A structural model of gastronomic travel behavior: the mediating effect of destination attachment on authentic culinary experience and repatronize intention

Purpose This study investigates how authentic culinary experience (ACE) influences repatronize intention (RI) through the mediating role of destination attachment (DA) in a non-iconic gastronomic setting in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 348 domestic culinary tourists using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM to evaluate path coefficients, effect sizes, and model fit. Bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples was employed to test indirect effects. Findings The results confirm that ACE positively predicts both DA and RI, and DA in turn significantly influences RI. The indirect path from ACE to RI through DA is statistically significant, supporting the mediating role of emotional attachment. Although ACE directly influences RI, the effect size is negligible (f2 = 0.006), with DA serving as the central mediating mechanism. These findings expand the application of the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework by demonstrating that food-based narratives and community interaction can function as symbolic and emotional anchors in affective loyalty formation, even in destinations lacking iconic physical symbols. Practical implications Destination managers and culinary entrepreneurs should foster participatory cultural storytelling through low-cost narrative tools such as story placemats, simple ingredient explanations during service, and community-nominated vendor recognition programs. Such practices strengthen emotional bonding and cultural alignment, in turn enhancing long-term loyalty. Originality/value This study introduces a culturally grounded operationalization of repatronize intention and empirically validates DA as an affective mechanism linking experience to behavior in culinary tourism. The research contributes to theory by extending the S–O–R framework beyond spatial-symbolic environments into the gastronomic domain.