Department of Management Studies

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Browsing Department of Management Studies by Author "Das, Anirban"

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    Assessing Attributes of Religious Tourism Experience and Behavioral Intentions
    (Department of Management Studies, NITS, 2025-10-24) Das, Anirban
    This study investigated the relationships between the experiential attributes and behavioral outcomes of tourist experiences in the context of religious tourism. While religious tourism has gained prominence as a growing segment of the tourism industry, driven by the rising popularity of religious places, there remains a gap in understanding what factors shape tourists' cognitive and emotional evaluations of experiences in religious places and their effects on future behavior. This research addresses that gap by developing a comprehensive conceptual model, which includes the relationships between key religious tourism attributes (spirituality, authenticity, interactions, service experience, and crowding) and examines how these factors impact tourist behavioral responses, through the mediating role of place identity and destination image. Data were collected from the tourists at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, India— one of the most prominent Shakti Pithas in South Asia and a major pilgrimage destination. Using a structured questionnaire, 457 valid responses were gathered and analyzed through a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, complemented by a configurational analysis using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The integration of both variance-based and configurational approaches offers a richer understanding of both linear and non-linear pathways influencing behavioral intentions in religious tourism. This study initially developed a base model using structural model, incorporating five key experiential predictors—spirituality, authenticity, interactions, service experience, and crowding—to examine their direct influence on place identity, destination image, and behavioral intention. To evaluate the presence of non-linear effects in tourist experience behavior relationships, the base model was specified without quadratic terms to identify direct linear relationships. Building upon this, a quadratic model was then estimated to capture potential curvilinear effects, particularly for crowding, which prior literature suggests may have non-monotonic influences in dense religious settings. In the quadratic model, spirituality, authenticity, and interactions were found to have consistently positive and significant effects on both place identity and destination image. These attributes also positively influenced behavioral intentions, with the exception of interactions, which, while enhancing place identity and destination image, did not show a direct impact on future behavioral responses. This suggests that social engagement during religious tourism experiences enriches cognitive and emotional evaluations but may not alone drive revisit intentions. Service experience showed a limited influence, significantly contributing only to destination image. Its effects on place identity and behavioral intention were not significant, indicating that while service-related elements may shape how tourists perceive the destination, they are insufficient to create deeper emotional bonds or behavioral commitment on their own. A notable insight emerged with the construct of crowding, which exhibited an inverted U-shaped (curvilinear) relationship with all three outcome variables: place identity, destination image, and behavioral intentions. This result suggests that moderate levels of crowding may enhance the experience by reinforcing a sense of collective participation and ritual intensity, while excessive crowding begins to detract from satisfaction and emotional connection. The non-linear nature of this effect underscores the importance of managing visitor flow and density in religious destinations to maintain optimal experiential conditions. The mediation analysis revealed that place identity served as a significant mediating pathway for several experiential attributes. Specifically, the effects of spirituality, authenticity, and interactions on behavioral intention were significantly mediated through place identity. This confirms that these experiential factors enhance tourists’ emotional and symbolic attachment to the place, which in turn influences their intention to revisit or recommend the destination. Additionally, crowding exhibited an indirect negative effect on behavioral intention via place identity, reinforcing the inverted U-shaped understanding of crowding's role—where excessive density diminishes place-related emotional connections. In contrast, destination image did not mediate the relationship between any of the experiential attributes and behavioral intention in the quadratic model. This suggests that under conditions of complex experiential intensity—such as those shaped by varying levels of crowding—the cognitive evaluations captured by destination image are less influential in shaping future intentions than the affective and identity-based bonds formed through place identity. Overall, the findings emphasize that place identity is a more robust and consistent mediator than destination image in high-density religious tourism contexts, particularly when nonlinear experiential effects are considered. This underscores the importance of fostering emotional and symbolic place attachments in tourism strategy and design. To complement the structural model, fsQCA revealed six distinct configurations (C1–C6) that lead to high behavioral intentions, demonstrating the principle of equifinality—where different combinations of conditions produce the same outcome. These configurations illustrate that religious tourism experiences are conjunctural and interdependent. Configurations C1 to C3 reflected immersive and socially engaging experiences (Type I), with spirituality, interactions, and authenticity acting as core drivers in different combinations. C4 and C5 represented more selective or introspective pathways (Type II), where high behavioral intentions emerged even when certain experiential components like service or place identity were weak or absent. Configuration C6 suggested that a service aesthetic orientation (Type III), characterized by authenticity, service experience, and place identity, could also lead to strong intentions without necessarily involving spirituality or crowding. Crucially, the fsQCA results demonstrated that certain relationships not found to be statistically significant in the SEM model nonetheless contributed meaningfully within specific combinations. For example, crowding—although curvilinear in PLS-SEM—was either absent or peripheral in certain fsQCA solutions, suggesting that its impact is highly contingent on the presence of other experiential factors. This underscores the value of employing a configurational lens to reveal complex, context-dependent causal mechanisms that are not easily captured through linear models. The study contributes to theory by advancing a dual-method framework that integrates PLS-SEM and fsQCA, allowing for both generalizable inferences and context sensitive insights. It enriches the understanding of how tourist experiences in religious settings give rise to affective attachment (place identity), cognitive evaluations (destination image), and future behavioral intentions. The findings also provide managerial implications for religious tourism planners and destination marketers. For example, fostering authentic and spiritually resonant experiences, managing crowding to an optimal level, and supporting visitor interactions can enhance both individual satisfaction and destination loyalty. In conclusion, this research offers a nuanced understanding of the multidimensional and multi-pathway nature of tourist behavioral outcomes in religious tourism. By demonstrating both linear and non-linear effects, mediating mechanisms, and multiple sufficient configurations, the study underscores the importance of designing religious tourism experiences that are not only operationally efficient but also emotionally, socially, and spiritually meaningful.