Limitations of cross-cultural customer satisfaction research and recommending alternative methods

Abstract

Cross-cultural research in tourism is receiving increasing attention from academics. Little, however, has been done with regard to the assessment of cultural differences in tourist satisfaction. Research in tourism marketing has recognized the need for further research in cross-cultural satisfaction research, and specifically, in equivalence issues regarding the measurement of tourist satisfaction. Consequently, the aim of this conceptual paper is to focus attention on the importance of exploring cross-cultural differences in customer satisfaction research. The principal contributions are three-fold: (1) to emphasize the significance of exploring cross-cultural differences while attempting to measure customer satisfaction in tourism, (2) to recommend alternative research methodology to analyse cross-cultural tourist satisfaction, and also (3) to point out limitations of conducting cross-cultural research in tourist satisfaction from both the theoretical and practical point of view. © 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.