Developing a Scale of Hospitableness: A Tale of Two Worlds
Abstract
Hospitableness is a socio-psychological phenomenon. Thus far, scientific attention to this concept has been mainly conceptual rather than empirical. One reason may be the difficulty of precisely measuring this emotionally laden concept that is felt easily but cannot be described with the same level of ease in a scientifically rigorous manner. The current study was conducted to define and measure this critical construct using a mixed-methods approach. A scale of hospitableness with structural (underlying dimensions) and psychometric (reliability and validity) properties was developed to measure the importance of hospitableness in different consumption contexts including, destination, hotel, and restaurant products. Several steps of scale development procedures resulted in a Hospitableness Scale with 10 stable items assembling into Heartwarming, Heart-assuring and Heart-soothing factors.