A Study on the Relationship between the Perceived Value of Rural Traditional Cultural Landscape and Tourists’ Satisfaction and Behavioral Intention
—Taking Xiajiao Village, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province as an Example

Huiyi Wang, Dongru Jiang, Qi Yang

School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.

DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1112679                

Abstract

Based on the perspective of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscape, this paper determines the relevant dimensions of tourists’ perceived value, and combines the actual situation of Xiajiao Village to construct a structural equation model on the perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention of tourists of rural traditional cultural landscape, and explores the relationship between tourists’ perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention. The analysis results show that the perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscape is divided into four dimensions; there is a close correlation between the three dimensions, and tourists’ perceived value has a positive impact on behavioral intention.

Keywords

Rural Traditional Cultural Landscape, Perceived Value, Behavioral Intention, Satisfaction

1. Introduction

In recent years, people’s demand for tourism has not been limited to the six elements of “food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping and entertainment” but has put forward more diversified and higher-level demands for tourism. According to the National “14^th Five-Year Plan for Cultural and Tourism Development”, by 2035, Guangdong Province will become a strong province with a higher level of culture and tourism to meet the people’s demand for cultural spirit. In recent years, local governments have introduced corresponding measures to serve the call for rural revitalization. Rural areas across the country have changed dramatically and become popular check-in destinations. At present, there are many achievements in rural tourism in China, which have greatly enriched the theory of rural tourism research in China and has important significance for promoting rural revitalization and promoting employment. The research on the relationship between tourists’ perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention involves a wide range of aspects, but there are few studies on the relationship between tourists’ perceived value, tourists’ satisfaction and behavioral intention of rural traditional cultural landscapes [1]. Therefore, this paper takes Xiajiao Village, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province as a case study. Based on field investigation, this paper starts from the perspective of tourists’ perception and explores the impact of tourists “perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscapes on tourists” satisfaction and behavioral intentions, providing a useful reference for the value mining and rational use of rural cultural landscapes in the context of rural tourism.

2. Case Site Overview and Research Design

2.1. Overview of the Case Site

This paper selects Xiajiao Village in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province as a case study. Xiajiao Village is known as the “hometown of culture” and is a provincial-level ancient village with a cultural history of 500 years. In recent years, Xiajiao Village has adhered to economic construction as the center, guided by the construction of a socialist new countryside, and insisted on both development and protection. The support of local residents for tourism development and the continuous improvement of the village’s internal infrastructure have attracted numerous tourists to visit. The cultural landscape of Xiajiao Village mainly includes traditional Hakka architecture and houses, ecological scenery of farmland, folk cultural relics, and signature snacks. The traditional buildings in Xiajiao Village are mainly various ancestral halls of ancient Hakka architecture, which have been a record of the continuity of the local people’s bloodline for generations. The village also retains an intact agricultural ecosystem. With government investment and the development of tourism, coupled with the increasing emphasis on the protection and rational development of traditional culture by the local people, both the construction of infrastructure within the village and the protection of the local natural environment have received considerable attention.

As a provincial-level new rural demonstration site in Guangdong Province, Xiajiao Village’s main tourism project is sightseeing. Tourists can enjoy traditional Hakka architectural culture, farmland ecological culture, red spiritual culture, and experience traditional rural life and folk cultural relics in the scenic area. It is a new type of rural traditional cultural landscape tourist destination that integrates Hakka culture, farmland, and fish ponds.

2.2. Research Hypothesis and Model Construction

2.2.1. Research Hypothesis

In the study of tourists’ perception and revisit rate of rural tourist destinations, Cai Weimin (2015) believed that tourists’ perceived value includes management and service value, land value, landscape value, project value, social value, spiritual value and cost value [2]. Liu Rui (2018) believed that tourists’ perceived value of rural tourism mainly includes: perception of local culture and atmosphere, perception of rural environment and facilities, perception of rural products and services, and perception of rural landscape and architecture [3]. Zhou Nidi (2018) believed that the dimensions of perceived value include recreational value, product value, environmental value, perceived price and service value. Based on the existing relevant research results and combined with the research context of this paper, hypotheses 1 - 5 are proposed as follows.

H1 The perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes includes leisure value, cultural value, perceived price, and service and management value.

H2 The perceived leisure value of rural traditional cultural landscape is positively correlated with the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape by tourists.

H3: The price perception of rural traditional cultural landscape is positively correlated with the tourists’ perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape.

H4: The perceived value of management and services of rural traditional cultural landscapes is positively correlated with the perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes.

H5 The perceived cultural value of rural traditional cultural landscape is positively correlated with the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape by tourists.

Kim (2017) believes that perceived value is a very important antecedent variable in the relationship between tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention. This article believes that tourists’ perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscapes can have a similar impact on tourists’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions, and accordingly proposes hypotheses 6-7.

H6 The tourist perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscapes has a significant positive impact on tourist satisfaction.

H7 The perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes has a significant positive impact on tourists’ behavioral intentions.

Zhang Yanqing (2004) believed that tourist satisfaction has a significant positive impact on tourists’ behavioral intentions; Xue Yongji et al. (2017) started from the psychological perspective of tourists and constructed a conceptual model of the formation mechanism of tourists’ loyalty to natural recreation brands, arguing that Travel experience plays an important role in building loyalty, and the better the guest attitudes and reviews, the higher the brand loyalty. Accordingly, hypothesis 8 is put forward.

H8 Tourist satisfaction with rural traditional cultural landscapes has a significant positive impact on tourists’ behavioral intentions.

2.2.2. Concept Model Construction

Based on the above research hypotheses, a conceptual model of the relationship between perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes can be constructed (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Relationship model of perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes.

2.3. Research Methods and Processes

2.3.1. Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part is the basic information about tourists, including basic options such as gender, age, occupation, education level, and income status. The second part is the measurement of tourists’ perceived value, including four dimensions: leisure value, cultural value, perceived price, and service and management value [4]. The third part is the measurement of tourists’ satisfaction and behavioral intention. The measurement scales used in this study are based on existing relevant mature scales, combined with the tourists’ perception context of rural traditional cultural landscapes and the actual situation of Xiajiao Village, so as to ensure the reliability and validity of the scales. Among them, the leisure value refers to the measurement scale of Zhou Wei (2012) and is modified with reference to Zhang Yuangang’s (2017) behavioral intention of rural tourists. The cultural value refers to Liu Rui’s (2018) research scale on tourists’ perceived image and behavioral intention of suburban rural tourism destinations and is modified with reference to Huang Chiqin’s (2019) scale on tourists’ perception and role of non-economic value of rural tourism complexes. Perceived price adopts the scale of the factors influencing the value perception of rural ecotourism tourists by Zhou Nidi (2018) and is modified based on the scale of perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention of ski tourists by Lu Lu (2018) [5]. Management and service value adopts the scale in the study of tourist satisfaction evaluation system of tourist attractions by Dong Guanzhi (2005) as a reference and is modified based on the relevant scale in the analysis of factors influencing the value perception of rural ecotourism tourists by Zhou Nidi (2018). The entire scale is evaluated according to the Likert-5 point scoring method.

2.3.2. Data Collection and Processing

The field investigation of this study was conducted in March 2022. Through field visits, interviews with local village cadres and residents, and questionnaire surveys of tourists visiting Xiajiao Village, we consulted the local tourism development history and obtained basic information about the current tourism status and development status of Xiajiao Village, the park management methods, the local residents’ outlook on the future development of Xiajiao Village, the main sources of tourists, and the basic characteristics of tourists. A random questionnaire survey was conducted, and the questionnaire was filled out by scanning the WeChat code. After removing invalid questionnaires such as incomplete answers and completely consistent answers to each item, 134 valid questionnaires were collected. SPSS 21.0 was used to process the collected questionnaire data. First, the sample data of the actual situation of the respondents was analyzed; on this basis, SPSS 21.0 was used to conduct reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on the survey data; structural equation modeling and related hypothesis testing were performed in AMOS 19.0.

3. Research Results and Analysis

3.1. Sample Descriptive Statistics Analysis

This paper selected Xiajiao Village, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province as a case study for field research, randomly selected tourists who came to visit, and collected a total of 134 valid questionnaires. The sample distribution of tourists in this survey is relatively reasonable, the ratio of male and female samples is relatively balanced, the age is mainly concentrated in the range of 15 - 24 years old, and the education level is mainly undergraduate. (See Table 1)

Tourists of different age groups may have significant differences in their travel needs and preferences. Young people are usually more flexible in their behavior and may be more inclined to revisit or recommend based on perceived value, while older people may reduce their behavioral intention due to physical conditions, time constraints, and other factors. For young tourists, they expect to have unique experiences and interesting activities in the scenic area. If these needs are met, they may be more likely to show satisfaction and be willing to share recommendations. Highly educated tourists may be more interested in the cultural connotations and educational activities of scenic spots. If scenic spots can provide in-depth cultural interpretation, their satisfaction will significantly increase. On the contrary, simple entertainment facilities may not be able to meet their needs. Low educated tourists may prefer direct entertainment activities and have lower

Table 1. Descriptive statistical analysis of samples.

Basic information	Project	Frequency	Proportion (%)	Basic information	Project	Frequency	Proportion (%)
Gender	Male	64	47.8	Profession	Government agencies	5	3.7
	Female	70	52.2		Public institution staff	18	13.4
Age	14 years and under	1	0.7		Individual business owners	19	14.2
	15 - 24 years old	67	50		Corporate staff	16	11.9
	25 - 44 years old	45	33.6		Student	69	51.5
	45 - 64 years old	14	10.4		Other	7	5.2
	65 years and above	7	5.2
Education	Junior high school or below	8	6	Monthly income	1000 and below	10	7.5
	High school/technical secondary school/vocational high school	15	11.2
	College	33	24.6		1001 - 2000	20	14.9
	Undergraduate	56	41.8		2001 - 5000	66	49.3
	Master’s degree and above	22	16.4		5000 and above	38	28.4

demands for complex content or cultural depth. Highly educated tourists are more inclined to recommend and share scenic spots with rich cultural value, while low educated tourists may pay more attention to direct entertainment experiences and regard them as the core driving force of behavioral intentions.

3.2. Structural Equation Model Analysis

This paper established a scale for evaluating the perceived value of traditional rural cultural landscapes, covering 4 sub-dimensions and 18 items, and tested the internal consistency of the scale on 134 questionnaire data. When the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is high, it indicates that the variables of the scale can reflect the overall structure well, the reliability of the data is high, and the test results are more stable; On the contrary, a lower Cronbach’s alpha coefficient indicates that there may be inconsistencies or unreasonable problem settings among the variables in the scale, which means that the reliability of the measurement results is low. Generally speaking, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients between 0.6 and 0.8 are considered to be highly reliable. The results showed that the Cronbach’s α value of the scale for evaluating the perceived value of traditional rural cultural landscapes by tourists was 0.952, and the coefficients of each sub-dimension were between 0.7 and 0.9, indicating that the scale had good measurement reliability (Table 2).

KMO and Butler’s sphericity test show that the KMO values of all dimensions are greater than 0.7, while the χ² values of Butler’s sphericity test are 124.814, 274.386, 150.929 and 144.351 respectively, and the p values are all lower than 0.01. The results are significant, have good validity, and are suitable for factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS software, and common factors were extracted using principal component analysis (Table 3) [6]. The 18 dimensions of perceived value are represented by 4 common factors, and the

Table 2. Reliability analysis of the scale for the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape.

Topic	Measurement items	Cronbach’s alpha coefficient	Topic	Measurement items	Cronbach’s alpha coefficient
Leisure value	a1	0.734	Management and service value	c1	0.75
	a2			c2
	a3			c3
	a4			c4
Perceived price	b1	0.834		c5
	b2		Cultural value	d1	0.789
	b3			d2
	b4			d3
	b5			d4
Reliability of the overall perceived value scale					0.952

Table 3. Results of exploratory factor analysis on the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape.

Perceived value measurement variables	Exploratory factor loadings	Extracting common factors	Variance loading after rotation (%)	Perceived value measurement variables	Exploratory factor loadings	Extracting common factors	Variance loading after rotation (%)
Physical and mental well-being	0.824	F1 leisure value	23.55%	Service and quality	0.794	F3 management and service value	12.19%
Free yourself	0.879			Internal and external traffic conditions	0.701
Meaningful things	0.807			Hygiene	0.713
Commemorative souvenirs	0.972			Consumption of time and energy	0.787
Meal prices	0.775	F2 perceived price	16.68%	Good order	0.725
Accommodation prices	0.733			Use of traditional technology	0.834	F4 cultural value	9.01%
Shopping prices	0.833			Traditional tourism products	0.816
Transportation prices	0.832			Traditional entertainment	0.842
Ticket prices	0.815			A scenic spot with well-preserved traditional culture	0.787

variance contribution rate of the 4 common factors is 61.405%, exceeding the minimum standard of 60%, indicating that the perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes has good interpretability. After rotation, the loadings of all factors are between 0.7 and 0.9, indicating that the scale has good convergent validity.

In order to further verify the dimensions of perceived value, the reliability and convergent validity of the model dimensions were verified using SPSS to explain the applicability of the model. The results showed that the Cronbach’s α value of the reliability of the latent variables in the model was between 0.6 and 0.9, indicating that the observed variables in the model had high reliability. The combined reliability (CR) was between 0.58 and 0.87, indicating that the latent variables in the model had high internal consistency. The variance extraction AVE was between 0.42 and 0.59, indicating that the model had good reliability and convergent validity. The confirmatory factor loadings of the various measurement indicators of the model were between 0.497 and 0.826 (Table 4).

Table 4. Results of confirmatory factor analysis on the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape.

Perceived value measurement variables	Confirmatory factor loadings	AVE	Combined reliability (CR)	Perceived value measurement variables	Confirmatory factor loadings	AVE	Combined reliability (CR)
Physical and mental well-being	0.739	0.43	0.87	Service and quality	0.664	0.59	0.81
Free yourself	0.654			Internal and external traffic conditions	0.64
Meaningful things	0.69			Hygiene	0.733
Commemorative souvenirs	0.534			Consumption of time and energy	0.497
Meal prices	0.722	0.42	0.81	Good order	0.591
Accommodation prices	0.647			Use of traditional technology	0.642	0.58	0.58
Shopping prices	0.826			Traditional tourism products	0.733
Transportation prices	0.652			Traditional entertainment	0.718
Ticket prices	0.753			A scenic spot with well-preserved traditional culture	0.687

The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that four common factors could be extracted from the perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscapes, namely leisure value, perceived price, service and management value, and cultural value. Hypothesis H1 was verified. A structural equation model was established for tourists’ perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention using Amos 19.0. First, the reliability and validity of the items of perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in the scale were analyzed. The coefficients of Cronbach’α were 0.897, 0.606, and 0.73, respectively. The reliability was acceptable, indicating that the latent variables of the model had good internal consistency. Amos 19.0 was used to analyze the model’s fitness. Chi-square/degrees of freedom (χ²/df) was used as an indicator of absolute fitness. The value of chi-square/degrees of freedom (χ²/df) was 1.921, the value of RMR was 0.023, the value of GFI was 0.819, and the value of RMSEA was 0.083, indicating that the overall fitness of the model was basically acceptable (Table 5).

Table 5. SEM overall model fitness index.

Index	χ2/df	RMSEA	RMR	GFI	NFI
Ideal value	1 - 3	<0.08	<0.05	>0.9	>0.9
Detection value	1.921	0.08 3	0.023	0.819	0.773

3.3. Analysis of Hypothesis Test Results

When tourists enter Xiajiao Village, they are first attracted by the natural and cultural leisure value, reasonable prices, convenient service quality, and profound cultural connotations in the area. These factors collectively enhance tourists’ perceived value of the scenic area. However, this perceived value has a greater impact on tourists’ behavioral intentions rather than their satisfaction. The reason may be that tourist satisfaction is constrained by service facilities and emotional expectations, while behavioral intention directly depends on the uniqueness of perceived value.

Specifically, the hypothesis test results show (Table 6) that the standardized path coefficients of leisure value, perceived price, service and quality perception, and cultural value on tourists’ perceived value are between 0.4 and 0.6. The P value is less than 0.01. H2, H3, H4, and H5 passed test. The standardized path coefficient from tourists’ perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape to tourists’ behavioral intention is 0.303, with a p-value less than 0.01, reaching the significance level, and H7 passed the verification. This indicates that leisure value, perceived price, perceived service and quality, and cultural value all have significant positive effects on tourists’ perceived value, and the degree of influence is moderate. Since the P-value is less than 0.01, the null hypothesis can be rejected,

Table 6. Setting model path and verification results.

Hypothesis	H2	H3	H4	H5	H6	H7	H8
Variable relationship	F1 → P	F2 → P	F3 → P	F4 → P	P → S	P → V	S → V
Path coefficient	0.583	0.527	0.530	0.424	-0.130	0.303	0.669
p-value	**	**	**	**	0.642	**	0.266
Test results	pass	pass	pass	pass	Not passed	pass	Not passed

(Note: *Represents p < 0.05, **Represents p < 0.01, ***Represents p < 0.001).

indicating that the relationship between these factors and tourists’ perceived value is significant. Therefore, hypotheses H2, H3, H4, and H5 have all passed the test. The standardized path coefficient of tourists’ perceived value → tourists’ behavioral intention of rural traditional cultural landscapes is 0.303, with a p-value less than 0.01, reaching a significant level, and H7 has been verified. The standardized path coefficient of tourists’ perceived value on their behavioral intention is 0.303, and the P-value is less than 0.01, reaching a significant level. This indicates that tourists’ perceived value has a significant positive impact on their behavioral intentions, and this impact is statistically significant. Tourists arriving at the scenic area are first attracted by the natural scenery, then feel value for money due to reasonable prices, then experience high-quality services, and finally immerse themselves in rich cultural connotations. The four complement each other, ultimately leading to their overall evaluation of the perceived value of the scenic area. The uniqueness and rich connotation of cultural landscapes make tourists feel that their experience is worth recommending and experiencing again, and this perceived value becomes a key force directly driving behavioral intentions.

The p-value of tourists’ perceived value of rural traditional cultural landscape—satisfaction is 0.642, which is greater than 0.05, and does not reach the significance level; the p-value of tourist satisfaction—tourists’ behavioral intention is 0.266, which is greater than 0.05 and does not reach the significance level. Therefore, H6 and H8 failed the verification. This is mainly because in the context of traditional rural cultural landscapes, perceived value is more reflected in its direct impact on behavioral intentions, rather than indirectly affecting tourist satisfaction. This is mainly because the relationship between tourists’ perceived value and satisfaction is greatly influenced by specific scenarios. In rural tourism, tourists pay more attention to experiencing novelty and local cultural connotations, rather than simply satisfaction. Tourist behavioral intentions are more directly driven by actual values, such as the cultural uniqueness and educational significance of tourist attractions, rather than the direct impact of satisfaction. In addition, even if tourists are satisfied with a certain place, their behavioral intentions may be constrained by more rational factors such as traffic restrictions, costs, etc. Tourist satisfaction is not the only driving factor of behavioral intention. They value more whether the scenic area has irreplaceable cultural value and whether their personal situation allows them to visit again. Therefore, the impact of tourist satisfaction on behavioral intention is not significant.

In summary, the impact of leisure value, perceived price, perceived service and quality, and cultural value on tourists’ perceived value is significant, and the impact of tourists’ perceived value on behavioral intention is also significant. However, the impact of tourists’ perceived value on satisfaction and the impact of tourists’ satisfaction on behavioral intention have not reached a significant level. Therefore, based on the verification of some hypotheses, this study concludes that tourists’ perceived value is an important factor affecting their behavioral intentions, while satisfaction is not a key mediating variable.

4. Conclusions

4.1. Research Conclusions

Xiajiao Village, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province as a case site to conduct a study on the relationship between the value perception of rural traditional cultural landscapes and tourist satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The main conclusions are as follows.

4.1.1. Dimensional Composition of the Perceived Value of Rural Traditional Cultural Landscapes

Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, this study identified four dimensions of perceived value of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes, namely leisure value, perceived price, perceived value of service and quality, and cultural value. Each dimension is significant for tourists’ value perception of rural traditional cultural landscapes.

4.1.2. Relationship between the Perceived Value of Rural Traditional Cultural Landscape and Tourists’ Satisfaction and Behavioral Intention

According to the results of the structural equation model, there is a strong correlation between the perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention of tourists in rural traditional cultural landscapes; tourists’ perceived value affects tourists’ satisfaction, and tourists’ satisfaction positively affects tourists’ behavioral intention. The research results are consistent with the causal chain of “tourists’ perceived value → satisfaction → behavioral intention”.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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