Satisfaction, destination quality and behavioral intentions: the case of UNESCO Heritage Sites in Jordan

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of quality of the cultural heritage destination on theBehavioural Intentions of its visitors and the role that Satisfaction plays in determining theirBehavioural Intentions. The study questioned the ability of Destination Quality to predict thetourists' Behavioural Intentions by using this explanatory variable as the sole determinant oftourist's Satisfaction. By so doing, this study proposes alternative predictors of Satisfactionand, consequently, behaviour. The lack of a dedicated tool to measure quality, Satisfactionand Behavioural Intention in cultural heritage sites called for designing a new, dedicatedinstrument, called the Destination Quality Scale, and, hereafter, referred to as DESTINQUALScale, to achieve the study goals. Although this study adopted a mixed‐method approach, it ismainly quantitative in nature. The interviews helped in development of the questionnairewhereas the data needed for hypothesis testing and analysis were quantitative data that wereprocessed following quantitative analysis methods.Of the 500 questionnaire forms distributed to local and foreign tourists in five World CulturalHeritage sites in Jordan, exactly 447 forms were retrieved. Of these, only 388 forms wereusable. The research data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS) and Smart PLS software. The results of hypothesis testing showed that all studiedmeasures of quality of the cultural heritage site positively affected tourist's Satisfaction andBehavioural Intentions to varying degrees. In addition, this study found that the individualeffect of each of the investigated Destination Quality measures on the tourist's BehaviouralIntention were partially mediated by Satisfaction, except for Authenticity, whose effect on thetourist's Behavioural Intention was fully mediated by Satisfaction. These findings confirm theproposition of this study that visitors of cultural heritage sites have special interests in thesedestinations and look for experience beyond the service quality. This study contributes to the theoretical knowledge by uncovering the factors that lead tocertain behaviours in the cultural visitation context, which is a contribution that was onlypossible after development of a dedicated scale (the DESTINQUAL Scale) to assess quality ofthe cultural heritage destinations, which is, actually, a scale that can be used in any culturalheritage site in the World. At the methodological level, the study challenged the diagnosticability of the widely used Expectancy‐Disconfirmation Theory in the cultural visitation contextby providing evidence on that Satisfaction can be assessed via other measures than the servicequality measures. At the practical level, the research tool and study results can help tourismplanners and decision makers in heightening the level of Satisfaction of the cultural heritagesite visitors and warranting the desired behavioural intentions, ultimately to contribute toenhancement of tourist's experience and to tourism sector in Jordan.

Date of Award	Apr 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bedfordshire
Supervisor	Rodolphe Ocler (Supervisor) & Christina Schwabenland (Third supervisor)