When protectionism strains friendship: understanding what lies beneath service boycotts

Against the backdrop of U.S. tariff hikes in Trump's new administration, this research explores the underlying reasons for consumers’ boycotts of U.S. tourism-hospitality services, such as restaurants, airlines and hotels. It adopts a two-study, multi-source qualitative approach. Study 1 drew on social media data and employed social network analysis to explore the underlying motivations for Canadian boycotts. Study 2 applied a grounded theory-informed approach to analyse in-depth interview data and develop a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. The findings identify six categories underlying service boycotts: instrumental motivation, emotional response, nationalistic orientation, moral motivation, normative evaluation and situational triggers. Based on these categories, a range of subcategories was further developed. This inquiry extends tourism boycott research from the destination level to tourism-hospitality services across multiple types, identifying the underlying motives of hospitality service boycotts. It further indicates that political consumerism can be activated even in the context of policy frictions between long-standing allies. Moreover, the findings provide practical insights for tourism-hospitality service providers seeking strategic pivots to mitigate such adverse circumstances and improve organisation performance.