TTLA: The impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa

1. Full name of PhD student: Phi Hai Long 2. Gender: Male
3. Date of birth: June 29, 1987 4. Place of birth: Khanh Hoa
5. Decision on recognition of PhD students: 4416/2019/QD-XHNV dated November 26, 2019 of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
6. Changes in training process (if any):
7. Thesis topic: The impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa
8. Major: Tourism. 9. Code: 981010.01
10. Scientific advisor: Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Hong Long
11. Summary of new results of the thesis:

• Purpose and research objects of the thesis

- Research purpose: develop a theoretical basis for service space in the resort environment; analyze the impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists at resorts to propose management functions to help improve the competitiveness of resorts in Khanh Hoa.
- Research object: The impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists.

• Research methods used

- Systematic overview: identify theoretical foundations as the basis for building research hypotheses.
-Group discussion method (group 1 includes 05 experts and 05 tourism business managers, group 2 includes 10 tourists): to build a preliminary questionnaire.
- Questionnaire survey method (tourist target): testing measurement model and structural model.

• Main results, new contributions and conclusions

- Firstly, service space has a direct positive impact on the perceived value of tourists including 4 components: surrounding environment, aesthetics of the facility, signs and symbols, cleanliness.
- Second, perceived value has a direct impact on tourist satisfaction and loyalty.
- Third, satisfaction has a direct impact on tourist loyalty.
- Fourth, perceived value plays the role of an intermediary variable in the relationship between service space and tourist satisfaction.
- Fifth, satisfaction plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between perceived value and tourist loyalty.

New contributions

- Firstly, the study has contributed to developing the theoretical basis of Bitner's (1992) service space, thereby identifying the components that make up the service space factor, and building an official scale of service space in the resort environment.
- Second, the study analyzed the impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists. In which, the service space factor consists of 4 different components that have a direct impact on perceived value, perceived value has a direct impact on both satisfaction and loyalty of tourists. In terms of the mediating role: first, perceived value plays a mediating role in the relationship between service space and tourist satisfaction; second, satisfaction plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between perceived value and loyalty of tourists. Currently, to the author's knowledge, there are very few studies that test the relationship of all 4 of these factors.
- Third, the study tested the differences in tourist loyalty related to demographic characteristics (gender, age, occupation, frequency, education, income, marriage, nationality). Through T-test and ANOVA, the study concluded that there are differences in loyalty for tourist groups with different frequency of stay.

- Fourth,The research results help resort managers in Khanh Hoa understand the relationship between service space and perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists. At the same time, these results also help them identify which components and contents of the service space factor need to be improved to increase perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists. In addition, the research has provided some specific management implications to help improve the competitiveness of resorts in Khanh Hoa.

Conclude

In general, to maximize guest satisfaction and loyalty, resorts need to invest in improving service space factors and thereby increase perceived value, bringing maximum satisfaction and loyalty to guests.
12. Further research directions:
- First, the study only focused on the resort business sector without mentioning other services. Each service has different characteristics; therefore, the results of the study cannot be generalized to the service industry in general. The author suggests that future studies can contribute to the generalizability of the findings by exploring diverse service sectors and comparing results across service types.
- Second, the study was only conducted in Khanh Hoa province, which once again limited the generalizability and overall representativeness; because each different geographical area, terrain and cultural context will have different ways of designing and arranging resort service spaces. Thus, conducting a study on resort service spaces in different cultural contexts and geographical areas and terrains is a new and attractive research topic in the future. From there, the research results will be more generalizable and representative.
- Third, the thesis data was collected in the post-covid-19 period, a special time when tourists are still afraid of the epidemic, which may lead to the demographic characteristics and perceived values ​​of tourists being much different from the period before the pandemic. Thus, in order for the research results to be more generalizable, future studies should be conducted during the period when social activities are normal.
13. Publications related to the thesis:

1. Phi Hai Long, Pham Hong Long, Pham Thi Bich Thuy (2022), “The relationship between Servicescape, perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa”, The 3rd International Conference on Human-centered Artificial Intelligence, IS-VNU, pp 314-328.

2. Phi Hai Long (2022), “The relationship between servicescape, perceived value, satisfaction of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa”, International Conference: Innovation And Development Of Tourism, University of Khanh Hoa, pp 523-536.

3. Phi Hai Long (2022), “The mediating role of perceived value in the relationship between service space and customer satisfaction: the case of resorts in Khanh Hoa”, Tourism Magazine, No. 11, pp. 50-52.

4. Phi Hai Long (2022), "Research framework on the impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and customer loyalty at resorts", Khanh Hoa University Science Journal, No. 2, pp. 74-81.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Phi Hai Long

2. Sex: Male

3. Date of birth: 29/06/1987

4. Place of birth: Khanh Hoa

5. Amission decision number 4416/2019/QD-XHNV dated November 26, 2019 by University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ha Noi.

6. Changes in academic practice

7. Official thesis title: Effect of servicescape on perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa

8. Major: Tourism

9. Code: 981010.01

10. Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Pham Hong Long

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

The main results:
Firstly, servicescape influences customer perceived value, including ambient conditions, facility aesthetics, sign and symbol, and cleanliness.
Secondly, perceived value highly affects customer satisfaction and loyalty
Thirdly, customer satisfaction highly affects customer loyalty.
Fourthly, customer perceived value is a mediating variable between servicescape and customer satisfaction.
Fifthly, customer satisfaction was a mediating variable between customer perceived value and customer loyalty.
The new findings:
Firstly, the research has contributed to the development of the theoretical basis of the servicescape of Bitner (1992), thereby identifying the components that make up the servicescape element, and building a formal scale of servicescape in a resort environment.
Secondly, the study tested the impact relationship between 4 factors: servicescape, perceived value, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In particular, the servicescape factor is tested based on different components affecting the perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of visitors. Currently, to the author's knowledge, there are very few studies testing the relationship of all four factors.
Thirdly, the study tested the differences in tourist loyalty related to demographic characteristics (gender, age, occupation, frequency, education level, income, marriage, nationality) ). Through the T-test and ANOVA, the study concludes whether there is a difference in loyalty for different demographic groups of tourists.
Finally, this study has applied modern research methods, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods with advanced data analysis support tools to demonstrate the research results. reliability. guarantee. Thus, the research results will encourage researchers to be more interested in using modern tools to develop research related to the service space.
Conclusions:
In general, to maximize customer satisfaction and loyalty, resorts need to invest in improving servicescape.

12. Further research directions

Even though the present study provides several contributions to tourism and service marketing literature, some limitations still exist. This study only concentrates on investigating the resort without covering other services. Each service has different characteristics; Only investigating a resort setting could lead to difficulties in generalizing the findings to the service industry. It is suggested that future research can contribute to the generalizability of conclusions by exploring diverse service contexts and comparing results across service types. Additionally, applying interviews and survey methods at resorts in Khanh Hoa also results in a specific market pattern, again limiting the representativeness, generalizability and applicability of results. The design characteristics of resorts vary in different cultural contexts. As such, it could be an interesting research topic to carry out a cross-cultural study, extending the research resort to other geographical locations.

13. Thesis-related publications

1. Phi Hai Long, Pham Hong Long, Pham Thi Bich Thuy (2022), “The relationship between Servicescape, perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa”, The 3rd International Conference on Human-centered Artificial Intelligence, IS-VNU, pp 314-328.

2. Phi Hai Long (2022), “The relationship between servicescape, perceived value, satisfaction of tourists at resorts in Khanh Hoa”, International Conference: Innovation And Development Of Tourism, University of Khanh Hoa, pp 523-536.

3. Phi Hai Long (2022), “The mediating role of perceived value in the relationship between service space and customer satisfaction: the case of resorts in Khanh Hoa”, Tourism Magazine (11), pp. 50-52.

4. Phi Hai Long (2022), "Research framework on the impact of service space on perceived value, satisfaction and customer loyalty at resorts", Khanh Hoa University Science Journal (2), pp. 74-81.