UNLOCKING SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN MID-SCALE HOTELS: A SEQUENTIAL MEDIATION MODEL OF MULTI-DIMENSIONAL QUALITY PERCEPTIONS, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, REPATRONAGE INTENTIONS, AND POSITIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

Abstract

This study examines the mechanism through which multidimensional hotel quality perceptions translate into customer-level perceptions of sustained competitive advantage in the mid-scale hotel segment. The model integrates Bitner’s servicescape framework, service quality theory, Expectation-Confirmation Theory, and the resource-based/dynamic-capabilities perspectives. Physical environment quality, service personnel quality, and experience quality are specified as exogenous constructs; customer satisfaction and repatronage intention are modeled as sequential mediators; positive recommendations are included as a parallel behavioral outcome; and perceived sustained competitive advantage is positioned as the distal outcome. A quantitative cross-sectional design is specified for guests of urban three-star hotels, with a five-point Likert questionnaire and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). For manuscript-development purposes, a simulated dataset of 384 usable responses is analyzed. The simulated results indicate that all three quality dimensions positively predict customer satisfaction, with experience quality showing the largest coefficient. Customer satisfaction significantly predicts both repatronage intention and positive recommendations. Repatronage intention and positive recommendations subsequently predict perceived sustained competitive advantage. The serial indirect effects from each quality dimension through satisfaction and repatronage intention are statistically significant in the simulated model. The findings illustrate how operational quality can be translated into relational and strategic value when customer evaluations accumulate into repeat patronage and advocacy. Because the numerical results are simulated, they should not be presented as evidence from actual respondents or submitted as empirical findings without replacing them with genuine data.