Designing a Strategic Model of the Antecedents of Customer’s Experience in the Tourism Industry

This study sought to identify the antecedents of customers’ experience in the tourism industry using a mixed-method approach. To this end, first, 246 domestic and foreign relevant articles published from 2010 to 2020 were collected in the qualitative phase using the meta-synthesis method, out of which 52 articles were selected and analyzed via the content analysis method. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the results of the content analysis conducted on the articles mentioned, applying the opinions of 10 experts and specialists in marketing and tourism. The researcher-developed questionnaire was then administered to 440 Iranian tourists who had traveled to Turkey, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and UAE over the last five years (2016-2021). On the other hand, each construct of the proposed model was examined in terms of mono-dimensionality through a separate measurement model using Kline's method (2005) to ensure that the factor loading of the indicators and the correlation coefficient between factors do not exceed 0.5 and 0.85, respectively. Then, the reliability and validity of the constructs together with the construct validity, convergent validity, and divergent validity were measured, and Cronbach's alpha, Composite Reliability (CR), and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) were calculated. Finally, the model concerning the tourist experience antecedents was developed. According to the results of the study, a model comprising of four main components, including tourist management, tourism destinations’ management, tourism resource management, and tourism product management were developed based on the antecedents of the tourist experience using a mixed method approach (which is one of the innovations of the study).