Untangling the smart tourism technostress enigma: assessing the effects of smart technology-related stressors on smart tourism avoidance behaviors in senior tourists

This study employs the Stressor-Strain-Outcome theory and investigates the influence of senior tourist’s technostress, travel stains, and their avoidance behaviors towards smart tourism technologies (STTs). Results indicated that four distinct types of smart tourism technostressors have significant impacts on the smart tourism avoidance behaviors of senior tourists, and these direct relationships were mediated by travel anxiety, travel fatigue, and travel technophobia. Furthermore, Smart device literacy moderates the construction of smart tourism avoidance behavior. These findings deepened the understanding of the detrimental effects of STTs among senior tourists, with practical implications for STTs acceptance, development, and sustainability.