Relationship between Perceived Risk, Evaluation, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention: A Case of Local-Festival Visitors

This study analyzes the relationship between perceived risk, evaluation, satisfaction, and behavioral intention of tourists attending a local festival. Based on a survey with a sample of 465 respondents attending a local festival in South Korea, a structural equation model (SEM) is proposed that involves festival-related perceived risk, perceptual evaluation, overall satisfaction, and behavioral intention for future attendance at this and other festivals. Firstly, the results show that while risk may lead to a negative perception of a festival, it has no effect on satisfaction or subsequent behavioral intention. Secondly, the results show that direct causality exists between perception, satisfaction and future intention. Thirdly, a demand for diversity in programs determines perceptions of risk, which in turn permits a segmentation of visitors based on these characteristics. The findings of this study contribute to successful planning and marketing strategies to meet the demands of psychologically segmented tourists, especially in festival studies.