Service quality and gender differences in Brazilian self-service restaurants

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental approach to assess the quality of restaurants regarding amenities, services provided and sustainable practices. Several studies have been conducted to identify factors that influence the restaurant quality. However, the analysis of gender differences appears to be meaningful because gender may influence the diners' perception of restaurant service quality. This study was conducted in Brazilian self-service restaurants. Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations were used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. One way ANOVA was used to examine the differences between male and female customers. Quartile analysis was used to determine the most critical items; linear regression and Cook's distance were used to identify outliers. Only one of the most relevant dimensions is related to servicescape dimensions; however, the most critical items are related to such dimensions. The quality ratings of the restaurant given by males and females differ for certain items.