Does work-family conflict weaken family travel intention?—a study based on China

The rapid growth of family travel shows enormous market potential for current and future tourism development. Based on cognitive dissonance theory, a multiple mediation-moderation examination process was applied to explore whether work-family conflicts could strength or weaken a family's intention to travel. According to data from 576 workers collected in China, the findings indicate that work-family conflict will lead to formulating family travel intention through a process using the critical mechanisms of personal internal factors (such as guilt, stress and family involvement). Additionally, traditional concepts (such as Confucian work values) and leisure-work conflicts are moderators that can accelerate decision-making in family travel. More importantly, this study highlights how the negative emotions of guilt and stress are necessary conditions for family travel intention in the context of work-family conflicts.