EDUCATIONAL TOURISM: THE ANTECEDENTS OF SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F70883521%3A28120%2F21%3A63529918" target="_blank" >RIV/70883521:28120/21:63529918 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

EDUCATIONAL TOURISM: THE ANTECEDENTS OF SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY

Original language description

Purpose: This research aims to outline a conceptual framework to describe the role of authenticity and tourist engagement on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of educational tourism. Thus, the research question is that “How does authenticity and engagement play a driver and a moderator role respectively in educational tourist’s satisfaction- attitudinal loyalty relationship?» Research Methods: This paper used the conceptualization to propose the relationship between authenticity, tourist engagement, satisfaction, and attitudinal loyalty. The main methodology focused on reviewing and synthesizing the existing hundreds of literature review to propose a research framework. Based on thoroughly researched secondary data, this paper reviews relevant literature on educational tourism and discussed the problem from a customer behaviour to outline a key driver to tourists’ satisfaction and loylaty. Results and Discussion: This research sheds light on the attitudinal loyalty of educational tourists compared to previous authors whose papers have mainly emphasized exploring factors affecting the intention to visit without the consideration of loyalty. Authenticity was evaluated as the perception and enjoyment of tourists during the journey.. It is predicted to directly and indirectly affect attitudinal loyalty which was defined by the intention of positive word-of-mouth via satisfaction (Girish and Chen, 2017). It means that authentic experience can enhance the level of satisfaction of tourists and their willingness to recommend for their relatives or friends or even strangers. Besides, tourist engagement is expected to moderate the satisfaction-loyalty bond (Thakur, 2019). The variation of tourist engagement level is depended on how they involve in taking part in the activities of the journey that may influence the relationship of satisfaction and loyalty. It means when the level of tourist engagement is high, they tend to satisfy and respond positively to the loyalty. Implications: This research is conducted to provide a conceptual model about authenticity and tourist engagement in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. This research can become a pioneer in forming the antecedent of authenticity and the moderator of tourist engagement in the loyalty perspective of educational tourism. In terms of authenticity, the study proposes the direct link between authenticity and satisfaction; and between authenticity and loyalty. In addition, it also supports the indirect relationship between authenticity and attitudinal loyalty via satisfaction. This proposed model allows academic researchers to evaluate the influence of authenticity as a driver on satisfaction level and worth-of-mouth loyalty of educational tourists. Because of the complex nature of tourism product, it is required during the tour, destination management organizations and stakeholders should appreciate “ genuineness, honesty, or sincerity” of a destination. Another unique contribution of this study is to explore the moderating role of tourist engagement. While most the previous authors confirmed the antecedent role of tourist engagement (Rasoolimanesh et al., 2019), this research is in the investigation of the moderator of tourist engagement. Regarding managerial contributions, this research can provide several implications for educational destination management and marketing organizations to enhance tourist loyalty in the educational tourism field. However, there still exists one limitation that the research is in the literature review and the conceptual framework development process. Thus, it could be essential to conduct a quantitative method to confirm the proposed model.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50204 - Business and management

Project

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Continuities

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů