A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors

© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Providing visitors with satisfying experiences is integral to park management. Research has inferred the determinants of satisfaction and loyalty through theorizing, observational studies, and statistical correlations. This article advocates randomized experime...

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Main Authors: Taplin, Ross, Rodger, K., Moore, S.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51105
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author Taplin, Ross
Rodger, K.
Moore, S.
author_facet Taplin, Ross
Rodger, K.
Moore, S.
author_sort Taplin, Ross
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Providing visitors with satisfying experiences is integral to park management. Research has inferred the determinants of satisfaction and loyalty through theorizing, observational studies, and statistical correlations. This article advocates randomized experiments as a complementary method for testing the causal effect of selected management interventions that change service quality on satisfaction and loyalty. An experiment using ranger presence and enhanced toilets in a West Australian national park is used to illustrate the approach. The presence of rangers caused significantly improved satisfaction with rangers, related service quality attributes, and overall satisfaction, but not loyalty. Enhancing toilets had nonsignificant impacts. These results strongly suggest the need for further visitor-focused experimental research to complement the growing body of research in national parks investigating the complex relationship among service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2016
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-511052018-03-29T09:09:26Z A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors Taplin, Ross Rodger, K. Moore, S. © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Providing visitors with satisfying experiences is integral to park management. Research has inferred the determinants of satisfaction and loyalty through theorizing, observational studies, and statistical correlations. This article advocates randomized experiments as a complementary method for testing the causal effect of selected management interventions that change service quality on satisfaction and loyalty. An experiment using ranger presence and enhanced toilets in a West Australian national park is used to illustrate the approach. The presence of rangers caused significantly improved satisfaction with rangers, related service quality attributes, and overall satisfaction, but not loyalty. Enhancing toilets had nonsignificant impacts. These results strongly suggest the need for further visitor-focused experimental research to complement the growing body of research in national parks investigating the complex relationship among service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51105 10.1080/01490400.2015.1077178 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Taplin, Ross
Rodger, K.
Moore, S.
A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title_full A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title_fullStr A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title_full_unstemmed A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title_short A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
title_sort method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51105