With the introduction of the five-days-work-week system, consumers’ demand for leisure activities has increased considerably, and resort companies are faced with excessively intense competition for attracting more customers. In order to attain an ad...
With the introduction of the five-days-work-week system, consumers’ demand for leisure activities has increased considerably, and resort companies are faced with excessively intense competition for attracting more customers. In order to attain an advantageous position in competition and preserve existing customers, resort companies are required to understand consumers’ characteristics and desires and to establish comprehensive and multi-sided strategies for marketing activities in response to diversified environments. In addition, they need to turn their attention to consumption values emphasizing consumers’ psychological aspect in order to meet their desires and to realize consumer satisfaction in consumers’ resort choice. There have been continuous researches in Korea to explain consumers’ purchase behavior based on consumption values, but such efforts have been insufficient in the area of tourism and particularly few researches on the consumption values of resorts.
Thus, breaking away from the existing frame of research on selection attribution, the present study suggested a research system on the correlation between the consumption values of resorts and service quality and the effects of the consumption values on consumer satisfaction using the variables of Sheth’s consumption values, and derived models from previous researches and tested hypotheses through empirical study.
According to the results of testing three hypotheses using factor and reliability analysis, canonical correlation analysis and regression analysis based on 392 samples obtained for empirical study, the consumption values and service quality of resorts were found to have significant effects on consumer satisfaction. This result is expected to be helpful for resort companies to establish various marketing strategies such as market subdivision and positioning strategy.
The major implications and significances of this study are as follows.
First, the correlation between the consumption values and service quality of resorts was explained. Based on the correlation, we can explain the relation between consumption value and service quality perceived by consumers. Thus, we expect that resort companies can redirect their marketing activities from overemphasis on service quality to more comprehensive marketing reflecting both consumption values and service quality.
Second, through this research, we examined the effects of the consumption values of resorts on consumer satisfaction. Among the consumption values of resorts, functional value and emotional value were found to have the most significant effect on consumer satisfaction, and conditional value affected to some degree. These results imply that resort companies need to differentiate consumption values in appealing to consumers using the values. Ultimately, consumption values should be reinforced to induce consumers’ revisit.
Third, the quality of services provided by resorts was found to have an effect on consumer satisfaction. Among the factors of service quality, reliability, tangibles and empathy appeared to have a positive effect on the satisfaction of consumers visiting the resorts. Thus, these factors need to be assessed more carefully in service quality control. In addition, these results provide a basis for improving resort companies’ service quality management. It is highly meaningful for this study to have suggested the detailed results.
We also expect further expansion of the academic and practical areas of the resort industry through continuous efforts to improve and supplement researches on the consumption values of resorts.