Examining the Event Service Quality for Travelers with Mobility Impairments by Korean Caregivers' Perspective

Abstract

Travelers with mobility impairments (TwMI) often have difficulty traveling alone due to various constraints and barriers. Caregivers of TwMI might play an important role in mitigating these constraints and barriers for TwMI. Knowing the event service quality for TwMI from the point of view of caregivers is essential for better quality of travel for both caregivers and TwMI. So far, although event service quality is important for people with disabilities, most of the studies have been conducted with people without disabilities. As caregivers' opinion is critical for deciding event participation, this study focused on perspective of caregivers regarding event service quality for TwMI. This study utilized structure equation modeling (SEM) analysis to empirically examine the relationship among event service quality for TwMI in terms of perspective of caregivers who accompanied TwMI to the event, caregivers' event satisfaction with TwMI, and caregivers' behavior intentions. From two event service qualities for TwMI, only service environment quality for TwMI demonstrated statistical significance on caregivers' event satisfaction with TwMI while service provider quality for TwMI had no statistical significance on both caregivers' event satisfaction with TwMI and caregivers' behavior intention. Caregivers' event satisfaction with TwMI demonstrated statistical significance on caregivers' behavior intention. Overall, this study may provide practical information to event organizers and other hospitality industries related to service quality for TwMI from various points of view.