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Service Fairness, Consumption Emotions, Satisfaction,

and Behavioral Intentions: The Experience of Chinese
Heritage Tourists
LuJun Su & Maxwell K. Hsu
Published online: 12 Nov 2013.

To cite this article: LuJun Su & Maxwell K. Hsu (2013) Service Fairness, Consumption Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral
Intentions: The Experience of Chinese Heritage Tourists, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30:8, 786-805, DOI:
10.1080/10548408.2013.835228

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 Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30:786–805, 2013
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1054-8408 print / 1540-7306 online
DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2013.835228

SERVICE FAIRNESS, CONSUMPTION EMOTIONS,

SATISFACTION, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS:
THE EXPERIENCE OF CHINESE HERITAGE
TOURISTS
LuJun Su
Maxwell K. Hsu
Downloaded by [Heriot-Watt University] at 01:02 07 October 2014

ABSTRACT. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory and the justice theory from the marketing
and tourism literature, this study attempts to illuminate the embedded impact of tourist experience
on overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions in a cognitive-affective-behavioral framework. The
findings suggest that service fairness is an antecedent of consumption emotions (positive and negative)
that, in turn, influence satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the context of Chinese natural heritage
tourism. Notably, the results highlight the mediating role of tourists’ consumption emotions. This article
concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications to heritage tourism researchers
and managers.

KEYWORDS. Service fairness, consumption emotions, satisfaction, behavioral intentions, heritage

tourism

INTRODUCTION Center, 2012). Belonging to the World Heritage

Heritage tourism has emerged as one increas-
ingly popular form of tourism (Chen & Chen,
2010). Since the adoption of the Convention
Concerning the Protection of World Natural and
Cultural Heritage by the United Nations in 1972,
962 sites throughout the world have been desig-
nated as World Heritage Sites (World Heritage
Sites means more business (Li, Wu, & Cai,
2008), and evidence shows that many coun-
tries diligently try to qualify tourism destina-
tions in their territory as a World Heritage Site.
However, a noteworthy outcome of an increas-
ingly larger number of heritage sites is the grow-
ing competition among heritage destinations.
Heritage tourism practitioners who are able to

LuJun Su is Assistant Professor with the Business School of Central South University in Changsha, Hunan,
China (E-mail: sulujunslj@163.com).
Maxwell K. Hsu is Professor in the Department of Marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater,
800 West Main Street, Whitewater, WI 53190, USA (E-mail: hsum@uww.edu).
This research was jointly supported by the National Science Foundation for Young Scholars of
China (Grant No. 71203240), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71221061), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No.
2013M531820), and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Central South University. In addition, the authors
greatly appreciate the constructive suggestions from Professor Wang Liang (Macau University of Science
and Technology, China), Fucai Huang (Xiamen University, China), and two Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing reviewers.
Address correspondence to: Maxwell K. Hsu at the above address.

786
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
understand tourists’ perceptions of tourism sites
and their behavioral intentions would be in a
better position to develop effective communica-
tion strategies with potential visitors.
It is observed that heritage attractions are
moving forward from product-focused develop-
ment which emphasizes exhibits and education
to a more visitor-oriented development with a
focus on consumer preferences (Apostolakis &
Jaffry, 2005). Su and Wall (2011) suggested
that “there is a great need and many oppor-
tunities to undertake empirical research of
many kinds related to heritage tourism in
China” (p. 86). In response to Su and Wall’s
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(2011) call for heritage tourism research, this
study attempts to understand Chinese heritage
tourists’ decision-making behavior with a focus
on the perceived service fairness and its impact
on other affective and behavioral variables.
Service fairness is a customer’s perception of
the degree of justice in a service firm’s behav-
ior (Seiders & Berry, 1998). Namkung and
Jang (2009) identified service fairness as “an
appropriate and useful concept for evaluating
service in all conclusive consumption contexts”
(p. 404). Several recent studies suggest that
service fairness should be further examined
to better understand how the perceived ser-
vice fairness could lead to customer retention
and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) refer-
rals (Chung, Kyle, Petrick, & Absher, 2011;
Namkung & Jang, 2009; Kim, Kim, & Kim,
2009). In addition, environmental psychologists
maintain that people’s feelings or emotions
determine what they do and how they do it
(Donovan & Rossiter, 1982). That is, the envi-
ronment creates an emotional response in indi-
viduals which, in turn, elicits either approach
or avoidance behavior (Mehrabian & Russell,
1974). Interestingly, few studies investigate
the impact of service fairness and consump-
tion emotions on satisfaction and behavioral
intentions in the tourism industry. For exam-
ple, the emotional factor was ignored in an
integrative service loyalty model that includes
customer satisfaction, commitment, service
fairness, service quality, trust, and commercial
friendship in service contexts (Han, Kwortnik &
Wang, 2008). An exception is Namkung and
Jang’s (2010) recent work, in which they found
787
a significant relationship between positive
emotions and behavioral intentions.
As the Mehrabian-Russell model
(Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) incorporates the
concepts of the physical environment, emotions,
and response in a single model, this model’s
cognitive-affective-behavioral framework pro-
vides a sound theoretical guideline when we
investigate the relationship among service
fairness, consumption emotions, satisfaction,
and behavioral intentions. It is worthy to note
that, in a restaurant context, Namkung and Jang
(2010) recently investigated the relationship
among perceived service fairness, emotions, and
behavior intentions in the Mehrabian-Russell
cognitive-affective-behavioral framework.
The present study has two objectives:
• This study highlights the essence of ser-
vice fairness and further empirically exam-
ines its impact on a few key consequent
variables in a comprehensive cognitive-
affective-behavioral framework.
• This study mimics Namkung and Jang’s
(2010) study to measure both positive and
negative dimensions of tourists’ consump-
tion emotions, with the intention to shed
light on the mediating role of consumption
emotions in the tourists’ decision-making
process.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
The model presented in this study is built
upon the cognitive appraisal theory and the
justice theory. An implicit promise of fairness
is fundamental in human relations. The cogni-
tive appraisal theory explains how a customer’s
evaluation attempt results in cognitive and emo-
tional outcomes. Notably, emotional outcome
is reflected by the customer’s discrete emo-
tions, including both positive and negative emo-
tions, which may further influence customers’
behavioral intentions. Bagozzi, Gopinath, and
Nyer (1999) suggested “emotions arise in
response to appraisals one makes for some-
thing of relevance to one’s well-being” (p. 185).
 788 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING
Based on the same perspective, Schoefer and
Ennew (2005) concluded that perceived jus-
tice presents a cognitive appraisal dimension,
and it elicits the emotions following complaint-
handling experiences.
The justice theory states that a customer eval-
uates a service encounter as either just or unjust.
Although unjust service is generally considered
low in service quality, poor service is not nec-
essarily judged as unfair (Berry, 1995). That is,
service fairness and service quality are interre-
lated but distinctive concepts (Seiders & Berry,
1998). In general, individuals are motivated by
a comparison of the ratio of their inputs to their
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outcomes relative to the same ratio of com-
parison to others (Adams, 1965). The justice
theory predicts that undervalued and overval-
ued outcomes, two forms of inequity, cause
distress that people seek to reduce. According
to Adams (1965), it is not necessarily the case
that each individual is simply out to get as
much as possible in an exchange. However,
each person should obtain a fair and reason-
able amount relative to others. From the per-
spective of the service consumer, Carr (2007)
stated,
No matter how good the service is, I will
be more satisfied only if I get roughly the
same level of service provided to other
service customers that I perceive to be sim-
ilar to me in ways salient to the service
situation (comparison other). (p.109)
FIGURE 1. The Conceptual Model
Positive emotions
H1a
H2d
H1d H1c
Service fairness
H1f
H1b
Negative emotions
Obviously, the evaluation result of justice may
impact the customer’s emotions and behavioral
intentions.
Collectively, taking both the cognitive
appraisal theory and the justice theory into con-
sideration when developing an integrated con-
ceptual model would enable tourism researchers
and practitioners to better understand the impact
that cognitive assessment (e.g., service fairness)
and emotional responses have on satisfaction
and behavioral intentions. As Figure 1 shows,
both positive and negative emotions are pro-
posed to be important mediators in the tourism
service process. The next section will illustrate
each variable and the relationships among
variables examined in this study.
MODEL ELABORATION AND
HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
A survey of literature reveals that cognition
was first used to explain consumption behav-
iors (Bettman, 1979). Although some early ser-
vice recovery studies evaluated remedial service
from the cognitive perspective (Tax, Brown, &
Chandrashekaran, 1998; Smith, Bolton, &
Wagner, 1999), other recent studies (Varela-
Neira, Vázquez-Casielles & Iglesias-Argüelles,
2008; del Río-Lanza, Vázquez-Casielles, &
Díaz-Martín, 2009) recommended including not
only the cognitive components but also emo-
tional elements in research on service recov-
ery. Emotion has been described as “a mental
H2b
Revisit intentions
H2c
H2a
H4a
H5
Satisfaction
H4b
H1e
Word-of-mouth
H3b
H4c H6
H3a
H3c
H3d Search for
alternatives
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
state of readiness that arises from cognitive
appraisals of events or thoughts . . . and may
result in specific action to affirm or cope with
the emotion, depending on its nature and mean-
ing from the person having it” (Bagozzi et al.,
1999, p. 184). Emotional reactions could be pro-
voked by a fair/unfair treatment in a service
encounter. Further, Namkung and Jang (2010)
noted that “human behavior depends on the
relative efficacy of positive and negative emo-
tional states” (p. 1239). That is, service fair-
ness (a cognitive judgment) is considered an
important antecedent to consumption emotions
(an affective feeling) and behavior intentions
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in the widely recognized cognitive-affective-
behavioral framework.
In service encounters, customers often par-
ticipate directly in the service’s production and
are directly exposed to a company’s operat-
ing systems, practices, and policies. Groth and
Gilliland (2001) surveyed 135 customers from
two fast-food restaurants to examine the role
of procedural justice in the delivery of ser-
vices. These restaurants used two different types
of waiting procedures, single-line systems and
multiple-line systems. Although no significant
difference in actual wait time was observed,
results showed that customers in a single-line
system perceived wait time to be shorter and
their reactions to the wait were more posi-
tive. Schneider and Bowen (1999) argued that
individuals enter into a psychological contract
with a service provider and expect to be treated
fairly. Patterson, Johnson, and Spreng (1997)
noted that “perceived inequality is considered
to cause distress—a negative affect and a com-
ponent of dissatisfaction” and “a highly equi-
table outcome cognition is thought to generate
positive emotions and thus satisfaction” (p. 7).
That is, when customers believe they have been
treated unfairly, their reactions tend to be imme-
diate, emotional, and enduring (Seiders & Berry,
1998). In general, service recovery studies sug-
gest that service fairness is a driver of emo-
tions ranging from joyful and happy to upset
and angry. Therefore, we propose a significant
relationship between service fairness and con-
sumers’ emotional reactions:
H1a: Service fairness has a positive effect on
positive consumption emotions.
789
H1b: Service fairness has a negative effect on
negative consumption emotions.
Past service literature identifies three unique
types of service fairness on consumer satis-
faction, rebuy intentions, and WOM. Service
fairness could strengthen the repurchase inten-
tions and lower the possibility of negative WOM
(Hocutt, Chakraborty, & Mowen, 1997; Teo &
Lim, 2001). Patterson et al.’s (1997) empiri-
cal investigation revealed that service fairness
has a positive and significant impact on cus-
tomer satisfaction, and in turn, on repeat pur-
chase intentions in a business-to-business pro-
fessional service setting. Andreassen (2000)
suggested that disconfirmation of expectations
of service recovery and perceived fairness of
service recovery influence customer satisfac-
tion with the service provider’s recovery efforts.
Customers’ perception toward a prior travel
experience may affect decisions they make in
their travel plans. If tourists feel they were
treated fairly at a tourism destination, they are
more likely to perceive a relatively low risk with
respect to their decision to revisit that destina-
tion. As a result, they may reduce their search
for alternative future travel destinations. This
discussion leads to the following hypotheses:
H1c: Service fairness has a positive effect on
satisfaction.
H1d: Service fairness has a positive effect on
intention to revisit.
H1e: Service fairness has a positive effect on
the word-of-mouth communication.
H1f: Service fairness has a negative effect on
the search for alternatives.
Consumption emotions refer to the set of
emotional responses elicited during consump-
tion experiences (Westbrook & Oliver, 1991),
and consumption emotions represent a critical
factor in defining consumption experience and
consumer reaction (Babin, Darden, & Babin,
1998; Lee, Lee, Lee, & Babin, 2008). Many
researchers suggest that consumption emotions
influence perceived product performance and
other important outcomes related to consumer
satisfaction and/or retention (Ladhari, Brun, &
Morales, 2008; Oliver & Westbrook, 1993).
 790 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING
In contrast to the view of consumers as only
rational beings, recent research clearly suggests
that failing to take emotions into account when
explaining consumer behavior is incomplete
(Lee et al., 2008).
A prevailing definition of satisfaction is “the
summary psychological state resulting when
the emotion surrounding disconfirmed expecta-
tions is coupled with the consumer’s prior feel-
ing about the consumption experience” (Oliver,
1981, p. 27). A tourist is satisfied when his/her
experiences, compared to expectations, result in
feelings of gratification (Reisinger & Turner,
2003).
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Westbrook’s (1987) study confirmed that
both positive and negative emotional dimen-
sions of affective response are related to
the favorability of consumer satisfaction judg-
ments. Price (1995) investigated the relationship
among service provider performance, affective
response, and service satisfaction for service
encounter. The findings revealed that affective
response, either positive or negative, had sig-
nificant effects on satisfaction. Wirtz, Mattila,
and Tan’s (2000) study also confirmed the rela-
tionship between consumption emotions and
consumer satisfaction. They suggested that pos-
itive consumer emotion is positively related to
consumer satisfaction and negative consumer
emotion has significant and negative influ-
ence on customer satisfaction. Notably, negative
emotions caused by failed service encounters
(e.g., unfair service treatment) “are expected
to lead to increased dissatisfaction” and “the
overall valence then becomes the driving force
behind consumers’ behavioral responses to ser-
vice failures” (Mattila & Ro, 2008, p. 90).
Thus,
H2a: Positive emotions have a positive effect
on satisfaction.
H3a: Negative emotions have a negative
effect on satisfaction.
Affective states have a direct bearing on sat-
isfaction, complaint behavior, and WOM activ-
ity (Westbrook, 1987). In a service failure
context, Smith and Bolton (2002) suggested
that emotions mediate the relationship between
an organization’s service recovery efforts and
relevant outcome variables such as customer
satisfaction following the failure. Chebat and
Slusarczyk (2005) showed that emotions held
by customers in a service recovery setting medi-
ate the impact of perceived justice on loyalty.
In the cognitive-affective-behavioral model pre-
sented in the present study, emotions are con-
sidered consequences of service fairness and
antecedents of customer satisfaction and inten-
tions. Positive affect is more likely to lead to
loyal customers.
Customer loyalty refers to “the customer’s
willingness to continue patronizing a business
over the long term, purchasing and using its
goods and services on a repeated and prefer-
ably exclusive basis, and voluntarily recom-
mending the firm’s products to friends and
associates” (Lovelock, 2001, p. 151). Many
researchers advocate that customer loyalty con-
sists of a combination of behavioral consistency
and attitudinal predisposition toward brand pur-
chase (Lee, 2009; Morais, 2000; Rundle-Thiele,
2005). Indeed, attitudinal loyalty is proposed
to complement the shortcoming of the behav-
ioral aspect of loyalty (Dick & Basu, 1994).
Repeat patronage to a heritage destination is “a
trip to a primary destination which previously
has been visited for any purpose” (Gitelson &
Crompton, 1984, p. 205). In addition to revisit,
loyal customers are more likely to recommend
friends, relatives, or other potential customers
to a product/service by acting as free WOM
advertising agents (Shoemaker & Lewis, 1999).
Pleasant surprises may create delighted cus-
tomers. A pleasant surprise evokes positive
emotion and may strengthen consumer loy-
alty. In destination image and postconsump-
tion behavioral studies, intentions to revisit a
destination and to spread positive WOM have
been the two most important behavioral con-
sequences (Qu, Kim, & Im, 2011). Using data
from hotels, banks, hospitals, and civil airlines,
Wen et al. (2004) examined the significant direct
effects of positive and negative emotions on
repurchase intentions. Thus,
H2b: Positive emotions have a positive effect
on intention to revisit.
H2c: Positive emotions have a positive effect
on word-of-mouth communication.
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
H2d: Positive emotions have a negative
effect on search for alternatives.
H3b: Negative emotions have a negative
effect on intention to revisit.
H3c: Negative emotions have a negative
effect on word-of-mouth communica-
tion.
H3d: Negative emotions have a positive
effect on search for alternatives.
Satisfaction has been suggested to be a direct
antecedent of behavioral intentions (Cronin,
Brady, & Hult, 2000; Olorunniwo, Hsu, & Udo,
2006; Petrick & Backman, 2002). In particu-
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lar, satisfaction has been linked to destination
choice, consumption of tourism products and
services, and the revisiting decision (Alegre &
Juaneda, 2006; Kozak & Rimmington, 2000;
Petrick & Backman, 2002). After analyzing
restaurant patronage in South Korea, Babin,
Lee, Kim, & Griffin (2005) found the exis-
tence of a positive effect of consumer sat-
isfaction on positive WOM. When customers
are satisfied with the service experience, they
will be motivated to recommend such experi-
ences positively to others (Mangold & Miller,
1999). Furthermore, the more active involve-
ment when an individual spreads the WOM
recommendation, the greater the possibility
of buying the recommended products (Mittal,
Kumar, & Tsirosm, 1999; Wirtz & Chew,
2002). Several tourism studies confirmed the
significant relationship between tourist satisfac-
tion, revisit intention, and positive recommen-
dation (Beeho & Prentice, 1997; Park & Njite,
2010; Simpson & Siguaw, 2008). Conversely,
the relationships between dissatisfaction, search
for an alternative, and negative WOM have
also been identified (Almanza, Jaffe, & Lin,
1994). Ferguson and Johnston (2011) proposed
that the greater the level of dissatisfaction,
the less likely the customer will remain loyal,
and the more likely the customer will engage
in negative WOM behavior. The theory of
planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) and the
extended TPB theory predict that perceived
risk is a significant obstacle to the adoption
of unfamiliar services. If tourists are satisfied
with their experience at a tourism destina-
tion, the risk of revisiting the same destination
791
will be relatively low and the intentions of
searching for alternative destinations may be
reduced. Thus,
H4a: Satisfaction has a significant direct pos-
itive effect on intention to revisit.
H4b: Satisfaction has a significant direct
positive effect on word-of-mouth com-
munication.
H4c: Satisfaction has a negative effect on the
search for alternatives.
Customer loyalty is an important goal in the
consumer marketing community as it is a key
component for a company’s long-term viability
or sustainability. Kozak and Rimmington (2000)
proposed a significant relationship between
revisit intentions and recommendation inten-
tions. Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1996)
suggested that favorable behavioral intentions
are associated with a service provider’s abil-
ity to get customers to: (a) say positive things
about them, (b) recommend them to other cus-
tomers, (c) remain loyal to them (i.e., repur-
chase from them), (d) spend more money
with them, and (e) pay premium prices. The
importance of WOM for service firms has
been well-established (Mangold & Miller, 1999;
Swanson & Hsu, 2009). As positive WOM is
an important information source influencing a
consumer’s choice of destination (Weaver &
Lawton, 2002; Yvette & Turner, 2002), it is
hypothesized that a positive WOM has a neg-
ative effect on tourists’ search for alternative
heritage destinations. Thus,
H5: Intention to revisit has a positive effect
on positive word-of-mouth communi-
cation.
H6: Positive word-of-mouth on a travel des-
tination has a negative effect on the
search for other alternative heritage
destinations.
The relationships among the variables inves-
tigated in the model are depicted in Figure 1,
which includes three behavioral intention
variables: intentions to revisit, WOM referrals,
and search for alternatives.
 792 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING

RESEARCH DESIGN was slightly modified to better reflect the vari-

Survey Instrument
Based on a comprehensive survey of the
tourism and service marketing literature, the
authors put together a draft questionnaire, and
it was subsequently edited by a few experi-
enced tourism practitioners and two senior mar-
keting professors before it was pilot tested.
The test group included college and gradu-
ate students who had recently visited at least
one heritage tourism site to prevent possible
misunderstanding of the questions due to lack
of travel experience. After the pilot study, the
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ables investigated in the present study.
As shown in Table 1, first mention the items
used in this study were mainly adapted from
Leventhal (1980), Bies and Moag (1986), and
Shapiro, Buttner, and Barry (1994). College stu-
dents were trained to be familiar with the inter-
viewing and survey collection procedure, and
the trained survey investigators were instructed
to distribute the questionnaires at two main rest
areas of the Wuyi Mountain tourism heritage
site. The Wuyi Mountain heritage destina-
tion is housed with some of the best hiking
trails, river rafting, and sightseeing activities

in Southeast China. An 80-minute raft trip

wording of a few questions on the questionnaire down the Nine-Bend River is one of the most

TABLE 1. Research Questions

Factors and question items Item sources

Service fairness
Taking everything into consideration, the heritage site’s offer was quite Leventhal, 1980
fair.
The procedures for handling my requests were fair. Leventhal, 1980
The service providers treated all tourists courteously. Bies and Moag, 1986
The service providers were willing to impartially share information. Shapiro, Buttner, and Barry, 1994
Positive (consumption) emotions
I was excited about this travel experience. Mehrabian and Russell, 1974
I was happy about this travel experience. Chebat and Michon, 2003
I felt relaxed about this travel experience. Yoo, Park, and MacInnis, 1998
Negative (consumption) emotions
I was angry about this travel experience. Izard, 1977
I was bored with this travel experience. Mehrabian and Russell, 1974
I was annoyed with this travel experience. Mehrabian and Russell, 1974
Tourist satisfaction
Overall, I was satisfied with my visit to this heritage site. Brown, Cowles, and Tuten, 1996
Compared to my expectations, I was satisfied with my visit to this Brown, Cowles, and Tuten, 1996
heritage site.
Compared to the ideal situation, I was satisfied with my visit to this Brown, Cowles, and Tuten, 1996
heritage site.
Revisit intentions
I intend to revisit this heritage travel site again. Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
It is very likely that I will revisit this heritage site in the future. Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
The likelihood of my return to this heritage site for another heritage Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
travel is high.
Word-of-mouth
I would positively recommend this heritage site to other people. Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman, 1996
I would be glad to refer this heritage site to other heritage tourists. Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
I would recommend this heritage site to those who are planning for a Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
heritage travel.
Search for alternatives
I would make an effort to look for alternative heritage sites. Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
I intend to continuously look for alternative heritage sites. Hutchinson, Lai, and Wang, 2009
I intend to continuously ask others for alternative heritage site New
information.
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
popular attractions, followed by a visit to the
Thread of Sky Caves, where the narrowest walk-
way is only 1-foot wide. This heritage site
also provides refuge for a variety of wildlife,
and its 46 unique species are listed in the
CITES (Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna).
In addition to Wuyi’s natural attractions, an
ancient town built in the Han dynasty (or about
200 BC) is a hot tourism spot in the Wuyi
area. In the Song dynasty (or about 1,100 AD),
a well-respected Chinese scholar named Xi
Zhu founded the influential Wuyi Academy of
Classical Learning. The numerous cultural relics
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left by scholars, Taoist masters, and Buddhist
monks along with the well-preserved natural
attractions make tourism the fastest growing
industry in the Wuyi Mountain area, immedi-
ately followed by its popular nationally known
black tea agricultural industry.
The survey investigators stayed available
nearby until the respondents finished the sur-
vey, so that tourists could ask for clarifications
if they had any questions. Participation in this
study was voluntary and participants’ names and
contact information were not requested due to
the privacy concern. The survey distributors col-
lected the completed questionnaire and briefly
reviewed the completeness of the responses
on site.
The concept of service fairness includes dis-
tributive fairness (product), procedural fairness
(process), interactional fairness (people), and
information fairness (Carr, 2007). Although fair-
ness has been proposed to be a multidimensional
construct, a few researchers measured this con-
cept in a global level. For example, Patterson
et al. (1997) employed a single-dimensional ser-
vice fairness scale when they modeled the deter-
minants of customer satisfaction for business-
to-business professional services. Severt and
Rompf (2006) used a three-item scale to mea-
sure overall fairness, and this construct yielded
a reliability level of .93. A more extreme treat-
ment has also been applied in the literature.
In fact, Bei and Chiao’s (2001) study exam-
ined a 23-item service quality scale and identi-
fied three dimensions: reliability, tangibility, and
convenience. However, these authors decided
to test the hypotheses (e.g., perceived service
quality’s impact on satisfaction and loyalty)
793
using a single item mainly because “the result
of the 23-item service quality scale is highly
correlated with the single-item overall quality
measurement” (p. 132). Similarly, in a study
examining whether perception of fairness moti-
vates fathers to pay child support and whether
perceptions of fairness interact with routine
income withholding in collecting payments, Lin
(2000) measured perception of fairness by a
single question that asked, “Considering your
financial resources and obligations, the finan-
cial resources and obligations of the other parent
and the needs of your child(ren), how fair was
the agreement you had during 1988 for (child
or family) support payments?” (p. 392). Thus, it
is considered appropriate for this study to mea-
sure service fairness in an overall global level,
similar to what DeWitt, Nguyen, and Marshall
(2008) did in their recent study.
These emotional responses can be concep-
tualized as distinctive categories of emotional
experiences—such as joy, anger, disgust,
and contempt (Izard, 1977); or as different
dimensions underlying emotional categories—
such as pleasantness/unpleasantness or
calmness/excitement (Plutchik, 1980). In other
words, positive emotion is related to enthusi-
asm, activity, and alertness (Kelley & Hoffman,
1997); while negative emotion is a dimen-
sion of subjective distress and unpleasurable
engagement that subsumes a variety of aversive
states such as anger, contempt, disgust, guilt,
fear, and nervousness (Lee, Kim, Son, & Lee,
2011). Lee, Lee, and Lee (2005) used three
affective dimensions (bad–good, unpleasant–
pleasant, nasty–nice) to capture positive and
negative consumption emotions of patrons
at the 2002 World Cup. Similarly, Jang and
Namkung (2009) employed positive and nega-
tive emotion dimensions in a restaurant setting.
Notably, many other researchers have used
positive and negative dimensions to measure
emotions in the service literature (e.g., DeWitt
et al., 2008; Jang & Namkung, 2009; Lee
et al., 2008; Yalch & Spangenberg, 2000). It is
worthy to note that Muller and Tse (1991)
studied consumers’ postconsumption emotional
response to a trip in the city of Toronto, and
they used a similar set of mood adjectives (“my
visit to Toronto leaves me touched or moved,
delighted, contented, disappointed, angry,
 794 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING

frustrated,” p. 16) to measure the consumption (strongly agree). Table 1 reports the indicators
emotions. and their original source.
The concept of tourist satisfaction was not
considered industry specific, and it can be Data Collection
applied to lodging, restaurants, theme parks, and
A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed
many other types of tourism service. Heritage
and 361 questionnaires were returned. However,
satisfaction could be operationalized as over- only 314 complete responses (with an effec-
all evaluation of the heritage destination. In the
tive response rate of 78.5%) were used in
present study, the satisfaction construct was
this study. The gender distribution is approx-
measured with three items that were drawn imately the same between male and female
from Brown, Cowles, and Tuten’s (1996) work.
respondents (52.55% male respondents) and the
On the other hand, the concept of behavioral
majority of the respondents were younger than
intentions was assessed by heritage visitors’ (a)
45 years (78.02%). A detailed profile of the
intention to revisit, (b) intention to spread posi-
survey respondents is provided in Table 2.
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tive WOM, and (c) intention to search for alter-

natives. Each of the three dimensions has three
items, which were adapted from Hutchinson, DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
Lai, and Wang (2009) and Zeithaml et al.
(1996). Analysis of the Measurement Model
All the measurement scales used in this
study were assessed using a 5-point Likert-type The data were analyzed using structural equa-
scale, anchored on 1 (strongly disagree) and 5 tion modeling (SEM), a well-established and

TABLE 2. Sample Demographic Profile

Variables Specific items N Percentage (%)

Gender Male 165 52.55

Female 149 47.45
Age 14–17 17 5.41
18–24 94 29.94
25–44 134 42.68
45–64 60 19.11
≥65 9 2.87
Education No high school degree 49 15.61
High school/technical school degree 58 18.47
Some college/undergraduate degree 187 59.55
Postgraduate degree 20 6.37
Workers 5 1.59
Students 98 31.21
Public servants 46 14.65
Farmers 5 1.59
Occupation Personal operators 19 6.05
Teachers 42 13.38
Professional technical personnel 31 9.87
Business managers 29 9.24
Service or sales personnel 15 4.87
Retired workers 12 3.82
Other 12 3.82
Monthly household income Less than 1,999 RMB 125 39.81
2,000–2,999 RMB 84 26.75
3,000–3,999 RMB 48 15.29
4,000–4,999 RMB 32 10.19
Greater than 5,000 RMB 25 7.96
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
widely accepted research method in analyzing
survey data. For example, Lee, Graefe, and
Burns (2004) collected 395 on-site surveys in
a forest, and they employed SEM to investi-
gate the mediating role of satisfaction between
service quality and behavioral intentions among
forest visitors.
Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficient was used
to assess internal consistency of the same con-
struct, and composite reliability was used to
gauge the scale reliability. A confirmatory fac-
tor analysis (CFA) was employed to examine
convergent validity and discriminant validity of
the latent constructs studied in this article (see
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Table 3). The coefficient alpha of latent con-
structs ranged from .82 to .94, higher than the
commonly cited Cronbach alpha standard at
the .7 cut-off level (Nunnally, 1978). Another
widely used reliability indicator is the construct
reliability (CR), and it was found that all the
CR measures ranged from .84 to .95 in the
present study, notably higher than the recom-
mended cut-off value of .7 (Fornell & Larcker,
1981). Together, these findings reflect that all
measurement scales meet the reliability require-
ment. With regard to the convergent validity
(i.e., the degree of association between mea-
sures of a construct), it was assessed by review-
ing whether the t-statistics associated with each
of the factor loadings were statistically signif-
icant at the .05 level. As shown in Table 3,
all items had a significant factor loading higher
than .70 (p < .01). Moreover, the discriminant
validity is established when the average variance
extracted (AVE) exceeds the .5 threshold value,
and the correlation coefficient among latent vari-
ables was lower than square root of the AVE
(Chin, 1998). Table 4 reports the intercorrela-
tion between various constructs, varying from
−.40 to .79, while the absolute value of the
square roots of AVE varied from .80 to .92.
That is, all the correlations were lower than the
square roots of AVE, which indicates adequate
discriminant validity.
Finally, the chi-square to degrees of freedom
ratio (χ 2 /df ) equaled 1.29 (<2), and the root
mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)
was .03 (<.06). A battery of goodness-of-fit
indices (GFI)—adjusted goodness-of-fit index
(AGFI), comparative fit index (CFI), normed
795
fit index (NFI), incremental fit index (IFI),
and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI)—also provided
supportive evidence to the appropriate fit
between our proposed model and the data (see
Table 5).
Analysis of the Structural Path Model
A structural path model that includes all con-
structs is examined to verify the proposed causal
relationship. Notably, Iacobucci, Saldanha, and
Deng (2007) maintained that “when conducting
tests for mediations, SEMs are the most gen-
eral tool” (p. 151), which further supports our
employment of the SEM approach in assess-
ing the proposed model. Path loadings reveal
the strengths of the relationships between latent
variables. The results, indicating the fitting
indices of the structural equation model, are
shown in Table 2. Based on the evaluation cri-
teria suggested by Hu and Bentler (1999), the
proposed model had an acceptable goodness-
of-fit indices (RMSEA = .04, GFI = .92,
AGFI = .90, CFI = .98, NFI = .95, IFI = .98,
TLI = .98). The path loadings, t-statistics, and
the outcome of the hypothesis tests related to
the full structural path model are presented in
Table 6.
The impact of service fairness on positive
emotions (λ21 = .52, p < .01), negative emo-
tions (λ31 = −.29, p < .01), satisfaction (λ41 =
.58, p < .01), and WOM (l61 = .13, p < .1) were
significant, which offer support for H1a, H1b,
H1c, and H1e. The influence of positive emo-
tions on satisfaction (β42 = .22, p < .01), revisit
intentions (β52 = .17, p < .05), and WOM refer-
rals (β62 = .15, p < .01) were statistically signif-
icant, providing support for H2a, H2b, and H2c.
The standardized paths from negative emotions
to satisfaction (β43 = −.22, p < .01) and the
search for alternatives (β73 = .13, p < .05) were
also significant, providing support for H3a and
H3d.
With regard to the impact of satisfaction on
three consequent variables, satisfaction had a
positive and significant effect on revisit inten-
tions (β54 = .47, p < .01) and WOM referrals
(β64 = .52, p < .01), offering support for H4a
and H4b. Interestingly, satisfaction had a pos-
itive influence on the search for alternatives
 796 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING

TABLE 3. Service Fairness, Consumption Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions (in a
CFA Framework) the headings Construct through Cronbach are TH

Construct Question items Standard t-statistic CR AVE Cronbach

Service fairness Taking everything into .92 20.88 .92 .76 .91
(SF) consideration, the heritage
site’s offer was quite fair.
The procedures for handling my .90 20.42
requests were fair.
The service providers treated all .80 16.80
tourists courteously.
The service providers were willing .82 17.26
to impartially share information.
Positive I was excited about this heritage .82 16.78 .84 .65 .82
emotions (PE) travel experience.
I was happy about this heritage .91 19.53
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travel experience.
I felt relaxed about this heritage .66 12.73
travel experience.
Negative I was angry about this heritage .84 18.14 .93 .81 .92
emotions (NE) travel experience.
I was bored with this heritage .99 23.80
travel experience.
I was annoyed with this heritage .86 18.91
travel experience.
Satisfaction Overall, I was satisfied with my .87 18.76 .89 .72 .89
(SAT) visit to this heritage site.
Compared to my expectations, I .84 18.00
was satisfied with my visit to
this heritage site.
Compared to the ideal situation, I .84 17.99
was satisfied with my visit to
this heritage site.
Revisit I intend to revisit this heritage .88 19.62 .95 .85 .94
intentions (RI) travel site again.
It is very likely that I will revisit this .95 22.24
heritage site in the future.
The likelihood of my return to this .93 21.67
heritage site for another
heritage travel is high.
Word-of- mouth I would positively recommend this .85 18.38 .91 .78 .91
(WOM) heritage site to other people.
I would be glad to refer this .94 21.69
heritage site to other heritage
tourists.
I would recommend this heritage .85 18.41
site to those who are planning
for a heritage travel.
Search for I would make an effort to look for .87 18.89 .92 .77 .91
alternatives alternative heritage sites.
(ALT)
I intend to continuously look for .94 21.18
alternatives to heritage sites.
I intend to continuously ask .82 17.50
others for alternative heritage
site information.

Note. CFA = confirmatory factor analysis; CR = construct reliability; AVE = average variance extracted.
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu 797

TABLE 4. The Correlation Coefficient and Average Variance Extracted

SF PE NE SAT RI WOM ALT

Service fairness (SF) .87

Positive emotions (PE) .51 .80
Negative emotions (NE) −.28 −.45 .90
Satisfaction (SAT) .75 .62 −.50 .85
Revisit intentions (RI) .40 .42 −.23 .53 .92
Word-of-mouth (WOM) .66 .61 −.40 .79 .54 .88
Search for alternatives (ALT) .39 .32 −.12 .43 .17 .40 .88

Note. The square root of average variance extracted (AVE) is shown on the diagonal; interconstruct correlations are shown
off the diagonal.

TABLE 5. The Model Goodness-of-Fit Index

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χ 2 /df RMSEA GFI AGFI CFI NFI IFI TLI

Measurement model 1.29 .03 .94 .91 .99 .96 .99 .99
Proposed path model 1.58 .04 .92 .90 .98 .95 .98 .98
Revised/reduced path model 1.57 .04 .92 .90 .98 .95 .98 .98

Note. RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; GFI = goodness-of-fit index; AGFI = adjusted goodness-of-fit
index; CFI = comparative fit index, NFI = normed fit index, IFI = incremental fit index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis index.

TABLE 6. Hypothesis Test Outcome the headings Relationships between variables through
Hypothesis is supported are TH; TB begins with H1a

Relationships between variables Path Std. path t-statistics (SE) Hypothesis is supported

H1a Service fairness → Positive emotions λ21 .52∗∗∗ 8.32 (.07) Yes
H1b Service fairness → Negative emotions λ31 −.29∗∗∗ −4.94 (.07) Yes
H1c Service fairness → Satisfaction λ41 .58∗∗∗ 9.96 (.06) Yes
H1d Service fairness → Revisit intentions λ51 −.02 −0.23 (.13) No
H1e Service fairness → WOM λ61 .13∗ 1.91 (.07) Yes
H1f Service fairness → Search for alternatives λ71 .12 1.20 (.11) No
H2a Positive emotions → Satisfaction β42 .22∗∗∗ 4.24 (.05) Yes
H2b Positive emotions → Revisit intentions β52 .17∗∗ 2.49 (.08) Yes
H2c Positive emotions → WOM β62 .15∗∗∗ 2.85 (.04) Yes
H2d Positive emotions → Search for alternatives β72 .08 1.11 (.08) No
H3a Negative emotions → Satisfaction β43 −.22∗∗∗ −5.58 (.04) Yes
H3b Negative emotions → Revisit intentions β53 .07 1.21 (.07) No
H3c Negative emotions → WOM β63 −.02 −.36 (.04) No
H3d Negative emotions → Search for alternatives β73 .13∗∗ 2.00 (.06) Yes
H4a Satisfaction → Revisit intentions β54 .47∗∗∗ 4.24 (.15) Yes
H4b Satisfaction → WOM β64 .52∗∗∗ 5.71 (.09) Yes
H4c Satisfaction → Search for alternatives β74 .26∗ 1.86 (.15) No
H5 Revisit intentions → WOM β65 .15∗∗∗ 3.05 (.03) Yes
H6 WOM → Search for alternatives β76 .11 1.04 (.13) No
∗p < .10. ∗∗ p < .05. ∗∗∗ p < .01.

(β74 = .26, p < .1), contrasting with the hypoth- Mountain heritage site might consider visiting
esized negative relationship between these two other heritage sites.
variables depicted in H4c. That is, tourists Regarding the relationship between the three
who were satisfied with their visit to the Wuyi separate dimensions of behavioral intentions,
 798 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING
FIGURE 2. The Modified Path Model
Positive emotions
R2 = .27
.22***
.52***
.60***
Service fairness
–.29*** –.22***
Negative emotions
R2 = .08
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revisit intentions had a positive and significant
effect on WOM referrals (β65 = .15, p < .01),
supporting H5. However, a number of proposed
paths were not statistically significant, providing
no support to H1d, H1f, H2d, H3b, H3c, and H6.
As such, insignificant paths were removed from
the conceptual model one at a time to obtain
a more parsimonious model (i.e., a reduced
model). Examinations of the reduced model out-
come revealed that, with the exception of an
insignificant path between service fairness and
WOM referrals (p = .11), the removal of all
insignificant paths together does not have a siz-
able impact on the overall model GFI indices
nor on the significance of other path coeffi-
cients. The standardized paths in the reduced
model were depicted in Figure 2. Figure 2 first
mention Approximately 28, 68, and 22% of the
variance in revisit intentions, WOM referrals,
and the search for alternatives was explained in
the modified model, respectively. These findings
reflected strong interrelationships among factors
studied in this comprehensive heritage tourist
satisfaction model.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Relationships Between Constructs
The current research proposed an inte-
grative model that depicts the relationships
among service fairness, consumption emo-
tions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.
.16**
Revisit intentions
.15*** R2 = .28
.42***
.15***
Satisfaction
R2 = .69 0.65***
Word-of-mouth
R2 = .68
.51**
.14** Search for
alternatives
R2 = .22
The cognitive-affective-behavioral model was
empirically tested using tourist survey data col-
lected from the Wuyi Mountain area, a popular
World Heritage site in China.
Previous studies have confirmed that service
fairness acts as a direct cognitive antecedent to
customer satisfaction (Chebat & Slusarczyk,
2005; Maxham & Netemeyer, 2002; Oliver &
Westbrook, 1993) and behavioral intentions
(Namkung & Jang, 2009; Raimondo, Miceli, &
Costabile, 2008). Recently, some researchers
have suggested that service fairness elicits
emotional response from customers (Chebat &
Slusarczyk, 2005; DeWitt et al., 2008) and
that cognition influences the formation of cus-
tomer satisfaction (Schoefer, 2008). In a rather
comprehensive cognitive-affective-behavioral
framework, our empirical findings revealed
the mediating role of consumption emotions
between service fairness and satisfaction and
behavioral intentions.
Severt and Rompf (2006) found a positive
relationship between overall fairness (i.e., a
more holistic concept of fairness) and customer
satisfaction. Consistent with most findings in the
service marketing literature (e.g., Andreassen,
2000; Hellier, Geursen, Carr, & Rickard, 2003;
Namkung and Jang, 2009; Oliver & DeSarbo,
1988; Tax et al., 1998), our empirical results
also confirmed that service fairness is an imme-
diate antecedent in the prediction of customer
satisfaction. Although several studies identified
the relationship between service fairness and
behavioral intentions directly (e.g., Raimondo
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
et al., 2008), results from our study reveal that
service fairness influences behavioral intentions
through consumption emotions and satisfaction.
According to Barsky and Nash (2002), under-
standing emotions is crucial for service firms
because the way consumers feel about a prod-
uct or service will affect their purchase decision.
Bergenwall (1998) also proposed that emotions
usually lead to some kind of actions. Thus, it
is worthy to include affective variables when
researchers specify an experience-focused con-
sumer behavior model.
Emotions influence satisfaction and behav-
ioral intentions directly in the service evaluation
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process (Ladhari et al., 2008; Wirtz & Bateson,
1999; Wong 2004). The present study investi-
gated the influence of consumption emotions
on downstream variables by adopting a mul-
tidimensional view of emotional experiences
(Dube & Menon, 2000; Han, Back, & Barrett,
2009; Westbrook & Oliver, 1991). Our empir-
ical findings confirmed that the bidimensional
consumption emotions are powerful predictors
of customer satisfaction and behavioral inten-
tions in the context of Chinese natural heritage
tourism. More specifically, positive emotions
could increase tourist satisfaction while nega-
tive emotions could reduce tourist satisfaction.
In addition, tourists with a positive emotion
would be more likely to revisit the heritage
site and recommend it to others. On the con-
trary, tourists with a negative emotional feeling
toward their travel experience are more likely to
search for alternative destinations.
The direct relationship between satisfac-
tion and behavioral intentions has been widely
acknowledged in the marketing and tourism lit-
erature (e.g., Chen & Chen, 2010; McCollough,
2000; Tax et al., 1998). However, it is wor-
thy to note that the present study measures
three possible outcomes of heritage tourists’
behavioral intentions: (a) revisit intentions, (b)
WOM referrals, and (c) the search for alter-
native heritage sites. It seems that there were
progressive relationships between revisit inten-
tions and WOM referrals, which were consistent
with the prior research findings in which the
“revisit intentions” variable was treated as a pre-
dictor of WOM referrals (Alcaniz, Garcia, &
Blas, 2009; Kozak & Remington, 2000; Oh &
799
Parks, 1997; Severt, Wang, Chen, & Breiter,
2007). Interestingly, the level of tourist satis-
faction significantly and positively influenced
tourists’ search for alternatives. Although it has
been suggested that tourists return to a famil-
iar destination in order to avoid the higher
risk associated with new, unfamiliar alternatives
(Gitelson & Crompton, 1984), our empirical
findings seem to point out a likely opposite
direction in the Chinese heritage tourism con-
text. That is, a satisfied heritage tourist would
not necessarily be loyal to the same destination.
A plausible reason is that many tourists travel
for the purpose of sightseeing, and novelty is
often a major driver in destination decision mak-
ing (e.g., Crompton & McKay, 1997; Kozak,
2002; Park & Yoo, 2009). As a result, some
tourists continue to explore alternative destina-
tions, even if they are satisfied with the heritage
site they just visited. In the meantime, it is
true that a satisfied customer would be more
likely to spread positive WOM about the her-
itage site. This finding supports the notion that
the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty
is not necessarily linear in nature (Agustin &
Singh, 2005; Bowen & Chen, 2001; Gomez,
McLaughlin, & Wittink, 2004). Petrick (2002)
also reported that novelty was an important
factor to influence golf travelers’ postvacation
assessment, and Kahn (1995) suggested that a
traveler’s search for alternative destinations may
be influenced by their level of variety-seeking
behavior. In a way, the behavioral phenomenon
of heritage tourists seems to be similar to the
true multibrand loyalty phenomenon proposed
by Jacoby and Chestnut (1978).
Theoretical and Managerial Contributions
The present study contributes to the tourism
literature in several ways. First, an integra-
tive model was tested to simultaneously ana-
lyze the relationships among service fairness,
consumption emotions, satisfaction, and behav-
ioral intentions in the context of a natural
heritage site. Our survey of the literature con-
cludes that service fairness and satisfaction
are key variables in the service marketing lit-
erature, but few tourism studies tested their
 800 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING
joint impact on customer behavioral inten-
tions in a cognitive-affective-behavioral frame-
work. Notably, our study answered Severt and
Rompf’s (2006) call for studies that investigate
the linkages among fairness, customer satisfac-
tion, and loyalty. Second, although the service
marketing literature has suggested that emotions
are the predictors of repurchase intentions and
customer loyalty (e.g., Babin & Babin, 2002;
Desai & Mahajan, 1998; Westbrook, 1987), the
construct of consumption emotions receives rel-
atively little attention by tourism researchers
and it deserves to be further investigated. Our
empirical findings showed that consumption
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emotions play an important role between ser-
vice fairness and behavioral intentions. Third,
tourism researchers have often measured loyalty
with a single indicator of either visit frequency
or revisit intentions (e.g., Chen & Gursoy,
2001), but it is argued that the subtleties of
complex loyalty phenomenon should be mea-
sured by separate but interrelated dimensions.
Including the search for alternative destinations
as a unique behavioral intention makes sense in
the context of tourism research as some tourists
might look for new experiences rather than a
repeat experience that may have been the case in
the past. Support to this notion could be found
at Hutchinson et al.’s (2009) study which rec-
ognized that “even though golf travelers may
perceive high levels of service quality, value,
and satisfaction with their experiences at a travel
destination, they may still search for alternative
locations for future golf vacations” (p. 305).
The findings of the present study have sev-
eral managerial implications for heritage man-
agers and heritage destination marketers. First,
this study examined the cognitive antecedent
to affective feeling and behavioral intentions.
While managers and marketers of tourism des-
tinations should strive to provide fair service in
helping tourists form a satisfactory experience
in the first place, managers should be careful
and mindful on how the service fairness factor
impacts customer emotions. Since performing
service in a fair manner can increase posi-
tive emotional experiences and decrease neg-
ative emotional experiences at the same time,
managers should emphasize the importance
of service fairness in the training program
when new front line service employees are
hired. Managers should also encourage ser-
vice employees to practice the fairness con-
cept when they interact with the customers in
everyday operations. In general, service qual-
ity research indicates that courtesy, patience,
empathy, prompt response to customer needs,
and knowledgeable service employees con-
tribute to customers’ positive evaluation of a
service provider. In contrast, lack of the above
service qualities can elicit negative emotions
and reduce satisfaction. More practical lessons
could be found in the service recovery litera-
ture (e.g., Chebat & Slusarczyk, 2005; Mattila &
Patterson, 2004; Ok, Back, & Shanklin, 2005;
Swanson & Hsu, 2009).
Second, the findings revealed that positive
emotions have a direct and significant influ-
ence on satisfaction, revisit intentions, and
WOM referrals. Similar to Namkung and Jang’s
(2010) findings, negative emotions do not have
a significant impact on customers’ revisit inten-
tions nor their WOM behavior. However, it was
found that negative emotions have a signifi-
cant effect on dissatisfaction and on tourists’
search for alternative heritage sites. A widely
accepted notion in consumer behavior is that
WOM could shape consumers’ attitudes and
behaviors (Brown & Reingen, 1987; Harrison-
Walker, 2001). Based on the findings of the
present study, heritage managers and marketers
should focus on tourists’ emotions, and strive
to create a positive experience for tourists.
Things that lead to positive consumption emo-
tions about the tourism destination deserve man-
agers’ special attention. For example, in a study
addressing what makes a festival a marketing
success, Lee et al. (2008) found that food (e.g.,
available traditional food, variety of foods), pro-
gram content (e.g., variety of events, interpre-
tation programs, a well organized management
and operations), and facility quality (e.g., clean-
ness of festival site, atmosphere of festival site,
layout of festival site) triggered positive con-
sumption emotions. If heritage managers want
to transform service receivers/tourists into loyal
customers, they have to offer an excellent expe-
rience beyond the tourists’ average expectations.
This notion is also advocated by Johnson et al.
(2011) who stated that “consumers are looking
 LuJun Su and Maxwell K. Hsu
for surprise and delight that creates engagement
in the channel in which they are most likely to
partake” (p. 2).
Third, satisfaction was a key antecedent of
heritage tourists’ revisit intentions and the cause
of positive WOM referrals. Heritage tourism
destination managers should continue to explore
the unique advantages of their destination (e.g.,
the educational value to families with school-
age children) and examine the trendy tourists’
needs/wants with the intention to offer tourists
an unforgettable service experience on their first
visit. As social media has made it easier for
a dissatisfied customer to share his/her dissat-
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isfied service experience with people beyond
his/her immediate communities (e.g., family,
friends, colleagues), it is important for the
managers to consider empowering their ser-
vice employees to correct service failures in a
timely manner that will help encourage positive
emotions and reduce negative emotions.
Limitations and Future Research
Directions
This study has several inherent limitations.
First, although the findings shed light on
the cognitive-affective-behavioral model in the
tourism context, the survey responses were col-
lected from only one natural heritage site in
China. Thus, future studies should consider
validating the model examined in this study
by exploring wider geographical regions (e.g.,
in other heritage tourism destinations) and/or
cultures (e.g., in Japan), as this effort would
strengthen the external validity of the find-
ings. Second, the current study focused only
on heritage tourists, and future tourist satisfac-
tion research may consider including other types
of tourism destinations, which include a wide
variety of activities (e.g., theme park visitors or
city travelers). Third, future studies may explore
alternative models that examine the impact of
cognitive antecedent variables (such as the per-
ceived value) on consumption emotions, which
are likely to impact tourists’ behavior in dif-
ferent contexts. In this same vein, as “fairness
is especially important for service firms, whose
product is intangible and difficult to evaluate,
forcing consumers to rely on trust” (Seiders &
801
Berry, 1998, p. 8), it would be of value to include
trust in an expanded model. Fourth, it is wor-
thy to note that the level of involvement may
play a moderating role in a tourist decision-
making model (e.g., a weekend get-away “low
involvement” trip vs. a wedding anniversary
“high involvement” trip). Finally, practitioners
of specific travel destination types (e.g., pack-
aged tours) may want to investigate the addition
of several unique items (e.g., price fairness, will-
ingness to pay more) to the cognitive-affective-
behavioral model, as an updated model could
potentially provide a better theoretical fit with
management-friendly applications for hospital-
ity and leisure enterprises.
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SUBMITTED: MAY 15, 2012
FIRST REVISION SUBMITTED:
September 20, 2012
ACCEPTED: October 25, 2012
REFEREED ANONYMOUSLY