Experience economy in ethnic cuisine: a case of Chengdu cuisine

Abstract

Purpose

The concept of experience economy states that customers seek experiences whether from products and services. Tourism is at the forefront of the experience economy because tourists are looking for staged experience encompassing the four realms (entertainment, educational, esthetic and escapism). The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the effects of the experience economy on tourists’ word-of-mouth (WOM) in Chengdu cuisine through satisfaction and memory.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 397 valid data were collected from the tourists who have experienced the ethnic cuisine in Chengdu. A partial least-square structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the research model.

Findings

The empirical results indicated that esthetic is the antecedent of the other three realms of experience economy; esthetic, educational and entertainment experiences influence satisfaction; four realms of experience economy influence memory; and satisfaction and memory ultimately influence WOM.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide practical implications for operators of ethnic restaurants in designing their restaurants and menus, travel agencies in planning the tour itinerary and governments in using ethnic cuisine for destination marketing.

Originality/value

This study is a pioneer in studying the experience economy in the ethnic cuisine. It has identified the relationships between four dimensions of experience economy of ethnic cuisine, tourist satisfaction, memory and WOM toward ethnic cuisine in a tourist destination. It has also integrated the senses of Chinese cuisine (“sight,” “smell” and “taste”) into the measures of esthetic experience for studying experience economy in ethnic cuisine.

Citation

Lai, I.K.W., Lu, D. and Liu, Y. (2020), "Experience economy in ethnic cuisine: a case of Chengdu cuisine", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 6, pp. 1801-1817. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-08-2018-0517