Demystifying meal-sharing experiences through a combination of PLS-SEM and fsQCA

ABSTRACT This research aims to demystify the links between meal-sharing experience, overall satisfaction, and behavioral intentions (e.g., re-purchase and word-of-mouth) based on social practice theory and planned behavior theory. It utilized a questionnaire to test the relationships through the purposeful sampling of 217 Indian domestic travelers. The current study applied both the symmetric method of partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and the asymmetric method of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The PLS-SEM results showed that only the hospitality dimension of the meal-sharing experience positively relates to travelers’ overall satisfaction, re-purchase, and word-of-mouth (WoM) intentions. Apart from this, the results of fsQCA demonstrated several sufficient combinations of dimensions to generate satisfaction, re-purchase, and WoM intentions. It has several practical implications for hosts of meal-sharing platforms as to how they can improve their guests’ experience to delight and get them to re-purchase their services.