Promoting quality-of-life and well-being research in hospitality and tourism

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing interest in quality-of-life/well-being research in hospitality and tourism. The goal of this paper is to further promote the development and use of quality-of-life/well-being concepts in the discipline by reviewing seven major theories of quality of life and well-being (and their application in hospitality and tourism based on the research that I and my colleagues have conducted over the years) and suggesting future avenues of research. The theories discussed are self-congruity theory, self-expressiveness theory, bottom-up spillover theory, leisure benefits theory, goal theory, need hierarchy theory, and broaden-and-build theory.

KEYWORDS:

• Quality of life
• well-being
• self-congruity
• bottom-up spillover
• leisure benefits
• self-expressiveness
• goal theory
• need hierarchy
• broaden and build

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.