Reconceptualizing host/tourist interactions: The connection between roles, power, and discourse in the service encounter

The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual view of the host/tourist relationship in the service encounter by providing a reconstructed account of how roles, power, and discourse are enacted from the lens of the host. This argument relies on Jackson and Mazzei's (2013, 2018, 2022) "plugging in" notion of thinking with theory to simultaneously consider power as described by Foucault using the role theory of Merton and linking them with Lukes' three dimensions of power. Through the progression of thinking/interpreting with each theoretical perspective while being conscious of the others, we provide a conceptualization of the impact discourse choices have on roles and power structures that emerge in tourism and hospitality businesses. This new view of the service encounter explains tourist dominance where the host willingly takes a compliance role due to discourse choices.