Zooming in small family wineries: exploring service quality, loyalty and the moderating role of wine involvement

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of wine involvement in moderating the effect of winery service quality on loyalty toward small family wineries. Design/methodology/approach This study used a structured questionnaire. The survey was distributed to wine tourists who visited small family wineries located in Crete, Greece and a total of 216 usable questionnaires were collected for the study. To analyze the data, the study used partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that wine involvement moderates the effects of winery service quality on wine tourists’ loyalty. Specifically, staff behavior affects the loyalty toward wine tourists with low involvement more significantly compared to the wine tourists with high wine involvement. On the other hand, the quality of wine tastings affects the loyalty of wine tourists with high wine involvement more significantly in contrast with the wine tourists with low wine involvement. Practical implications Findings suggest that winery operators need to take into consideration wine involvement among wine tourists when they develop a winery service strategy. Operators of small family wineries can provide more customized, diverse and quality wine tastings to wine tourists with high wine involvement while prioritizing winery staff’s behavior and hospitality to those wine tourists with low wine involvement. Originality/value This study contributes to extant wine tourism literature by adding the effects of wine involvement on wine tourists’ loyalty toward the winery, and particularly focusing on small, family wineries.