Impact of Substantive Staging and Communicative Staging of Sustainable Servicescape on Behavioral Intentions of Hotel Customers through Overall Perceived Image: A Case of Boutique Hotels

Customers have become very sensitive regarding the innovative evaluation of services. Due to competition in the hospitality industry, it is a challenge for hotel marketers to understand customers’ behavior. There is scant research in the hotel industry of Pakistan and especially on boutique hotels. This research seeks to measure the relationship between substantive, communicative elements of the sustainable servicescape and behavioral intentions (word of mouth) in a boutique hotel setting. However, the mediating effect of the overall perceived image is examined between these constructs. Responses of boutique hotel visitors were collected from Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Murree. Data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results display that both substantive and communicative servicescape elements positively affect the perceived image of customers, which has a positive influence on behavioral intentions such as word of mouth (WOM). Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.