CONSUMER INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR IN VACATION TRAVEL

Abstract

This paper focuses on the study of innovative behavior of tourists through the dimensions of sensation seeking. To our knowledge, few studies have explored the dimensions of sensation seeking in relation to the innovative behavior of tourists in their holiday travel decisions. Sensation seeking is defined as the desire for varied, new, and complex experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks in order to achieve such experience. Four components of sensation seeking are identified: thrill and adventure seeking; experience seeking; disinhibition; and boredom susceptibility.
This study is based on a sample of 543 university students. The results show that innovators obtain higher scores on the total scale of sensation seeking than non-innovators, both men and women, as well as on the four dimensions of the scale. In addition, sensation seeking is a significant predictor of the consumer innovativeness in the vacation travel. It is noted that three of the four dimensions of sensation seeking (thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, and disinhibition) have a significant influence on the travel service innovativeness.