Tourist behavioural intentions in relation to service quality and customer satisfaction in Kinmen National Park,Taiwan

This study assesses tourist satisfaction and its links with service quality using a hierarchical model that combines four primary determinants and eight corresponding sub‐dimensions. A sample of 616 tourists departing from Kinmen Airport was surveyed with a structured questionnaire after they had just visited Kinmen National Park. A series of analyses was performed to explore tourist satisfaction with the four main service quality attributes as well as their willingness of repeat visits and recommendation. As a result, it was consistently found that service quality has positive significant relationship with tourist satisfaction. It is thus suggested that national park managers have to satisfy tourists with a high level of service quality, based on the concept that service quality may have a significant influence on long‐term behavioural intentions through high levels of customer satisfaction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Structural Model for Examining how Destination Image,Perceived Value,and Service Quality Affect Destination Loyalty: a Case Study of Orlando

The primary objectives of this study were to investigate and develop a theoretical relationship among destination image, service quality and perceived value and to empirically test the constructs that are likely to affect tourist satisfaction, which in turn influence revisit intentions and word‐of‐mouth referrals. The results of empirical study indicated that destination image influences service quality and perceived value. In addition, the findings revealed that perceived value has a significant effect on satisfaction and loyalty. These research findings contribute to an extant knowledge in this domain, specifically focused on a family‐oriented destination where it was not studied yet with these relationships. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behavioral intentions of public transit passengers—The roles of service quality,perceived value,satisfaction and involvement

Understanding the behavioral intentions of public transit passengers is important, because customer loyalty is seen as a prime determinant of long-term financial performance. This study highlights such behavioral intentions and explores the relationships between passenger behavioral intentions and the various factors that affect them. Apart from the factors recognized by past studies, such as service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction, this study addresses the importance of the involvement of public transit services in passenger behavioral intentions. By using passenger survey data from the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (KMRT), a newly operating public transit system in Taiwan, we apply the structural equation modeling technique to analyze the conceptualized relationship model. The findings reveal that all causal relationships are statistically significant. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Tourist Word of Mouth and Revisit Intentions to Rural Tourism Destinations: a Case of North Dakota,USA

Destination managers in rural states, like North Dakota, understand the benefits of tourism and, thus, the importance of studying visitors' intentions. This study investigated visitors' perceptions of destination image, value and satisfaction and those variables’ relationship with future behaviors, with a specific focus on their intent to return and make recommendations to others. The results showed that destination image directly affects visitors' perception of value and revisit intentions, and it indirectly affects satisfaction and recommendation intentions. The results also demonstrate how tourism practitioners can apply past models to their destination. The overall findings support the concept that a positive image is important to attracting repeat visitors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do the services of low cost carriers affect passengers' behavioral intentions to revisit a destination?

Understanding the main factors that affect travelers' behavioral intentions are essential for countries that intend to develop their tourism industry. This research investigates how the services of low cost carriers (LCCs) affect travelers' behavioral intentions to revisit and a willingness to recommend the destination to others. The results show that the perceived services of LCCs have a significantly positive effect on the destination's image, and the destination's image has a significantly positive effect on behavioral intentions.     

Investigating the effects of service recovery quality elements on passengers' behavioral intention

This study intends to analyze how the elements of restoring the quality of airline service influences the airline image, recovery satisfaction, and behavioral intentions of airline passengers. For this testing, a survey was conducted on passengers with an experience of dissatisfaction of airline services. A total of 240 responses were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that among the recovery quality elements, promptness had a positive influence the image of the airline. Additionally, a recovered image of the airline had a positive influence on the recovery satisfaction and behavioral intention. The findings of this study may improve our understanding of consumer responses to the airline company's efforts to recover service failure.     

Service quality and customer satisfaction of a UAE-based airline: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the linkages among service quality, service provider image, customer expectations, perceived value, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty in a Dubai-based airline. Initially, the determinants of service quality were identified utilizing the SERVQUAL framework with some modification. Service quality was then used as an antecedent to measure customer satisfaction, a condition which can bring about brand loyalty. In a research initiative using a quantitative approach, data from 253 questionnaires was analyzed. Using structure equation modeling, the data analysis suggests that service quality, perceived value, and brand image have a positive significant impact on customer satisfaction, which can in turn lead to brand loyalty. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

A model of wine tourist behaviour: a festival approach

The study constructs a temporal model of wine tourist behaviour on the basis of the social psychologist' theory of consumer attitudes and related concepts with regard to past behaviour, satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions. More importantly, this study added two dimensions to this model by proposing that satisfaction and perceived value had an impact on the attendees' intentions (i) to visit a local winery and (ii) to buy local wine products. Using a path analysis approach and data collected from the attendees at a regional wine festival, the study examined the above relationships. The results of this path analysis can be summarised as: (i) past behaviour influenced the intention to revisit and the level of perceived value, but had no effect on the level of satisfaction; (ii) perceived value strongly affected the level of satisfaction; (iii) satisfaction had a strong impact on future intentions to revisit and also an effect on intentions to visit local wineries and to buy local wine products; and (iv) perceived value affected the intentions to revisit the festival and to visit local wineries but did not influence the intentions to buy local wines. It is believed that the results of the present study will be useful to organisers of wine festivals and/or wine tourism developers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of airline service quality on passengers’ behavioral intentions using passenger satisfaction as a mediator

This research study measures the perception of airline service quality based on data collected from Pakistan International Airline (PIA) passengers using SERVQUAL. It investigates the impact of service quality dimensions on passenger's behavioral intentions in presence of mediator (passenger satisfaction). The data is collected through an adopted SERVQUAL instrument from the respondents in the domestic and International waiting lounges of PIA. The data is analysed using reliability statistics, correlation analysis and through hierarchal regression analysis. A systematic random sampling technique is used to analyze the study sample and PROCESS macros was used to run mediation analysis. The results reveals that passenger's satisfaction mediates the relationship between airline service quality and behavioral intentions. Practically, PIA should not only improve on Service Quality but should build up quality consciousness among on ground and inflight employees; pay attention to reliable factors and establish customer goodwill through enhanced services; regard reliability factors and enhance employee accomplishment. Implications of these results for management policy and practice are highlighted as guidelines. PIA managers can now better understand the importance of service quality and its long-term benefits in the form of customer loyalty.     

Does a reward program affect customers’ behavioural intention of visiting the airport? A case study of Singapore Changi Airport

An understanding of the behavioural intentions of customers in visiting airports may help airport management to boost airport retail revenue (i.e. non-aeronautical revenue) by increasing customer spending at the airports. This study aims to examine the connection between airport reward programs and customers' behavioural intentions of visiting the airport, attempting to bring some benefits and credits for implementing reward programs in the airport sector by using Singapore Changi Airport as a case study. Two types of customer behavioural intentions (i.e. time spent at the airport and various purposes of visiting the airport) were investigated in the study to examine the effects of Changi Airport's reward program (i.e. Changi Rewards). An on-line survey was conducted, and the participants' responses were analysed via a structural equation modelling approach. The results showed that the attractive benefits of Changi Rewards could have a positive influence on arousing customers' intentions to engage with the programme. In addition, customers' intentions to engage with the programme can have a positive effect on increasing passengers' time spent at the airport and inducing customers to visit the airport for leisure purposes. Managerial implications to the airport sector are discussed.     

My bad for wanting to try something unique: sources of value co-destruction in the Airbnb context

ABSTRACT

The present study explores the antecedents of value co-destruction – in the sharing economy context, specifically with respect to Airbnb. The study focuses on negative reviews from Airbnb customers, which were typed in English and posted online. The research employed five keywords, ‘bad’, ‘awful’, ‘poor’, ‘terrible’, and ‘horrible’, to capture the online narratives linked to customers’ negative experiences with Airbnb. Out of the 2,733 online reviews screened, the study focused on 694 negative reviews. The data analysis followed the grounded theory approach, resulting in two distinct themes reflecting the antecedents of value co-destruction: the bad behaviour of Airbnb hosts and the company's poor customer service. These findings contrast with previously studies, which have indicated Airbnb's remarkable customer satisfaction levels as evidenced by positive user reviews. The managerial implications of the present study's results indicate that Airbnb should clearly invest additional resources to minimize the negative experiences of its customers; by clearly defining the hosts’ tasks and responsibilities. In addition, when customers report their dissatisfaction, their concerns should be addressed promptly and effectively through good customer service.     

Predicting tourists' behavioural intentions at the destination level

Using structural equation modelling, the formative model was tested on a sample of 703 tourists who visited six coastal destinations in Montenegro. It relies on the complex relationships between five constructs – perceived quality of a destination's offerings, tourist satisfaction, perceived equity, perceived benefits and behavioural intentions – simultaneously incorporating the emotional and rational self-regulatory mechanisms. The empirical results supported the hypothesised relationships. The group of eight tourist destination attributes affects perceived quality of a destination's offerings that positively and directly relate to perceived benefits, behavioural intentions and tourist satisfaction, whereas satisfaction is also determined by equity perceptions. Additionally, perceived quality of a destination's offerings also relates indirectly to tourist behavioural intentions, through perceived benefits and tourist satisfaction, while satisfaction also mediates the interaction between perceived equity and tourist intended behaviour. These research results contribute to a deeper understanding of which behavioural processes, and with what strength, lead to the increase in tourist loyalty at the destination level, and ultimately provide better insights into the predictors of behavioural intentions.     

Evaluating the relationship between socially (dis)advantaged neighbourhoods and customer satisfaction of bus service in London,U.K.

Affordable and efficient urban public transport is important for the development of a sustainable urban environment. Making sure public transport users are satisfied with the service is a goal many public transport agencies are trying to achieve. Customer satisfaction surveys are often used to monitor customer perceptions of service quality and to determine the relative influence of service attributes on a customer's overall assessment of the service. This study presents a new method to spatially evaluate customer satisfaction survey data through examining satisfaction with bus service across neighbourhoods of varying levels of socio-economic status (SES). Using customer satisfaction survey data collected by Transport for London between 2010 and 2015, multi-level regression modeling is used to estimate the relationship between overall satisfaction and social deprivation of the area in which bus routes were operating. The results indicate lower levels of satisfaction along routes serving low SES neighbourhoods, which appears to be attributed to (1) low satisfaction with service characteristics related to an individual's experience and quality of the bus and (2) conditions of the bus stop and shelter. Findings from this paper shows the importance of including cleanliness and bus internal quality as one of the performance indicators when contracting bus services, to ensure that all customers receive the same quality of service in the region regardless of their SES.     

Consumer attitudes toward in-flight shopping

This study examines the relationship between perceived risk, perceived value, convenience and attitudes toward in-flight shopping and behavioral intentions using a sample of international air travelers in Taiwan. The results suggest that both perceived value and convenience have significantly positive effects on attitude, but the path between perceived risk and attitude is not significant. In addition, the findings also demonstrate that attitude has significant effects on customer intention. Specific theoretical and managerial implications are discussed at the end of this work.     

Text mining approach to explore dimensions of airline customer satisfaction using online customer reviews

The airline industry operates in a highly competitive market, in which achieving and maintaining a high level of passenger satisfaction is seen as a key competitive advantage. This study presents a novel framework for measuring customer satisfaction in the airline industry. Using text mining methods we explore Online Customer Reviews (OCRs) to provide guidelines for airlines companies to improve in competitiveness. We analyze a database of more than 55,000 OCRs, covering over 400 airlines and passengers from 170 countries. Using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model we identified 27 dimensions of satisfaction described by 882 adjectives. Dimensions and adjectives were used to predict airline recommendation by customers, resulting in an accuracy of 79.95%. The most relevant dimensions for airlines' recommendation prediction were calculated. OCRs were stratified according to several variables. Of those, type of passenger impacted the least on the number of dimensions of customer satisfaction, while type of cabin flown impacted the most. Observing results in different publication years we showed airline customer trends through time. Our method showed sensitiveness to identify variations in dimensions distribution according to different passenger characteristics and preferences. Practical implications are that airline service providers aiming at maximizing customer satisfaction should focus their efforts on (i) customer service to first class passengers, (ii) comfort to premium economy passengers, and (iii) checking luggage and waiting time to economy class travelers. Regression analysis revealed cabin staff, onboard service and value for money as top three dimensions of satisfaction to predict the recommendation of airlines. Designing services that excel in those dimensions is likely to improve the company's performance with customers.     

How Far does Overall Service Quality of a Destination Affect Customers' Post‐Purchase Behaviours?

In tourism management literature, there are numerous research papers focusing on the determinants of the customers' destination evaluations and how they affect each other. The chief variables to be examined in the literature have been customer satisfaction, perceived value, behavioural intention and service quality. In this study, the authors were inspired by the ‘indirect model’ by Cronin et al. (2000) and generated a conceptual model to determine the overall service quality of a destination and its effect on perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intention by structural equation modelling technique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling information use,image, and perceived risk with intentions to travel to East Asia

This research empirically tested a tourism behaviour model explaining tourists' intentions to vacation for the first time in selected countries extending image research by Baloglu and McCleary [(1999). U.S. international pleasure travelers’ images of four Mediterranean destinations: A comparison of visitors and nonvisitors. Journal of Travel Research, 38(2), 144–152; A model of destination image formation. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(4), 868–897] and more recently Kaplanidou and Vogt [(2007). The interrelationship between sport event and destination image and sport tourists’ behaviors. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 12(3–4), 183–206]. Key factors that remain untested in modelling international travel propensity were identified as: information sources, cognitive and affective destination image, and perceived risk. On-site surveys were conducted in two US metropolitan areas with a purposive convenience sample. Data were analysed with structural equation modelling for three destination countries (China, Japan, and South Korea) so that positioning strategies were illustrated through empirical evidence. Modelling results supported previous research showing that stronger positive cognitive and affective destination images and lower perceived risks for vacationing in a destination positively influenced intentions to travel to the countries of interest. Of greater interest are findings on information usage influencing cognitively held images, particularly cultural experiences, but information use was found not to directly influence the affective component of image. Intent to travel to each of the three countries was heightened by different factors – for China it was affective image, for Japan cognitive image, and South Korea a reduction in perceived risks. Destination marketers can use this model to understand the use of information sources, in general or specific types, to influence cognitive images held and perceived risks associated with a foreign country, and to ultimately modify affective image and intent to visit a destination for the potential first-time visitors.     

Determinants hindering the intention of tourists to visit disaster-hit destinations

The purpose of this study is to propose and examine a new research model that is able to capture both the cognitive and affective components influencing potential tourists' behavioural intentions to visit a disaster-hit destination, which have negatively affected their perceived destination image. A survey of 357 participants provides strong support for the model. The results indicate that participants' perceptions of destination image are a strong predictor of their travel intentions. Factors relating to cognitive appraisals (e.g. perceived equipment risk, perceived natural risk and perceived social risk) as well as affective evaluations (e.g. perceived fear of ghosts, perceived unpleasantness, etc.) were found to be critical components that significantly, and negatively, influence potential tourists' perceptions of a destination image. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed herein.     

The moderating effect of personal and situational characteristics in behavioural factors affecting ports of call

This research aims to study the moderating effects of cruise passengers’ gender, age, education, and prior experiences on a Mediterranean port of call destination image formation and the influence that image and passenger satisfaction has on future behavioural intentions. The partial least squares technique is applied to test the hypotheses developed with a sample of 492 cruise passengers. Our findings show that (1) gender, age, education, and experience have a moderating influence on the image of ports of call, on cruise passengers’ satisfaction, and on future behavioural intentions derived from cruise passengers’ satisfaction; (2) prior experience has a moderating influence on the image formation of ports of call.     

Factors influencing theme park visitor brand-switching behaviour as based on visitor perception

With the development of theme parks, which represent a multi-million-pound industry worldwide, research investigating the factors affecting theme park visitor brand-switching behaviour is an important method for improving theme park competitiveness. In the present work, models and research hypothesis are constructed based on visitor perception, and the survey data are collected and analysed to assess the hypothesis and to revise the conceptual model in this paper. The results indicate that there are seven factors influencing visitor brand-switching behaviour: ‘visitor variety-seeking', ‘visitor satisfaction', ‘switching cost', ‘perceived value', ‘competitor attraction', ‘theme park image' and ‘visitor involvement'. The perceived value and visitor satisfaction strongly influence brand-switching behaviour as intermediate variables. Visitor variety-seeking and competitor attraction are positively related to visitor brand switching behaviour, whereas the other five factors are negatively related to visitor brand-switching behaviour.