Language Anxiety, Technology Adoption, and Travel Intentions

Language anxiety is a significant psychological constraint that can deter international travel. This research integrates the constraint negotiation strategy with the technology acceptance model to explore how language anxiety influences people’s intention to travel through the adoption of language assistance technology. Structural equation modeling software SmartPLS 4.0 was used to examine both direct and mediated effects in a sample of 419 participants. The findings show that language anxiety did not affect travel intentions directly, but travel intentions were fully mediated by the travelers’ attitudes and their intentions to use language assistance technology, thus underscoring the essential role of technology acceptance in overcoming psychological barriers. Moreover, core technology acceptance model principles remained valid. This research extends the traditional technology adoption theory and contributes to tourism literature. Practically, the findings provide recommendations for tourism stakeholders and developers of language assistance technology.