Author: Meaghan    Labbe

Major: Psychology

Graduation Year: 2016

Thesis Advisor: Michael A. Robbins

Description of Publication: The present study aimed to investigate relationships for the Big 5 Personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism with a range of inventories that assessed travel desire and travel experience. The specific travel measures that were included are travel desire, cultural awareness, emotional regulation, existential authenticity, loyalty, agency and cultural motivation. The study also compared characteristics associated with a preference for specific types of travel such as authentic destinations, which give travelers a chance to experience the place they are in through engagement with the culture, people, and surroundings, versus staged destinations which are defined more in terms of resorts and guided tours. Many significant relationships were obtained between the personality traits and the travel measures between travel experience and cultural awareness, and among the travel measures. Notably, the traits of openness to experience and conscientiousness were strongly associated with cultural awareness.

Location of Publication:

• fogler
• reynolds

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/392