Examining Relationship between Service Quality and Behavioural Intentions in Game Lodges

Abstract

Providing high-quality services in game lodges promotes customer satisfaction and, subsequently, favourable behavioural intentions, leading to enhanced business performance, including market share and profitability. Practical and empirical evidence has demonstrated that visitors have varying degrees of preferences that influence their expectations and satisfaction, which consequently affects their behavioural intentions. Though numerous studies have examined the influence of service quality on behavioural intentions in the context of the tourism industry, there exist limited studies in game lodges. To fill this gap, this study aims to examine the influence of service quality on visitors’ behavioural intention in the context of star-rated game lodges. The study adopted an epistemological research philosophy guided by a positivism paradigm with a quantitative and cross-sectional survey research design. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to obtain the sample size of 337 visitors from the different categories of star-rated game lodges at Maasai Mara National Reserve and its conservancies in Kenya. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a structural equation model that tested the hypothesis and the relationship between service quality and behavioural intentions. The findings suggest that in the context of game lodges, service quality is important for developing favourable behavioural intentions. The study supports a positive and significant relationship between service quality and behavioural intentions. The study contributes immensely to the theoretical background of service marketing by providing a thorough examination of service quality and its influence on behavioural intentions. This is a significant input to service marketing, especially in the little-researched area of service quality perceptions and behavioural intentions among the traditional, domestic and emerging tourism markets in game lodges in Kenya