Cruise transport service usage post COVID-19 : the health belief model application

• Main Author: Muhammad Syukri Saidi
• Other Authors: Yuen Kum Fai
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Maritime studies; Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150518
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the global cruise industry went abrupt when countries started to close their territorial borders to contain and prevent imports of the infectious virus. This led to a series of infamous health scare events on cruise ships as they got stranded in open waters with the virus spreading wildly within the confines of the cruise ships. This study investigates the key psychological factors that influence customer’s intention to use cruise services post COVID-19. This study advanced the theoretical research on consumer and health-driven theories (i.e. perceived value, perceived trust, and health belief model). A survey questionnaire is designed and administered to 376 Chinese consumers. The theoretical model was tested via structural equation modelling. Results reveal that the constructs of the health belief model (i.e. perceived benefits vs perceived barriers, perceived health threat, self-efficacy and cues to action) have a significant effect on customers’ perceived value towards cruise services. Perceived value then has direct and indirect effects on customers’ cruise intention through perceived trust. This study enhances academic research by justifying customers’ intention to use cruise services via consumer and health-belief viewpoints and provides implications for cruise management and policy formulation.