Disorientation in Journeys and Tourist Transformation: A Moderated Mediation Model of Perceived Meaningfulness and Self-Reflection

While psychological disorientation in journeys is usually related to negative tourism experiences, it is also presently regarded as a trigger of tourist personal transformation. However, current literature still lacks specific evidence on how disorientation could enhance or undermine transformations. A moderated mediation model was constructed and examined based on the transformative learning theory. The results show that disorientation has a negative relationship with perceived transformation for the direct effect, while meaningfulness plays a complete mediation role between disorientation and perceived transformations. Self-reflection can moderate the mediation relationship by weakening the negative effect of disorientation and enhancing the positive effect of meaningfulness. These findings advance current understandings of the tourist transformational process by explaining how disorientation could undermine tourist transformation rather than trigger transformation as it was envisioned by transformative learning theory. Practically, the results stress rational and conscious efforts on moderate disorientation in journeys for tourists seeking transformations through traveling.