The results also show that seeking the approval of others also has a significant, although negative, relationship to hedonic value perceptions. Furthermore, functional value perceptions are made independently of normative referents. This finding suggests that consumers do not make value decisions to meet the expectations of others, nor are they motivated by social approval seeking. These findings do not negate the importance of social value in consumer decision making, but do suggest that consumers today pursue unique products or experiences that differentiate them from other consumers. Thus, normative influences continue to remain an important component of attitude formation, although the nature of this influence may have changed since subjective norms were originally proposed in attitudinal models such as the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980).
The evolution in consumer normative beliefs is reflected in contemporary literature. For example, the consumer’s pursuit of differentness may have a counterconformity moti- vation, fueled by the need to enhance the self-perception of uniqueness (Tian, Bearden, and Hunter 2001; Pike 2008). Consumers have often criticized staged tourist experiences that appear too commercial, contrived, and artificial (Weaver and Lawton 2006). The findings of this study suggest that consumers desire unique experiences that offer social value (Sweeney and Soutar 2001) and enhance their self-concept. One means of achieving this end is creating individualized, customized experiences through a process of cocreation (Binkhorst and Dekker 2009). For instance, tourism products could be unbundled to allow consumers to rebundle to create their own tailored experience. The findings from this study support a shift toward a more dynamic process of cocreation that empowers consumers to create their own stories and nar- ratives about their travel experiences to share with others.
The results also contradict research suggesting that func- tionality influences consumer attitude to travel. This study reports a nonsignificant relationship between functional value and attitude (hypothesis 8), a finding that implies that functional aspects of travel have limited influence in motivating consumers to travel. The strong motivational power of hedonic value may also explain this result, reducing the influence of functional value on travel decision making.