Investigating the determinants of consumer attachment to third places

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of consumer attachment towards third places. The study explores the determinants of consumer attachment to third places to establish factors influencing consumers' decision to continue visiting and patronising third places. The study hypothesised that perceived quality, perceived value, trust, reputation, and perceived risk, significantly and positively influenced customer behavioural intentions and attachment to third places. The study again hypothesised that perceived risk was significantly but negatively related to customer attachment to third places. PLS-SEM was used to analyse data collected from 183 respondents. The results indicate that perceived quality, perceived value, trust, and reputation had a positive and significant relationship with behavioural intentions and attachment to third places, except perceived risk, which had a negative but significant relationship with customer attachment to third places. Future studies can examine moderating factors that could influence third-place attachment factors. This study makes a valuable addition to the literature on third places, offering insights into the nature of third places and factors driving consumer attachment to them..