The impact of customer education on customer participation, functional service quality and trust in restaurant services

Abstract

Previous studies have provided evidence that customer education play an important role in building service quality, customer trust and relationship commitment, but these studies have focused almost exclusively on complex services, such as financial services. This study extends the current work to examine the impact of customer education in restaurant services. A conceptual framework is proposed to explain how customer education affects customer participation, functional service quality and trust. Data were collected by using a videotape simulation of a cooking education program in a real restaurant, 258 participants were asked to be involved in a role-playing process and then complete the questionnaire. The results of a structural equation model suggest that the main effect of customer education on customer participation, functional quality and trust were significant; customer participation also affects functional service quality and trust, but not the relationship between customer participation and trust. Implications of the study and future research are discussed.