| It is common in both marketing and tourism related literature to find assertions that satisfaction is positively related to repeat behavioral intention. In the case of tourism, for example, vacation satisfaction is likely to be associated with positive intention to re-visit a destination. However, this commonly stated relationship may be overly simplistic or simply inaccurate, including its application at the aggregate level. Following the implications of Marginal Utility Theory, this program of research was designed to re-examine this relationship and to further explore differences between satisfied returners and satisfied non-returners.; Two initial studies demonstrated the existence, through cluster analysis and bivariate correlation analysis within the resultant segments, of groups of individuals for whom satisfaction and intention to re-visit were negatively correlated, even in the presence of a positive, aggregate level relationship. A third study, controlling for satisfaction, examined the motivations and related behavior of long-haul vacationers who differed in their stated intention to return to the same destination. Groups that differed with respect to intention were also found to differ with respect to travel motivations at both the univariate and factor score levels. Additionally, they differed with respect to the dimensionality of travel motivations when factor analysis of the motivation scale was performed within the separate groups. Follow-up analyses showed further differences between groups with respect to general travel philosophy and items relating to such behavior as advance trip planning, the use of travel consultants and the purchase of packaged tourism products.; Discussion of these results includes theoretical implications for future studies relating to satisfaction, future intention and consumer motivations. The various analytical methods are also compared, with commentary on their relative applicability in research projects with distinctly different intentions. An appendix presents a suggested summative and probabilistic model, intended to expand on the utility theory as well as to accommodate the current findings, and allowing for residual satisfaction from prior experiences, in a conceptual approach to the consideration of motivation and subsequent intention. |
