This study examines how workation experience translates into destination loyalty by comparing the roles of affective and functional outcomes, namely well-being and work productivity, within tourism contexts.
A sequential mixed-methods design was employed. An exploratory qualitative phase was conducted to contextualize key experiential dimensions of workation. These insights informed the adaptation of measurement constructs, which were subsequently tested using survey data from international workation travelers in Thailand and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
The results show that workation experience positively influences both well-being and work productivity. However, only well-being significantly explains destination attachment, revisit intention and word-of-mouth intention, whereas work productivity does not directly affect destination loyalty. This suggests that affective and quality-of-life evaluations play a more central role in loyalty formation than instrumental work-related outcomes.
The study builds on recent conceptualizations of workation by empirically examining how workation experience translates into destination-related outcomes, particularly by distinguishing between affective (well-being) and functional (work productivity) pathways.
Destinations seeking to attract workation travelers should emphasize quality-of-life attributes and everyday living conditions, rather than focusing solely on work-oriented facilities.
This study contributes by empirically examining how different outcome dimensions of workation experience influence destination loyalty and by clarifying the distinct roles of well-being and work productivity in shaping destination-related outcomes.
