Abstract This study examines how on-site experiences of outdoor activity shape tourist loyalty in rural homestays, and tests the mediating roles of place attachment in linking general, flow-like, and social experience to tourist loyalty. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, the study develops and empirically tests a set of hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) based on survey data from rural homestays in South China. The results reveal that on-site experiences, including general, flow-like, and social experience are significant complementary antecedents of tourist loyalty in the context of homestay-based outdoor activities. Notably, place dependence partially mediates the link between on-site experience and tourist loyalty, while place identity selectively mediates the effect of general experience on loyalty. These findings unpack the mechanisms through which outdoor activity experiences translate into loyalty, and highlight the differentiated roles of functional and identity-based attachment. The study contributes by theorizing on-site experience as a multidimensional and relationally embedded construct of outdoor activity, while offering managerial supplementary insights for designing socially enriched experiences to strengthen loyalty and competitive positioning in rural homestay markets.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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