Night market experience and image of temporary residents and foreign visitors

Purpose – The paper aims to differentiate the differences of both night market experience and image between temporary residents and foreign visitors in Taiwan and to explore the relationship between experience and image. Design/methodology/approach – Night market experiences comprise the dimensions of Schmitt's experiential marketing theory and night market image is analyzed by exploratory factor analysis. This research probes the socio-demographics differences of experience and image between temporary residents and foreign visitors. Canonical analysis explores the experience-image relationships. Findings – Some socio-demographics have relativity differences in night market experiences and images. Visitors have stronger thinking experience than temporary residents. Temporary residents have stronger image in atmosphere, while foreign visitors have general stronger images than temporary residents. Canonical analysis shows that visitors have stronger relationships between experience and image than temporary residents. Practical implications – Marketing organizations must develop marketing strategies specific to cultural background and the length of residence of its specific visitors. Originality/value – The paper provides the evidence showing that familiarity and novelty-seeking would be of particular importance to examine whether experience and image are equally applicable to the various foreign visitors.