Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive, hedonic, and emotional factors on Sabah’s tourists’ desire to purchase ethnic food. In this study, a combination of cognitive, hedonic as well as emotional drivers is examined in the purchase intentions of tourists in the Sabah re...

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Main Authors: Ahmad Shakani Abdullah, Ramraini Ali Hassan, Wan Rusni Wan Ismail
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: RSIS International 2025
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Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/1/FULLTEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/
https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.901900011
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author Ahmad Shakani Abdullah
Ramraini Ali Hassan
Wan Rusni Wan Ismail
author_facet Ahmad Shakani Abdullah
Ramraini Ali Hassan
Wan Rusni Wan Ismail
author_sort Ahmad Shakani Abdullah
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
description The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive, hedonic, and emotional factors on Sabah’s tourists’ desire to purchase ethnic food. In this study, a combination of cognitive, hedonic as well as emotional drivers is examined in the purchase intentions of tourists in the Sabah region of Malaysia towards ethnic food. Since little is known about these psychological motivators in food tourism, this study follows a simple qualitative investigation in an attempt to draw more details about the behavior of tourists. Five participants (three local tourists of Peninsular Malaysia and two international tourists of China and Korea) took part in the in-depth semi-structured interviews (collected the data). Theme and thematic analysis were done manually to see a pattern and recurring theme. Four overall themes were identified: a sense of unusualness and appeal, food authenticity, and safety, emotional appeal, and the power of social and contextual factors. The findings indicate that visual appeal, cultural stories and emotion connection increases probability of the tourists to sample ethnic foods. The current paper would add to the food tourism literature by providing a conceptual framework, which would combine psychological aspects with the food decision-making. Marketing and tourism agencies practical implication is also discussed.
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spelling my.ums.eprints-455582025-10-31T08:36:07Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/ Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry Ahmad Shakani Abdullah Ramraini Ali Hassan Wan Rusni Wan Ismail G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism TX341-641 Nutrition. Foods and food supply The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive, hedonic, and emotional factors on Sabah’s tourists’ desire to purchase ethnic food. In this study, a combination of cognitive, hedonic as well as emotional drivers is examined in the purchase intentions of tourists in the Sabah region of Malaysia towards ethnic food. Since little is known about these psychological motivators in food tourism, this study follows a simple qualitative investigation in an attempt to draw more details about the behavior of tourists. Five participants (three local tourists of Peninsular Malaysia and two international tourists of China and Korea) took part in the in-depth semi-structured interviews (collected the data). Theme and thematic analysis were done manually to see a pattern and recurring theme. Four overall themes were identified: a sense of unusualness and appeal, food authenticity, and safety, emotional appeal, and the power of social and contextual factors. The findings indicate that visual appeal, cultural stories and emotion connection increases probability of the tourists to sample ethnic foods. The current paper would add to the food tourism literature by providing a conceptual framework, which would combine psychological aspects with the food decision-making. Marketing and tourism agencies practical implication is also discussed. RSIS International 2025-07-21 Article NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/1/FULLTEXT.pdf Ahmad Shakani Abdullah and Ramraini Ali Hassan and Wan Rusni Wan Ismail (2025) Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), 9 (1). pp. 123-135. ISSN 2454-6186 https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.901900011
spellingShingle G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism
TX341-641 Nutrition. Foods and food supply
Ahmad Shakani Abdullah
Ramraini Ali Hassan
Wan Rusni Wan Ismail
Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title_full Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title_fullStr Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title_short Exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: A qualitative inquiry
title_sort exploring the cognitive, hedonic, and emotional dimensions of tourist purchase intentions for ethnic foods: a qualitative inquiry
topic G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism
TX341-641 Nutrition. Foods and food supply
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/1/FULLTEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45558/
https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.901900011
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/