Cross-cultural tourist behaviour: a replication and extension involving Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance dimension

• Published in: The international journal of tourism research Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 29 - 37
• Main Authors: Litvin, Stephen W., Crotts, John C., Hefner, Frank L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.2004; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Alliances; Behavior; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Cross cultural studies; cross-cultural research; Cultural tourism; Cultural values; Culture; Hofstede; International travel; Manycountries; Society; Tourism; Travel; Uncertainty; uncertainty avoidance; United States > US
• ISSN: 1099-2340; 1522-1970
• DOI: 10.1002/jtr.468

Hofstede's five cross‐cultural dimensions have been broadly applied in the literature. Money and Crotts recently applied the dimension of uncertainty avoidance to a matched sample comprised of low uncertainty avoidance German and high uncertainty avoidance Japanese tourists, finding their behaviours consistent with those behaviours predicted by Hofstede. This study both replicates and extends their research across a representative sample of first time leisure visitors to the USA representing 58 nations. It was found that visitors from high uncertainty avoidance cultures exhibited behaviours consistent with those of the Japanese in the Money and Crotts research, whereas visitors from low‐uncertainty avoidance cultures behaved similarly to their German subjects. Such findings, across a broad sample population, validate the original research through a more rigorous test of its propositions, provide increased confidence regarding their generalisability, and further contribute to our understanding of the influence of national culture on tourist behaviour. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.