| Abstract: | This study presents findings from a series of face to face interviews conducted with three groups of people. The study examined the concept of prestige in the context of leisure travel behavior. All informants were asked share instances of prestige worthy leisure travel exhibited by other people. Two study questions delimited the purpose of this study. The first question was designed to identify the underlying dimensions of prestige worthy leisure travel behavior. The second question was designed to identify the social group mechanisms that influence members' sense of prestige worthy leisure travel behavior. A demographically diverse group of informants were used to gather data for the first question. Informants from a senior citizen group and a sorority group were used to gather data for the second question. By using a grounded theory analytical technique, two underlying dimensions emerged from the data. The first dimension was labeled relative exclusivity and the second dimension was labeled personal or empathetic desirability. The dimension of relative exclusivity was grounded in the comparative uniqueness of observed leisure travel behaviors. The dimension of personal desirability was grounded in the evaluators wishes to engage in the leisure travel they observe. In some cases, leisure travel was not considered desirable by the evaluator, but was considered desirable for the traveler. In these cases of desirability, the evaluator empathized with the travelers' desires. Together, the two dimensions underpinned all the instances of prestige worthy leisure travel that were shared by informants. Social group influence mechanisms did not emerge from the conversations of the senior citizen informants. This group had experienced a great number of leisure travel experiences previously, and few observed behaviors were considered to be prestige worthy. One influence mechanism emerged from the conversations of sorority group informants. The strong social intra-connections of this group allowed the travel experiences of other members to be very influential... |
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