be more susceptible to the influences of such constant vicarious experiences.