Helping by staying away: When prosocial motivations create accessibility paradoxes

Tourism managers investing in accessibility face a strategic paradox: accessibility features for tourists with disabilities can both attract and repel non-disabled tourists through competing prosocial motivations. This study examines how tourists without disabilities respond to accessible services for tourists with disabilities, showing that prosocial motivations lead them to seek and avoid accessible options. Through a competing motivations framework, we show that inclusivity support drives preference for providers offering accessible services, while option limitation concern—the belief that using accessible services reduces resources for those with disabilities—motivates avoidance. Studies across tourism contexts show these preferences strengthen when accessible capacity is higher and when tourists with and without disabilities do not use facilities simultaneously. These findings extend prosocial behavior theory to include deliberate non-consumption as a prosocial act and provide tourism providers strategies for designing accessible offerings that appeal to all segments.