Exploring the Role of Emotion in the Relationship Between Museum Image and Tourists’ Behavioral Intention: The Case of Three Museums in Xi’an

Zhenshan Xu,Nan Dong,Man Xu,Hong Zhang,Chunhui Zhang

doi:10.3390/su11030559

Abstract

As a crucial part of cultural tourism, museums can represent the cultural image of a destination. From the perspective of emotion, this study adopted structural equation modeling to examine the correlation between emotion, museum image, and behavioral intention of tourists. Additionally, the mediating effects of cognitive motivation (overall stratification) and emotional motivation (positive and negative emotion) on the paradigm of "museum image–behavioral intention" were compared and analyzed. This research was undertaken at three museums in Xi’an, China, with 893 valid questionnaires collected. The results showed that the image of the museum has a significant impact on tourists' emotions and a significant positive impact on overall satisfaction and behavioral intention. Moreover, tourists' emotions significantly influence the overall satisfaction and behavioral intention; they play different mediating effects between museum image and behavioral intention. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications were discussed.

Highlights

It has been widely recognized that destination tourism development is largely determined by the willingness of tourists to revisit and their recommendations [1]
The results show that museum image is the leading factor in determining tourists' emotions and has a direct and significantly positive effect on positive emotion (Table 4)
The research shows that the eight dimensions of museum image have a significant positive impact on tourists’ positive emotion

Summary

Introduction

It has been widely recognized that destination tourism development is largely determined by the willingness of tourists to revisit and their recommendations [1]. Museum studies indicating cultural values of destination images in cities have been neglected. A focus on the destination image is essential because it affects the decision-making behavior of tourists, and the satisfaction level of the tourist experience [14,15]. In order to measure the destination image willingness to recommend and revisit are widely used in evaluation exercises using questionnaires and interviews [16,17,18,19]. From the perspective of the destination, a good image affects the decision-making behavior of tourists, leading to a positive experience, improving their satisfaction and loyalty [11]

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Discussion

Conclusion