Motivations, self-congruity and restaurant innovativeness as antecedents of a creative-food tourism experience: the moderating effect of first-time and repeat tourists

Purpose This study aims to analyze the drivers of a creative food tourism experience (CFTE) and its effect on the tourists' perceived authenticity and satisfaction. Specifically, this study captures the importance to explain a CFTE of two sets of stimuli: internal stimuli, including push motivations for food travel (i.e. emotional, cultural and social) and the tourist self-congruity (i.e. actual and ideal) with the chosen food establishment; and external stimuli, referred to the pull motivation exerted by restaurant innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach Data are obtained through a questionnaire completed by 407 food tourists who have traveled to visit a creative restaurant. The research model is tested using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings Results confirm the relevance of emotional and social motivations to enjoy a CFTE and the need to align the target tourists' self-concept and restaurant positioning. The most vital driver of the CFTE is the restaurant innovativeness, which suggests that entrepreneurship in gastronomy is critical to boosting food tourism. Originality/value This study expands the understanding of the role of food tourism motivations and self-congruity in the tourist experience and underlines the relevance of the restaurant's production process to create authentic and compelling experiences that improve the tourists' satisfaction. Moderation analysis considering the tourists' previous experience reveals that cultural motivations only exert a positive effect on the CFTE for first-time travelers. However, self-congruity is the strongest predictor of a CFTE for repeat travelers.