Authentic Concepts: Effects on Tourist Satisfaction. (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Engeset, Marit Gundersen; Elvekrok, Ingunn
• Is Part Of: Journal of travel research. Volume 54:Number 4(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 456
• Page End: 466
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: authentic concepts -- tourist satisfaction -- attribute satisfaction -- overall satisfaction -- behavioral intentions -- moderation analysis; Travel -- Research -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Research -- Periodicals; 910.72
• DOI: 10.1177/0047287514522876
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-2875

Abstract

Increasingly, tourism businesses introduce authentic concepts to address tourists' search for authentic and natural experiences. This research investigates how such concepts influence tourists' experiences. A field experiment was carried out at four mountain lodges where two authentic concepts—a local meal concept and a storytelling concept—were offered to some tourists but not others. Results showed a significant moderator effect of each of the two authentic concepts on the relationship between attribute satisfaction and overall satisfaction; when tourists experienced the authentic concepts, the influence of food and service satisfaction on overall satisfaction became stronger. These results indicate that introducing authentic concepts may strengthen the importance weight tourists place on relevant aspects of experience during evaluation.