The emotional mechanism of host-guest interaction impact tourist value co-creation behaviors: A perspective from affective events theory

Abstract

Tourist value co-creation remains a key focus in tourism studies. However, limited attention has been directed toward understanding the emotional mechanisms driving tourist value co-creation behaviors. The foundation of this research is the Affective Events Theory (AET), and it employs three experiments to explore how host-guest interaction influence tourist value co-creation behaviors within ethnic tourism. Findings indicated a significant effect of host-guest interaction strength on tourist value co-creation behaviors. Specifically, a higher level of host-guest interaction fosters more pronounced value co-creation behaviors compared to a lower level; place attachment and interactive attitude play the independent mediating and chain mediating roles. Moreover, tourists' psychological ownership positively moderated the independent and chain mediating roles of place attachment and interaction attitude, indicating that the stronger the tourist's psychological ownership, the greater the influence of host-guest interaction on value co-creation behaviors via these mediating paths. These insights contribute to fostering mutually beneficial outcomes for both hosts and visitors in the context of ethnic tourism destinations.