Breaking bad behaviour: understanding negative film tourist behaviour through moral disengagement

Film tourism’s benefits for stakeholders and destinations have received wide attention in academic research, but film tourists engaging in negative behaviour is becoming increasingly problematic. This study provides a first insight into this neglected challenge by adopting a morality perspective and asking, ‘how do film tourists justify engaging in negative tourist behaviour?’. We apply moral disengagement theory utilizing a quantitative scenario-based online survey for self-identified fans of the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ to examine which types of common negative film tourism behaviours respondents are willing to engage in, and how they justify these behaviours. Moral disengagement mechanisms that were applied most frequently focused on obscuring moral agency and distorting behavioural consequences; however, results suggest that the respective TV series’ moral alignment, as well as the situational context, influence if and how respondents are able and willing to justify negative behaviour. Results from this study can support film tourism stakeholders in appropriate destination development and in measures to mitigate common negative behaviours while aiding researchers in better understanding a diverse range of behaviours and challenges associated with film tourism.