To Dine, or Not to Dine on a Cruise Ship in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Tripartite Approach Towards an Understanding of Behavioral Intentions Among Female Passengers

Date
2021-02-26
Authors
Radic, A
Lueck, M
Al-Ansi, A
Chua, B-L
Seeler, S
Raposo, A
Kim, JJ
Han, H
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI AG
Abstract

Given that cruise line companies are rushing to restart their operations with modified dining services, the aim of this research is to establish a conceptual framework that precisely outlines female passengers’ behavioral intentions towards dining on cruise ships in the time of the COVID-19 crisis. It does so by extending the theory of reasoned action (TRA) by including the social servicescape of the cruise ship dining experiencescape (stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm) and perceived health risk from COVID-19 (the prospect theory). The developed theoretical framework based on this tripartite approach has predictive power for intentions. Its effectiveness and comprehensiveness are also demonstrated. Despite the positive effect of the social servicescape on attitude and emotions and the positive attitude of female cruise travelers, the negative effect of the perceived health risk from COVID-19 appears to be the dominant factor that ultimately discourages the behavioral intentions of female cruise passengers towards dining on a cruise ship in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research provides a crucial guiding framework that helps cruise academics and operators to maximize existing and potential passengers’ favorable decisions and behaviors for cruise ship dining.

Description
Keywords
Dining experiencescape; Cruises; Female passengers; COVID-19; Risk perception; S-O-R paradigm; Theory of reasoned action; Prospect theory
Source
Sustainability 2021, 13, 2516. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052516
Rights statement
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).