Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between service quality, destination image, and tourist satisfaction for foreign tourists visiting Korea, and in particular, to analyze the moderating effect of psychological power in the relationship. Research design, data, and methodology: A research model was derived through existing literature research and a survey was conducted on foreign tourists visiting Korea. Structural equation model of SPSS and AMOS24.0 were used for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Results: The tourism service quality affects the image of tourist attractions. Images of tourist attractions were found to affect tourism satisfaction. It was found that the lower the psychological power, the greater the effect on the relationship between service quality and image, and the relationship between image and satisfaction. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that service quality at travel destinations is a key factor in order to enhance the image and satisfaction of Korean tourist destinations for foreigners visiting Korea. On the other hand, since the image and satisfaction level of the tourism destination vary depending on personal factors such as psychological power, it suggests that travel industry workers or researchers should develop and operate services tailored to the individual characteristics of the tourists.