Importance-performance analysis: A valid management tool?

Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is considered a useful tool in examining customer satisfaction and management strategies. This technique can help tourism stakeholders in diagnosing underlying deficiencies and setting priorities in tourism development. As a result, a more efficient allocation of limited resources could be achieved to improve tourist satisfaction and destination competitiveness. However, some conceptual and methodological issues undermine its performance. This paper discusses the applicability of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis in dealing with these issues. This powerful diagnostic tool could provide the criteria for optimal categorization of elements in IPA framework, while testing its validity and reliability. The proposed method clearly outperformed the standard IPA approaches and set the path for more rigorous IPA studies that should more reliably assist management in the decision-making process.