Abstract (150 Words)
Effective communication is one of the many skills professional tour guides needs to possess to effectively perform their job. These communication competences can lead to varied levels of standard of living among the tour guides. The purpose of this paper is to understand the extent to which communication competences and personality types influence tour guides’ performance as measured by a variety of quality of life indicators including the number of tours assigned to them, income, networking, and friendships. Communication Competence and International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) were used to explain the relationship. Data were collected from 326 tour guides who completed the questionnaire during a yearly workshop/seminars series organized by the Chamber of Antalya Tour Guides in Antalya, Turkey and the Ministry of Tourism. Factor analysis delineate underline domains of communication competences, regression is used to determine their effects on tour guides’ self-declared performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed within the theory of Behavioral Communication Competence and Big Five Personality Traits.
Communication Competences of Professional Tour Guides
Effective communication is one of the many skills professional tour guides needs to possess to effectively perform their job. These communication competences can lead to varied levels of standard of living among the tour guides. The purpose of this paper is to understand the extent to which communication competences and personality types influence tour guides’ performance as measured by a variety of quality of life indicators including the number of tours assigned to them, income, networking, and friendships. Communication Competence and International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) were used to explain the relationship. Data were collected from 326 tour guides who completed the questionnaire during a yearly workshop/seminars series organized by the Chamber of Antalya Tour Guides in Antalya, Turkey and the Ministry of Tourism. Factor analysis delineate underline domains of communication competences, regression is used to determine their effects on tour guides’ self-declared performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed within the theory of Behavioral Communication Competence and Big Five Personality Traits.
