HOW WATERPARK IMAGE, PRICE FAIRNESS, AND SATISFACTION CREATE BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: MODERATING EFFECTS OF NOVELTY-SEEKINGS BY MISS THUNYATHORN DULYADHAMAPIROMYA A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (REAL ESTATE BUSINESS) FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND ACCOUNTANCY THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW HOW WATERPARK IMAGE, PRICE FAIRNESS, AND SATISFACTION CREATE BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: MODERATING EFFECTS OF NOVELTY-SEEKINGS BY MISS THUNYATHORN DULYADHAMAPIROMYA A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (REAL ESTATE BUSINESS) FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND ACCOUNTANCY THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW (1) Thesis Title HOW WATERPARK IMAGE, PRICE FAIRNESS, AND SATISFACTION CREATE BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: MODERATING EFFECTS OF NOVELTY-SEEKINGS Author MISS THUNYATHORN DULYADHAMAPIROMYA Degree Master of Science (Real Estate Business) Faculty/University Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy Thammasat University Thesis Advisor Assoc. Prof. Supeecha Panichpathom, Ph.D. Academic Years 2017 ABSTRACT Despite a fast-growing number of waterparks in Thailand, this high capital- intensive business has a very few matured precedent cases in the country. As the challenges are getter greater, the understanding of patron’s behavioral is an extremely important determinant in long-term competitiveness and sustainability in the industry. Thus, this study aims to explore the relationships among the antecedents which are waterpark image, price fairness, and patron’s satisfaction together with their effects on behavioral intentions. The mediating roles of price fairness and satisfaction as well as the moderating role of novelty-seeking are also examined. Regardless of the scant in waterpark literature, a proposed conceptual framework, applied from literature in related fields, was empirically tested using a structured questionnaire. Qualified respondents rated their opinions on scaled items with five- point Likert scale. A structural equation modeling using SmartPLS3.2.7 was performed to examine the proposed hypothetical paths. The analytical results confirm the importance of waterpark image and price fairness in predicting satisfaction and behavioral intentions. While price fairness partially mediates water park image to satisfaction, satisfaction also acts as a partial mediator for waterpark image and price fairness to behavioral intentions. The result reveals that waterpark image has biggest total effect on Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW (2) behavioral intentions. And as projected, satisfaction is also another strong predictor of behavioral intentions, novelty-seeking, on the other hand, was not found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral intentions. These empirical findings are beneficial to both existing and future waterpark developers for planning limited resources on most influential factors in proper priority that lead to desired behavioral intentions. It reaffirms the necessity for managers to perform a correct combination of marketing mixes that would strengthen the perception of the image and price fairness. In addition, the effect of novelty-seeking on behavioral intentions can be theoretically extended and is recommended for future study to explore in different dimensions other than the moderating role. For managerial implications, the empirical results show that image of waterpark is a main focus to enhance satisfaction and favorable behavioral intentions. Keywords: Waterpark Image, Price Fairness, Novelty-Seeking, Satisfaction, Behavioral Intentions, PLS-SEM, SmartPLS3.0 Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW (3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor Assoc. Prof. Supeecha Panichpathom, Ph.D. for the continuous support of my research study. I also would like to acknowledge for her patience, enthusiasm, inspiration, and immense knowledge, her office door was always open whenever I ran into a problem. Her supportiveness steered me in the right direction and her teacher’s spirit does impress me. I would also like to thank the expert professors: Asst. Prof. Kangwan Yodwisitsak, Ph.D. and Assoc. Prof. Yawaman Metapirak who were involved in the useful recommendations and validation of the thesis. Their encouragement, insightful, and hard questions had sharpened my perspective. Next, I must express my very profound gratitude to those who spent their valuable time helping me spread out and complete the questionnaire. I really appreciate the help of my MRE16 classmates and all my friends, especially those who shared the questionnaire links on their social medias. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Last but not the least, I would like to heartfully thank my fiancé and my brother for unfailing support throughout my thesis time. Thank you very much for always having my back. MISS THUNYATHORN DULYADHAMAPIROMYA Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW (4) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... (1) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................. (3) TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... (3) LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................. (8) LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. (9) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Statements of the problems ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 6 1.4 Benefits .............................................................................................................................. 6 1.5 Scope of Study ................................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................ 8 2.1 Related Theories ............................................................................................................. 8 2.1.1 Expectation-Confirmation Theory ......................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Concept of Variety-Seeking .................................................................................. 10 2.2 Review of Constructs ................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Water Park Image .................................................................................................... 11 Ref. code: 25605902034544UBW (5) 2.2.2 Price Fairness ............................................................................................................ 12 2.2.3 Satisfaction ............................................................................................................... 13 2.2.4 Behavioral Intentions ............................................................................................. 14 2.2.5 Novelty-Seeking ...................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Related literatures review summary ........................................................................ 16 2.4 Definitions ........................................................................................................................... 18 2.5 Hypotheses development .............................................................................................. 19 2.5.1 The effect of Waterpark Image on price fairness ..................................... 19 2.5.2 The effects of Waterpark Image on satisfaction ....................................... 20 2.5.3 The effects of Price Fairness ......................................................................... 21 2.5.4 The effect of satisfaction on behavioral intentions ................................. 22 2.4.5 The moderating effect of Novelty-Seeking ................................................ 23 2.6 Conceptual framework ................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 27 3.1 Population and Sample .............................................................................................. 27 3.1.1 Population ................................................................................................................ 27 3.1.2 Sampling .................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 Research tools ..............................................................................................................