Restaurant Context Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF COLLECTIVISM DIVERSITY TOWARDS MULTICULTURAL TEAMWORK PERFORMANCE AMONG RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES

Diversity is now an important factor that impacted workforce performance. Currently, as having a diverse workforce, Malaysia is depending heavily on foreign workers in the hospitality industry. This study examined a conceptual model investigating the effect of diversity particularly collectivism in influencing multicultural teamwork performance. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted in casual ethnic restaurants in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The findings disclosed that collectivism diversity had a significant influence on multicultural teamwork performance. This study is the first to assess cultural value diversity particularly collectivism value on teamwork performance. This study verified that cultural value diversity increases multicultural teamwork performance in the restaurant context in relation to collectivism. The significant results deepen our understandings of the detailed relationships among the variables. In addition, by providing the current phenomena in workforce industry, this study provides insights to the restaurant managers in handling diversity among multicultural employees.

Factors influencing consumer menu-item selection in a restaurant context

Assuming that the more a restaurant’s manager know the preferences of his/her clients, the greater the chance to maximise the experience of the customers and therefore the revenue of the restaurant. However, very little is known about the attributes that influence menu-item choice of such customers in a restaurant context and consequently, on the relative importance attached to specific attributes shaping the overall appeal of a menu-item. Despite the familiarity that consumers have with making menu-item choices, there exists a significant paucity of academic research exploring the relative importance of attributes that influence menu-item selection in a restaurant context.This research aims to respond to the following question: what are the attributes that influence menu-item choice in a casual and fine-dining restaurants context? To explore further the reasons that influence menu-item choice, the authors also investigate the extent the customers’ level of food involvement and the social context have an impact on the attributes influencing menu-item choice in these two restaurants’ contexts.This study utilises the Best-Worst method to examine consumer-based preference in relation to the relative importance of attributes that influence the menu-item choice of casual and fine-dining restaurant patrons. Respondents should have patronised a casual or fine-dining restaurant within the last 4 weeks and 6 months respectively and were randomly allocated the task to respond the questions either with a casual-dining context in mind or with a fine-dining context in mind. Consumer attribute-based preferences are also examined in relation to an individual’s level of food involvement and effect of social context, giving the authors the opportunity to split the entire sample into sub groups. The overarching objective is to draw comparisons in order to determine whether the attributes that influence menu-item choice differ between segments of consumers. Quantitative data was collected from 1208 respondents in Australia representative of casual and fine-dining restaurant patrons.Results of the study indicate that “the combination of ingredients” is the most influential attribute on patrons’ menu-item selection at casual and fine-dining restaurants, with a probability of 100% for that attribute to be chosen as the most important one when selecting a dish. Conversely, the “avoidance of certain foods” and “the core ingredient of the dish is sustainably produced” are the least important attributes influencing the menu-item selection of restaurant patrons, with a probability of 30 and 38% for these attributes to be chosen as the most important one when selecting a dish. Interestingly, the ranking and relative importance of menu-item attributes significantly differed between segments of consumers with a high and low level of food involvement. The “the combination of ingredients” remains the most important reason for people highly involved in food. Whereas “a sufficient portion size that will satisfy my appetite” and “a dish that I have tried before and know that I will like the taste” have probabilities of 100 and 94.5% to be chosen as the most important attribute when selecting a dish for people with low food involvement.

The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy

CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context.

Healthy Taste of High Status: Signaling Status at Restaurants

Despite the prevalence of a common belief associating healthy eating with high status, the effect of such an intuitive association on consumer behavior remains unexamined. To fill this void, this research explores status signaling in a restaurant context. Two studies were conducted to examine the impact of consumers’ need for status on their preferences for healthy dining options. Results from Study 1 show that need for status has a positive effect on consumer preferences for a restaurant with a healthy (vs. less healthy) menu. These results indicate that although dining out can be a means to convey high status, such a symbolic role is limited to restaurants with healthy (vs. less healthy) options. Results from Study 2 demonstrate that need for status has a positive effect on anticipated satisfaction with healthy dining options when consumers’ choice is unconstrained (vs. constrained). These results indicate that restaurants offering healthy foods can inadvertently lose their status-signaling value by limiting consumers’ freedom of choice. This research adds to the hospitality literature by illuminating an unexamined facilitator of healthy dining: need for status. It also extends the literature by demonstrating that consumers may derive status-signaling value not only from luxury goods but also from more mundane hospitality experiences. Additional theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

DINESERV along with fuzzy hierarchical TOPSIS to support the best practices observation and service quality improvement in the restaurant context

The present work proposes a new Multi-Criteria-Decision-Analysis (MCDA)-based approach integrating the DINESERV model along with the hierarchical TOPSIS method as measurement tool for evaluating quality in the restaurant services context. More in detail, on the basis of the DINESERV theoretical framework of the restaurant service quality, hierarchical TOPSIS is applied to compare quality of restaurant services. Actually, due to the prioritization process of hierarchical TOPSIS, investigated services providers are consistently and effectively assessed against criteria and sub-criteria of DINESERV, so allowing the identification of both best practices and weaknesses of delivered services to be addressed. Moreover, the approach also comprises features of the fuzzy set theory to handle the possible vagueness, subjectivity and uncertainty of involved experts in the evaluation process. The developed case study allows to practitioners and researchers to better understand from a practical perspective the proposed approach. In particular, it is considered with reference to the three major restaurants of the University of Palermo, showing the applicability of the approach and that obtained results can constitute a significant driver in pursuing focused service quality improvements in the investigated context.

How well does advertising work on restaurant performance? A dynamic and quadratic approach

This study investigated the dynamic and quadratic relationships between advertising and restaurant performance. For this investigation, three stage least squares estimation was adopted to analyze the advertising effects of 137 U.S. public restaurant firms from 1991 to 2016. Stock value, sales, and profitability were used as measures of restaurant performance. The findings showed the quadratic effect of advertising spending on all three performance measures, indicating that advertising effects change according to the level of firms’ advertising spending. The effect of sales and profitability on advertising spending was also significant, which supports their dynamic relationships in the restaurant context. Restaurant managers are advised to plan their advertising budget by taking into account their different performance goals and changing advertising effectiveness.

“When you write review” matters

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how prior reviews posted by other consumers affect subsequent consumers’ evaluations and to what extent the review temporal distance can increase or reduce the social influence of prior reviews. In this study’s restaurant context, review temporal distance refers to the duration between dining time and review time of a dining experience.Design/methodology/approachThe data of paired online restaurant reservations and reviews are analyzed using Ordered Logit Model. Two robustness checks are conducted to test the stability of the main estimation results.FindingsThe empirical results demonstrate that consumers’ restaurant evaluation is socially influenced by both the prior average review rating and number of prior reviews; review temporal distance has a direct negative effect on consumers’ restaurant evaluation; and review temporal distance increases the social influence of prior reviews.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that online review matters. Both restaurants and the online review platforms should encourage consumers to share their experiences and post online reviews immediately after their consumption.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature on electronic word-of-mouth, social influence and psychological distance. First, the bi-directional nature of social influence on electronic word-of-mouth for experience-oriented product is documented. Second, for the first time, this study examines how review temporal distance could affect the social influence on consumers’ restaurant evaluation.

Perceived quality, authenticity, and price in tourists’ dining experiences: Testing competing models of satisfaction and behavioral intentions

This study examines tourists’ dining experiences and tests competing models of predictors of satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Specifically, we examine the influence of service quality, quality of environment, food quality, price fairness, authenticity, and tourist satisfaction on behavioral intentions. Within the context of mountain hut casual ethnic restaurants and a survey of 304 respondent tourists, we apply partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test both the baseline and the competing, hierarchical latent model. First, results for the baseline model show that satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between the various quality attributes and behavioral intentions. Second, results from the competing model confirm that food quality, service quality, and quality of environment form a second-order construct of perceived quality. Third, results reveal that service quality, quality of the environment, and food quality are best represented as a second-order construct in modeling predictors to evaluate the tourism dining experiences relative to tourist satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Fourth, we show that authenticity is a stronger predictor of satisfaction than price fairness and service quality.

Does franchising reduce geographically diversified restaurant firms’ risk?

PurposeThis study aims to examine how geographic diversification affects firms’ risk by introducing the franchising strategy as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe panel regression analysis was conducted with a sample of US restaurant firms. Specifically, a two-way random (or fixed) effects model clustered by firm was used to test hypotheses.FindingsFindings show that geographic diversification does not significantly affect restaurant firms’ risk. However, franchising aggravates the negative effect of geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk, which contradicts the traditional theories of franchising.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are expected to contribute to the diversification literature in the hospitality management by providing in-depth evidence for the effects of geographic diversification strategies on firms’ risk. Specifically, the study provides relevant theories for explaining the effect of geographic diversification in the restaurant context by examining franchising, a prominent strategy in the restaurant industry.Practical implicationsThe results encourage restaurant firms to improve their managerial capability to react to changes in a geographically wider scope of markets and develop franchising contracts specifically to prevent misbehavior and moral hazard on the part of franchisees.Originality/valueConsidering the lack of research on the effect of geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk, this study examines not only the link between geographic diversification and firms’ risk but also a contingent factor, franchising.

Millennial Experience with Online Food Home Delivery: A Lesson from Indonesia

Aim/Purpose: To examine millennial satisfaction towards online food delivery services, including e-service quality, food quality, and perceived value as the determinants and behavioral intention as the consequence. Background: Among the generational cohorts, millennials are a demanding target group for many retailers, including restaurants. Despite many studies examining millennial behavior in the restaurant context, almost no research on millennial attitudes and behavior in the context of online food home delivery service can be found. Methodology: For this research, 332 millennials completed a self-administered survey in Indonesia. To assess the associations between satisfaction and its determinants and consequences, this study employs Partial Least Square modeling. Contribution: This research extends existing knowledge of millennial satisfaction toward online food delivery service by highlighting that food quality, e-service quality and perceived value are the main determinants of satisfaction for online food purchasing among millennials. Further, this study offers support for the spillover theory in the online food home delivery service from millennial perspective. Findings: This study uncovers the important direct dual influences of e-service quality and food quality on millennial satisfaction with online food delivery services. Further, this study notes that e-service and food quality also have an indirect influence on satisfaction via perceived value. Moreover, satisfied millennial customers are more likely to re-purchase, recommend to others, and re-purchase at an increased price. Recommendations for Practitioners: For small and medium restaurants, it is suggested that they need to focus solely on their core business of providing food. If they want to offer an e-service, they should develop strategic cooperation with one or more online service providers. Recommendation for Researchers: Millennials tend to repurchase, recommend, and be willing to pay more in the future extends the existing models that look at the associations among quality, satisfaction and behavioral intention. Thus, in online restaurant purchasing services, both e-service quality and food quality should be included in the future research models. Impact on Society: This study could help restaurant industries to increase their business performance and, indirectly, impact on society as a whole by providing high quality food, employment opportunities, and tax revenues. Future Research: Future researchers can reassess the model in different countries and/or with other generation cohorts as well as including other variables such as trust, image, involvement, as well as socio-demographic factors.

Antecedents and consequences of perceived customer value in the restaurant industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of perceived customer value, such as the perceived quality and perceived sacrifices, and the effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (CL) in the restaurant industry.Design/methodology/approachBased on an extensive literature review, a research model and questionnaire were designed. To assess the hypothesised relationships, data were collected in a field survey. Partial least squares regression (a variance-based regression analysis of SEM) was selected to analyse the relationships within the research model.FindingsThe findings of this study indicate that the perceived monetary sacrifice (PMS) and perceived service quality were found to be antecedents of perceived value (PV), whereas PMS was the major precursor of PV. Further, PV was found to have a substantial influence on customer satisfaction and CL.Originality/valueThe study provides a better understanding of the price–value–satisfaction–loyalty relationships in the restaurant context in a more holistic sense and recommendations to move this research stream forward.

Hospitality servicescape effects on customer-employee interactions: A multilevel study

Servicescapes are the manmade environments where hospitality activities, such as dining and lodging, occur. For more than two decades tourism and hospitality research has sought to understand the impact of hospitality servicescapes, primarily on hospitality customers and, to a lesser degree, on hospitality customer-contact employees. So far no empirical study has investigated, however, how servicescapes affect the interactions of customers with employees; there is therefore no empirical evidence that hospitality servicescapes can contribute to mutually satisfying encounters between customers and employees. We explore this question within the context of full-service restaurants by measuring the perceptions and attitudes of both customers and the waiters/waitresses who served them within the same restaurant servicescape. Results from our multilevel analytical approach demonstrate that servicescapes significantly and systematically affect interactions between restaurant customers and the waiters/waitresses interacted with them. The implications of these findings for theory and practice within tourism and hospitality are discussed.

Why Do People Leave? a Study Of Nonsupervisory Restaurant Employees’ Polychronic Time Use Preference and Turnover Intention

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to present a comprehensive view on the associations among polychronicity, job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention within a restaurant context. Using a sample of 252 servers in full-service restaurants, structural equation modeling results found that polychronicity positively linked with job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention. An indirect effect from polychronicity to job satisfaction to turnover intention was found. Results can assist restaurant managers in selecting candidates that best fit their organization. It will also assist employees in determining which career path best matches their personality traits.

CUSTOMERS’ PERCEIVED FAIRNESS; FAST FOOD CHAIN RESTAURANTS IN INDONESIA

This study aims to investigate interrelationships among perceived service fairness, emotions, and behavioral intentions in a fast food chain restaurant context. we use terms that are commonly use on the study of fairness or justice perception. This study uses purposive sampling and the survey method to generate our sample which consists of 800 respondents from big cities in Indonesia, namely: Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, and Makassar. The data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show different roles for each fairness perception in relation to peoples’ emotions and behavioral intentions, based on the Mehrabian-Russel model. Three fairness variables (price fairness, outcome fairness and interactional fairness) have positive and significant effects on customers’ positive emotions, while, procedural fairness does not influence the formation of a positive emotion. Furthermore, a positive emotion has a positive influence on a customer’s behavioral intention. Data collected in this study are limited to the context of the restaurant industry, therefore, precaution must be taken when generalizing these results to other industries. The results of this study can serve as guidelines for managers in the restaurant industry to develop effective and efficient strategies for ensuring their services’ perceived fairness and its impact on both customers’ retention rates and the companies’ financial gains.

Cooking with the Unfamiliar: Resources for Improvisation

This paper investigates the types of resources actors draw from when improvising in the face of unfamiliar settings. Using the empirical context of underground restaurants – episodic dining establishments that occur in a variety of unexpected locations and must regularly improvise to problem solve emergent crises – I draw from ethnographic observations and interviews with organizers to demonstrate that three interlinked resources support improvisation: affective, material, and cognitive. Whereas previous work has focused substantially on the cognitive resources of individual improvisers, the findings presented here contribute to scholarship by highlighting other potentially valuable resources, notably material and affective resources, that actors draw from to improvise. In addition to a stockpile of knowledge and intuition, this paper shows that improvisation also relies on physical means – the raw materials to enable spontaneous action – and the emotional desire, motivations, and understanding to do so. ...

When organic food choices shape subsequent food choices: The interplay of gender and health consciousness

In response to the increasing demand for organic food, restaurants have begun to add such options to their menus. To illuminate the impact of organic food choices in a restaurant context, this research examines the joint effect of an initial organic food choice, gender and health consciousness on subsequent food choices (healthy vs. unhealthy). The findings suggest that males with low levels of health consciousness are more likely to choose unhealthy options when their initial choice is organic (vs. conventional). Such a tendency is attenuated among males with high levels of health consciousness. Conversely, females with low (vs. high) levels of health consciousness are more likely to choose unhealthy options regardless of their initial choice. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

State-of-the-art social customer relationship management

ABSTRACTThe rise of social media challenges the traditional notion of customer relationship management (CRM) and has led to the emergence of social CRM. This study collected and content-analyzed recent literature along the intersection between social media and CRM, to present an overview of the social CRM research in tourism and hospitality. Findings indicate that most studies focus on the context of hotel and restaurant. These studies lack a solid theoretical underpinning and tend to adopt qualitative research methods. Five research themes are identified from supply-focused research, while two themes are observed from demand-focused research. Overall, uneven attention has been paid by researchers in the field, with more emphasis on supply than on demand sides. According to the findings of the literature review, a conceptual framework and a research agenda are presented. Theoretical and practical implications to the tourism and hospitality industry are also discussed.

Does Motivators Determine Employees’ Job Satisfaction? Testing Herzberg Theory of Motivation in Indonesian Café and Restaurant Context

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The role of authenticity in mainstream ethnic restaurants

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effects of perceived authenticity at an independent, full-service mainstream ethnic restaurant and the moderating effects of diners’ cultural familiarity and cultural motivation on the influence of perceived authenticity on perceived value and behavioral intention.Design/methodology/approachA total of 417 self-administered questionnaires were collected from customers of an independent, full-service Italian restaurant in southeastern USA. The data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.FindingsRestaurant authenticity has a positive influence on perceived value. Respondents who are more familiar with and interested in Italian culture and food tend to attach more value to the restaurant authenticity. Respondents tend to use authenticity to convey quality judgment of the restaurant.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, this study advances previous literature on dining authenticity by incorporating cultural familiarity and cultural motivation. Second, this study extends the theoretical framework of perceived quality of ethnic restaurants by connecting authenticity perceptions and quality assessment.Practical implicationsResults suggest that the managers at independent, full-service mainstream ethnic restaurants should focus on the restaurants’ environment and atmospheric authenticity, especially for customers who possess cultural familiarity and cultural motivation, while also ensuring the quality of food and service.Originality/valueThis study makes an initial attempt at studying the role of authenticity in a mainstream ethnic restaurant context and adds to the knowledge of restaurant authenticity from the perspectives of cultural familiarity, cultural motivation and perceived quality.

Contingent effects of close relationships with suppliers upon independent restaurant product development: A social capital perspective

Despite recommendations that the restaurant industry more readily engage suppliers within their operations in order to expand capabilities, associations with restaurant business performance and supplier relationships remain unexplored in today’s current restaurant literature. This study assessed restaurant-supplier relationships from the social capital perspective and evaluated roles social capital played in product enhancement and new product development within the independent restaurant context. Results demonstrated that independent restaurant product enhancement was positively and linearly associated with social capital derived from restaurant-supplier relationships. Results also found that building social capital within restaurant-supplier relationships positively influenced new product development, but when taken to an extreme, it exhibited a negative association through an inverted curvilinear effect. Results provide new insights for future research and practice regarding independent restaurant supply management practices.