When people feel that their freedom of choice is eliminated or reduced, they may experience unpleasant arousal. Creative tourism and the quality of the tourism experience are more likely to occur when an individual has the opportunity and freedom to choose travel options and perceives control over the activity. While freedom of choice is an essential part of tourists’ enjoyment, less research attention has been given to freedom of choice in the context of tourism destinations. This study focused on mainland Chinese travelers at a recently emerging gambling capital of the world as a case for investigation and aims at filling this literature gap by proposing a “freedom of choice—satisfaction—destination loyalty” paradigm. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to evaluate a theoretical model by examining the relationship among freedom of choice, satisfaction, and destination loyalty and the mediating effect of satisfaction between freedom of choice and destination loyalty. The study also examines the potential moderating effects of gender on the aforementioned relationships. The structural model indicates that freedom of choice had a direct and positive impact on destination loyalty, but this relationship is partially mediated by satisfaction levels. However, the model did not discover a moderating effect of gender. Based on these findings, this study discusses conclusion and implications for research and practice in the context of tourism literature.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.