Guests' Presentation of Self in Moments of Hospitality in Sri Lanka: A Grounded Theory

Abstract

This constructivist grounded theory research focuses on how guests in Sri Lanka navigate mundane moments of hospitality, particularly how they present themselves to their hosts during their travel. Traditional scholarly discussions on hospitality have mainly emphasised the transactional relationship between hosts and guests, especially in commercial contexts. However, recent research has started to explore more personal and mundane dimensions of hospitality, such as non-commercial, social, and mundane acts of welcoming in daily life. Despite this shift, there is still a significant gap in understanding how tourists, as guests present themselves during mundane face-to-face interactions with hosts, especially in contexts like Sri Lanka, where cultural norms and expectations around hospitality are deeply embedded. Research on how guests manage these moments—whether by reciprocating welcome or disengaging from it—remains limited. Using grounded theory, the research draws on interviews with guests who experienced welcome in mundane moments of hospitality during their travels in Sri Lanka. The findings present a theory of guests' presentation of self, illustrating how guests alter their behaviours and appearances to convey specific messages, either accepting or rejecting the welcome offered.

By focusing on how guests either reciprocate or reject welcome in mundane moments of hospitality, the study highlights the importance of these performances in the Sri Lankan context, where cultural expectations around hospitality are strong. Guests’ actions, whether reciprocating the welcome or signalling disinterest, can either enhance social connections with hosts or lead to disconnection. The research adds a deeper layer of understanding to how guests, through their presentation of self in Sri Lanka, shape the success or failure of these mundane moments of hospitality, offering insights into both the complexity of guest-host relationships and the cultural nuances of hospitality in a Sri Lankan setting. This fills an important gap in hospitality research by focusing specifically on the guests’ role in these mundane moments.