Guest–Server Exchange Model and Performance: The Connection Between Service Climate and Unit-Level Sales in Multiunit Restaurants

Abstract

Using a sample of 51 full-service restaurants from three competing full-service restaurant companies, we extended the research on service process management by connecting the reactions of service-based employees to guests’ satisfaction with their service experience and firm-level performance. We replicated and confirmed previous tests of the existing guest–server exchange model connecting frontline-level employees’ attitudes toward their work as service providers to guests’ satisfaction in the restaurants. Most notably, we extended the guest–server exchange model by including the relationship between guests’ reports of satisfaction with service and firm performance, bringing together three unique sources of data. The findings from the test of our structural equation model revealed that 26% of the variance in firm performance was accounted for by guest satisfaction, showing that organizational policies and support for employees, are connected to a positive service climate, guest satisfaction, and firm performance, measured as sales per available seat in each restaurant.