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The hospitality researchers frequently examine the underlying
mechanism of structure equation models by conducting the mediation analysis to
understand the causal relationships among latent variables. The main purpose of
this mini-review is to provide a concise, focused review of the paper--Effects
of Service Experience on Behavioral intentions: Serial Multiple Mediation
Model. In the first part of the paper, the introduction is addressed, including
necessary background and the significant of the topic. The second part is about
literature review and purposes of the paper. Based on the field of hospitality
marketing, we indicate the reasons of using serial mediation for examining the
relationships of emotions, perceived value, satisfaction, service experience
and behavioral intentions. Following is the methodology that includes concisely
description of reproducible methods. The results, implication and conclusion
are presented in the final part.
BACKGROUND
The
existing hospitality and tourism literature on the concept of experience
considers experience to be an antecedent of behavioral intentions associated
with various constructs, such as emotions, perceived value and satisfaction
(Han Kiatkawsin, Kim & Lee, 2017; Altunel & Erkut, 2015). Several
studies have asserted those customers’ emotions (Loureiro, Almedia & Rita,
2013), perceived value (Chen & Lin, 2015) and satisfaction (Altunel &
Erkut, 2015) associated with a service experience play an important role in
defining their behavioral intentions. Although service-related research has
established the importance of service experience, few studies have examined
service experience in the wellness spa service sector in Thailand that is the
largest spa market in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, few studies have
examined how customers’ perceived service experience with Thai spa and massage
services elicits emotions, values, satisfaction and behavioral intentions in
the wellness spa context.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND PURPOSE
The
conceptual framework of this study was adapted from both of Holbrook (1986)’s
C-E-V (consciousness-emotion-value) and C-A-B (cognitive-affect-behavior)
paradigms. Both the C-E-V and the C-A-B models build on Mehrabian and Russell’s
(1974) S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response) model. The C-A-B model proposes that
cognitive evaluation of product or service experience determines affective
responses and in turn produces the behavioral effect. Although the C-A-B model
does not adequately cover the nature of service experience, the effect of the
physical environment has long been recognized to influence consumers’ buying
behavior (Kotler, 1976). Widely accepted that physical environment is one of
the primary service experience cues. Holbrook then proposes the C-E-V model of
consumption experience, which focuses on values derived by the customer during
consumption experience (Fiorce & Kim, 2007). However, the C-E-V paradigm
does not focus on behavioral intention, which is relevant to predict the actual
purchase behavior. Thus, this study integrates the two paradigms to create a
revised cognition-emotion-value-affective-behavior (C-E-V-A-B) causal chain to
investigate the relationship between service experience and behavioral
intentions in a spa business context. This growing interest is driven by the
fast emerging business of the spa service (McNeil & Ragins, 2005).
Therefore, the purposes of the study is to identify and confirm the measurement
model of constructs in the proposed model for the drivers of the spagoers’
behavioral intention; to uncover the applicability of the second-order
structure of wellness spa service experiences and perceived value; to
investigate the relationships between service experience, emotions, perceived
value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions; and to identify the mediating
roles of emotions, perceived value, and satisfaction on the relationship
between service experience and behavioral intentions within the proposed
conceptual model
METHODOLOGY
The
measurement items for each of the constructs in the questionnaire were
developed through literature reviews. An expert panel consisting of wellness
spa business, relevant subject educators validated the questionnaire to ensure
they were relevant and appropriate. The target population and sample are day
spa-goers who are visitors to the areas in Thailand. Stratified random sampling
procedure was employed to select the target wellness spas and respondents for
the survey administration. The wellness spas in Thailand were stratified according
to their location into five regions. This data collection strategy helped to
minimize bias among the respondents because the sample group represents a
mixture of spagoers from major tourist cities in all parts of Thailand. We
received 574 responses and approximately 100-115 responses from each city and
35-40 responses from each wellness spa. This study uses structural equation
modeling technique as the primary quantitative analysis method to test the
relationship and mediating effect among service experience, emotions, perceived
experience value, satisfaction and behavioral intention.
SPSS
22 and AMOS 20 were used to analyze the data. Descriptive analysis was
conducted to analyze the profile of the respondents. Confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) was carried out to examine the relationships among latent
variables and their related indicators. The following was to test and estimate
the relationships among the latent constructs (i.e., service experience,
emotions, perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions) and to
assess the model fit. The convergent validity, discriminant validity and
construct reliability of the scales were tested to ensure the quality of the
measurement model. The Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (CR) of all
constructs exceeded a critical value of 0.70. The convergent validity
constructs, factor loadings, and the average variance extracted (AVE) values
exceed 0.5 and those for reliability exceed 0.7 as well. The hypothesized
measurement model was demonstrated to be reliable and meaningful for structural
tests of the relationships between the examined constructs.
RESULTS, IMPLICATION AND
CONCLUSION
The
results imply that emotions, perceived value and satisfaction acted as
important mediators within the proposed theoretical framework. Nine of the ten
hypotheses were supported, except for the direct effect. Specifically, indirect
effects through the mediators were found to be significant, whereas direct
effects were found to be insignificant, indicating the presence of full
mediation. These results imply that emotions, perceived value and satisfaction
acted as important mediators within the proposed theoretical framework.
Combining all the results, we can generate a possible relationship model to
demonstrate how emotions, perceived value and satisfaction jointly mediate the
relationship between service experience and behavioral intentions. Furthermore,
insignificant effects of service experience on behavioral intentions were
found, highlighting that the relationships between these exogenous and
endogenous variables are recognized via three joint mediators, as noted above.
These findings are applicable to the Thai wellness spa context and provide
significant support for Holbrook’s C-E-V model of the consumer experience.
The
results emphasize the important of service experience, emotions, perceived
values and satisfactions in influencing customers’ behavioral intentions. These
issues are vital for wellness day spa managers in designing the marketing
strategies. Based on the results of this study managers should try to meet the
customers’ expectations of service experience to inspire the emotion, perceived
value and increase satisfaction and behavior intentions. Further research
should consider to examine or compare the different types of spa and massage
businesses and to consider how different types of customers perceive service
experience and how such perceptions affect emotional responses, perceived
value, satisfaction levels and behaviors.
In
summary, we develop a framework that explains the decision-making process of
wellness spagoers by combining theoretical frameworks to explain the
relationships between service experience, emotions, perceived value,
satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The findings provide a more holistic
view of Thai spagoers’ decision-making process. A causal chain between service
experience, emotions, perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions
can be established, demonstrating the role of cognition and emotions in shaping
value and, in turn, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. No previous studies
have examined this serial mediation relationship in the spa service setting. Serial
mediation may help us to see how service experience and behavioral intention
are linked and what the fundamental mediators are in the chain. Furthermore,
this study highlights that relationships between service experience and
behavioral intentions are mediated by emotions, perceived value, and
satisfaction in the wellness spa context.
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