The Relationship of Perceived Service Quality With Revisitation and Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Tourists: The Role of Emotions and Destination Identification

Abstract

Utilizing Mehrabian-Russell's Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, this research investigates how service quality elicits positive emotions, negative emotions, and destination identification, contributing to tourists' subjective well-being and intentions to return to a destination. Using an intercept sampling approach at a natural and cultural destination, a total of 539 completed questionnaires were obtained from Chinese tourists. The findings demonstrate that perceived service quality can enhance tourists' positive emotions and identification with a destination while decreasing negative emotions. This study also provides empirical evidence for a direct relationship between emotions in tourism consumption and destination identification processes. In addition, the results suggest that emotions and destination identification can bring about both economic benefits to a destination via revisitation and positive social outcomes for tourists in the form of subjective well-being.