Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of Factors Affecting the Loyalty of Forest Trail Users

Bibliographic Data

ID22350511
AuthorsByung-Hoon Kang (0000-0002-0207-4885, Korea Forest Service, corresponding author), Dong‐Hoon Kim (0000-0002-5479-2707, Korea Forest Service), Dong-Hoon Kim (0000-0003-4521-0151), Myeong-Chul Ko (Hanbat National University), Jeonghee Lee (0000-0002-5004-1092, Korea Forest Service)
Year2023
Volume26
Issue5
Pages551-563
Publication date2023-10-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of People, Plants, and Environment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2508-7673 • E-ISSN: 2508-7681
PublisherKorean Society for People, Plants, and Environment (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.11628/ksppe.2023.26.5.551
OpenAlexW4388511447
LanguageEN
References cited26

Background and objective: With the increasing public awareness of health due to COVID-19 and the quality of life, people have come to prefer natural spaces with fewer crowds. Public use of forest trails is increasing as a place that satisfies the demand for such natural spaces. As a result, the basic plans for trails and mountaineering support were established, and there has been government-level support such as the establishment of the Korea Mountaineering Support Center, which resulted in a quantitative and qualitative increase in the use of forest trails. Accordingly, efforts must be made to ensure satisfaction and loyalty in using forest trails.Methods: Therefore, this study identified the factors affecting the overall satisfaction and loyalty toward forest trails through structural equation modeling. As for the research data, we used data from the Fact-finding Survey on Forest Welfare Facility Users to analyze the use of forest trails.Results: As a result, safety and comfort, kindness, travel time, and program experience variety had a significant effect directly and indirectly on overall satisfaction and loyalty. Safety and comfort affected personal activity experience variety, while kindness affected program experience variety. For travel time, the direct effect on loyalty showed a positive correlation, but the indirect effect showed a negative correlation.Conclusion: These results showed that safety should be considered a top priority on forest trails, and that long travel time to forest trails could be a factor that increases loyalty by offering various programs. In addition, loyalty has a multifaceted correlation between several factors, suggesting that it is necessary to consider not only direct effects but also indirect effects

Business · Geography · Kindness · Loyalty · Loyalty business model · Loyalty program · Political science · Structural equation modeling · Computer Science · Customer Service Quality and Loyalty · Diverse Approaches in Healthcare and Education Studies · Diverse Topics in Contemporary Research · Psychology · Marketing

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