Tourists’ private social dining experiences

Abstract

While private social dining has emerged as a new activity in the sharing economy, associated research is limited. This study aims to conceptualize tourists’ private social dining experiences by incorporating the concept of the experience economy with the sharing economy. Thematic analysis of 29 interviews unveiled a hierarchical framework, beginning with a personalized experience and leading to sensory experience before ending with emotional experience in private social dining settings. Seven identified emotional experiential domains were then situated within a four-quadrant framework to address how private social dining can enrich the four original experiential domains of the experience economy (i.e. entertainment, education, esthetic, and escapism) to trigger tourists’ emotional pleasure. These results lay a theoretical foundation for future studies and provide practical implications for the development of food tourism.