CREATING EDUCATIONAL THEME PARK VISITOR LOYALTY: THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE-BASED SATISFACTION, IMAGE AND VALUE

Purpose - The aim of this study is to test the inter-relationships between the educational theme park image, perceived educational value, educational experience satisfaction and visitor loyalty in educational theme parks. Methodology - 150 respondents participated in this study. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire at two educational theme parks in Batu and Malang, East Java Province Indonesia. The Partial Least Squares with inner and outer model evaluation was employed and it indicated that the model built was robust. Findings - The results show that the educational image, educational experience satisfaction and perceived educational value play important roles in affecting visitor loyalty. In addition, this study found that image and value are the predictors of satisfaction. The mediating test explains that apart from having a direct effect on loyalty, both image and perceived value have an indirect effect on loyalty through satisfaction. Originality - This study provides new insights about how educational theme park visitors build their loyalty. Furthermore, the conceptual model presented in this study not only captures the direct relationships among educational image, perceived educational value, educational experience satisfaction and visitor loyalty, but also explains the indirect relationships. In addition, the setting of this study is the educational theme park industry which is believed to have special characteristics when it is compared to other industries.