How temporal contiguity cues influence tourists' purchase intentions: Regulatory focus and double-entry mental accounting perspectives

Abstract

This study explores the impact of temporal contiguity cues on tourists' purchase intention through three experiments. The findings reveal that review valence can moderate the relationship between temporal contiguity cues and purchase intention, while regulatory focus can further moderate the moderating role of review valence, and double-entry mental accounting plays a mediating role. This study resolved the related dispute about the moderating effect of review valence between temporal contiguity cues and purchase intention from the perspective of regulatory focus theory and found a new mechanism based on double-entry mental accounting theory. It helps companies grasp tourist psychology and provide reviews containing different temporal contiguity cues for tourists with different types of regulatory focus to increase performance.