Flow, satisfaction and storytelling: a causal relationship? Evidence from scuba diving in Turkey

The popularity of activity-based tourism is often explained by experiential concepts such as flow. By using a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates how the storytelling intentions of scuba diving tourists are influenced by their flow experience. The mediating role of satisfaction and the moderating role of scuba diving experience level are further examined in this relationship. To test these hypotheses, interviews with 20 scuba divers and a field survey with the participation of 426 scuba diving tourists were conducted in Kaş, Turkey. The findings reveal that the influence of the flow experience on storytelling intentions of scuba diving tourists is fully mediated by their satisfaction. The results additionally show that scuba diving experience level does not have a moderating role in the flow experience-satisfaction-storytelling intention relationship.