How organic certification-driven brand assets influence tourist loyalty: an empirical study of organic agritourism in Hualien and Taitung, Taiwan, utilizing the RPM framework

The toxin-free natural sustainable environment and health-oriented values of rural culture in organic agriculture are key factors shaping the unique competitiveness of organic agritourism brand equity. Based on the Reasonable Person Model (RPM), this research targeted tourists who participated in organic farming experiences between January 1 and March 30, 2024, employed a convenience sampling approach to collect data via the SurveyCake online platform, and ultimately obtained 350 valid responses. This study utilizes SPSS 21.0 and PLS-SEM as analytical tools for cross-sectional data analysis. Key findings include: (1) Brand image of environmental sustainability and health, perceived quality, and brand awareness are validated as influential factors linking organic farming/product certification to loyalty, with perceived quality demonstrating the strongest explanatory power. (2) Brand perceived quality acts as a mediator between image of environmental sustainability and health and both brand awareness and loyalty. (3) Brand awareness serves as a mediator connecting image of environmental sustainability and health and perceived quality to loyalty. (4) Brand image of environmental sustainability and health mediates the relationship between organic certification and perceived quality. (5) By treating organic farming and product certification as brand-specific assets, the model achieves high predictive power for loyalty, bridging a critical gap in brand equity research where brand assets are seldom incorporated. This expands the applicability of the RPM model in tourism brand equity studies while providing a theoretical foundation for enhancing organic agritourism competitiveness. The study makes significant theoretical and methodological innovations and offers both academic and practical contributions.