Department of Advertising and Public Relations

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The attitudes of solo travelers using Q methodology
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Williamson, Hannah Kay; Holiday, Steven; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
As more Americans choose to solo travel for leisure, the need to understand theirattitudes and motivations for wanting to travel alone increases. Based on the Functional Attitude Theory, the motivations of solo travelers can be influenced by the five attitude functions: Utilitarian, ego-defensive, social-expressive, value-expressive, and knowledge. By understanding which attitude function influences solo travel actions, industry professionals in public relations, advertising, and marketing can develop messaging that resonates strongly with that attitude and therefore increases the return on investment within this target market. Given the subjectivity of motivations, the use of Q-Methodology allows for a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the participant’s viewpoint relative to the experience of traveling alone. With Q-Methodology’s focus on the viewpoint of the participant, this study results in quantifying where that viewpoint intersects among the entire sample and establishes a foundational commonality among solo travel motivations.