EFFECTS OF SERVICE FAIRNESS AND SERVICE QUALITY ON TOURISTS’ BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS AND SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING

ABSTRACT. This study examined the effects of service fairness and service quality on tourists’ behavioral intentions and subjective wellbeing (SWB) with the mediation of satisfaction. It conceptualizes SWB as a sociopsychological benefit that people receive from tourism activities in parallel with behavioral intentions to visit the destination treated as economic benefit. A selfadministered questionnaire survey was conducted in Xiamen city of Fujian Province, China, and a valid sample of 541 tourists was used for data analysis. Findings show that service fairness has more of an effect on behavioral intentions and SWB than service quality; and such differentiated effects can be partly attributed to the mediating role of satisfaction between the antecedent constructs (i.e, service fairness and service quality) and consequence constructs (i.e, behavioral intentions and tourist SWB). The results suggest that tourism service providers should deliver services in a fairer way and tourist SWB should be attended to by both governments and academics.