Are we all in together? The impact of tourism destination residents’ ontological security threat on hometown support behavior

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had serious ramifications for destination tourism, which is in dire need of support from residents. However, the pandemic has destabilized the environment and caused ontological insecurity in residents. It has therefore become vital to explore whether destination residents are willing to support their hometown. Drawing from the conservation of resources theory, this study conducted three experiments to explore the impact of ontological security threats on hometown support behavior, and the underlying mechanisms of the need to belong and psychological distress have also been revealed. The paper provides novel ideas for the marketing of destination management organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Ontological security
• the need to belong
• psychological distress
• hometown support behavior
• extraversion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by The System Science and Enterprise Development Research Center (Grant No. Xq21B10) and the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 72304021).