Exploring the Role of Emotion in the Relationship between Museum Image and Tourists’ Behavioral Intention: The Case of Three Museums in Xi’an

As a crucial part of cultural tourism, museums can represent the cultural image of a destination. From the perspective of emotion, this study adopted structural equation modeling to examine the correlation between emotion, museum image, and behavioral intention of tourists. Additionally, the mediating effects of cognitive motivation (overall stratification) and emotional motivation (positive and negative emotion) on the paradigm of “museum image–behavioral intention” were compared and analyzed. This research was undertaken at three museums in Xi’an, China, with 893 valid questionnaires collected. The results showed that the image of the museum has a significant impact on tourists’ emotions and a significant positive impact on overall satisfaction and behavioral intention. Moreover, tourists’ emotions significantly influence the overall satisfaction and behavioral intention; they play different mediating effects between museum image and behavioral intention. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications were discussed.