Guided group activities, where tourists consume with other tourists, are common and important. Although the tourism and services literature suggests customer-employee rapport impacts customer satisfaction, the composition and impact of tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities have received minimal attention. We use a three-study mixed method approach to conceptualize and examine tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities. Study 1 identifies two recognized dyadic dimensions of tourist-tourist rapport (enjoyable interaction and personal connection) and two new group-based dimensions (group attentiveness and service congruity). Study 2 (video experiment) and Study 3 (field experiment) find that enjoyable interaction and personal connection mediate the relationship between group attentiveness and service congruity with satisfaction. Thus, touristtourist rapport in a group context is more multidimensional and complex than previously conceptualized for customer-employee rapport and non-group contexts. Further, we find tourist-tourist rapport is a critical service factor such that high levels satisfy, while low levels dissatisfy.

1. Does getting along matter?
Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities
Ian P. McCarthy

2. The authors
Edward Boon Ian P. McCarthy
Linda W. Lee

3. The paper:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104381

4. Rapport is the extent to which a
person gets along with another
person or other persons.
The extent to which someone
“clicks” with others.

5. Customer-employee
rapport impacts
satisfaction with a
service.

6. This is because
rapport enhances
interactions,
collaborations and
trust in many
types of services,
including retail,
banking,
education,
healthcare and ...

7. … tourism and
hospitality

8. ● Research on rapport has:
● Focused on the customer-employee
dyad.
● Found customer-employee rapport to:
○ Positively impact service experience
(Gremler & Gwinner, 2000; Kim & Ok,
2010).
○ Enhance service recovery (DeWitt &
Brady, 2003).
○ Increase customers’ emotional
attachment to luxury services (Hyun &
Kim, 2014)
○ Have two dimensions (Gremler &
Gwinner, 2000)., 2000)

9. The Enjoyable Interaction
dimension:
• Polite, pleasant conversation,
feeling comfortable.
• Do you like the other person?

10. The Personal Connection
dimension:
• Commonalities such as
hometown, sports team,
values, likes/dislikes.
• Is there a bond?

11. Much less research attention on
interactions among customers
And what exists, focuses on
interactions when consuming in
the ‘presence of’ other
customers.

12. No attention to rapport in
group-based contexts, where
customers consume ‘with’
other customers.

13. In guided-group activities tourists
collaborate to co-produce and
consume the service ‘with’ each other.

14. In guided group activities tourists
consume ‘with’ each other for
extended periods.

15. Rapport in guided group activities involves:
• mutual attentiveness between the tourists
• having similar views about the activity

16. In sum, rapport between tourists in guided group activities is:
• Important
• More complex than dyadic customer-employee rapport
• Has not been studied

17. Our research: a three-study mixed method approach
Study 1 Study 2 Study 3
Purpose Adapt recognized dyadic
dimensions and derive new
group-based dimensions.
Identify dimension items,
hypotheses and model.
Test dimensions and
model in controlled
conditions with high
internal validity
Validate dimensions
and model in high
ecological validity
conditions
Method Semi-structured interviews
and critical incident
technique
Video experiment
and survey
Field experiment and
survey
Respondents Managers, tourists, and
guides
MTurk, 25+ Tourists, 25+
Sample size 8 managers, 12 tourists, 10
guides
594 79

18. Study 1: Results
● Reaffirm the dyadic dimensions of customer-employee rapport, but for a
tourist-tourist guided group context:
○ Enjoyable interaction: the extent to which a focal tourist perceives
having pleasant exchanges with another tourist.
○ Personal connection: the extent to which a focal tourist perceives having
a bond with another tourist.
● Reveal new group-based dimensions of rapport.
○ Service congruity: the extent to which focal tourists feel they share the
same evaluation as other tourists in the group about the guided group
activity they are consuming.
○ Group attentiveness: the extent to which focal tourists feel that other
tourists in the group show consideration and interest toward each other.

19. Study 1: Results
H1: The dyadic dimensions of tourist-tourist rapport (enjoyable interaction and personal
connection) mediate the relationship between the group-based dimensions of tourist-tourist
rapport (service congruity and group attentiveness) and satisfaction with the guided group activity.
H2: Tourist-tourist rapport is positively related to satisfaction with the guided group activity.
Satisfaction
Service
congruity
Group-based
dimensions of rapport
Group
attentiveness
Enjoyable
interaction
Personal
connection
Dyadic dimensions
of rapport

20. Study 2: High rapport condition for tasting scene

21. Study 2: Low rapport condition for tour end

22. Study 3: Tour venues
• Nine real three-hour tours
with a food tour firm
• Emulates video experiment
• Same questionnaire

23. Study 3:
One of the actual food
tours.
High ecological validity

24. Kirin Chinese Restaurant
Hubbub Barbeque Bella Gelateria
Study 3: Tour food

25. Findings from Studies 2 and 3
Satisfaction
(R²=0.601)
Service
congruity
Group-based
dimensions of rapport
Group
attentiveness
Enjoyable
interaction
(R²=0.839)
Personal
connection
(R²=0.746)
Dyadic dimensions
of rapport
0.588*
0.348*
0.455*
0.186*
0.446*
0.340*

26. Findings from Studies 2 and 3
Study 2:
• EFA support for the discriminant validity for a five factor model
(two dyadic dimensions, two group-based dimensions, and
satisfaction)
• CFA support for convergent and discriminant validity of the model
and items
• Structural equation modelling results support H1 and H2
Study 3:
• Indicated that while Enjoyable Interaction, Group Attentiveness,
and Service Congruity increased Satisfaction, this was not the case
for Personal Connection.

27. So, what is the point
of this research?

28. Rapport in service encounters
Challenge • That rapport is only dyadic and customer-employee
oriented.
• Dearth of research on rapport in guided group activities.
Reaffirm • That rapport matters to service encounters, especially
guided group activities
• Validate dyadic dimensions: enjoyable interaction and
personal connection.
Reveal • Two new group-based dimensions of rapport: service
congruity and group attentiveness.
• Dyadic dimensions mediate the relationship between
the group-based dimensions and satisfaction.
• Sequencing of rapport i.e., how rapport develops and
changes over time.
• Rapport is a ‘critical factor’ in services.

29. Potential to delight
Potential to
dissatisfy
High
High
Low
Low
Hygiene
factors
Neutral
factors
Enhancing
factors
Critical
factors
Adapted from Lockwood (1994)
Rapport is a critical factor that jointly satisfies
and dissatisfies
Prior research
Our research

30. Other reflections
• From the first draft to
acceptance, this paper took six
years to get published.
• It succeeded because the core
idea was interesting, we were a
great team of researchers, and
we had funding, persistence,
and resilience.

31. Access the paper for this research here:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104381