Determinants of experienced tourists’ satisfaction and actual spending behavior: a PLS path modelling approach

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of customer perceived relationship marketing (CPRM), service quality and brand experience on tourists’ satisfaction and actual spending behavior in the emerging hospitality industry in Iran. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 308 valid questionnaires were collected to empirically evaluate the measurement and structural model using the PLS path modelling approach, a variance-based structural equation modelling (VB-SEM) technique. Findings: The results support the causal relationships that exist between the exogenous and endogenous constructs. Furthermore, three other factors were found to be second-order constructs: brand experience (reflective-reflective) comprising of sensory, affective, behavioural and intellectual; service quality (reflective-reflective) comprising of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy; and actual spending behaviour (reflective-reflective) comprising of dining frequency and dining expenditure. Originality/value: Current literature has commonly investigated the attitude, satisfaction and behaviour of a traveller’s intentions; however, limited research has examined an experienced tourist’s actual spending behaviour in an emerging hospitality industry environment, such as Iran.