How Can Emerging Event Sustainably Develop in the Tourism Industry? From the Perspective of the S-O-R Model on a Two-Year Empirical Study

Abstract

Festivals and events are important activities related to enhancing the image of the destination. Modern festivals are spread all over the world, not only changing the rhythm of daily life but also bringing more development possibilities for the places where these festivals are held. In order to learn more about tourists’ experiences in emerging events, a detailed study of famous hot air balloon festivals was conducted in Taitung City, Taiwan. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among these three constructs, namely stimulus: perception of marketing strategies and motivation, organism: positive emotions and satisfaction and response: revisit intention. Face-to-face surveys were conducted on-site in 2014 and 2018, a total of 896 valid questionnaires were collected from tourists who visited the Taiwan International Balloon Festival. SPSS Macros PROCESS was used to examine the measurement model. This study confirms the application of the S-O-R model in predicting tourists’ revisit intentions in the context of emerging events in the tourism industry. The survey results show that whether in 2014 or 2018, tourists’ satisfaction and tourists’ positive emotions can mediate the relationship between tourists’ perception of marketing strategies (or tourist’s motivation) and tourists’ revisit intention. Moreover, only in 2018, tourists’ visiting frequency can moderate the relationship between satisfaction and revisit intention.

Scrutinizing the effects of pop-up stores’ retailscape on young Chinese tourists’ emotion and patronage intention

“…The S–O–R framework serves as a good foundation to analyze the impacts of external stimuli on human behaviors. The concept is often used in the field of the service industry and in psychology (Sohaib and Kang, 2015; Cheng et al , 2020; Zimmerman, 2012; Rajaguru, 2014; Teh et al , 2014). In the field of the service industry, many researchers have conducted studies about the positive influences of restaurant servicescape on customers’ perceptions, such as eWOM and repurchase intentions (Asghar Ali et al , 2021); pleasure and satisfaction level (Lin and Mattila, 2010); as well as the interactions between customers and employees (Kaminakis et al , 2019).…”

Tourism destination brand equity, brand authenticity and revisit intention: the mediating role of tourist satisfaction and the moderating role of destination familiarity

“…The current study used the S-O-R theory as the main theoretical basis to define the relationship between destination brand equity, brand authenticity, tourist satisfaction and revisit intention. As mentioned above, the S-O-R theory states that “stimuli” can include social psychological stimuli (Su et al , 2016; Cheng et al , 2020). Thus, tourists’ perceptions of brand equity and brand authenticity can be regarded as social psychological stimuli.…”

“…Thus, tourists' perceptions of brand equity and brand authenticity can be regarded as social psychological stimuli. Tourist satisfaction, as a customer's cognitive-affective state (San Martı ´n et al, 2019), is one of the internal states of customers and can be conceived as an organism (Cheng et al, 2020). Furthermore, the "response" can appear as approach/avoidance behavior (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), and behavioral intention is critical in predicting future behavior (Jang and Feng, 2007).…”

“…Yadav et al (2021) adopted the S-O-R theory to explain the relationship between electronic word of mouth (stimulus), destination preference (organism) and travel intention (response). Cheng et al (2020) investigated the relationship among the variables, namely, perception of marketing strategies and motivation (stimulus), positive emotions and satisfaction (organism) and revisit intention (response) based on the S-O-R theory. Second, the S-O-R theory provides a visualized overarching framework and a structured way to explain the relationship between destination brand equity (stimulus), brand authenticity (stimulus) and revisit intention (response), as well as the mediating role of tourist satisfaction (organism).…”

Study on the Influence of Cultural Contact and Tourism Memory on the Intention to Revisit: A Case Study of Cultural and Creative Districts

“…Stimulus-organic-response (SOR) theory is important in psychology and behavior studies, being derived from Pavlov's experimental work on conditioned reflexes [19]. The theory posits that people are stimulated by external environment or certain events.…”