The Dual Role of Food Destination Image: Bridging Identity-Based and Behavior-Based Perspectives in Ethnic Culinary Tourism

Abstract

Abstract—Food destination image (FDI) in previous studies has been examined separately: (1) studies based on Social Identity Theory (SIT) view FDI as an end result, the outcome of tourists’ evaluations of cuisine through their sense of identity, and (2) studies based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) treat FDI as a starting point; FDI is used to predict tourists’ behavioural intentions without explaining its origins. Because these two approaches examine different stages of the same tourist experience separately, no framework has yet explained how the identity-based origins of FDI are linked to its behavioural consequences within a single tourist experience. This conceptual paper integrates SIT and TPB by proposing that FDI bridges the processes of identity formation and the formation of culinary tourists’ behaviour as a single construct that occupies two sequential roles. Drawing on a narrative literature synthesis, four propositions are advanced: (1) the identity-formation process influences FDI; (2) FDI influences the behaviour-formation process; (3) the identity-formation process directly influences the behaviour-formation process; and (4) FDI mediates the relationship between the two. This framework offers a more integrated theoretical understanding of FDI and provides a foundation for future cross-contextual empirical validation in ethnic culinary tourism.

 Keywords—food destination image, social identity theory, theory of planned behavior, multiple roles, ethnic culinary tourism