The Satisfaction Study of People with Disabilities Regarding the Restaurant with Barrier-Free Environment in Taiwan Tourism Area

Cheng Chia-Hsin

doi:10.5539/ibr.v13n4p1

Abstract

The number of people with disabilities (PWDs) is expected to increase over years due to the increase of human lifespan and accidents. However, the PWDs as a result of some social factors, such as environment inaccessibility, insufficient job opportunity, inadequate education aids, etc. are excluded from participating their leisure activities or dining out in the society. This study aims to investigate and evaluate the design of barrier-free environment of restaurants in Taiwan famous tourism areas via the restaurant customer satisfaction of PWDs regarding the barrier-free facility and service quality. The results show that the qualified percentage of barrier-free physical environment design is only 44%, and PWDs are not satisfied with the barrier-free physical environment including the space allotted in parking lots, restroom accessibility for PWDs, as well as the slipperiness of floors. The regression analysis shows the barrier-free physical environment and service quality aspect with respect to post-purchase intentions reach statistical significance indicating the environment design for the PWDs is critical to the restaurant management especially in a tourism area.

Highlights

There are about 650 million people with disabilities (PWDs) in the world and about 5.7 million PWDs in Taiwan (Internal Labor Organization, 2018; Department of Social Welfare, 2018); According to the survey of Minister of the Interior, there are more than 2.9 million elderly people in Taiwan and 26% of the population are physical disabilities (Minister of the Interior, 2018)
Providing obvious barrier-free symbols and demolishing the obstacle in the parking space As the satisfaction of the barrier-free physical environment and service quality, The results indicate that most customers were satisfied with the barrier-free physical environment including the width of the main entrance, the height of the tables and the height of the chairs, and those facilities design fit in with the standards for a barrier-free environmental design for restaurant (Liao, 2006); participants were not satisfied with the obvious accessibility space for PWDs allotted in the parking lots, the accessibility of the restrooms or the slipperiness of the floor materials
The study investigated the impact of customer satisfaction of barrier-free physical environments and service quality on post-purchase intentions with PWDs at restaurants in a famous resort area

Summary

Introduction

The number of PWDs is predicted to increase over years due to the ageing, accidents, diseases, etc. It is anticipated that 10 years almost 20% of the world population will be over age 65 and the world will become a super-aged society. This percentage is pronounced in Taiwan where the proportion of elderly people is growing at a faster rate. We can foresee a significant component of the changing disability profile, which is a direct consequence of the ageing of the population (WHO, 2007). We must understand a fact that PWDs and every person could face inconvenient situations at some stage of life requiring a wheelchair, having small children, being pregnant or elderly, or even becoming temporarily disabled sooner or later (Ferneeuw, 2005)

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion