A study of individuals' satisfaction of destination attributes during incentive travel with a moderating role of travel group composition

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] While incentive travel has existed for decades, it is a highly under researched sector of the hospitality and tourism industry with absent literature in regards to industry and academia. Incentive travel is an internationally rapidly growing segment used to incentivize and motivate employees in the workplace through significant trip rewards. However, while significant research has examined destination attributes and incentive motivation literature, the relationship of internal and external destination attributes to the incentive travel industry and analysis of travel group composition has not been addressed. In an effort to address this gap, this study investigates the determinants of incentive travelers' satisfaction of destination attributes on incentive trips in various travel group compositions from the perspectives of participants of incentive travel within the United States of America. Presenting managerial and theoretical implications to the incentive travel literature, the findings of this study support significant variations in satisfaction levels between incentive travelers' traveling alone and incentive travelers' traveling with guests.