Exploring the Relationships between Involvement and ...

관광연구논총 제29권 제2호(통권 51) pp. 71～97

한양대학교 관광연구소 2017. 5

Exploring the Relationships between Involvement and Behavioral Intention in the Traditional Market : Focusing on Place Attachment as the Mediator and Gender as the Moderator

전통시장의 관여도와 행동의도의 관계 : 장소애착의 매개효과와 성별의 조절효과를 중심으로

*임사라*․정철**

Lim, Sarah ․Jeong, Chul

Abstract : There are ample of studies and models that suggest both place attachment and involvement being meaningful for predicting the future behavioral intentions of tourists. In alignment with such studies, the present study endeavors to unravel the relative importance of each components of involvement (attraction, centrality, and self-expression) on each dimensions of behavioral intentions (revisit intention and positive word of mouth) via place attachment (place identity and place dependence). Moreover, gender differences are incorporated as the moderator to further analyze the differences between the gender in forming the place attachment at the destination sites. As expected with the sample of 227 respondents, involvement had a direct impact as an antecedent on place attachment, and place attachment also had direct effect on behavioral intention as a mediator between involvement and behavioral intention. Gender did not have any influence on formation of place attachment and behavioral intentions. Keywords : Place Attachment, Involvement, Behavioral Intentions, Structural Equation

* 한양대학교 대학원 관광학과 박사과정, 주저자, e-mail: [email protected] ** 한양대학교 관광학부 부교수, 교신저자, e-mail: [email protected]

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관광연구논총 제29권 제2호(통권 51)

국문요지 : 본 연구는 관광객의 향후 행동의도를 예측하는데 있어서 관여도의 역할을 장

소애착의 매개효과와 성별의 조절효과를 중심으로 파악하고자 하였다. 구체적으로 장소 애착을 통한 행동의도의 각 차원에 대한 관여도(매력, 중심성 및 자기표현)의 상대적인 중요성을 밝히고자 하였다. 또한, 전통시장에서 장소애착을 형성할 때 성별간의 차이를 보다 면밀히 분석하고자 하였다. 연구결과, 관여도는 장소애착을 통해 직간접적으로 향후 행동의도에 영향을 미쳐 장소애착의 매개효과는 유의하였다. 그러나 성별은 장소애착과 행동의도 형성에 별다른 영향을 미치지 않았다. 열쇠말 : 장소애착, 관여도, 행동의도, 구조방정식

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Exploring the Relationships between Involvement and Behavioral Intention in the Traditional Market

I. Introduction The study described in this paper analyzed and examined the relationship between involvement and behavioral intentions with place attachment as the mediator. The study was conducted at the newly rejuvenated Korean traditional market with the purpose to identify the extent to which visitors are likely to revisit the revitalized Korean traditional market. Both the government and private organizations have implemented endless effort to revamp the dooming Korean traditional markets since the 1990s. The government, as the facilitating method, has even enacted policies such as “Traditional Market Preservation Zones”. Intensified competition to attract visitors amongst the traditional markets has led to diverse marketing strategies to be executed for attracting visitors. Marketing strategies such as iconic wall painting of famous singers and events related to regional produce were promoted to appeal to the targeted markets, and this in turn allowed the visitors to actively participate. Unique cultural aspects and recreational leisure spaces have been installed into the traditional markets to elevate the receding traditional markets and create a spectacle for the visitors with an aim to attract visitors and thus, generate attachment and bonding to the traditional markets. Rejuvenation of traditional markets is not only crucial for generating economic gains but it also perpetuates local traditions and facilitates creativity among the entertainers, tourists, and locals which will benefit the overall economy economically, socially, and culturally. Building attachment and emotional connection to the tourism site is one of the major motivation for tourism providers as it leads to increased intention to revisit and produce positive word of mouth (Alexandris et al., 2006; Li, Cheng, Kim, and Petrick, 2008; Prayag and Ryan, 2012; Tsai, 2012; Yuksel et al., 2010). Hence, attachment and bonding to places have received increasing attention in the field of tourism, and was denoted as an important marketing tool for destination managers (Gu and Ryan, 2008; Hawkins and Backman, 1998; Tsai, 2012). Involvement experiences at the destination site is perceived to be a crucial antecedent for developing place attachment in many studies (Gross and Brown, 2008; Prayag and Ryan 2012). Moreover, attachment to the destination was identified to be an intrinsic predictor for destination loyalty and future behavioral intentions 73


(Alexandris et al., 2006; George and George, 2012; Prayag and Ryan, 2012; Yuksel et al., 2010). Gender difference in numerous studies has been perceived as an imperative moderator that vastly influences the customers’ loyalty generation and post purchase behavior (Chen, 2000; Han et al., 2017; Jackson and Inbakaran, 2006; Nunkoo and Ramkissoon, 2010). However, despite of the cruciality of gender affecting the formation of loyalty and post purchase behavior, scant attention has been given to the influence of gender differences in association with place attachment when place attachment is identified as an imperative predictor for destination loyalty and future behavioral intentions. Thus, this study specifically addresses the theoretical understanding of the relationship between involvement, place attachment, and future behavioral intentions with place attachment as a mediator, and gender differences as a moderator. The present study adds the moderating role of gender differences in the loyalty formation and post behavior process in effect of place attachment and involvement components. The tested hypothesized relationships between involvement, place attachment, and future behavioral intentions will provide a holistic study for examining the interrelatedness of the dimensions between these three variables. The results from this study will help to better understand the process of development of behavioral intention through place attachment as a mediator in tourism destination, and the gender differences for the formation of place attachment and behavioral intentions in the context of Korean traditional markets specifically.

II. Literature Review 1. Place Attachment Place attachment theory has been the focal topic for numerous researchers and practitioners in recent years as many studies have advocated the positive attitude and behaviors on the tourists and recreationists associated with place attachment (Gross and Brown, 2008; Hwang et al., 2005; Kang et al., 2012; Lee and Kim, 2016; Ryu and Oh, 2008; Yuksel et al., 2010). The conceptualization of place

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attachment originated from the psychological theory of the interdependence theory by Bowlby where affective bond is formed between person-to-person (Bowlby, 1979). However, this formation of attachment is researched to cover between human beings and animals, special objects, brand and human brands or celebrities (Thomson, 2006). The attachment has extended to place for destination and places, and place attachment is defined as the formation of affective bond between human beings and particular places (Eisenhauer et al, 2000; Hidalgo and Hernandez, 2001). The most prevalent and generalized approach for the composite dimensionality of place attachment is place dependence and place identity (Anderson and Fulton, 2008). Place dependence is defined as the functional aspect of the space that is not transferable and substitutable which leads to the formation of attachment to the particular place (Gu and Ryan, 2008; Stokols and Shumaker, 1981). As the particular place is preferred relative to other setting, behavioral commitment is established to the particular place. The determining aspect for place dependency is the quality of current place and the relative quality of alternatives (Stokols and Shumaker, 1981). On the other hand, place identity is defined as the individual’s deep connection with the place (Moore and Graefe, 1994; Proshansky et al, 1983; Williams et al, 1992). The deep connection is relevant to a sense of belonging and self-identity to a particular place, imposing an emotional and symbolic meanings to a place (Proschansky et al, 1983). The similarity between the image of the place and self-concept is the main factor for developing the deep connection (Williams et al, 1992). However, the identity of place may not be confined to an individualistic identity but rather to collective or social identity, erecting a sense of group membership by visiting a particular place (Devine-Wright and Lyons, 1997). Hence, both social and physical elements are embedded in the formation of place attachment. Some studies have found that the frequency of visitation has a positive impact on place dependency, resulting a formation of place identity to a particular place (Moore and Graefe, 1994). This proposition has shown the physical element having a greater importance than the social element. Conversely, opposing views reside with Hidalgo and Hernandez (2001) as they denoted the greater significance of the social dimension for the development of place attachment.

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2. Involvement The theory of involvement originated in the 1970s vastly from the marketing research focusing on the concept of consumer behavior (Krugman, 1971). It is conceived to be an important psychographic construct due to its ability to influence the attitude of people towards their activity, decision-making, and future behaviors (Josiam, Smeaton, and Clements, 1999). Although congruent definition for involvement is not yet definite, prevalent definition of involvement is defined as a motivational variable that is associated with a person’s personal relevance to an object, event, behavior, or activity based on their intrinsic needs, values, and interest (Gursoy and Gavcar, 2003; Zaichkowsky, 1986). Involvement is further described as the level of interest that a person imposes, the level of importance of an object to a person, or the centrality of an object to a person’s ego structure (Zaichkowsky, 1994). The determinants that determine the level of involvement is rested upon the degree of personal relevance to a product or service a consumer perceives, indicating that personal characteristics such as personality, lifestyle, and values play a major role in determining the level of involvement (Prebensen et al., 2012). Previous studies advocate the presence of various types of involvement concepts such as personal, physical, and situational (Zaichkowsky, 1985). Amongst the diverse types of involvement concepts, the most prevalent concept that displays a strong relevance to the tourism and hospitality research is personal involvement (Havitz and Dimanche, 1997; Prayag and Ryan, 2012). Personal involvement is referred as the state of arousal, motivation, and interest that a person holds toward a specific product, service, or event (Havitz and Dimanche, 1997). Sherif (1967) defined personal involvement as an attitude to be learnt and formed when interacted with the social environment, which in turn results different consumer loyalty behaviors. Personal involvement is measured using either Zaichkowsky’s (1985) Personal Involvement Inventory or Laurent and Kapferer’s (1985) Consumer Involvement Profile. In 1992, McIntyre and Pigram extended Laurent and Kepferer’s (1985) Consumer Involvement Profile to leisure involvement pertaining three dimensions of attraction, centrality, and self-expression. Leisure involvement with three dimensions have been readily implemented in numerous tourism and leisure studies

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(Bricker and Kerstetter, 2000; Gahwiler and Havitz; 1998; Kyle and Mowen, 2005). Attraction dimension is referred as the perception of importance and the pleasured derived, whereas centrality is conceptualized as the central role of the activity in an individual’s life (McIntyre and Pigram, 1992). Concomitantly, self-expression is aligned to the representation of self and the impression that an individual wishes to convey to others (McIntyre and Pigram, 1992). Moreover, there are references pertinent to the literature positing personal involvement as an antecedent of place attachment (Gross and Brown, 2008; Hwang, Lee, and Chen, 2005; Kyle et al., 2004). However, the interrelatedness between the dimensions of involvement and dimensions of place attachment has not been empirically explored in depth, interrogating inquires of the statistical significant predictive relationship between the dimensions of involvement and place attachment. Hence, it is proposed that: H1: Attraction has a positive impact on place dependence. H2: Attraction has a positive impact on place identity. H3: Centrality has a positive impact on place dependence. H4: Centrality has a positive impact on place identity. H5: Self-expression has a positive impact on place dependence. H6: Self-expression has a positive impact on place identity.

3. Behavioral Intentions The loyalty from the customers can be perceived to be the ultimate goal in discerning the success of any tourism destination as it indicates the viability and sustainability of the tourism destination (Chen and Chen, 2010). The concept of the behavioral intentions captures this loyalty in form of tourist’s willingness to revisit and engage in positive word-of-mouth (WOM) communications (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998; Chen and Tsai, 2007; Oppermann, 2000). Positive word-of-mouth confirms the retention of the tourists as it depicts the willingness of the tourists to continue the relationship with the destination, and provides the information for the potential tourists (Yoon and Uysal, 2005). Loyalty is defined in terms of both 77


attitudinal and behavioral measures with attitudinal measures referring to the continual of relationship with the service provider while the behavioral measure is associated with repeat patronage (Chen and Chen, 2010). Oliver (1999) denoted customer loyalty into four stages of cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty, conative loyalty, and action loyalty. However, the difficulty to measure the action loyalty has resulted most researchers implementing the conative loyalty (i.e: behavioral intention) for measuring customer loyalty (Yang and Peterson, 2004). Moreover, numerous studies have confirmed the cost associated with retaining the existing customers to be significantly lower than winning the new customers (Buttle and Buttle, 2001). Moreover, customers with high loyalty are more likely to recommend to friends, relatives, and other potential customers by acting as an advertising agents that are free (Shoemaker and Lewis, 1999). The link between place attachment and loyalty has been the subject of interest in a number of tourism literature (Alexandris et al., 2006; Brocato, 2007; George and George, 2012; Lee, 2003; Lee et al., 2007; Simpson and Siquaw, 2008). Though the relationship between place attachment and loyalty has been analyzed in previous studies, there is no literature that empirically analyzed the relationships between the dimensions of place attachment and behavioral intentions. H7: Place dependence has a positive impact on willingness to revisit H8: Place dependence has a positive impact on positive word-of-mouth. H9: Place identity has a positive impact on willingness to revisit H10: Place identity has a positive impact on positive word-of-mouth

4. Gender Gender difference is conceived as an imperative variable amongst the numerous tourism literature (Han et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2007; Okazaki and Hirose, 2009). There is a dearth of studies that analyzes the influence of gender on the formation of loyalty and post behavioral process in relation to place attachment, and also in the context of traditional market. The prevalence of gender differences in the formation of loyalty and purchase behaviors were found in preceding marketing

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and consumer behavior literatures (Melnyk et al., 2009; Mitchell and Walsh, 2004). In this respect, developing different strategies for women and men may seem to be required and necessary. Previous marketing studies have indicated that women have the tendency to strive to establish and maintain relationships with people and social contexts in a Western society (Melnyk et al., 2009). Thus, women can be perceived to be more loyal than men when taking into consideration of the interdependence versus independent theory (Kolyesnikova et al., 2009).

5. Conceptual Framework Figure 1 illustrates the full hypothesized model that is to be tested for the current study with proposed casual relationships among the constructs. The model presented in Figure 1 proposes that favorable attraction is positively associated with place dependence (Hypothesis 1) and positive place identity (Hypothesis 2). The visitors’ centrality dimension of involvement is positively linked to the formation of place dependence (Hypothesis 3) and place identity (Hypothesis 4). Self-expression dimension of involvement construct has positive relationships with place dependence (Hypothesis 5) and place identity (Hypothesis 6). Place attachment acts as a mediator between the relationship of involvement and behavioral intentions. Place dependence has a positive impact on willingness-to-revisit (Hypothesis 7). Place dependence and positive word-of-mouth has a positive relationship (Hypothesis 8). Place identity is positively associated with willingness-to-revisit (Hypothesis 9). Lastly, place identity has a positive impact on positive word-of-mouth (Hypothesis 10).

[Figure 1] Theoretical model and hypotheses 79


III. Methods 1. Sampling and data collection The questionnaire was distributed to visitors who were over the age of 18 years old at Sejong Food Village in Seoul, South Korea. Visitors older than age 18 years visiting Sejong traditional market were considered as the target study population. Sejong Food Village was visited three times in total from September to November in 2016 by several well-trained assistants each time to help fill out the questionnaire in thorough manner, and reduce any errors or misunderstanding in the questionnaire. Respondents were randomly selected to eliminate any bias. Respondents were given a questionnaire on a clipboard and once completed, the questionnaire was returned to the research assistants. A lottery ticket was given to each respondent as an incentive for completing the questionnaire. Data were collected from the visitors using self-completion in the presence of the research assistants. In total, amongst the 300 visitors approached at the Sejong traditional market, 277 visitors were interviewed. Of these, 50 questionnaires had to be discarded, leading to the response rate of 90% based on 227 usable questionnaires. Structural equation modeling requires a minimum of 200 respondents for effective parameter estimation (Hair et al., 2005). The number of surveys used was adequate to perform SEM analysis.

2. Questionnaire design and measurement of construct This study is designed to measure the tourists’ perceptions towards involvement, place attachment, and behavioral intentions in relation to their tourism behavior. Along with the provision of the details about the respondents, respondents were required to indicate their level of agreement with the statements on a 5-point Likert scale for the questions that measured the key constructs. Place attachment was measured using 6 items on a 5-point scale anchored on 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree to represent place identity and place dependence (Kyle, Graefe, and Manning, 2005). Involvement was measured by 9 items in total on a 80


5-point scale (1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), which were categorized into 3 dimensions of attraction, centrality, and self-expression (McIntyre and Pigram, 1992). Similar to other studies (e.g: Kozak, 2003), behavioral intention was measured by revisit intention and likeliness to recommend on a 5-point scale (1=very unlikely and 5= very likely). The questionnaire was originally designed in English and then translated into Korean. The method of back-translation (Soriano and Foxall, 2002) by native speakers of Korean who were proficient in English was used to ensure that the translated versions reflect the meanings and intent of the original questionnaire. Prior to the data collection, the questionnaires were pilot tested with 50 visitors, which revealed no major problems and only minor changes were made in the wording of some statements.

3. Data Analysis The analysis of the descriptive statistics and the profiles of the visitors were examined using SPSS 21.0 for Windows. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and SEM were examined by using AMOS 20.0 for Windows. For assessing the measurement model for the proposed theoretical model, CFA was implemented. Model fits, composite reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity for involvement, place attachment and behavioral intention constructs were conducted to ensure the quality of measurement model. After the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), SEM analysis using the maximum likelihood method was implemented to estimate all the parameters. All of the hypotheses were determined through simultaneous testing which displayed the significance and the direction of the relationships.

IV. Findings 1. Socio-demographic Profile of Sample The Table 1 below provides the sociodemographic profile of the sample. The age of a typical respondent was between 20 and 40 years old who was single and 81


well-educated. The income level of a typical respondent was low to moderately low. Visitation to Sejong was two to three times a year with friends being the most common companion for the visitation.

2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis The evaluation of the measurement quality of the endogenous variables in the theoretical model was undertaken by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for each scale to test the convergent and discriminant validity for the indicators (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). The quality of the measurement was evaluated by measures such as normed fit index (NFI), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit (AGFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and the normed chi-square statistic (/df). Due to the sensitivity of the sample size, the normed chi-square is preferred than chi-square statistic (Hu and Bentler, 1999). For NFI, GFI, and AGFI, the cut-off values of 0.9 is acceptable (Hair et al., 2005). For RMSEA, values less than 0.06 and for /df, values less than 3 is suggested to be acceptable (Hu and Bentler, 1999). All items met the minimum requirement of 0.5 for standardized beta coefficient to represent a construct (Kline, 2005), and had critical ratios outside of the threshold range of ±1.96 (Byrne, 1998), and were statistically significant (p