Title : THE INFLUENCE OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE VALUES ON ECOTOURISM DESTINATION IMAGE, PLACE ATTACHMENT, AND LOYALTY INTENTION (Study of Visitors to Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan - Indonesia)
Author : Marso
Item Type : Thesis (Dissertation)
Abstract
With its continued growth, tourism has become a very attractive and very competitive industry for every destination marketing organization to attract visitors. Morgan et al (2002) revealed that 70% of all tourists only visited the main tourism destinations in ten countries known as "best niche players", and more than 70% made repeat visits to the same tourism destinations (Ellis and Vogelsong, 2002; Chen and Tsai, 2007; Richards, 2006; This phenomenon shows that a successful tourism destination marketing strategy does not only focus on winning new tourists but must also build the loyalty of tourists who have been won, because loyal tourists will make repeat visits and recommend certain tourism destinations to others (Bigne et al., 2001; Chi , 2005; Chi and Qu, 2008; Prayag, 2008; Ecotourism as responsible travel to natural areas that preserves the environment and improves the welfare of local communities (TIES, 1990) and emerges simultaneously with global environmental issues (Higham, 2007: 4) requires certain marketing strategies to build loyal tourist loyalty. visiting ecotourism destinations (ecotourism). For this reason, this study integrates the "Value-Attitude Hierarchy" model (Homer and Kahle, 1988) into the "Four-Stage Loyalty Model" (Oliver, 1997) to produce a loyalty model with the "Values Cognitive Affective Conative" pattern. As the main objective of this study, the pattern "Values Cognitive Affective Conative" was tested empirically through four variables which are considered to be in accordance with the concept of ecotourism, namely: Self-Transcendence Values to represent the Values component, Ecotourism Destination Image to represent Cognitive (Thoughts), and Place Attachment to represent Affective (Feelings), and Intention Loyalty as a proxy for the Conative (Willing) aspect. Apart from expanding the loyalty model, this study aims to test six hypotheses developed based on theoretical and empirical studies to determine the influence of self-transcendence values on ecotourism destination image, the influence of self-transcendence values on place attachment, the influence of self-transcendence values on loyalty intention, the influence of ecotourism destination image on place attachment, the influence of ecotourism destination image on loyalty intention, the influence of place attachment on loyalty intention, the role of Ecotourism Destination Image in mediating the influence of Self-Transcendence Values on Place Attachment, the role of Place Attachment in mediating the influence of Self-Transcendence Values on Loyalty Intention, and determine the role of Place Attachment in mediating the influence of Ecotourism Destination Image on Loyalty Intention. The population of this study is all adult tourists, both domestic tourists and foreign tourists who visited TNTP at the time data collection was carried out (May – June 2016), and understood Indonesian or English. Referring to the experience of previous researchers to produce more accurate path coefficient estimates in PLS-SEM when it is less than 500 and at least 200 (Hulland et al. in Vinzi et al, 2010:314) as well as the composition of TNTP visitors (61.20% – 72.60 % foreign tourists and 27.40% – 38.80% domestic tourists), then the number of questionnaires distributed was 300, consisting of 200 (67%) for foreign tourists and 100 (33%) for domestic tourists. The sampling method for this research is accidental sampling. The number of questionnaires returned was 259 or 86% of the total number of questionnaires distributed. Of the returned questionnaires, only 218 or 84% could be analyzed, while the rest could not be used because the fields were incomplete. Three of the four variables of this study were measured along two dimensions. The Self-Transcendence Values variable is measured by the Universalism and Benevolence dimensions; Ecotourism Destination Image with Nature and Culture dimensions; and the measurement dimensions for the Place Attachment variable are Place Identity and Place Dependence. The results of evaluating the measurement model with SmartPLS 3.0 Professional show that all variables in this study are valid and reliable based on internal consistency reliability values as measured by Cronbach alpha and composite reliability, indicator reliability as measured by outer loading values, convergent validity with AVE and discriminant validity with cross loading. and AVE roots. For this reason, the four study variables were tested further in a structural equation model (SEM). Based on SEM analysis with SmartPLS 3.0 Professional, the results of this study show that (1) Self-Transcendence Values have a positive and significant effect on Ecotourism Destination Image, (2) Self-Transcendence Values have a positive and significant effect on Place Attachment, (3) Self -Transcendence Values has a significant effect on Intention Loyalty, (4) Ecotourism Destination Image has a positive and significant effect on Place Attachment, (5) Ecotourism Destination Image has a positive and significant effect on Intention Loyalty, (6) Place Attachment has a positive and significant effect on Intention Loyalty, (7) The influence of Self-Transcendence Values on Place Attachment is mediated by Ecotourism Destination Image, (8) The influence of Self-Transcendence Values on Intention Loyalty is mediated by Place Attachment, (9) The influence of Ecotourism Destination Image on Intention Loyalty is mediated by Place Attachment , and (10) theoretically, the expansion of the loyalty model with the "Values Cognitive Affective Conative" pattern is supported by the data of this study. The first limitation of this study is that this study was conducted in an ecotourism destination setting and one ecotourism destination in order to expand the Four-Stage Loyalty (Oliver, 1997) by integrating the Value-Attitude Hierarchy (Homer and Kahle, 1988), so it is limited in scope and variables. variables that are in accordance with ecotourism principles to represent the components of values, thoughts (attitude), feelings (affective), and will (conative). If this study is expanded to different tourism segment settings, the concepts used as proxies for each component may reveal different results. Thus, further studies can be carried out to identify and compare the "values" and "image" of visitors in various tourism segments. Second, this study was conducted on tourists who visited TNTP in May – June 2016. Thus, the results of this study only apply to tourists who visited TNTP in May – June 2016, and cannot be generalized to TNTP visitors or visitors to ecotourism destinations. overall. This limitation becomes a challenge for future studies to re-test the variables and models developed in this study on a wider scope, both in terms of places and ecotourism destination segments. Third, forming individual values is the environment and life experiences that are accumulated throughout the individual's life through a relatively long process so that it is relatively difficult for marketers to change them in a short time. Thus, the ability of TNTP marketers to adapt their offerings to the values of the target market is the key to successful marketing of TNTP as an ecotourism destination. Pragmatic suggestions that can be given based on the findings of this study are: first, the marketing strategy for TNTP must be guided by the principles of environmental conservation and biodiversity, sustainability, harmony with other creatures or species, equality for every ethnic group, and empowerment of local residents around TNTP, because TNTP visitors are tourists who have very high Self-Transcendence Values, have a strong attachment to TNTP with a very high level of loyalty, and visit ecotourism destinations more than twice a year. Second, to win the highly competitive market, TNTP as an ecotourism destination is maintained where various varieties of flora and fauna live, places that have beautiful views, places that provide opportunities to learn about local community culture, places that provide opportunities to study the environment, places to see wild animals, and places that are beneficial for nature conservation, because the visitor's image of the six indicators of TNTP as an ecotourism destination is included in the very high or very suitable category. Third, TNTP's target market is tourists who have very high Self-Transcendence Values. For this reason, the ability to manage and communicate TNTP as an ecotourism destination, namely a tourist spot that is managed in accordance with the principles of Self-Transcendence Values accompanied by the ability to create tourist place attachments to TNTP is expected to be able to produce a competitive advantage for TNTP in the global tourism destination market.
Uncontrolled Keywords : SELF-TRANSCENDENCE VALUES, ECOTOURISM DESTINATION IMAGE, PLACE ATTACHMENT, INTENTION LOYALTY, Tanjung Puting National Park
