Visitors’ perceived trust in sincere, authentic, and memorable heritage experiences

Babak Taheri, Martin Joseph Gannon and Muhammet Kesgin

The Service Industries Journal, 2020, vol. 40, issue 9-10, 705-725

Abstract: The success of cultural destinations often centres on whether consumers trust the provenance and integrity of the heritage assets, activities, and services therein. However, few studies examine whether this ‘perceived trust’ influences the authenticity, sincerity, and memorability of cultural heritage consumption. To investigate the relationships between these constructs, we surveyed 320 visitors to Iranian cultural heritage sites. The findings suggest that perceived trust positively influences visitors’ perceptions of sincerity, existential authenticity, and object-based authenticity, stimulating memorable experiences in the process. This, in turn, emphasises the antecedent importance of perceived trust in shaping consumption. In the face of increasing commercialisation within the cultural heritage sector more generally, we therefore encourage practitioners to prioritise safeguarding the integrity of their offerings, promoting heritage assets in a manner that stimulates perceived trust.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02642069.2019.1642877 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:servic:v:40:y:2020:i:9-10:p:705-725

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FSIJ20

DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2019.1642877

Access Statistics for this article

The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi

More articles in The Service Industries Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().