Customer delight from theme park experiences. The Antecedents of Delight based on Cognitive Appraisal Theory

Abstract

This study empirically tests the ability of cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) to explain the antecedents of emotions from tourism experiences. Delight, an emotion related to hedonic consumption and characterized as aroused positive affect is the particular emotion selected for this study. Data was collected from 645 tourists leaving a theme park and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results identify a set of appraisal dimensions that are antecedents of delight. Different evaluations on these dimensions provide multiple paths eliciting delight. This contrasts with previous research which has only noted one path involving surprise. The results allow concepts, such as magic joy, and real joy, to be parsimoniously explained. These findings are useful in designing tourism experiences.