Event management & event tourism

The behavioral intentions of visitors play an important role in predicting future profits in the food festival. The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of festival quality and examine the interrelationships between behavioral intentions and the other constructs related to behavioral intentions as perceived by visitors to the food festival using structural equation modeling (SEM). The dimensions of festival quality are built and a multi-dimensional and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of festival quality and visitor satisfaction on behavioral intentions of visitors to the Macau Food Festival (MFF). The findings of this study are based on SEM analysis of a convenience sample of 428 respondents. The findings reveal that there are four primary dimensions and 11 sub-dimensions of festival quality in the MFF.

An Empirical Study of Behavioral Intentions in the Food Festival: The Case of Macau

This study aims to investigate the interplay of visitor engagement, authenticity, and destination image in driving revisit and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intentions of heritage tourists through the mediating role of Memorable Tourism Experiences (MTE). The data for this research were collected from tourists in the UNESCO-listed heritage city of Kashan, Iran. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods approach, the study's findings highlighted the importance of MTE as a mediator of these interrelationships. The results also identified the positive direct and indirect effects of visitor engagement on revisit and eWOM intentions. The indirect effects of authenticity on revisit and eWOM intentions through MTE were also significant. The findings also showed the positive direct and indirect effects of destination image on eWOM intention, with the indirect effect on revisit intention being significant. The practical implications of the study and potential future directions for research are also discussed in the conclusion section.

Understanding memorable tourism experiences and behavioural intentions of heritage tourists

This study attempts to investigate the perceived authenticity of consumers in Chinese traditional branded restaurants, as well as to investigate the specific factors that contribute to consumers’ p...

Perceived authenticity of traditional branded restaurants (China): impacts on perceived quality, perceived value, and behavioural intentions

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for using a booth recommender system service on exhibition attendees' unplanned visit behavior

The sustainability of rural development, both economic and environmental, has been increasingly linking to local food, which plays an indispensable role by preserving traditional culture, attracting tourists, and supporting the regional economy. However, the authenticity and quality of local food have not been fully convinced as competitive advantages by most practitioners. Little is known about how authenticity affects quality attributes, tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty. Thus, this study examines the role of authenticity in the quality–satisfaction–loyalty framework. The field research was performed in Shunde County, Guangdong Province, China. The results challenge the traditional view of quality attributes by highlighting that authenticity is a key antecedent to the quality–satisfaction–loyalty framework of food tourism. In contrast, the relationships among quality attributes, tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty are contingent on the extent to which food tourists perceive the authenticity of rural local food.

Authenticity, Quality, and Loyalty: Local Food and Sustainable Tourism Experience

Business model (BM) innovation driven by corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted considerable attention from scholars. However, the understanding of whether and how CSR influences BM innovation is limited. Therefore, this paper aimed to fill these gaps by exploring the influence of CSR on BM innovation through the mediating role of organizational legitimacy (OL). This paper proposed research hypotheses on the relationships among CSR, OL, and BM innovation and empirically tested these hypotheses by using the hierarchical regression analysis method with data collected from 186 firms. The results of this study show that both CSR and OL positively influence BM innovation. The results also show that CSR positively influences OL and OL mediates the relationship between CSR and BM innovation. This paper provides new insights into the relationship between CSR and BM innovation by answering questions of whether and how CSR influences BM innovation. This paper may help managers better understand how to link CSR and BM innovation.

How Corporate Social Responsibility Influences Business Model Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Legitimacy

As one of the important forms of intangible cultural heritage, heritage sporting events are becoming a potential catalyst of tourism. Commodification of heritage sporting events becomes popular for local authorities to boost economic development and express cultural authenticity, given that authenticity creates genuine performances and moving tourism experiences. However, commodification of heritage is a double-edged sword. It is a dilemma to commercialize a heritage sporting event while keeping its authenticity. Therefore, this study proposes a tourist-based model of authenticity to solve this problem, in which the authenticity of heritage sporting events incorporates “cool” and “hot” factors. The model examines these factors and their impact on tourist satisfaction and loyalty using Naadam as the example. Seven hundred questionnaires were distributed at six sites located from east to west of the Inner Mongolia, China. Factor analysis shows there are two factors in cool and hot authenticity, respectively. Both factors of cool authenticity have direct impacts on hot authenticity, satisfaction, and loyalty. Though both intrapersonal and interpersonal factors of hot authenticity have direct positive impacts on tourist satisfaction, only the former affects loyalty directly. The results show the authenticity of event culture is the most important and effective authentic factor, while authentic auxiliary products—the direct expression of commodification—is indispensable for authenticity. This study is helpful for maintaining authenticity and cultural sustainability of heritage sporting events as a destination tourism attraction, given the fact that commodification and the marketing of heritage sporting events has become popular for heritage destination development.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/108/pdf

A Tourist-Based Model of Authenticity of Heritage Sporting Events: The Case of Naadam

An increasing number of scholars and practitioners are advocating for the exploration of the demand-side consequences of business model (BM) design from the customer’s perceptual perspective. Consistent with this view, this paper discusses how BM design can achieve customer loyalty through the mediating role of customer citizenship behavior. Therefore, this paper puts forward a series of hypotheses regarding relationships among BM design, customer citizenship behavior, and customer loyalty and further tests these hypotheses through hierarchical regression analysis from data collected from Chinese customers. The results show that both efficiency-centered and novelty-centered BM designs are the antecedents of customer citizenship behavior and customer loyalty. The results also show that efficiency-centered and novelty-centered BM designs can directly affect customer loyalty, and indirectly affect customer loyalty through the mediating role of customer citizenship behavior. Our findings contribute to research on the relationship between BM design and customer loyalty, and research on the demand-side consequences of BM design. Our findings also contribute to research on the link between BM design and marketing, and research on BM design for corporate sustainability. Our findings have management implications for practitioners as well.

Business Model Design and Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Customer Citizenship Behavior

Meeting and exhibition industry in Macao has been developed for a few years, while it is still lack of competitiveness compared with other major exhibition destinations such as Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The study assessed attendee motivations of Macao conventions and exhibitions, found that attendees to Macao were motivated by five basic motivation factors: educational benefits, personal attraction, self-development, convenience, and activities. The study showed that event organizers should design meetings and exhibitions based on the needs and motivations of potential attendees in order to make event more attractive.

Tao Zhang

Papers

Authenticity, Quality, and Loyalty: Local Food and Sustainable Tourism Experience

How Corporate Social Responsibility Influences Business Model Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Legitimacy

A Tourist-Based Model of Authenticity of Heritage Sporting Events: The Case of Naadam

Business Model Design and Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Customer Citizenship Behavior

A Study on Motivation of Meeting and Exhibition Attendees in Macao