Abstract
Service quality has featured as an important factor in several domains and ongoing research has argued the non-specific measurement of the SERVQUAL scale. While there has been some focus on service quality in national parks, the lack of studies to measure this construct in nature-based areas has sanctioned the need for a specific measurement scale for visitor satisfaction for the national park product.
The purpose of this research is to develop a scale relevant to measuring service quality in national parks to test an integrated visitor satisfaction structural model. The research employed a mixed-method approach and design that comprised two phases. Phase one consisted of a qualitative phase that aimed at identifying the national park service quality attributes and dimensions. While a confirmatory approach that aimed to test the measurement model and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed within the second phase. The outcomes of the study were the development of a measurement scale for national parks in South Africa which included two new dimensions, namely service quality and consumption emotions respectively. Additionally, the empirical testing of a visitor satisfaction model (structural model) linking service quality, image, visitor satisfaction, perceived value, consumption emotions and park attachment using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted.
As a whole, the study therefore made significant contributions at theoretical, methodological and practical level in the quest of finding means for improving service quality and increasing visitor satisfaction in national parks in South Africa.