ItemArticle

Curiosity in calamity: How personal schadenfreude shapes disaster-tourism intentions

Title
Curiosity in calamity: How personal schadenfreude shapes disaster-tourism intentions
Creator
Joseph, Joshin; Hasaballah, Mustafa M.; Abdelwahab, Mahmoud M.; Elbatal, Ibrahim; Gillariose, Jiju
Description
Tourism to sites of recent disaster, a form of dark tourism has raised questions about whether visitors are driven by typical travel motivations or by morbid impulses. This study examines how conventional tourist motives and the personality trait of benign schadenfreude (pleasure at others misfortune) jointly influence peoples intentions to visit a recent disaster site. By surveying 438 tourists to Kerala, four months after the July 2024 Wayanad landslides, we measured four common travel motives (novelty seeking, fun/entertainment, knowledge/learning, and relationship bonding) alongside a benign schadenfreude scale and visit intention. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed for modeling. The model explained 58.80 percent of the variance in visit intention. Three motives viz., novelty, knowledge, and relationship had significant positive associations with intention, whereas the fun motive showed a negative effect. Schadenfreude emerged as the strongest predictor of disaster-site visit intention. Moreover, schadenfreude significantly moderated the influence of novelty seeking: respondents high in schadenfreude exhibited especially strong curiosity-driven intent to visit. These findings suggest that interest in post-disaster tourism often stems from ordinary travel drivers (curiosity, learning, social bonding), but a disposition to enjoy others misfortune can intensify the appeal when novel experiences are involved. The research highlights the need for ethical considerations to be followed by the destination managers and authorities in managing dark tourism destinations. Key limitations include the use of a cross-sectional data, region-specific sample and the focus on benign dimension (versus malicious) of schadenfreude. Future research should validate these results in other cultural and disaster contexts, establish causal relationships, and examine additional personal factors as well as dimensions of schadenfreude. 2026 Joseph et al.
Source
PLOS ONE;Volume;21;Issue;2026-05-05 00:00:00;Article No.;e0347535;
Date
01-01-2026
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Coverage
Joseph J., School of Commerce and Professional Studies, Marian College Kuttikkanam, Kerala, Peermade, India; Hasaballah M.M., Department of Basic Sciences, Marg Higher Institute of Engineering and Modern Technology, Cairo, Egypt; Abdelwahab M.M., Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Elbatal I., Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Gillariose J., Department of Statistics and Data Science, Christ University, Karnataka, Bangalore, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 19326203; CODEN: POLNC
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Joseph, Joshin; Hasaballah, Mustafa M.; Abdelwahab, Mahmoud M.; Elbatal, Ibrahim; Gillariose, Jiju, “Curiosity in calamity: How personal schadenfreude shapes disaster-tourism intentions,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 19, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/23232.

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