Do nonalignable attributes count to tourists? The effect of crowding on attributes alignability preference

Service providers strive to differentiate offerings to stay ahead. How to leverage the alignable and nonalignable attributes advantage of services is still a question to be solved. This research focuses on the role of crowding, a widely observed but important phenomenon during peak travel seasons, in shaping tourists’ willingness to process nonalignable attributes. On the basis of structural alignment model, this research conducted two online experiments and one field experiment to indicate that tourists in the crowding (vs. uncrowding) settings focus more on superior nonalignable (vs. alignable) attributes and tested the mediating role of competitive thinking in the influence mechanism. This research enriches findings of structural alignment theory and crowding in a tourism context, and provides marketing suggestions for travel and hospitality managers to develop effective communication strategies for their services.