Perceived brand salience and destination brand loyalty from international tourists’ perspectives: the case of Dead Sea destination, Jordan

• Published in: Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality 2015-08, Vol.9 (3), p.292-315
• Main Authors: Jraisat, Luai E, Akroush, Mamoun N, Alfaouri, Ruba Jaser, Qatu, Laila T, Kurdieh, Dina J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brand image; Brand loyalty; Comparative studies; Consumer behavior; Cultural tourism; Empirical analysis; Hotels & motels; Image quality; Investigations; Marketing; Organizations; Perceptions; Quality of service; Reliability analysis; Reliability engineering; Salience; Structural reliability; Studies; Tourism; Tourism & hospitality; Tourism development & planning; Tourists
• ISSN: 1750-6182; 2752-6666; 1750-6190; 2752-6674
• DOI: 10.1108/IJCTHR-01-2015-0001

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an integrated model of perceived brand salience, perceived brand quality, perceived brand image and perceived brand loyalty in the Dead Sea tourism destination of Jordan from international tourists’ perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – A structured and self-administered survey was employed targeting international tourists who were visiting the Dead Sea tourism destination. The authors delivered 300 questionnaires to international tourists, from which 237 were retained and valid for the analysis. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses was used to assess the research constructs dimensions, unidimensionality, validity and composite reliability. Structural path analysis was also used to test the hypothesized relationships of the research model. Findings – The structural findings show that perceived brand salience has positively and significantly affected each of perceived brand quality and perceived destination loyalty. Perceived brand quality has positively and significantly affected each of perceived brand image-physical environment, perceived brand image-people characteristics and perceived destination loyalty. Each of perceived brand image-physical environment and perceived brand image-people characteristics has positively and significantly affected perceived destination loyalty. The structural findings indicate that perceived brand quality has exerted the strongest effect on each of perceived brand image-physical environment and perceived brand image-people characteristics. Further, the structural results show that R2 result of 0.48 indicates that 48 per cent of variation in perceived destination loyalty was caused by perceived brand quality, perceived brand image dimensions (physical environment and people characteristics) and perceived brand salience path. Research limitations/implications – This paper has examined only three drivers of destination loyalty; meanwhile, other factors such as tourists’ satisfaction and retention are potential areas of future research. Also, this study investigated international tourists’ perspectives in the Dead Sea tourism destination only, which means that its generalization potential to other destinations is limited. Therefore, comparative studies inside and outside Jordan’s tourism destinations are potential areas of future research. Other limitations and future research areas are also outlined. Practical implications – The paper highlights the