The Impact of Tourists’ Perceptions of Space-launch Tourism: An Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior Approach

ABSTRACT

Prior studies on space tourism have mainly investigated tourists’ engagement in outer space tourism activities. There is no research undertaken as yet related to tourists’ perception toward indoor space tourism (i.e., space-launch tourism). The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, hedonic motivation, and intention toward space-launch tourism activities using the Wenchang spacecraft launch site as the tourism destination. An integrated conceptual research model was proposed based on the theory of planned behavior model. A web-based survey questionnaire was developed where a total of 444 questionnaires were ultimately collected followed by subsequent empirical testing of the postulated hypotheses, using SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results suggested that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and hedonic motivation positively influence intention. Subjective norm also displayed a significant positive influence on attitude, while attitude played a partial mediation role between subjective norm and intention. The findings indicated that the proposed model has more predictive capacity compared to original theory of planned behavior model. The theoretical and practical implications of the results were also discussed, including limitations of the research.

摘要

以往对太空旅游的研究主要是调查游客对外太空旅游活动参与的情况。目前还没有关于游客对室内太空旅游 (即太空发射基地旅游) 认知的研究。本研究以文昌航天发射基地为旅游目的地, 探讨游客的态度, 主观规范, 行为控制感知, 享乐动机与意愿之间的关系。本文在计划行为理论的基础上提出完整的概念研究模型。基于网络调查问卷最终收集了444份问卷, 随后使用SPSS和结构方程模型对假设进行实证检验。结果表明游客的态度, 主观规范, 行为控制感知和享乐动机对意愿有正向影响。主观规范对态度也有显著的正向影响, 同时态度在主观规范和意向之间起部分中介作用。研究结果表明, 与原计划行为理论模型相比, 本文所提出的模型具有更强的预测能力。最后本文讨论了研究结果, 理论和实践意义, 以及局限性。

KEYWORDS:

• Space-launch tourism
• wenchang spacecraft launch site
• theory of planned behavior
• hedonic motivation

关键词:

• 太空卫星发射旅游
• 文昌航天发射基地
• 计划行为理论
• 享乐动机

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lei Wang

Lei Wang is Lecturer in Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, School of Management at Xuzhou University of Technology, Jiangsu Province, China. He received his Master’s degree of Master in Leisure and Tourism Management at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia. He obtained his Ph.D. in Hospitality and Tourism at the Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research focuses on sustainability of tourism management, religion/religiosity, consumer decision-making, consumer loyalty, and green purchase behavior (E-mail: [email protected]).

Chuan-Feng Fu

Chuan-Feng Fu is a full student in the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, School of Management at Xuzhou University of Technology, Jiangsu Province, China (E-mail: [email protected]).

Philip Pong Wong

Philip Pong Wong is Senior Lecturer in School of Hospitality at Sunway University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. He received his Master’s degree at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University Putra Malaysia. His research interests are destination marketing, destination branding, destination competitiveness and destination loyalty (E-mail: [email protected]).

Qi Zhang

Qi Zhang is Teaching Assistant in Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, School of Management, Xuzhou University of Technology, Jiangsu Province, China. She received her Master’s degree of Master in Leisure and Tourism Management at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia. Her research interests are green marketing, green purchase behavior, rural tourism, and suitability of tourism management (E-mail: [email protected]).