Authenticity and tourist loyalty: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This study used a meta-analysis to examine the relationship between authenticity and tourist loyalty. A total of 144 effect sizes and 27,986 accumulated sample sizes from 68 independent empirical studies were analyzed. The results revealed that authenticity positively correlates with tourist loyalty, in different magnitudes. Specifically, objective authenticity has the greatest impact on tourist loyalty, followed by constructive authenticity and existential authenticity. In addition, this study also examined four moderators of the relationship between authenticity and tourist loyalty. Then we discussed the theoretical and practical implications of authenticity for tourism destination marketing.

KEYWORDS:

• Meta-analysis
• authenticity
• tourist loyalty
• moderating effect
• quantitative literature reviews

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 42171228].