Travel motivation as a determinant of shopping venue

Abstract

Purpose

Shopping is a popular tourist activity. While a person might not travel for the purpose of shopping, many tourists shop while traveling. This study aims to examine travel motivation as a predictor of the importance assigned to desired shopping center attributes for three different shopping centers, and their effect on satisfaction, and re‐patronage intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected via mall‐intercept surveys from 624 tourist shoppers at seven shopping centers. A tourist was defined as a person who traveled a distance of at least 50 miles from their home.

Findings

Desired shopping center attributes are influenced by travel motivation. For the superregional center, a linear relationship was computed for the exploration travel motive, mall environment, overall satisfaction and re‐patronage intention. Interestingly, overall satisfaction with the shopping center was not a significant predictor of re‐patronage intention in the theme/festival or super off‐price centers.

Originality/value

Given the importance of shopping in the travel agenda, identification and consideration of different travel motivations can facilitate development of the shopping center environment for maximum customer satisfaction. All of the motivations may co‐exist in the same family or tourist unit (e.g. convention attendees). These findings can be particularly useful in designing amenities and targeting promotional campaigns to different audiences.

Citation

Kinley, T.R., Forney, J.A. and Kim, Y. (2012), "Travel motivation as a determinant of shopping venue", International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 266-278. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506181211246429