The mediating effect of real life encounters in co-writing tourism books

This paper examines the effects of meeting in a relevant empirical setting with the purpose of co-writing an academic book. A writing seminar is used to explore how such encounters impact scholars’ motivations and actions regarding writing. Data were collected through participant observation, discussions, and in-depth interviews. Based on experiential and learning theories, the study led to the identification of four categories of academic co-writing, reflected through data from formal and informal meeting contexts: writing to process information; to develop knowledge; to play, socialize, and have fun; and to present oneself. The study findings suggest that academic institutions should arrange and support scholarly meetings to fulfill goals such as knowledge building, publication, and networking. At the individual level, being together and discussing and clarifying topics, constructs, and ideas motivate scholars to write and to publish.