Self-congruity theory in travel and tourism: another update.

Abstract

This chapter was designed to update the chapter on self-congruity research in travel and tourism (Sirgy, 2014). That chapter reviewed much of the research on self-congruity in travel and tourism and provided a refinement of the theoretical model originally proposed by Sirgy and Su (2000). The goal here is to revisit the theoretical propositions in light of the recent evidence and to suggest avenues for future research. Four aspects of the tourist self-concept have been identified to explain and predict travel behaviour. These are the actual self-image, the ideal self-image, the social self-image and the ideal-social self-image. Self-congruity is defined in a tourism context as involving a process of matching (some dimension of) a tourist's self-concept with the destination image. The greater the match between self-concept and the destination image, the greater the likelihood that tourists feel motivated to travel to that destination. Inherent in destination image are concepts related to destination-visitor image and destination personality. An argument is made that self-congruity involves the match between tourist's self-concept (actual, ideal, social, and ideal-social self) and destination-visitor image and/or destination personality.