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Article

Creative Tea Beverages as a New Tourism Attraction? Exploring Determinants of Tourists’ Repurchase Intention Using Dual Process Theory

by
Menglong Xia
,
Yang Zhang
* and
Rui Gu
Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa 999078, Macau, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10642; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310642
Submission received: 17 May 2023 / Revised: 11 June 2023 / Accepted: 3 July 2023 / Published: 6 July 2023
(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism Management)
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Abstract

:
This paper aimed to explore the potentiality of creative tea beverages as a new tourism attraction and the determinants of tourists’ repurchase intention towards creative tea beverages using the dual process theory. The structural–causal relationship among these constructs was examined using structural equation modeling with the data collected from 478 tourists with previous experience of consuming creative tea beverages. The results support the conclusion that the creativity and quantity of the information about tea beverages spread by electronic word-of-mouth significantly contributes to evoking consumers’ emotions, and the evoked emotions significantly influence consumers’ repurchase intention towards tea beverages. Furthermore, other-oriented face constructs also play a crucial role in determining consumers’ repurchase intention. Theoretical and marketing implications are also discussed in this paper.

1. Introduction

Tea has become one of the most consumed daily beverages, with the ability to reflect local culture, history, and customs [1,2]. Several studies have conceptualized tourists’ activities which have been aroused by tea-related traditions and consumption as tea tourism [3]. However, given the fierce competition and highly homogeneous destination image demonstration among the global market, traditional tea destinations fail to retain and attract consumers, even in China, where tea originated [4]. Considering the decrease of tourists’ interest toward the traditional tea tourism industry, numerous creative tea beverages have been produced in China with the aim of generating profitability and industrial resurgence. By the transformation and refinement of the ingredients and producing process [5,6], creative tea beverages (Appendix A Figure A1) which are made from traditional tea commodities have obtained significant success on the market, with the generation of more than CNY 77 billion in the year of 2020 [7].
The consumption of tea commodities has been revealed as a crucial component of tea tourism, which brings sustainable economic benefits to local destinations [3,4]. Compared to the amazing growth of the industrial reality of emerging tea beverages, current research regarding tea tourism as well as the consumption behavior of tourists aroused by creative tea beverages is still a niche area that falls behind the practical industry [8]. Furthermore, traditional tea-processing techniques and related social practices were listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2022. Given fierce competition and tourists’ declining interest toward the traditional tea tourism industry, many destinations have been exploring the potentiality of emerging creative tea beverages as a tourism attraction, and this has become gradually important to attain the sustainable development of traditional tea tourism destinations. In addition, several studies have already revealed the positive outcomes of tea tourism by highlighting its macro-level contribution towards culture conservation, destination management, and revenue generation [2,4,9,10,11]. However, almost no study has yet investigated the functionality of emerging creative tea beverages in generating sustainable economic benefits, which is a crucial issue for sustainable tourism destination management [12]. Furthermore, the meagre theoretical literature on consumers’ attitudes towards tea tourism has also restrained further understanding of the industrial transformation as well as sustainable industrial development which has been induced by the emergence of creative tea beverages. Moreover, the younger consumer group has presented remarkable consumption power in terms of creative tea beverages [7]. However, most of the younger generation consider not only tea-related agricultural jobs but also traditional tea commodities as vapid [2]. Thus, identifying the antecedents of the younger generations’ consumption behavior towards creative tea beverages is also important for intangible cultural heritage inheritance as well as the sustainable development of tea tourism destinations.
Based on the aforementioned arguments, this paper aims to choose tourists who have previous experience with the consumption of the creative tea products of Chayan Yuese to explore what the determinants are and how these could influence their repurchase intention. In addition, this study also intends to describe the determinants of consumers’ repurchase intention from a systematic perspective using the dual process theory. The dual process theory has been acknowledged as one of the most influential theories in explaining consumers’ decision-making process [13,14] through an informative–normative structure [15,16] or cognitive–affective components [17,18]. This paper aims to adopt a cognitive–affective structure to establish the conceptual model. First, creativity has been noted as an internal cognitive determinant in stimulating consumers’ repurchase behavior [6]. Second, younger consumers, especially Generation Y, have been verified as the principal consumer group with strong consumption power towards creative tea products [19]. Regarding their heavy reliance on eWOM acquired from social networks [20], eWOM has been incorporated as another cognitive variable in determining consumers’ repurchase behavior. Moreover, cultural values have been acknowledged to influence Chinese consumers’ consumption behavior significantly [21,22], especially for traditional tea commodities with a gifting purpose [23]. Thus, this paper adopts face consumption as an external environmental variable that influences consumers’ repurchase intention towards creative tea beverages. In addition to cognitive determinants, the PAD emotional framework has been incorporated as the affective determinant in influencing consumers’ repurchase intention.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Tea Tourism and Consumption

Tea has been noted as the conspicuous cultural symbol of some destinations that provide a unique experience to travelers [24]. Regarding its prominent role in attracting potential tourists and accelerating social–economic development for local destinations, the travel behavior that has been aroused by interest in tea-related history, traditions, and consumption has been termed tea tourism [3]. In recent decades, tea tourism has usually been acknowledged as a part of cultural tourism [9] and a specific type of culinary tourism [24].
Existing studies have mainly discussed the phenomenon of tea tourism and its macro impact on Asian destinations [25]. For instance, the development of tea tourism has significantly facilitated the conservation of local heritage and the life quality of local communities [9,10]. Furthermore, tea tourism has also been highlighted as part of the marketing tools used for the promotion of specific destinations [2,4,11] as well as a part of forming loyalty amongst tea travelers to a particular destination [26]. However, Chen et al. (2021) criticized the existing literature on tea tourism because the framework of these studies is highly fragmented and fails to provide theoretical insights into consumers’ attitudes towards special products and services [2]. Furthermore, Mondal and Samaddar (2021) also pointed out that consumers’ attitudes towards tea tourism and commodities require further investigation [8], as the economic benefits which are acquired from this consumption behavior are crucial for the sustainable development of local tourism destinations. In addition, most previous studies have elected traditional tea products as the research target, meaning that almost no studies have investigated consumers’ attitudes and corresponding consumption behavior towards creative tea beverages, despite their tremendous economic benefits.
Regarding the abovementioned theoretical gaps, several studies have discussed consumers’ attitudes towards traditional tea commodities as well as tea tourism behavior. Cheng et al. (2010) revealed that travelers’ preference for drinking tea was closely associated with consumers’ tea tourism behavior [4]. Furthermore, consumers’ satisfaction regarding local tea commodities and the related recreational attractions has been empirically verified to empower emotional bonds with local destinations [26,27]. In addition, Gupta et al. (2022) indicated that tea can be applied as a tactical tool to recreate the national image of India as a tea tourism destination, and travelers’ tea preference was suggested to be a powerful catalyst for the future of tea tourism behavior [11].
However, existing studies merely describe the phenomenon of tea consumption and its corresponding impact on consumers’ attitudes and behavior. The antecedents of tea consumption behavior, especially for emerging creative tea beverages, still demonstrate a theoretical gap that requires further efforts to bridge. Furthermore, Tong et al. (2021) found that the cultural values of China significantly influence consumers’ attitudes and consumption behavior towards traditional tea commodities [28], and these results were further confirmed by Wang and Tian (2022) [23]. However, both of them explained tea consumption behavior merely in terms of external environmental factors. The internal feature image, which includes the ‘sight’, ‘smell’, and ‘taste’ of tea commodities [25], has been neglected in the existing literature when exploring the determinants of consumers’ attitudes and purchase behavior towards tea commodities. Thus, the current study aims to investigate the antecedents of consumers’ repurchase behavior by integrating both external factors and the internal features of creative tea beverages.

2.2. Dual Process Theory

In this regard, this paper aims to propose a dual process model to uncover the determinants of consumers’ repurchase behavior toward creative tea beverages. The dual process theory was originally applied to explain the influence of social factors on consumers’ judgement through the use of an informative and normative structure [29]. Informative influence has been defined as the tendency of accepting information from external elements which conveys evidence of reality. Normative influence refers to an individual’s tendency to acquire positive expectations from an external environment. Furthermore, the dual process theory has been extended to online settings to explain consumers’ judgment of eWOM information [15] as well as its impact on purchase intention [16].
Current research has presented multiple definitions for the constructs and conceptual framework of the dual process theory [30]. In addition to the normative and informative structure, a few studies intended to develop the dual process model by combining cognitive and affective determinants to investigate consumers’ decision-making process. For instance, Sierra et al. (2012) revealed that both cognitive and affective determinants influence sports fans’ purchase behavior towards sport-related commodities [17]. Furthermore, the dual process theory has been extended to a food and beverage consumption context, and it was found that cognitive and affective determinants significantly influence consumers’ nutrition-seeking behavior [18].
Regarding creative cuisines, Horn and Salvendy (2006) found that consumers’ affective feelings can be aroused by the creative elements demonstrated by culinary products [31]. Leong et al. (2020) also pointed out that consumers’ pleasure emotions can be aroused when consuming creative cuisine products [32]. Therefore, affective feelings should not be neglected when investigating consumers’ attitudes and behavior towards creative cuisines. Thus, this paper aims to adopt the dual process theory which was established as a cognitive–affective structure to investigate consumers’ repurchase behavior of creative tea beverages. The cognitive determinants in this paper have been noted as the beliefs or symbolic meanings derived from creative tea beverages, and the emotional factor has been defined as consumers’ evoked emotions during their experiences of creative tea beverages [33].

2.3. Creativity

Creativity has been widely acknowledged as a multi-dimensional construct which is hard to measure [34]. Guilford (1950) first defined creativity as the personality traits possessed by individuals who have the ability to employ creative behavior during the problem-solving process [35]. Furthermore, Rhodes (1961) argued that creativity can also be described as the characteristics of a mental process or a product which contains creative ideas [36]. In addition to defining creativity as a characteristic of human beings or products, many existing studies also explained creativity as a personal or social phenomenon which is determined by consumers’ judgment or social preference [37]. Regarding the numerous and complex conceptions of creativity, Said-Metwaly et al. (2017) concluded that creativity can mainly be defined as one of the following aspects: personality traits, a cognitive working process, creativity involved in final outcomes, and creative interaction between consumer and the social environment [34].
As the impetus for the transformation of traditional cuisine products [38], creativity has practically proved to be a successful marketing tool that not only provides higher profitability for firms, but also transmits superior value to consumers [7,39]. However, few studies have discussed creativity in the context of food and beverage products. Inheriting the conceptualization of product creativity, most previous studies defined creativity that existed in foods and beverages as the transformation or refinement of the traditional cooking process to introduce ‘new’ and ‘appropriate’ elements to the final dishes [5,6,40]. Furthermore, Horng et al. (2013) revealed that the aesthetical elements of the dining space were also a crucial element in determining consumers’ perception of culinary creativity [41]. As the feature image of tea commodities has been revealed to influence consumers’ attitudes [25], this paper aims to adopt the concept of creativity proposed by Leong et al. (2020), which includes the attributes of ‘value’, ‘uniqueness’, and ‘aesthetical presence’ of cuisine products [32].

2.4. Quantity and Quality of eWOM

Consumers have the tendency to accept external resources which convey evidence of reality during their decision-making process [29,42]. With regard to the rise of information technologies and social media, the positive or negative memos which are composed by potential, actual, or former consumers have been termed the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) [43].
Previous studies have widely acknowledged eWOM as a digital resource that significantly influences consumer behavior [42,44,45,46]. With regard to the principal consumer groups of creative tea beverages, Generation X and millennials have increased tendencies to adopt eWOM resources during their decision-making process compared to older generations [47]. Furthermore, they have a higher propensity to share eWOM if they have encountered the products, which can satisfy their need for emphasizing individuality and uniqueness [48]. Thus, a considerable amount of eWOM related to creative tea beverages has been generated on social media due to the ‘novelty’ elements which exist in the final products. However, unlike the prevalence of creative tea beverages, younger generations tend to consider not only tea-related agricultural jobs but also traditional tea commodities as vapid [2]. Considering the heavy reliance of younger generations on social media, it is essential to investigate the linkage between eWOM that consumers receive from social media and how this informs their repurchase intention towards creative tea beverages.
Previous literature has already discussed several characteristics of eWOM, such as quality, quantity, valence, and credibility [45,49,50]. Referring to Styvén and Foster (2018), a considerable amount of eWOM has been generated by the principal consumer groups of creative tea beverages [48]. Thus, the quantity of eWOM has been defined as the volume of information about creative tea beverages that consumers receive from social media [51]. On the other hand, the quality and quantity of eWOM have been highlighted as the dual characteristics that explain the impact of eWOM on the receivers in previous studies [42,49]. Thus, the quality of eWOM has also been involved in the prediction of consumers’ repurchase intention towards creative beverages. Referring to Matute et al. (2016), this paper defines the quality of eWOM as the persuasive power of information about creative tea beverages which was determined by information characteristics (relevance, comprehensiveness, etc.) [52].

2.5. Face Consumption

The cultural values that are rooted in consumers’ native countries have always been considered the catalyst of their motivations and behavior [53]. As a country that possesses diversified cultural backgrounds, Chinese cultural values have also been acknowledged as remarkable determinants that influence Chinese travelers’ motivations and behavior [54,55]. Mok and Defranco (2000) proposed a conceptual framework that includes respect for authority, interdependence, group orientation, face, harmony, and external attribution to illustrate the prevalence of Chinese cultural values amongst Chinese tourists [56]. Furthermore, Hsu and Huang (2016) provided a more complex conceptual framework which includes 40 cultural items to explain the traditional Chinese cultural values that are possessed by Chinese tourists [54].
With regard to the abovementioned cultural values in contemporary Chinese tourist groups, face has always been highlighted as a crucial determinant of tourist behavior, especially for their purchase behavior [55,57,58]. Face has been conceptualized as an individual’s public image which was gained through social position and prestige within specific social circles [59,60]. In addition, an individual’s public image can be enhanced by purchasing products that convey the sense of ‘elegance’ [61]. Thus, Li and Su (2007) have termed this phenomenon as face consumption, which emphasizes the motivation that is aroused by an individual’s need to enhance their self-image as well as present respect to others in their social circles via consuming specific products [21]. Moreover, three characteristics of face consumption have been confirmed, namely, conformity face consumption, distinctive face consumption, and other-oriented face consumption [21].
Conformity face consumption explains consumption behavior that is caused by social and group pressures [21,60]. As Iimedia (2021) reported, the consumption of creative tea beverages is already prevalent among younger people [7]. Incorporating the considerable amount of eWOM about creative tea beverages and their heavy reliance on the eWOM acquired from social networks [20], the pressure that is generated from both external eWOM sources and their internal psychological reliance on eWOM has undoubtedly influenced consumers’ behavior. Distinctive face consumption explains the behavior that individuals demonstrate in terms of intending to purchase commodities to distinguish their social positions from one another [21]. Styvén and Foster (2018) revealed that younger consumers tend to share eWOM and be opinion leaders when they encounter commodities that enable them to explain their individuality and uniqueness [48]. Thus, the experience of consuming creative tea beverages has provided an opportunity for consumers to be opinion leaders when they discuss their experience of consuming creative tea beverages with others. Hence, distinctive face consumption has also been considered a cultural value that influences consumers’ repurchase intention toward creative beverages. In addition to the perspectives of conformity and distinguishment, the need to maintain social relationships has also been revealed as another cultural value that stimulates Chinese consumers’ purchase behavior [55]. Li and Su (2007) have defined consumption behavior which results from consideration for showing respect to others within the social circle as other-face consumption [21].

2.6. Emotion: PAD Model

The conceptualization and measurement of consumers’ emotions has been reported as a complex issue that has been argued about for decades [62,63]. Most previous studies reported that consumers’ emotions are a mental state that is evoked by environmental stimuli [64], and Mauss and Robinson (2009) further reported that mental states can be measured via either a dimensional scheme (e.g., valence and arousal) or a discrete list of emotional words (e.g., anger, joy, and pleasure) [63].
Köster and Mojet (2015) indicated that the emotions that are evoked by recalling previous consumption experiences were a crucial determinant of making a decision to repurchase a product [65]. Given the various features of consumers’ emotions while consuming foods and beverages [66], a number of psychological and sociological stimuli have been validated to be correlated with the bi-directional influence between food intake and emotion [67]. However, few studies have investigated the impact of evoked emotion on the guidance of repurchase behavior, especially for emotions stimulated by recalling the memory of a previous eating experience. Furthermore, previous studies intended to explain food-evoked emotions as discrete individual-feeling attributes [66,68], while a comprehensive description of food-evoked emotions and their consequences in predicting food choice among similar food and beverage products remains a theoretical gap in the literature that needs to be filled [69].
Based on the abovementioned arguments, the pleasure–arousal–dominance (PAD) model has been adopted to explain consumers’ evoked emotions when recalling previous experiences of consuming creative tea beverages. This paper adopts PAD for the following reasons. First, the PAD model and its extensions have been revealed as one of the most influential theories to explain consumers’ emotional responses to food and beverages [32,70]. Second, the focal consumer group of creative tea beverages tends to share eWOM and be opinion leaders when they encounter commodities that enable them to explain their individuality and uniqueness [48]. Thus, sharing eWOM about creative tea beverages will generate feelings of pleasure, arousal, and dominance compared to consumers who have not experienced creative tea beverages.
The PAD model originated in the field of environmental psychology [71], and it has been noted as one of the most influential theories for explaining consumers’ emotional responses to various environments. Pleasure refers to the effect of being in a positive state, such as the sense of being happy and experiencing satisfaction. Arousal represents a more intense and varied state of emotion, such as sleepiness or jubilation. Dominance was defined as the extent to which individuals could feel free to act in a particular circumstance [72] or social dominance and superiority compared to others who have not experienced creative tea beverages in social relationships [32].

2.7. Conceptual Model and Hypotheses Development

This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of repurchase behavior towards creative tea beverages via the dual process model. Recalling the viewpoints supported by Köster and Mojet (2015) [65], both the emotions and the memories which convey the cognitive characteristics of a previous food consumption experience have been revealed to be crucial determinants of consumers’ repurchase intention. Inheriting Smith’s (1994) tourism product layer framework [73], the creativity of cuisine products has been employed as the internal driving force that influences consumers’ perceptions due to the potential to bring superior value to consumers [39]. Furthermore, principal consumers have shown a heavy reliance on eWOM [20] and a high tendency to be opinion leaders when they encounter commodities that enable them to explain their individuality and uniqueness [48]. Thus, the eWOM and face consumption factors have been employed as augmented factors that influence consumers’ repurchase behavior. Finally, consumers’ emotions that are aroused by recalling a previous consuming experience acted as affective components that influence consumers’ repurchase behavior.

2.7.1. Creativity and Emotion

This paper aims to conceptualize creativity by integrating the value, uniqueness, and aesthetics of tea beverages [32]. Previous studies have already reported that product creativity is an effective stimulation of consumers’ emotions regarding the uniqueness of a certain experience [39,74]. However, the relationship between the creativity of a cuisine product and consumers’ emotions still remains a theoretical gap that needs to be bridged, especially for emotions stimulated by recalling the memory of a previous eating experience [65]. As documented by Horng and Hu (2009), creativity in cuisine products brought “new” and “appropriate” elements to the final outcomes [6]. Thus, the distinctive consuming experience that is aroused by these elements usually enhances consumers’ emotions from pleasantness to excitement [39]. Furthermore, the experience of consuming products or services with a unique design is capable of improving an individual’s social approval [75], especially for tea commodities [23]. Thus, positive feelings can be generated as the desire to share a unique consuming experience as well as gain attraction from social circles is satisfied [20,48]. In addition, the aesthetic elements of both the dining space [41] and the cuisine itself [32] have been acknowledged as crucial components in eliciting consumers’ emotions. Thus, this paper proposes the following hypotheses:
H1a: 
The value of creative tea beverages significantly influences consumers’ emotions.
H1b: 
The uniqueness/rarity of creative tea beverages significantly influences consumers’ emotions.
H1c: 
The aesthetics of creative tea beverages significantly influence consumers’ emotions.

2.7.2. eWOM Quantity, Quality, and Emotion

Previous studies have already reported that eWOM exerts a direct impact on consumers’ behavior [42,46]. However, given the heavy reliance on social media as well as eWOM’s potential to satisfy individuals’ emotional needs [20,48], few studies have uncovered the potential impact of emotion which is evoked by eWOM on the final consuming behavior of consumers. Recalling the “cognitive—affective—behavior” (CAB) framework, tourists’ appraisal of information has elicited a special emotional experience which contributes to the final behavior of consumers [76]. Furthermore, consumers’ appraisal of information characteristics was also revealed to be a significant antecedent of emotion during the decision-making process [77]. Thus, regarding creative tea beverages, consumers’ appraisal of eWOM recalls the previous memories of a consuming experience, which in turn results in the elicitation of emotions. In addition, Ruiz-Mafe et al. (2020) indicated that the persuasiveness and helpfulness of eWOM, which were also acknowledged as representative characteristics of quantity and quality, significant influence consumers’ emotions in terms of pleasure and arousal [78]. Thus, this paper proposes the following hypotheses:
H2a: 
The quantity of eWOM significantly influences the emotions evoked in consumers when recalling a previous consuming experience.
H2b: 
The quality of eWOM significantly influences the emotions evoked in consumers when recalling a previous consuming experience.

2.7.3. Face Consumption and Repurchase Behavior

The remarkable influence of traditional cultural values on tourists’ motivations and purchase behavior has been reported in several studies [53,54,55]. With the function of improving an individual’s public image as well as their prestige in social circles, face acted as a crucial antecedent of Chinese tourists’ consumption behavior [60,61], especially for commodities endued with a native cultural value [1,23,28].
As documented by Li and Su (2007), face consumption includes conformity, distinctive, and other-oriented consumption [28]. With regard to the heavy reliance on social media [20] and prevalent information regarding the emerging creative tea beverages, consuming creative tea beverages has been presented as a behavioral norm which is capable of demonstrating the cultural features of the younger generation [7]. Thus, conformity consumption undoubtedly influences consumers’ repurchase behavior. The desire for a distinctive consumption experience also arises from consumers’ need to be unique by consuming a specific product to acquire social approval [75]. Due to their high propensity for sharing information and desiring to be opinion leaders on social media, the consumption behavior of creative tea beverages has provided an opportunity for younger generations to be opinion leaders when they share their unique consumption experiences with others [48]. Furthermore, previous studies have also stated that both consuming and receiving traditional tea commodities from others enhances one’s sense of prestige, which also leads to approval among social circles [23]. Thus, distinctive face consumption significantly influences consumers’ purchase behavior. Finally, given the historical background of tea commodities as gifts [28], creative tea beverages also work as an emotional bond to enhance contact and relationships among social circles [7]. Thus, three hypotheses have been proposed:
H3a: 
Conformity face consumption significantly influences consumers’ repurchase behavior of creative tea beverages.
H3b: 
Distinctive face consumption significantly influences consumers’ repurchase behavior of creative tea beverages.
H3c: 
Other-face consumption significantly influences consumers’ repurchase behavior of creative tea beverages.

2.7.4. Emotion and Repurchase Behavior

Consumers’ emotions which are evoked by the appraisal of external stimuli have already been reported as crucial antecedents of consumers’ behavior [64,79]. As one of the most influential theories of explaining consumers’ emotions, previous studies have proved that there is a positive relationship between PAD constructs and consumption behavior [80,81]. With regard to the cuisine industry, Ryu and Jang (2007) found that consumers’ pleasure and arousal significantly contribute to their consumption behavior [82]. Furthermore, Jang and Lee (2019) indicated that consumers’ emotions evoked by the sensory qualities (taste, smell, sight, etc.) of a coffee product significantly influence consumers’ consumption intentions [83]. Thus, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H4: 
The emotions of consumers evoked by a previous consumption experience significantly influence consumers’ repurchase behavior.
Thus, this paper proposes the following conceptual framework shown in Figure 1:

3. Methodologies

3.1. Target Selection

This paper aims to select Chayan Yuese, one of the most famous creative tea beverage brands, as the research target. The brand has attained a great deal of attention from travelers by selling more than 20 types of creative tea beverages in more than 200 shops. In addition, almost all of the shops of this brand were established in the Hunan Province of China. Despite the fact that a proved positive relationship between a destination-representative tea product and consumers’ place attachment has already been confirmed [70], almost no previous studies have uncovered the impact of emerging creative tea products on consumers’ repurchase intention, which is capable of leading to the sustainable development of a local destination. Hence, the statistical population of this study has been defined as tourists who have previous experience with the consumption of the creative tea products of Chayan Yuese.

3.2. Measurement Development

A two-stage online questionnaire was developed based on previous assessments, including (1) demographic items and (2) consumers’ perceptions toward creativity, evoked emotion based on creative tea beverages, the quantity and quality of eWOM related to creative tea products, face consumption, and repurchase intention [21,32,42,84]. Furthermore, the factor of the emotions evoked by recalling a previous consumption experience was constructed as a second-order reflective factor, as suggested by Kumar et al. (2023) [85]. In addition, all the measurement items were rated using a seven-point Likert Scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).

3.3. Sampling and Data Analysis

This paper aimed to choose tourists who have consumed the creative tea beverages of Chayan Yuese as the statistical population. A pretest and formal test were employed in this paper to identify causal relationships among the abovementioned constructs. Due to the fact that original items were explained in English, whereas all of the statistical population recruited in this paper are Chinese, a back-translation process which involved 10 creative tea beverage consumers was conducted to improve the accuracy and precision of the measuring items before the pretest [86]. During the pretest process, the online questionnaire which contained the modified measurement items was distributed to the statistical population who were recruited through email. The data collection spanned from June to July 2022, and the total number of collected questionnaires was 342. The data collected in the pretest study were used to investigate the internal consistency of these constructs by conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in SPSS 26.
During the formal test, a professional marketing survey company was employed to collect the data. First, an email was sent to potential consumers to ask whether they had consumed the creative tea beverages of Chayan Yuese. The recipients who answered “yes” were selected as the potential participants for this survey. Furthermore, they were required to answer whether they were willing to participate in this money-compensated online survey. Finally, the participants who answered “yes” (N = 762) were sent another email which contained a link to the online questionnaire. The data were collected from September to November 2022, and the number of collected questionnaires was 478. The data collected in this process were used in the two-step approach to structural equation modeling (SEM) to verify the proposed hypotheses as well as the model significance in AMOS 24.

4. Results

4.1. Profile of the Respondents in the Formal Test

Table 1 demonstrates the profile of the respondents who were recruited for the formal test. The majority of the respondents were female (56.1%). With regard to age, more than 90% of the respondents were in the range of 22 to 41 and were acknowledged as Generation Y consumers [87] in the Chinese tourism market. These results are consistent with those of Iimedia’s report (2021) which found that younger generations have become the principal consumer group of creative tea beverages on the Chinese market [7].

4.2. Study I: Exploratory Factor Analysis with Data Collected in the Pretest

This paper aimed to employ principal component analysis to investigate the internal consistency of all the constructs, and the results are presented in Table 2. Each construct explains more than 50% of the total variance (53.406~89.132%), and the values of Cronbach’s α have surpassed the outlier of 0.7 (0.780~0.951), which was supported by a previous food-related study [88]. Thus, all the constructs employed in this study achieved a sufficiently high internal consistency for further model estimation as well as hypothesis identification.

4.3. Study II. Model Estimation and Hypothesis Identification with Data Collected in the Formal Test

4.3.1. Model Estimation and Validation

A normality check was conducted before the model estimation and validation. Referring to a previous study [89], the skewness and kurtosis should be between −3.29 and 3.29. Thus, the data in the formal test can be further employed for model validation, as the skewness and kurtosis of all the observed variables were within this range. Furthermore, this paper also examined common method bias by using Harman’s single-factor analysis. The results suggested that common method bias was not an issue, as the first factor only explained 32.04% of the total variance [90].
This paper aimed to adopt confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to estimate and validate the hypothesized conceptual model, and Table 3 outlines the factor loadings, average variance explained (AVE), and composite reliability of each construct. Regarding the results, the normed chi-square of this model was 2.595, which is below the outlier of 3 [91]. Furthermore, the values of IFI, TLI, and CFI also surpassed the outlier of 0.9, being 0.915, 0.909, and 0.914, respectively [92]. The value of RMSEA was 0.058, which is far below the outlier of 0.08 [93]. In addition, the value of SRMR was 0.042, which is also smaller than the outlier of 0.05 [94]. Thus, the hypothesized model was reliable and consistent enough for further analysis to take place.
With regard to the convergent validity, most of the standardized factor loadings were significant and greater than 0.7. In addition, the values of the average variance explained (AVE) were greater than 0.5, and the composite reliability was higher than 0.8. Thus, the convergent validity of this conceptual model has been confirmed [92].
Discriminant validity can be achieved if the confidence interval of the estimated correlations (±1.96 standard error) between each of the two constructs does not contain 1 [95,96]. Thus, the discriminant validity was also confirmed in this study, as none of the confidence intervals of the correlations contain one.

4.3.2. Hypothesis Identification

Structural equation modeling was employed to verify the proposed hypotheses, and the results are presented in Table 4. Regarding the results, the normed chi-square was 2.852, which is below the outlier of 3 [91]. In addition, the IFI, TLI, and CFI were greater than the outlier of 0.9, as they achieved values of 0.917, 0.905, and 0.916, respectively. The value of RMSEA was 0.062, which is lower than the outlier of 0.08 [93]. Moreover, the value of SRMR was 0.041, which is smaller than the outlier of 0.05 [94]. Thus, the results have demonstrated sufficient overall model fitness for a further estimation of the model.
The hypothesis testing results are demonstrated in Table 4. This paper supported the idea that the value (β = 0.130 *, p < 0.05), uniqueness (β = 0.241 ***, p < 0.001), and aesthetic (β = 0.741 ***, p < 0.001) of creative tea beverages exerted a positive impact on consumers’ evoked emotions. Thus, H1a, H1b, and H1c are supported by the results found in this study. Furthermore, the quantity of eWOM was proved to be a significant determinant of consumers’ evoked emotions (β = 0.612 ***, p < 0.001). Thus, H2a is supported by this study. However, the quality of eWOM failed to significantly influence consumers’ emotions (β = 0.034, p > 0.05), meaning H2b was rejected. Regarding the face elements, this paper confirmed that the other-oriented face component (β = 0.365 **, p < 0.01) significantly contributes to consumers’ repurchase behavior. Thus, H3c is supported by this study. However, there was no significant relationship between conformity face consumption (β = 0.097, p > 0.05) and repurchase behavior, meaning H3a was rejected. Furthermore, H3b was also rejected, as no significant relationship was proved between the distinctive face component (β = 0.048, p > 0.05) and repurchase behavior. In addition, this paper confirmed that the emotions evoked in consumers (β = 0.699 ***, p < 0.001) when recalling a previous consumption experience significantly influence consumers’ repurchase behavior. Thus, H4 is supported by the findings of this study.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

In summation, this paper has uncovered the determinants of consumers’ repurchase intention toward emerging creative tea beverages by integrating the dual process theory. Regarding the results, this paper first revealed that creativity was determined by value, uniqueness, and aesthetic elements in the context of tea beverages. Furthermore, this paper revealed that all the elements of creativity significantly influence the evoking of consumers’ emotions. Thus, it can be concluded that the more creative elements a tea beverage contains, the more positive the emotions will be that are elicited in consumers. More specifically, the aesthetic of tea beverages was revealed to be the most influential element in eliciting consumers’ positive emotions, which was in line with the findings of Horng et al. (2013) and Leong et al. (2020) [32,41]. Hence, improving the aesthetic appeal of tea beverages is an effective approach to stimulate consumers’ positive emotions as well as the overall assessment of creativity.
Meanwhile, this paper confirms that the quantity of eWOM that consumers receive significantly influences the evoking of consumers’ emotions. Thus, a considerable amount of eWOM related to creative tea beverages plays an important role in stimulating consumers’ positive emotions. Previous studies have overestimated the effect of eWOM on consumers’ behavior and neglected its potential to influence consumers’ emotions during the decision-making process [42,46]. This result supports and further expands understanding of the impact of eWOM on the decision-making process. However, although Ruiz-Mafe et al. (2020) reported that the quality characteristics of eWOM significantly influence consumers’ emotions [78], this paper found no significant relationship between the quality of eWOM and emotional components. Considering the heavy presence on social media and considerable amount eWOM which is related to creative tea beverages [20,48], the quality of eWOM may turn out to be an insignificant factor in the consumer decision-making process.
Furthermore, regarding the face consumption component, this paper supported the idea that other-oriented face consumption significantly contributes to consumers’ repurchase intention. Other-oriented face was defined as a factor which arose from the consideration of showing respect to others within a social circle [21]. Combined with the prevalence of creative tea beverages among younger generations [7], creative tea beverages have already been acknowledged as an effective approach to enhance bonds with others within a social circle. However, this paper revealed that the conformity and distinctive face components did not exert a significant impact on consumers’ repurchase intention.
Finally, this paper supports the idea that the emotions evoked in consumers when recalling a previous consumption experience significantly influence consumers’ repurchase intention, which is in line with the findings of several previous studies [80,82]. Recalling Jang and Lee’s (2019) study [83], the emotions evoked in consumers by the sensory characteristics of beverages significantly contribute to consumers’ consumption intention. Thus, this paper suggests that more effort should be devoted to improving the aesthetic appeal of creative tea beverages to elicit consumers’ positive emotions, which in turn contribute to consumers’ repurchase behavior.

6. Implications

6.1. Theoretical Implications

Given the fragmented literature framework of tea tourism [2] and the lack of theoretical insights into consumers’ attitudes towards tea products [8], this paper is the first to contribute to the literature by highlighting the determinants of consumers’ repurchase intention towards emerging creative tea beverages using the dual process theory and “cognitive—affective—behavior” framework. Inheriting the concept of creativity from a previous study [32], this paper first proved that creativity was theoretically constituted by the value, uniqueness, and aesthetics of tea beverages. Meanwhile, this paper contributes to the extant literature by highlighting the functionality of creativity in evoking consumers’ positive emotions as well as their corresponding repurchase behavior. Furthermore, previous studies have indicated that creativity transforms and refines the traditional production process of cuisine products. This paper expands this academic view of creativity by further interpreting the transformation and refinement process, as creativity was proved to refine traditional tea beverages by generating emotional appeals which were appreciated by younger generations. Furthermore, the social functioning of creative tea beverages was also highlighted, as this paper supports the idea that gifting creative tea beverages is an effective determinant of consumers’ repurchase behavior [21].
This paper also contributes to the literature by affirming the significant impact of the quantity of eWOM on evoking positive emotions in consumers. Regarding the heavy presence on social media as well as its potential functionality to satisfy consumers’ emotional needs [20,48], this paper implies that the quantity of eWOM is a crucial antecedent of evoking positive emotions of consumers in the context of creative cuisine products. This result may be valuable for future studies which aim to investigate the relationship between a previous consumption experience and emotion in consumers’ decision-making process.
Finally, this paper further enhances the understanding of evoked emotions in stimulating consumers’ consumption behavior in the context of tea beverages. Regarding the lack of theoretical insights into consumers’ attitudes toward tea products in the existing literature [8], this paper is the first to imply that creative tea beverages are an emerging tourism attraction capable of evoking consumers’ emotions. Furthermore, the sustainable economic benefits which are generated from consumers’ repurchase behavior toward creative tea beverages were acknowledged as a crucial component of the sustainable management of destinations [12]. Thus, this paper may be valuable for future studies which aim to investigate the potentiality of creative tea beverages in the sustainable management of destinations.

6.2. Managerial Implications

This paper has several implications for both service providers of creative tea beverages as well as tea tourism destinations. Regarding service providers, this paper implies that continuous effort should be devoted to enhancing the creativity of tea beverages, especially in terms of improving their aesthetic appeal through using sensory information [97]. Meanwhile, this paper also suggests that service providers should focus on the “unique” design of creative tea beverages in order to retain existing customers and attract new ones in this highly homogenous market. In addition to the unique and aesthetic components of creative tea beverages, service providers should also maintain the value of creative tea beverages; otherwise, large amounts of negative eWOM will be generated by disappointed consumers.
With regard to local tea tourism destinations, this paper found that creative tea beverages are an effective tourism attraction among the highly homogenous tourism market. Thus, developing a representative brand of creative tea beverages for local destinations is suggested as an effective approach to retain existing tourists and attract new ones for local tourism destinations. Furthermore, this paper also supports the idea that creative tea beverages are capable of bringing vitality to the traditional tea industry. Regarding the significant marketing success of creative tea beverages, implementing industrial cooperation between the traditional tea industry and a creative tea brand was suggested as an effective approach for local destinations to acquire economic benefits and for sustainable development.

7. Limitations and Future Directions

Several research limitations should be reported. First, all the respondents in this study were recruited by a marketing survey company and possess the same nationality, i.e., they are all from China. Thus, the results may not be applicable in other regions due to the impact of culture on consumption behavior [21]. Due to the prevalence of creative tea beverages, future studies are encouraged to investigate the determinants of consumption behavior by recruiting multinational respondents. In addition, a more precise data collection process could be employed in future studies, such as the “outsourcing” approach, and the reward for the recruited respondents used in this study may have affected the reliability and validity of the data. Second, this study has conceptualized creativity by integrating the value, uniqueness, and aesthetic elements of tea beverages. Thus, further studies should further explore the internal structure of creativity and its potential impact on other tourism industries, such as fine-dining restaurants. Moreover, future studies are also encouraged to investigate the impact of creative tea beverages on industrial coopetition as well as the transformation of the traditional tea industry.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.X. and Y.Z.; Methodology, M.X. and Y.Z.; Validation, Y.Z.; Formal analysis, M.X.; Investigation, R.G.; Resources, R.G.; Writing—original draft, M.X.; Writing—review & editing, M.X.; Visualization, R.G.; Supervision, Y.Z.; Funding acquisition, M.X. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Macau University of Science and Technology, grant number FRG-22-086-FHTM.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A

Sustainability 15 10642 g0a1 550
Figure A1. Creative Tea beverages.
Figure A1. Creative Tea beverages.
Sustainability 15 10642 g0a1
Table
Table A1. Measurement items.
Table A1. Measurement items.
Value1. The thoughtfulness of the beverage is worth the price I paid.
2. The nutritional value is good.
3. The ingredients used look expensive.
4. The food is exquisite enough to justify the price I paid.
5. The beverage is very tasty.
6. The creative quantity is adequate enough.
Uniqueness1. The presentation of the beverage is unique.
2. The beverage here cannot be found anywhere else.
3. The beverage is interesting.
4. The beverage is very novel.
5. I have never tried anything like this before.
6. The idea behind the beverage is awesome.
Aesthetics1. The beverage looks beautiful.
2. The beverage looks elegant.
3. The beverage looks adorable.
4. The design of the beverage is quite out-of-the-box.
5. The beverage contains a lot of thoughtful details that I can take time to appreciate.
6. The beverage is a perfect combination of tradition and modern style.
7. The beverage looks like a piece of artwork.
8. The visual presentation of the beverage works in harmony with its aroma and taste.
9. The beverage had many layers of taste.
10. The aroma of the beverage is intoxicating.
eWOM quality1. The online review is clear.
2. The online review is understandable.
3. The online review is objective.
4. In general, the quality of each review is high.
eWOM quantity1. The number of reviews is large.
2. The quantity of review information is great.
3. The number of online reviews is large, implying that the website has good sales.
Conformity1. It is important that others like the products and brands I buy.
2. It matters what friends think of different brands or products before I purchase a product.
3. Sometimes I buy a product because my friends do so.
Distinctive1. Name brand purchasing is a good way to distinguish people from others.
2. What I consume should be consistent with my social status.
3. Name products and brands purchase brings me a sense of prestige.
Other-oriented1. It is important to have this kind of creative tea beverage even though I will pay extra money.
2. When buying a gift for others, I always consider the prestige of the gift.
3. If I buy a cheap gift for others, both my friend and I will feel we have lost face.
Pleasure1. I am pleased with the beverage.
2. I am happy with the beverage.
3. When I see this beverage, I just melt inside.
4. The beverage makes me feel delightful.
5. It is always joyful to have this beverage.
Arousal1. I am so excited to see something so exquisite.
2. I am amazed by the appearance of the beverage.
3. The beverage simply is superb.
4. The beverage looks very stimulating.
Dominance1. I can brag about having this beverage to my friends.
2. I feel dominant in the social circle after having this beverage.
3. Having this kind of beverage is an indication of my status.
4. Having this kind of beverage makes me feel like I am taking care of myself.
5. I feel superior in the social circle after having this beverage.
Repurchase
Intention		1. The likelihood that I would repurchase this beverage is very high.
2. The likelihood that I will consider repurchasing this beverage is very high.
3. My willingness to repurchase this beverage is very high.

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Sustainability 15 10642 g001 550
Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
Sustainability 15 10642 g001
Table
Table 1. Profile of the respondents in the formal test (N = 478).
Table 1. Profile of the respondents in the formal test (N = 478).
VariablesCharacteristicsFrequencies (Percentage)
GenderMale210 (43.9%)
Female268 (56.1%)
Age18–2134 (7.1%)
22–41432 (90.4%)
More than 4212 (2.5%)
IncomeLess than CNY 500059 (12.3%)
CNY 5001–7500137 (28.7%)
CNY 7501–10,000140 (29.3%)
CNY 10,001–12,50080 (16.7%)
More than CNY 12,50162 (13%)
Table
Table 2. Principal component analysis.
Table 2. Principal component analysis.
FactorsVariance ExplainedCronbach’s α
Creativity
Value (6 items)80.818%0.951
Uniqueness/Rarity (6 items)66.304%0.896
Aesthetic (10 items)55.350%0.905
eWOM
eWOM quantity (4 items)74.268%0.883
eWOM quality (3 items)76.160%0.834
Face
Conformity (3 items)76.226%0.839
Distinctive (3 items)89.132%0.939
Others (3 items)76.041%0.842
Emotion
Pleasure (5 items)60.389%0.834
Arousal (4 items)53.406%0.780
Dominance (5 items)54.002%0.783
Repurchase Intention (3 items)72.618%0.811
Table
Table 3. Model estimation and validation.
Table 3. Model estimation and validation.
Items Factor LoadingAVECR
Creativity
Value 0.6900.944
V1/V2/V3/V4/V5/V60.877/0.838/0.829/0.891/0.849/0.684
Unique 0.5330.871
U1/U2/U3/U4/U5/U60.693/0.696/0.785/0.845/0.606/0.730
Aesthetic 0.5720.930
A1/A2/A3/A4/A5/A6/A7/A8/A9/A100.711/0.791/0.767/0.726/0.816/0.797/0.773/0.715/0.766/0.693
eWOM quantity 0.6960.901
quan1/quan2/quan3/quan40.849/0.892/0.868/0.718
eWOM quality 0.5790.805
qual1/qual2/qual30.774/0.789/0.718
Conformity consumption 0.5570.790
C1/C2/C30.741/0.788/0.708
Distinctive consumption 0.7900.918
D1/D2/D30.822/0.935/0.905
Other-oriented consumption 0.5520.785
O1/O2/O30.761/0.822/0.633
Pleasure 0.5030.835
P1/P2/P3/P4/P50.718/0.747/0.707/0.703/0.669
Arousal 0.5460.827
AR1/AR2/AR3/AR40.783/0.751/0.740/0.677
Dominance 0.5840.875
D1/D2/D3/D4/D50.694/0.766/0.819/0.758/0.780
Repurchase Intention 0.5830.807
RI1/RI2/RI30.763/0.724/0.802
Table
Table 4. Hypothesis identification.
Table 4. Hypothesis identification.
Hypotheses Standardized Path CoefficientResults
H1a: value → emotion0.130 *Supported
H1b: unique → emotion0.241 ***Supported
H1c: aesthetic → emotion0.741 ***Supported
H2a: eWOM quantity → emotion0.612 ***Supported
H2b: eWOM quality → emotion0.034Not supported
H3a: conformity → repurchase intention0.097Not Supported
H3b: distinction → repurchase intention0.048Not supported
H3c: other face → repurchase intention0.365 **Supported
H4: emotion → repurchase intention0.699 ***Supported
* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
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Xia, M.; Zhang, Y.; Gu, R. Creative Tea Beverages as a New Tourism Attraction? Exploring Determinants of Tourists’ Repurchase Intention Using Dual Process Theory. Sustainability 2023, 15, 10642. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310642

AMA Style

Xia M, Zhang Y, Gu R. Creative Tea Beverages as a New Tourism Attraction? Exploring Determinants of Tourists’ Repurchase Intention Using Dual Process Theory. Sustainability. 2023; 15(13):10642. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310642

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Xia, Menglong, Yang Zhang, and Rui Gu. 2023. "Creative Tea Beverages as a New Tourism Attraction? Exploring Determinants of Tourists’ Repurchase Intention Using Dual Process Theory" Sustainability 15, no. 13: 10642. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310642

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