Food authenticity as one of the stimuli to world heritage sites

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discover authenticity dimensions that draw tourists to Melaka and George Town World Heritage Site. It also examined the mediating effect of attachment and the moderating effect of cultural motivation.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method design was used. Qualitative approach was conducted to discover authenticity dimensions followed by a quantitative approach to explore the dimensions’ ability in predicting attachment and intention to recommend.FindingsFindings revealed that objective, existential and food authenticity were significant stimuli of recommend intention. The mediating effect of attachment on constructive authenticity-intention and existential authenticity-intention were also supported. Cultural motivation indeed moderated the relationship between objective authenticity-attachment, constructive authenticity-attachment and existential authenticity-attachment.Originality/valueKnowing that authenticity can be perceived differently, therefore, a mixed-method study design offers more insight on discovering authenticity elements. Using a qualitative approach, the study began by exploring important authenticity dimensions from both supply and demand groups, and subsequently, these dimensions were verified using quantitative approach. As expected, food authenticity was found as a standalone dimension.