PERCEIVED VALUE INFLUENCES LOYALTY THROUGH THE SATISFACTION MEDIATING VARIABLE OF SKI CUSTOMER IN CHINA
With the rapid development of China's ski industry, especially after Beijing's successful hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, skiing as an emerging leisure activity is favoured by more and more consumers. However, the development of the ski industry in China started late and has developed unevenly, facing challenges such as uneven quality of ski facilities and increasingly fierce competition in the market. In this context, how to enhance ski consumer satisfaction and loyalty, and thus promote the sustainable development of the ski industry, has become an important issue of concern to the industry and academia. This study aims to explore, through empirical analyses, how the perceived value of ski consumers influences customer loyalty through the mediating role of satisfaction, and to provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for ski resorts to formulate effective marketing strategies in the midst of fierce market competition. A variety of research methods were used in this study, including interview method, literature analysis method, questionnaire survey method, focus group discussion, and data analysis method. By designing and distributing questionnaires, the study collected valid data samples of ski consumers from different ski resorts in China. Subsequently, the collected data were quantitatively analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS software. The study developed a theoretical model based on the relationship between perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, and verified the validity of this model through structural equation modelling. The results of the study show that the perceived value of ski consumers has a significant positive influence on both customer satisfaction and loyalty. Specifically, the higher the perceived value of ski consumers in the skiing experience, the higher their satisfaction with the ski resort, which in turn shows higher loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction was found to play a partial mediating role between perceived value and customer loyalty, i.e., the perceived value of ski consumers not only directly influences customer loyalty, but also indirectly enhances customer loyalty to ski resorts by increasing customer satisfaction. This finding suggests that ski resorts should focus on enhancing the overall perceived value of consumers, such as improving the quality of ski facilities, optimising the service experience, and rationalising pricing, in order to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.Finally, the study constructed an influence model of “perceived value-satisfaction-loyalty”. The model structure shows that the path from Customer Perceived Value to Customer Satisfaction is 0.481, indicating a positive and moderately strong relationship;The path from Customer Satisfaction to Customer Loyalty is 0.416, showing that satisfaction significantly influences loyalty;The direct path from Customer Perceived Value to Customer Loyalty is 0.350, indicating that perceived value has a direct influence on loyalty. The results of this study provide an important reference for ski resorts to develop effective marketing management strategies, which have high application value especially in improving customer loyalty. The study suggests that ski resorts should pay attention to the actual needs and personal experiences of customers, and accurately grasp the changes in customer needs and improve customer loyalty by constructing a ‘perceived value-satisfaction-loyalty’ model. In addition, the study provides theoretical support and empirical evidence to promote the development of China's ski industry, and suggests that ski resorts should pay attention to all aspects of customer experience in order to improve market competitiveness and promote the sustainable development of the ski industry.
Ski customer, Perceived value, Loyalty, Satisfaction, Ski resort.