There has been a heated discussion worldwide over tourist deviances that disrupt lives of local residents and cause damage to companies, city authorities, and the natural environment. Previous studies primarily turn to discrepancies in the cultural and educational background between tourists and local residents to explain such phenomena. Nonetheless, the possibility of people inclining to misbehave simply because they are away from home has rarely been investigated. In this study, we seek to examine factors rooted in the nature of tourism that are accountable for such phenomena. According to the definition by UNWTO (1995), one of the key characteristics of tourism is the displacement of usual environment. Tourism, therefore, is inevitably associated with surroundings of unacquainted others residing in the unfamiliar environment. Following the social control paradigm, previous studies have revealed that people are more likely to enforce social control on in-group members than on out-group members (Nugier, Chekroun, Pierre & Niedenthal, 2009). We further propose that psychological closeness between people and surrounding others would have an impact on their expectation to receive others’ social contrail and consequently their intention to engage in the counternormative behavior. Using an experimental study, we found that participants in the travel condition, compared with those in the home condition, feel less close to surrounding others and are more likely to misbehave. Such effect is mediated by the perceived social control. Implications for organization and companies in the tourism sector are drawn to prevent the spread of tourist misbehavior. Limitations and future directions would also be discussed.

• Chloe Y. QIU(The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)
• Lisa C. Wan(The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)