The effect of the personality traits of foreign tourists on their consumption motivation for street foods

Motivation enables people to participate in tourism by stimulating the desire to travel due to some factors driven by psychological needs. Street foods, in that regard, are considered a gastronomic attraction that is increasingly influencing tourist motivation. Turkey is a country greatly admired by foreign tourists with its surrounding seas, deep history, natural landscape and vibrant culture. Apart from all these attractions, it has recently come to be a frequent destination for visitors owing to the variety of street foods it boasts. However, there seems to be a serious paucity of scholarly research on the personality traits of foreign tourists visiting Turkey and the motivational factors for why foreign tourists tend to consume these street flavors. Against this background, this study was carried out in order to investigate the effect of the personality traits of foreign tourists on their consumption motivation for street foods. The opening chapter presents the purpose, limitations and contribution of the study to tourism, while the next chapter highlights the construct of personality and personality theories as well as the concept of personality in tourism literature. The third chapter delves into the association between personality and the consumption motivation of street foods, whereas the final chapter provides information about a survey on tourists in Turkey. During the research process, the conceptual framework was initially specified by a thorough investigation of the relevant literature. Then the study data was collected through a carefully designed survey whose results were analyzed on SPSS Statistics Software Package Programme. In the light of the survey results, the emergent personality dimensions can be listed as extraversion, openness to experience, adaptability, responsibility and emotional balance. The sub-dimensions of the consumption motivation for street foods emerged as excitement experience, health and escape from routine, cultural experience, togetherness and prestige. The findings of the present study were compared with those of the previous research, and some relevant suggestions for further investigation are presented. Keywords: Personality, street food, consumption motivation, Turkey