Congruity-Based Loyalty in Culinary Tourism Marketing: Integrating Servicescape, Experience Evaluation, and Relationship Quality

This conceptual paper develops a congruity-based loyalty mechanism in culinary tourism marketing by integrating servicescape and experiencescape theory with Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R), Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), self-congruity, relationship quality, brand love, and destination loyalty. While prior research demonstrates that environmental cues influence emotions and satisfaction, theoretical fragmentation remains regarding how culinary environments translate into enduring loyalty and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study reframes servicescape as identity-signaling infrastructure that communicates functional and symbolic positioning in gastronomic settings. The proposed framework conceptualizes a sequential process in which servicescape and experiencescape stimulate experiential and emotional responses, which shape satisfaction through confirmation processes; satisfaction subsequently evolves into relationship quality, culminating in loyalty and eWOM. Congruity operates as a reinforcing mechanism across transitions, strengthening emotional resonance, stabilizing satisfaction, and deepening relational commitment when culinary experiences align with tourists’ self-concept. By shifting theoretical emphasis from environmental effects or emotional differentiation to identity-aligned loyalty construction, this paper enhances theoretical sharpness in culinary tourism marketing and positions gastronomic environments as strategic relational architecture for destination competitiveness.