“Come and visit us!”
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Date
2025
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Alternative Title(s)
Influence of industrial tourism on customer behavior
Abstract
Industrial tourism is an important marketing tool for companies to promote their brand or present their company. Despite its significance, there is still a lack of research on the effect of factory tours on customer attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. In a first study, the paper encompasses a detailed literature overview of existing research on industrial tourism. The paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of factory tours and delimits consumer tourism to industrial tourism. Despite its widespread use, however, there is a lack of research on the economic consequences, as well as the underlying perceptual processes. Thus, the second paper entails the results of two studies conducted in collaboration with an industrial manufacturer, allowing for detailed analyses of the effects of factory tours on customer loyalty. The results of a first study show that customer participation in a factory tour leads to an increase in revenues. A second study explores the potential mediating role of attitudinal loyalty and customer perceptions of the tour guide, a finding that remains unconfirmed. The results confirm the positive effects of factory tour participation on behavioral loyalty (i.e., purchases) and attitudinal loyalty (i.e., affective commitment). Moreover, the analysis reveals evidence for the effects of customers’ perceived competence as tour guides on loyalty. The third paper concludes the topic by examining financial aspects of factory tours, which are part of a company’s experience tourism. The customer loyalty resulting from factory tours plays a decisive role in terms of long-term effects for the companies.
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Keywords
Industrial tourism, Factory tours, Loyalty, Affective commitment, Purchases
Subjects based on RSWK
Betriebsbesichtigung, Markenpolitik, Kundenbindung, Markentreue