Chinese elderly tourists’ perceptions regarding rural tourism destination revisit and recommend intentions: Merging the value-attitude-behaviour and theory of planned behaviour

Purpose: Attracting senior tourists to spend their holidays in rural destinations may be an effective strategy for rural economic development in many countries, including China. To date, few empirical studies have been conducted to create a coherent comprehension of the elements influencing elderly tourists’ perceptions and choices of rural tourism destinations. This research aims to investigate the relationship between functional value, social value, hedonic value, novelty, attitude, subjective norm (SN), perceived behavioural control (PBC), and revisit and recommend intentions based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and value-attitude-behaviour model. Methodology: A total of 413 older tourists participated in this study, and the data collected were analysed and tested, followed by testing the postulated hypotheses through SPSS and structural equation modelling. Findings: The research findings demonstrated that functional value positively influenced hedonic value and novelty, while social value positively influenced hedonic value, novelty, and attitude. Furthermore, SN had a positive influence on attitude, PBC, and revisit and recommend intention, while attitude and PBC had a positive influence on revisit and recommend intention. Originality/value: This research expands the existing knowledge on the impact of various value aspects and components of TPB on older tourists’ rural tourism destination choice in tourism literature and their contribution to the key stakeholders in the tourism industry. Finally, the theoretical contributions, practical implications, and limitations of this research are illustrated.