A customer value perspective to service experiences in restaurants

Abstract

Customer experience is an increasingly important construct in consumer services research and management. Prior research has analyzed restaurant experiences through attributes, such as food quality, but more attention is needed to understand what kind of value customers eventually perceive. This study introduces the customer value perspective to restaurant experience and connects quality attributes to value perceptions, as well as to behavioral intentions. Conceptually, the study combines the customer-perceived value perspective with more traditional models of service/restaurant experience. Using data from a large quantitative survey (n = 1533), this study introduces an integrative model for analyzing the antecedents, outcomes, and implications of restaurant experiences. Additionally, the model is validated by comparing data from two different restaurant settings: lunch and dining. Managerially, the study broadens managers' understanding of how to design superior experiences by shifting attention from restaurant attributes to customers’ perception of value resulting from these attributes.