Psychological Functions of Customer Attitudes and the Impact on Customer Satisfaction with Hotel Staycations

A recent domestic travel trend is hotel staycations, which refers to staying at a nearby hotel for vacation instead of traveling to a different location. While existing studies have examined hotel staycationers' behavior, there have been conceptual studies that overlooked the psychological mechanisms of customer atti tudes influencing customer post-purchase behavior. To fill these gaps, this study aims to examine how psy chological functions of customer attitude (i.e., value-expressive, utilitarian, hedonic, and social-adjustive functions) affect customer satisfaction with hotel staycations, based on the functional theory of attitudes, and explore the further impact of customer satisfaction on continuous intention toward hotel staycations. A total of 350 responses were collected, and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to verify the reliability and validity of the constructs and test hypotheses. As a result, this study revealed that the utilitarian and hedonic functions of attitudes are significant drivers of customer sat isfaction with hotel staycations. Additionally, the undeniable positive impact of customer satisfaction on con tinuous intention towards hotel staycations was demonstrated. These findings suggest that hotel staycation experiences should incorporate restorative and enjoyable attributes to enhance customer satisfaction, which is crucial for increasing their loyalty towards hotel staycations. Based on the findings, this study offers val uable insights for the hospitality and tourism literature and hospitality practitioners.