Abstract
Although green practice is increasingly adopted in the restaurant industry, there is still little research in terms of investigating the impacts of green practice on customer satisfaction. This study utilized user-generated content by green restaurant customers to identify various aspects of green restaurants, including perceived green restaurant practices. Our data are based on U.S. green-certified restaurants available on Yelp. Structural topic modeling was used to discover latent restaurant attributes from user-generated content. With a longitudinal approach, the changes in customers’ interest in green practices were estimated. Finally, the common restaurant attributes and green attributes were used to predict customer satisfaction. This study will contribute to marketing strategies for the restaurant industry.
Highlights
The restaurant industry in the United States (U.S.) is comprised of more than one million operations, with 15.3 million employees [1]
We found that customers recognized green practices and shared their perceptions in user-generated content (UGC), but their perceptions were limited to food-related green practices, such as the use of local/organic ingredients and vegan menus
In order to identify consumer perceptions of green restaurants expressed in user-generated content, the researchers analyzed restaurant reviews of certified green restaurants using text mining
Summary
The restaurant industry in the United States (U.S.) is comprised of more than one million operations, with 15.3 million employees [1]. Given the close relationships the restaurant industry has with local communities, implementing sustainable ( known as green) restaurant practices has been an important marketing strategy for gaining competitive advantage and organizational legitimacy [2,3]. Implementing green practices has become a significant tactic to address public demands related to health and environment concerns, which subsequently leads to the creation of a positive brand image and positive customer attitudes [4,5]. Incorporating green practices in a restaurant may not always be successful in generating positive emotions among customers. Green restaurant practices tend not to be as visible to customers as other marketing efforts [6]. The noticeability of green practices must precede any influence on customer attitudes
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