Capturing eudaimonic feelings in tourism experience: A construct proposal and preliminary empirical evidence

Abstract

Despite the increasing interest in eudaimonic tourism experiences in recent years, research in tourism studies is fragmented. In addition, studies most often lack conceptualization, not clarifying whether the construct refers to state or trait level and what psychological mechanism is analysed, whether experience, functioning, behaviour or motivation. This pilot study aims to contribute to a better understanding of eudaimonia in tourism experiences by proposing the construct of Eudaimonic Feelings as a proxy for eudaimonia. Eudaimonic Feelings is considered a state-level construct defined as the cognitive-affective appraisals towards self-fulfilment, authenticity, truthful social interactions, and personal meaningfulness concerning a tourism experience. Adopting a multi-item approach, items found in prior research were adapted to explore and measure Eudaimonic Feelings through a survey using a convenience sample. Results support data unidimensionality, items’ reliability, and construct robustness and replicability.