Exploring the perception of the local community towards the image of the spa industry and their intention to visit or work in Kota Kinabalu

Felsy Joseph Sandi (2022) Exploring the perception of the local community towards the image of the spa industry and their intention to visit or work in Kota Kinabalu. Doctoral thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

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Abstract

The term “wellness” comes from a modern world but has an ancient root. During the olden civilizations, the Greeks and Roman discovered that water has healing properties. They are willing to travel miles away from home to search for mineral springs and thus, came the term “spa”, which means Sanitas Par Aqua or healing through water. Today, people travel and visit spas to relax, escape from a busy life, and for health and wellness purposes. In Malaysia, the spa industry growth is contributed by increased leisure time, personal income, and health consciousness amongst the population. The Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Malaysia intends to make the spa industry the fifth largest income earner for the country and potentially provide thousands of jobs to Malaysians. But, before the country can achieve its’ objective the industry is facing negative perceptions from the local community. The local community thinks immoral activities are happening in the spas and therefore, are reluctant to let their children work there causing a shortage of local therapists for the industry. According to the former president of the Malaysian Association of Wellness and Spa (MAWSpa), there is a need to conduct a study to find out what is the local’s perception of the spa industry, thus, the reason this study is conducted. Another reason is that there is a limited amount of research has previously been carried out in the spa industry, particularly in Kota Kinabalu. The objectives of this research are 1) to explore what is the image of the spa, whether it is favorable or otherwise, 2) to explore the motivation factors to visit the spa by the local community, 3) to explore whether the perception of the locals towards the image of the spa affect their intention to visit, and 4) to study the image component contribution to the theory of planned behaviour. The methodology for this research is qualitative as the researcher intends to explore the mentioned objectives with a semi-structured face-to-face interview as the data collection method. The respondents are the local community (22 participants), the business sectors (12 participants), and the Government and associations sectors (six participants). The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by Azjen (1985) is used to find out whether the image can be incorporated as a possible predictor of intention to visit or work in the spa industry using the TPB framework. The results indicated that the image theme can be incorporated in the TPB as a possible predictor of intention with the beliefs that a good image attracts clients to visit and the youth to work in the industry, whereas, a bad image deter clients visit or youth from working in the industry. The push and pull motivation theory is also applied to find out the local community’s motivation factors to visit or work in the spa industry. The findings indicated that the significant motivating factors for the local community to visit the spa is the push factors such as relaxation and health. The results also found that some local communities perceived the spa industry negatively. However, the perception is slowly evolving from negative to positive. Overall, this study has fulfilled the objectives.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Keyword:	Wellness, SPA, Sanitas par aqua, Spa industry
Subjects:	T Technology > TT Handicrafts Arts and crafts > TT1-999 Handicrafts. Arts and crafts > TT950-979 Hairdressing. Beauty culture. Barbers' work
Department:	FACULTY > Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting
Depositing User:	DG MASNIAH AHMAD -
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2024 10:33
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2024 10:34
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41171

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