The influence of ski tourism service quality on tourists' leisure satisfaction and loyalty: The moderating role of novelty seeking

Understanding how service quality influences tourist loyalty has become a central concern in ski tourism research. Anchored in the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, this study examines the relationship between service quality in ski tourism and tourist loyalty, with a specific focus on the mediating role of leisure satisfaction and the moderating effect of novelty seeking. Five dimensions of service quality-tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy-are examined to determine their respective contributions to enhancing tourist satisfaction and loyalty. The findings indicate that responsiveness and assurance significantly enhance both leisure satisfaction and tourist loyalty, whereas tangibles, empathy, and reliability show no statistically significant effects. Leisure satisfaction is shown to mediate the effects of responsiveness and assurance on tourist loyalty. Furthermore, novelty seeking moderates several key relationships: it amplifies the effect of responsiveness on loyalty, strengthens the impact of assurance on satisfaction, and reinforces the linkage between satisfaction and loyalty. This study contributes to the tourism literature by incorporating novelty seeking into the service quality-loyalty model, providing practical implications for ski resorts aiming to enhance their competitive advantage through tailored service strategies.