Role of place attachment dimensions in tourists' decision-making process in Cittaslow

Abstract

Cittaslow (i.e. slow city) is a social movement and organization that conveys cultural values at the local level and promotes slowness in lifestyle. Cittaslow destinations aim to preserve their unique characteristics and foster the quality of lives of locals and visitors by promoting interactions among people, places, and resources. Owing to such advocacy, participating destinations have attracted growing attention. This movement parallels the increased attention toward place attachment in tourism studies. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of place attachment in the decision-making process of tourists in the context of Cittaslow. This study augments place attachment with four sub-dimensions in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and develops an extended TPB to predict tourists' revisit intention. Data were collected from tourists in Cheongsando, a Cittaslow destination in South Korea. The results confirm the multi-dimensionality of place attachment with the four sub dimensions of place identity, place dependence, place affect, and place social bonding. The results reveal that place attachment has a significant effect on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, which influence behavioral intention. Place attachment has an indirect effect on behavioral intention via the antecedents of TPB.