The relationships between food-related personality traits, satisfaction, and loyalty among visitors attending food events and festivals

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Abstract

This study applies the concept of food-related personality traits to hospitality and tourism and identifies relationships between personality, satisfaction, and loyalty. An on-site survey was carried out with 335 visitors attending the Gwangju Kimchi (local food) Festival in South Korea between 15th and 19th of October, 2008. The relationships between 4 latent constructs (food neophobia, food involvement satisfaction, and loyalty) and 16 indicators were measured using structural equation modelling. The findings showed that food neophobia had a negative effect on satisfaction and loyalty, food involvement had a positive relationship with loyalty, and satisfaction and loyalty showed a significant positive relationship.

Introduction

Traditionally, foods have been recognised to be low involvement products (Beharrell and Denison, 1995). However, increasing interest in agricultural ecology, animal welfare and health aspects of eating has made food products particularly interesting for studies of involvement (Bell and Marshall, 2003). Several studies (Arvola et al., 1999, Bell and Marshall, 2003, Chen, 2007, Pliner and Hobden, 1992, Raudenbush and Frank, 1999, Ritchey et al., 2003, Tuorila et al., 1994, Tuorila et al., 2001) have identified that food-related personality traits, such as food neophobia and food involvement, are stable characteristics and that individuals who are more highly involved with food are better able to discriminate between foods. According to Pliner and Hobden (1992), food neophobia is regarded as avoidance of, and reluctance to taste, unfamiliar food, and Bell and Marshall (2003) considered food involvement as the level of importance of food in an individual's life. Several studies have emphasised that food-related personality traits can be a crucial determinant when conducting research on food habits and food intakes (Bell and Marshall, 2003, Brown et al., 2006, Cohen and Avieli, 2004).

In hospitality and tourism research, Cohen and Avieli (2004) suggested that tourists taking gastronomic tours seem to show neophilic tendencies, liking for novel food flavours, and high food-involved individuals may be more inclined towards new food experiences. The authors further pointed out that, in order to investigate unfamiliar, foreign, and exotic food consumption at a tourist destination, it is necessary to consider the personality traits of food neophobia and food involvement, which may predict the likelihood of future food intake (Cohen and Avieli, 2004).

The concept of food has evolved from general origins in traditional hospitality into the new concept of ‘food tourism’ (Kivela and Crotts, 2006), and food has become increasingly important in promoting tourist destinations (Kim et al., 2009). In particular, local food can also be regarded as a key contribution to the economy of tourist destinations (Kivela and Crotts, 2006). For example, the Singapore Tourism Board (2006) reported that food and beverage spending by visitors accounted for more than S$1 billion or about 12% of international tourists’ total expenditure in 2006. It is focusing on food and beverages as one of the key aims of tourism, targeting 17 million visitors and S$30 billion by 2015. According to statistics from the Munich Tourist Office (2007), over 6 million visitors consumed 69.406 hl of beer, 142,600 pairs of local pork sausages, and 521,872 units of local chicken in beer tents set up for the 16-day Munich Oktoberfest, Germany.

A few studies have examined food events and festivals. Food events and festivals, as a form of food tourism, can play an important role in introducing a tourist to new flavours and different traditions on their holidays (Getz, 2000, Hjalager and Corigliano, 2000, Yuan et al., 2005). According to Getz (2000), food and wine festivals present visitors with an authentic lifestyle experience in a pleasant environment. Hjalager and Corigliano (2000) found that the availability of special kinds of food, including wines, fruits, vegetables, and fish had given rise to festivals and other events that appealed to tourists and local residents. Yuan et al. (2005) also studied the motivations of attendees at wine festivals. Existing research on food and beverage-related events and festivals, however, is at an early stage and as such, is still establishing its basic tenets. More specifically, research from the perspective of food-related personality traits is even younger, and the integration of the two bodies of hospitality and tourism events and food choice research is almost never seen. Only a few studies on food-related personality (e.g., Cohen and Avieli, 2004, Getz and Brown, 2006, Gross and Brown, 2006, Gross and Brown, 2008, Kim et al., 2009, Sparks, 2007) have investigated attitudes and behaviours towards food-related holidays. In addition, except for the work of Brown et al. (2006) who developed a wine involvement scale (WIS), other studies have dealt with food-related personality traits as only a small element of their research.

In this respect, the purpose of this study is to identify the food-related personality traits, namely food neophobia and food involvement, of visitors attending food events and festivals and to determine relationships between visitors’ food-related personality, satisfaction and loyalty. This approach is based on the study of Getz and Brown (2006), who suggested that the centrality of local beverages to an individual's leisure pursuits is likely to be a predictor of food tourism, and the work of Gross and Brown (2006), who proposed the importance of food involvement in tourism experiences.

Section snippets

Food-related personality traits and consumer behaviours

A few studies have shown a relationship between food-related personality traits and consumer behaviours. Khan (1981) noted factors linked to the individual and to the environment in which they lived, adding that food choice, at this individual level, was a function of several interrelated aspects of personality. Ajzen (1987) mentioned that personality traits play an important role in predicting and explaining human behaviour. In other words, an individual's personal traits or interests can play

Research instruments

All constructs included in the model were measured using multi-item scales designed to test all relevant domains of the construct. Seventeen measures were used to capture the latent constructs. Thirteen items were developed to evaluate the two elements of food-related personality traits, two items were developed to measure visitors’ satisfaction, and two items were adopted to assess visitors’ loyalty.

Measures of food-related personality traits consisted of two dimensions: food neophobia and

Profile of respondents

The demographic profile of the respondents is presented in Table 2. The sample consisted of 45.7% male and 54.3% female respondents. In terms of age, 22.4% of the respondents were under 25 years old, 30.7% were 25–34, 39.6% were 35–40, and 17.3% were 45 or older. The majority of the respondents (77.6%) were highly educated, holding at least a college degree. With regard to annual household income, 10.7% of the respondents earned less than US$ 20,000, followed by 29.6% between $ 20,000 and $

Discussion and conclusions

The current study was undertaken in a context of a rise in consumption of food and beverages at a variety of food-related events and festivals. It approached this issue with the concept of the food-related personality traits of food neophobia and food involvement. More specifically, the study hypothesised that visitors who like to try new foods, and who consider food important in their lives, are more likely to be satisfied with the food festival experience and be more likely to return and

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of International Journal of Hospitality Management for their constructive and valuable comments in improving this paper.

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