Residents’ Sustainable City Evaluation, Satisfaction and Loyalty: Integrating Importance-Performance Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling

There has been an increase in research on sustainable urban development, especially in recent years, and importance-performance analysis (IPA) is one of the popular methods applied in sustainable development research. However, few have integrated IPA with structural equation modelling (SEM). This study developed and tested an integrated IPA and SEM approach to measuring the effects of the perceived importance of sustainable city dimensions and the perceived performance of a city on resident satisfaction and loyalty. A total of 388 survey responses were collected from the residents of Shanghai and analyzed using the integrated IPA-SEM approach. The results show that resident satisfaction mediates the relationship between overall perceived performance and resident loyalty, while the relationship between overall perceived importance and resident loyalty is mediated by both overall perceived performance and resident satisfaction. The findings from the SEM are in line with the IPA’s concept in that, to ensure resident satisfaction and loyalty, the quadrant that requires the most attention is Q1, while Q2 stands as the target quadrant. Implications and future research directions are proposed based on the findings.