| In the tourism research,tourism experience has been generally emphasized by tourism researchers both at home and abroad.At present,the core position of tourism experience in the tourism research has been gradually accepted by tourism researchers.The tourism experience is considered as the essence of tourism.In the tourism industry,the tourism industry is considered to be the largest experience producer,and is thought to be the typical trader which sells experience.Destination managers have generally recognized the importance of experience,whether to provide tourists with an unforgettable tourism experience has been the key to success for tourism enterprises in the fierce market competition.Therefore,it is very important to understand the quality of tourism experience,based on which destinations or tourism enterprises can carry out tourism experience management and design experience products effectively.In the study of tourism experience,satisfaction is considered to be an important concept,and research has been found to prove the positive relationship between satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth,loyalty and revisit.At the same time,many studies use tourist satisfaction to measure the quality of tourism experience through different measurement methods(such as IRT method,IPA method,fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method).However,the suitability and validity of using satisfaction measure the quality of tourism experience are often ignored by the tourism researchers.The concept of satisfaction comes from the field of marketing and consumer behavior research.The marketing researchers initially use the Expectation-Disconfirmation Model to measure consumer satisfaction with functional products(for example,flu vaccines).The definition and measurement of satisfaction in marketing research have their own set of "guidelines".However,the tourism products have their own characteristics,tourists not only buy products or services but also experience.Without considering the definition of satisfaction in the field of marketing research,the applicability of the measurement model and the characteristics of the tourism product itself,use it directly in the field of tourism for the measurement of tourist satisfaction,not only will not measure the quality of tourism experience effectively,but also will hinder the further explore for the evaluation of tourism experience.This dissertation chooses tourists as the research object and aims to explore the following issues:the suitability and validity issues of using Expectation-Disconfirmation Model from the field of marketing to measure tourist satisfaction;to explore the definition and dimensions of tourism experience quality,on the basis of which to verify the suitability of the dimensions in different tourism settings;focus on the antecedents of quality of tourism experience,explore the emotional triggers of tourism experience,and sort the emotional triggers.After that,explore the impact of different emotional triggers on the tourism experience;identify the role of tourism experience action path model,to find the relationship among constructs,such as emotional triggers,tourism experience,the quality of tourism experience and outcome variables(word-of-mouth,loyalty and revisit,etc.).Finally,to explore the experience evaluation issues of different types of tourism products.Through in-depth interviews,online travel diaries and participation observation,this dissertation collected 65 travel diaries under different tourism settings and interviewed 23 tourists,using both quantitative descriptive statistics and grounded theory of qualitative research method for data analysis,the conclusions are as followed.(1)From the conditions of the model,the expectation-disconfirmation model in consumer behavior research requires the existence of predictive expectations and insists that satisfaction is the function of performance and predictive expectations.However,we find that tourist satisfaction does not always meet the basic premise of Expectation-Disconfirmation Model which assumes that the predictive expectations do exist.For some tourists,they just go with their family or friends,and do not know much about the destination.Others only have some vague perception about a destination in their mind.In many cases,tourists do not compare their experience(i.e.destination performance)with the predictive expectation specified by the model;instead,they compare the performance with their past consumption experience with similar tourist products.Sometimes,they pay more attention to their benefits and sacrifice,and they are satisfied if benefits exceed sacrifice.Tourist satisfaction also has something to do with interactions during the on-site stage through which emotional responses would be elicited and then influence tourist satisfaction.Second,Expectation-Disconfirmation model was first used in marketing for measuring consumer satisfaction with utilitarian goods.However,tourism products are mainly hedonic goods which characterized by more service encounters,interpersonal interactions and emotional involvement.Tourism consumption is typically hedonic consumption.Therefore,considering hedonic product characteristics,the Expectation-Disconfimation Model measuring general consumer product satisfaction may not be able to measure tourist satisfaction effectively.Third,According to this model,satisfaction depends on confirmation/disconfirmation between performance and predictive expectations.Tourists are satisfied if performance meets or exceeds expectations.If not,they are dissatisfied.But through interviews we find that even if the performance does not exceed expectations,tourists are still satisfied,because they can be satisfied besides the attributes performance,such as the destination symbolic meaning and symbolic value.Fourth,some scholars using Expectation-Disconfirmation Paradigm have emphasized the importance of emotion in satisfaction evaluation.However,they consider that emotion comes only from confirmation/disconfirmation.From our dissertation we find that emotion not only comes from confirmation/disconfirmation,but also the results of environment stimuli,interactions with people and product.It is very important to explore the different sources of emotion and monitor tourists’ emotions.At the same time,positive emotions do not necessarily produce satisfaction,negative emotions can still produce satisfaction.We should consider the relationship between emotion and satisfaction with specific setting.Based on the two dimensions of emotion,this dissertation further explains the relationship between emotion and satisfaction in different settings.The above conclusions point out directly that the application of the Expectation-Disconfirmation Model measuring tourist satisfaction in the tourism field not only exists applicability and validity issues,but also enrich the understanding of the Expectation-Disconfirmation Model.(2)This dissertation does not advocate the use of satisfaction to measure the quality of tourism experience.Tourist satisfaction is the result of comparisons between the product performance and the "standard"(which may be predictive expectations,the general criteria of the industry or the sacrifices made by the tourists).Therefore,satisfied or dissatisfied is the result of comparison with the comparative criteria.However,the quality of tourism experience is the evaluation of tourism experience,which has something to do with on-site experience,rather than the result of comparison.This dissertation redefines the concept of tourism experience from the psychological point of view,and insists that the tourism experience is the psychological feeling of the tourists in the tourism world,which is mainly expressed in the form of affect.The tourism experiences are different in terms of valence and intensity.In terms of valence,the tourism experience includes both a positive experience and negative experience.At the same time,the tourism experience is also different in intensity.For example,the flow,the peak experience are stronger in strength than the peace of mind,relaxation.Furthermore,this dissertation identifies the three dimensions of the quality of tourism experience,namely,attractiveness,fun and enjoyment.(3)This dissertation proposes the concept of emotional triggers.The emotional trigger is defined as the stimulus cause emotional responses.The emotional triggers of tourism experience include:physical environment,atmosphere environment,social interaction,interaction with the product,waiting time,and relationship between tourists’stimulation seek and challenges-skills relationship,goal consistency and perceived value.This dissertation further identifies the relationship between emotional triggers and tourism experience and put forward the following propositions.Proposition 1:The number of tourists influence tourists’ emotional valence and intensity.When the number of tourists is too large,tourists will feel agitated and other negative emotions;beyond the optimal number of tourists,the more the number of tourists,the stronger the negative emotions of tourists.Proposition 2:The cultural differences among the tourists influence the sense of novelty.The greater the cultural differences,the stronger the sense of novelty.On the contrary,the weaker the sense of novelty experienced by the tourists.Proposition 3:The degree of involvement influences the emotional experience through different paths.For those tourists involved in a lower level,emotional triggers influence emotional responses through the senses;however,for a higher degree of involvement of tourists,emotional triggers influence tourists not only through the senses but also through the path of consciousness.In this way,tourists form their personal meaning and value.Proposition 4:the emotional response intensity of the higher degree of involvement of tourists is stronger than the less involved tourists.Proposition 5:Tourists might have negative emotions when a functional product is insufficient in terms of functional attributes;Tourists might have positive emotions when the products can provide both functional value and hedonic value.Proposition 6:The consistency of the tourists’ experience and their goals determines the valence of emotion.Positive emotions(joy,pleasure,etc.)come from the consistency of the two;however,inconsistencies are not necessarily produce negative emotions(eg,disappointment).Proposition 7:The relevance of the tourist experience and his or her goal determines the intensity of the emotion.The more relevant,the emotional intensity is stronger;on the contrary,the emotional intensity is weaker.(4)With the third-level coding of the grounded theory,this dissertation identifies the path model of the tourism experience.There are five constructs in this model,including emotional triggers,the quality of tourism experience,emotional responses,perceived value and outcome variables.Specifically,emotional triggers,such as service encounter,event participation,interpersonal interaction,are prerequisite,but the emotional triggers do not necessarily cause emotional responses,tourists play a mediating role between them.Emotional triggers influence tourists through sensory and consciousness paths,producing emotions with different valence and intensity,or do not cause emotional responses at all.The emotional response and the quality of the experience have influence on the outcome variables(word of mouth,willingness to recommend,willingness to visit,etc.)with the regulation of perceived value.The difference between the model and Ryan’s model of tourism expectation and tourism experience is that the former focuses on the tourism experience,emphasizes the quality of the tourism experience and explores the path of the emotional triggers to the quality of the tourism experience.However,the latter is based on the Expectation-Disconfirmation Model which insists that satisfaction depends on the realization of expectations,it only focuses on cognitive evaluation of product physical properties or service quality.In the era of experience economy,the model of tourism experience path proposed by this dissertation will have directive and effective guidance to understand the tourist experiences,the experience management and experience product design.The main theoretical contributions of this dissertation include three levels:concepts,propositions and theoretical models.First of all,this dissertation redefines the existing concepts(tourism experience,tourism experience quality),some new concepts(emotional trigger,emotional transmission,mixed emotions and emotional compensation)are put forward,and further sort the emotional triggers and tourism experience quality.Secondly,the relationship between different emotional triggers and tourism experience are explored,based on which seven propositions are made.Thirdly,this dissertation points out that there might be suitability and validity issues in using Expectation-Disconfirmation Model in tourism,the path model of tourism experience is put forward.The practical significance of this dissertation mainly includes two aspects:First,the destination managers or the tourism enterprises could focus on the emotional triggers and the quality of tourism experience on the basis of the path model of the tourism experience presented in this dissertation,and try to dazzle tourists’ senses as much as possible.Make sure that tourists participate in tourism activities.Destination managers or tourism enterprises should strive to make every interaction,between the tourist and the product or between the tourist and employee,becomes an unforgettable experience for the tourist.Second,the tourism destination should devote to improve the perceived value of tourists.For example,while culture attractions provide tourists with its history and cultural knowledge,if they could add some funny and aesthetic elements that will help to improve the quality of tourism experience and increase the perceived value. |
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