SELF DETERMINATION THEORY AND THE WINE CLUB ATTRIBUTE FORMATION PROCESS

The concept of motivation in a tourism context has attracted the attention of researchers and commentators for decades. The resultant body of work provides a platform for much discussion and dialogue and while common themes have emerged out of the various perspectives, they tend to converge at a surface level, in the form of reasons or attribute importance and/or lack a clear theoretical justification. This study examines the role of product and purchasing involvement in mediating the relationship between motivation orientations from Self Determination Theory and wine club attribute preferences. Motivation orientations were found to have a direct impact on preferences and with few exceptions, were fully mediated by levels of product and purchasing involvement in a theoretically consistent manner. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed in detail and should interest a diverse audience.