The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Hedonism in Hospitality Services

Abstract

Much of the pioneering work on consumer behavior in the hospitality services literature has focused largely on the cognitive aspects of decision making without extensively exploring its emotional dimension. Although some research indicates the significant influence of customer hedonism on consumer behavior and decisions, research on the underlying attributes that facilitate the creation of customer hedonism remains scarce. This study attempts to address this gap by examining the antecedents and consequences of customer hedonism in hospitality services—namely, the influence of service quality, servicescape, exclusivity, brand, and personalization on customer hedonism and the subsequent effects on satisfaction, perceived value, and behavioral intentions. The results show that service quality, servicescape, exclusivity, brand, and personalization are all positively related to customer hedonism. In turn, customer hedonism positively affects both satisfaction and perceived value, which then positively influence consumer behavioral intentions.

KEYWORDS:

• customer hedonism
• hospitality services
• consumer behavior

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is especially grateful to the three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful comments, which improved the quality of this article.