Parallel Session 15, Motivation and Satisfaction Track: A Wounded Heart or a Broken Spirit: The Effect of Service Quality on Tourist Satisfaction Through Psychological Contract Breach and Violation
Description
Psychological contract refers to the employees and employers' beliefs and/or perceptions about the terms of the employment relationship (Robinson & Rousseau, 1994). Applying this concept to the hospitality and tourism context, from customers' or tourists' perspective, psychological contract refers the relationship between a customer and a service provider, particularly it is related with customers and service providers' expectation of inputs (money, time, effort) and outcomes (Hygiene, good food & beverage, sincere customer care). Examining the psychological contract from the tourists' standpoint is important, because tourist satisfaction is a function of the difference between tourists' expectation on and their perceived fulfillment of both the tangible and intangible quality of a product/service they consume. For example, when tourists uphold a high expectation of the accommodation standard and service quality provided by a hotel, a lower-than-expected quality of room condition and unprofessional service may result in significant disappointment, which ultimately results in lower tourist satisfaction (Correia, Kozak, & Ferradeira, 2013). Therefore, understanding the dynamics between tourists expectation and their outcome behaviors is essential for destination marketers (Hsu, Cai, & Li, 2010). Thus, the primary purposes of the present study are two-fold. First, it is to examine whether and how tangible and intangible components of perceived service quality are related to tourist satisfaction. Second, it is to test if psychological contract breach and psychological contract violation, both of which are resulted from an undesirable discrepancy between one's expectation and the outcome obtained, may explain the main relationship between perceived service quality and tourist satisfaction.
Prior research suggested that individuals' psychological contract breach, defined as customers' perception that service provider fails to adequately fulfil the terms in their psychological contract (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). The psychological contract violation refers to the customers' feeling of betrayal and deeper psychological distress such as anger and sense of injustice and wrongful harm produced by psychological contract breach (Rousseau, 1989). Related empirical studies have widely indicated that employees' experience of psychological contract breach and violation could lead to deleterious outcomes, such as negative influence on revisit intention, customer dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, negative e-Word-Of-Mouth (Pearce, 2005). Whereas this topic has been extensively examined in the organizational context to illuminate employer-employee relationship (Bashir & Nasir, 2013; Conway, Guest, & Trenberth, 2011; Li, Wong, & Kim, 2016; Lub, Nije Bijvank, Matthijs Bal, Blomme, & Schalk, 2012), there are only limited studies that applied it to the hospitality and tourism context (see Bavik & Bavik, 2015 for exceptions). In view of such an inadequate body of knowledge in the hospitality and tourism context, the present study proposes a survey study to test the proposed research model using international tourists in Macau as sample.
Parallel Session 15, Motivation and Satisfaction Track: A Wounded Heart or a Broken Spirit: The Effect of Service Quality on Tourist Satisfaction Through Psychological Contract Breach and Violation
Classroom 209
Psychological contract refers to the employees and employers' beliefs and/or perceptions about the terms of the employment relationship (Robinson & Rousseau, 1994). Applying this concept to the hospitality and tourism context, from customers' or tourists' perspective, psychological contract refers the relationship between a customer and a service provider, particularly it is related with customers and service providers' expectation of inputs (money, time, effort) and outcomes (Hygiene, good food & beverage, sincere customer care). Examining the psychological contract from the tourists' standpoint is important, because tourist satisfaction is a function of the difference between tourists' expectation on and their perceived fulfillment of both the tangible and intangible quality of a product/service they consume. For example, when tourists uphold a high expectation of the accommodation standard and service quality provided by a hotel, a lower-than-expected quality of room condition and unprofessional service may result in significant disappointment, which ultimately results in lower tourist satisfaction (Correia, Kozak, & Ferradeira, 2013). Therefore, understanding the dynamics between tourists expectation and their outcome behaviors is essential for destination marketers (Hsu, Cai, & Li, 2010). Thus, the primary purposes of the present study are two-fold. First, it is to examine whether and how tangible and intangible components of perceived service quality are related to tourist satisfaction. Second, it is to test if psychological contract breach and psychological contract violation, both of which are resulted from an undesirable discrepancy between one's expectation and the outcome obtained, may explain the main relationship between perceived service quality and tourist satisfaction.
Prior research suggested that individuals' psychological contract breach, defined as customers' perception that service provider fails to adequately fulfil the terms in their psychological contract (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). The psychological contract violation refers to the customers' feeling of betrayal and deeper psychological distress such as anger and sense of injustice and wrongful harm produced by psychological contract breach (Rousseau, 1989). Related empirical studies have widely indicated that employees' experience of psychological contract breach and violation could lead to deleterious outcomes, such as negative influence on revisit intention, customer dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, negative e-Word-Of-Mouth (Pearce, 2005). Whereas this topic has been extensively examined in the organizational context to illuminate employer-employee relationship (Bashir & Nasir, 2013; Conway, Guest, & Trenberth, 2011; Li, Wong, & Kim, 2016; Lub, Nije Bijvank, Matthijs Bal, Blomme, & Schalk, 2012), there are only limited studies that applied it to the hospitality and tourism context (see Bavik & Bavik, 2015 for exceptions). In view of such an inadequate body of knowledge in the hospitality and tourism context, the present study proposes a survey study to test the proposed research model using international tourists in Macau as sample.
