THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED TOURISM QUALITY, CHINESE-LANGUAGE SERVICE SATISFACTION, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS OF CHINESE STUDENTS MAJORING IN CHINESE: A CASE STUDY OF AYUTTHAYA PROVINCE, THAILAND
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Abstract
Purpose: Ayutthaya is one of Thailand’s most important cultural and historical tourism destinations and has long been popular among Chinese tourists. However, a review of the existing literature indicates that systematic empirical research in Thailand examining the relationships among Chinese-language service levels at tourist attractions, perceived quality, service satisfaction, and behavioral intentions of Chinese tourists remains limited, particularly studies grounded in a specific destination context. Accordingly, this study adopted Ayutthaya, Thailand as the research setting and focused on Chinese tourists who have visited the destination with the aim to examine the effects of tourist-perceived quality on Chinese language service satisfaction at tourist attractions and tourists’ behavioral intentions, as well as to further test the mediating role of Chinese language service satisfaction between perceived quality and behavioral intentions, thereby addressing the research gap in the field of Chinese-language tourism services in Thailand.
Study Design/Methodology/Approach: This study employed a purposive sampling approach and collected data through an online questionnaire survey. The sample consisted of 198 Chinese tourists who had previously visited Ayutthaya, Thailand, primarily including students majoring in Chinese from China and those enrolled in International Chinese Language Institutes. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 for descriptive statistics and 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) analysis. In addition, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed using Mplus to assess the reliability, validity, and model fit of the research constructs.
Findings: The results indicate that perceived tourism quality has a significant positive effect on tourists’ behavioral intentions and also exerts a significant positive influence on Chinese language service satisfaction at tourist attractions. Furthermore, Chinese language service satisfaction has a significant positive effect on tourists’ behavioral intentions. Mediation analysis revealed that Chinese language service satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between perceived quality and behavioral intentions, suggesting that perceived quality can enhance tourists’ behavioral intentions by improving their satisfaction with Chinese-language services.
Originality/Value: By conducting an analysis in Ayutthaya, Thailand, this study empirically verified the mechanism through which perceived tourism quality influences the behavioral intentions of Chinese majors from China via Chinese language service satisfaction at tourist attractions. The findings contribute to filling the theoretical and empirical gap in research on Chinese-language services in non-English-speaking tourism destinations and provide practical managerial implications for tourism practitioners in Thailand.
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