Restaurant Customers Research Articles

Do stress and anxiety influence users' intention to make restaurant reservations through mobile apps?

Today, people live in the age of new diseases, such as stress and anxiety, and these diseases can affect users’ decision making regarding different products and services. Another important variable that can affect decision making is the use of mobile applications for marketing purposes. However, despite the importance of the aforementioned factors, relevant academic research on the impact of these variables on decision making has been scarce. The present study fills this gap in the literature using the technology acceptance model and integrating stress and anxiety variables. To this end, a sample of 672 customers of Spanish restaurants is analyzed. After carrying out a descriptive analysis of the sample and the variables, the structural equation model is used. In particular, the partial least squares model is used to test the hypotheses. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the results of the present study contribute to previous research on stress and anxiety, along with technology acceptance model variables, on decision making. In particular, the results have shown that there is no direct relationship between stress and perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, and attitude towards using. Although the relationship between stress and anxiety, perceived usefulness and attitude towards using, perceived usefulness and stress, and other relationships raised in the hypotheses have been confirmed.

Electronic Consumer-to-Consumer Interaction (eCCI) Post a Service Failure: The Psychological Power of Need for Approval

The prevalence of eCCI (electronic customer-to-customer interaction) is rapidly growing as customers increasingly employ online tools to reach fellow customers and voice their opinions, especially after service failures. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, this research examines the impact of eCCI on restaurant customers, considering their need for approval. A total of 201 responses were obtained for the main experiment (Study 1). Results indicated that people with a lower need for approval reported greater social media engagement, customer-customer interaction justice, and empathy quality in the condition of positive eCCI. People with a higher need for approval exhibited similar responses on all dependent variables, regardless of the eCCI condition. The results remained stable across different restaurants’ response strategies (Study 2). This paper examines the novel eCCI phenomenon and adds a new twist to the literature on CCI and customer reviews. It further offers valuable guidelines for managerial involvement in digital customer service encounters.

The role of customer orientation in creating customer value in fast-food restaurants

PurposeScholars and professionals are interested in studying customer value in fast-food restaurants. Previous research on the customer value of fast-food restaurants mainly measured the dimensions and relationships of the customer value. However, the research has not examined a method for identifying sources of customer value in fast-food restaurants. Therefore, this study used customer orientation to find customer needs and generate customer value in fast-food restaurants.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents a conceptual framework with six constructs. A questionnaire was used to gather empirical data from fast-food restaurant customers in Greater Cairo, Egypt. The suggested framework was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis, reliability and validity analysis, standardized path coefficients and regression-based moderation analysis.FindingsThis study found that proactive customer orientation has a substantial direct and positive impact on customer perceived value. Customer perceived value is also positively influenced by responsive and proactive customer orientations, with customer desired value change intensity acting as a moderator. Customer perceived value substantially impacts customer satisfaction, and the latter substantially affects behavioural intention.Practical implicationsThis study offers several suggestions for managers of fast-food restaurants on how to employ customer orientation to find current, latent and future customer desires to provide customer value.Originality/valueThis is the first research in the hospitality industry to demonstrate how responsive and proactive customer orientation may be used to recognize customer needs and provide the desired customer value.

Building restaurant customers’ technology readiness through robot-assisted experiences at multiple product levels

The growing popularity of robot-related research contexts in hospitality and tourism calls for in-depth analysis of how different product/service designs strategies integrating robots may influence customers' experiences. Employing a scenario-based 2 × 2 × 2 experimental research design, this study assesses service robots applied at three different product/service levels (i.e., core, facilitating, and augmented). From surveying 378 customers of mid-priced casual restaurants and 312 tourists of a mid-priced theme park restaurant, findings of the study suggest that using robots at all three product/service levels lead to a more positive educational experience but not entertainment experience. The study further extends the literature by positioning dining at a robotic restaurant as an important occasion to showcase the latest technologies to customers. By providing memorable entertainment and educational experiences, customers’ technology readiness could be enhanced, making them more willing to try new technologies. Such a focus brings in unique contributions both in literature and practice.

The “Ethnic” Restaurant:Migration, Ethnicity, and Food Authenticity in Shanghai

Based on fieldwork at Xinjiang restaurants in Shanghai, this paper focuses on the social mechanism of the negotiation of food authenticity. Centring on how factors such as capital, ethnicity, and locality play out in defining and contesting the authenticity of “ethnic cuisine,” this research locates the rising Xinjiang food market in a broader context of migration, globalisation, and consumerism, and analyses an array of competing definitions about authenticity among the restaurant management, employees, and customers at the sites of production, presentation, and consumption. The trajectory of Xinjiang restaurants manifests the reproduction and transformation of cultural representations into potential economic value and unveils how conceptualisations of locality and ethnicity take on particular market‐driven forms. The contested claims over authentic Xinjiang food and the creation of authenticity in restaurants echo local people’s imagination about Xinjiang, ethnic identity politics in China and the development of the market economy in relation to migration.

Perceived customer journey innovativeness and customer satisfaction: a mixed-method approach.

This research aims to understand the link between perceived innovativeness and customer satisfaction in the fine-dining catering segment. By employing a mixed-method approach, this paper proposes a multidimensional framework for measuring the perceived innovativeness of restaurants throughout the entire customer journey. Customer satisfaction was measured by considering online customer-generated data from TripAdvisor. The study not only finds a strong correlation between perceived innovativeness and customer satisfaction but also presents how fine-dining restaurants can employ user-generated data to co-innovate entire customer journeys and restaurant experiences. The results highlight menu-, service-, and customer experience-related innovativeness as the three most important criteria for fine-dining restaurant customers. Additionally, the results of the qualitative study indicate that in the context of fine-dining catering, the quality of the dishes, the service, and the customers' experience with the service staff and chefs are the main elements of satisfaction that restaurants should consider in promoting innovation.

Service Value and Repurchase Intention in the Egyptian Fast-Food Restaurants: Toward a New Measurement Model.

Service value is a crucial dominant indicator in customer decision-making. However, there is a lack of hospitality literature that investigates the multi-dimensional service value in emerging markets. Thus, this study aims to create a multi-dimensional scale for service value and to analyze how different service value dimensions affect customers repurchase intentions at fast-food restaurants. We make a conceptual framework with eight constructs, including service value and repurchase intention. A self-administrated questionnaire is used to gather empirical data from fast-food restaurant customers in Egypt. We employ confirmatory factor analysis to extract the model's reliability and validity. Moreover, we use a structural equation model to extract the model regressions and correlations using AMOS software. We find that each of the eight proposed service value variables impacts fast-food restaurant customers' repurchase intention. However, the factors that strongly influence customers' preferences to make more purchases are service equity, confidence benefits, service quality, and service reputation. We contribute to the literature on hospitality customer value and repurchasing intentions by presenting a comprehensive multi-dimensional service value framework that affects customers' repurchase intentions in fast-food restaurants. Practically, eight service value variables can help managers of fast-food restaurants meet customer needs and gain a competitive advantage. We suggest many crucial recommendations to restaurant managers regarding the priority of the service value constructs. For example, managers should consider service equity, service quality, and service reputations as a priority of the restaurant service value.

The Intelligent Robot for Serving Food

All over the world, robotics technology is rapidly replacing manuals of work. Customers in traditional cafes, restaurants, and hotels are facing a variety of problems due to crowding during peak hours, lack of waiters, manual order processing, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to discuss where a waiter robot can be designed and developed that can be used for restaurant automation. Where we rely on a robot to address these defects using black tracking plans, where the bot can track the movement of the black line of the tables, and then the bot reaches the table to place orders, where the customer presses the order through the center. The program is through a bank machine, and a tablet is placed on each table. The program is installed in it to choose the order, and after selecting the order by the customer, this is on the part of the customer upon request. After the request, a lamp lights near the cashier with a table that wants a specific service, and this is according to the existing lamp counter where there is a board near the cashier in which foods and juices are placed and it consists of (1-8) A lamp and a list of foods or juices are indexed by each one separately, and the service will be transferred via the smart car according to the requests requested by the customer. Thus, this paper presents a method to protect people from this virus and not transmit it to others, and the paper suggested was programmed according to the Arduino environment and the Bluetooth module.

Understanding restaurant users’ attitudes towards self-service ordering via kiosks during the COVID-19 pandemic: An application of the theory of anxiety

This study aims to prepare a comprehensive self-service technology model that incorporates the hygiene and health issues throughout the restaurant industry amid pandemics. To this end, this study explores psychological responses to the environmental threat caused by COVID-19, which impacts attitudes toward self-service kiosks in the restaurant industry in terms of the theory of anxiety. This study utilizes a mixed-method sequential exploratory design. The qualitative phase found four psychological attributes associated with respondents’ attitudes towards kiosks: anxiety towards COVID-19, timidity, perceived control, and intolerance for tardy service. Among the psychological attribute factors, anxiety towards COVID-19 was identified as the strongest predictor of customers’ attitudes towards kiosks in the quantitative phase. This study attests that the anxiety mechanism works in explaining restaurant customers’ attitudes towards kiosks in the restaurant industry. The comprehensive research model explains in a timely manner the value of kiosk service in rapid social and market changes.

Организация общественного питания как фактор конкурентоспособности гостиничных комплексов

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that in the context of the development of the regions of the country, the tourism and hotel business contributes to the activation of the national economy. The provision of hospitality services stimulates the creation of additional direct and indirect jobs, increasing the tourist attractiveness of the destination, intensifying incoming tourist and, accordingly, financial traffic. With the evolution of society, technical and technological progress, informatization and other ongoing processes, the requests and needs of the guests of collective accommodation facilities have changed significantly. In this regard, the service in the restaurant at the hotel comes to the fore and in terms of its quality, based on consumer assessments and judgments, guests and visitors actively form a subjective opinion in relation to the entire hotel complex, which, to a large extent, has a multidirectional impact on the results of commercial and financial activities, service market entity. This circumstance predetermines the need to revise the conceptual approaches of hotels to the organization of restaurant service and customer service in the system of relations “hotel – restaurant – guest”. The purpose of the study is to review, generalize and supplement the existing theoretical approaches to the organization of catering for tourists in hotel complexes and to conduct a comparative assessment of restaurants at hotels (on the example of Novosibirsk) to identify some advantages and disadvantages in their work for compiling a rating. In the process of research, general scientific methods of theoretical and empirical knowledge were used: analysis and synthesis, the method of comparative assessments, ranking (rating). In the study, the authors summarize theoretical approaches to the organization of public catering at hotels in order to form a holistic view and clarify its role in the modern tourism and hotel business, taking into account the transformation of consumer preferences and the existing competition in the service market. A review of approaches to the definition of the concept of “public catering” is carried out, the features of consumer behavior are determined when tourists choose food at the hotel, the logistics component of the hotel business is concretized and substantiated, in the context of the latest consumer requests, the principles of effective restaurant design are presented and supplemented as a response of hoteliers to modern challenges, are noted aspects of customer perception of the quality of service in a hotel restaurant. To test and confirm the research hypothesis, a comparative assessment of public catering establishments at hotel complexes (on the example of Novosibirsk) is carried out, which allows highlighting the range of problems and positive aspects of restaurants. Based on the results of the comparative assessment, a rating of restaurants is compiled, which clearly demonstrates the current position of catering facilities in the tourism and hospitality market of the metropolis.

Does green self-identity influence the revisit intention of dissatisfied customers in green restaurants?

PurposeThe study aims to examine the customers' revisit intention toward the green restaurants after service failure based upon service failure attributions. The study further intends to investigate the moderating effect of green self-identity on customers' post-service failure behavioral intentions.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 327 participants who had experienced service failure while dining in green restaurants. The study draws upon the prevailing literature to examine the relationship among the constructs using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe findings of the study have confirmed that service failure has an adverse effect on customers' revisit intention toward the green restaurants. However, customers with green self-identity appear less anxious about service failure as findings indicate customers revisit green restaurant even after service failure.Practical implicationsThe study provides a clear indication to the managers of the green restaurants that a better understanding of service failure attributions may facilitate in preventing service failure in a prompt and reasonable manner. It will not only contribute to building the brand reputation, but also ensure that customers stay with the brand for a longer duration.Originality/valueThe study is unique in a way that it is the first of its type to establish a relationship between service failure attributions and customer satisfaction in the emerging South Asian market, such as India in the context of green restaurants. Besides, this is the only study to use green self-identity as a moderator between the relationships of customer satisfaction and revisit intention.

Predicting Customer Loyalty of Local Brand Fast-Food Restaurant in Indonesia: The Role of Restaurant Quality and Price Fairness

Recent research discusses the need for a better understanding of customer perceptions about fast-food restaurant attributes, such as qualities in influencing the process of customer satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the importance of quality in influencing loyalty in fast-food restaurants. The sample in this study is 247 respondents who have visited fast-food restaurants. Data are collected using a questionnaire survey that was done in around Bogor Raya. The analysis technique used is the Structural Equation Model with Partial Least Square. The structural equation model was applied to test 5 hypotheses. The results showed that food quality, service quality, and price fairness directly influence customer loyalty through customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, physical environment quality indirectly affects customer loyalty through customer satisfaction. This study provides a better understanding of restaurant quality, price fairness, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in fast-food restaurants. This study suggests that the quality of ethnic restaurants, such as food quality, service quality, and physical environment quality, can be valuable indicators for increasing customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and being an attractive marketing strategy for the preferences to increase customer loyalty for fast-food restaurant experiences.

Factors affecting purchase decision by applying green marketing campaign

This study aims to determine the effect of green brand image, green price, and brand prestige on purchasing decisions for AQUA Returnable Glass Bottle products. This is a quantitative study with the population of casual dining restaurant customers in Badung Regency. They have decided to purchase and consume AQUA Returnable Glass Bottle products. The data were collected by distributing questionnaires and Likert scale. The sample was taken by using a purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The result showed that partially green brand image, green price, and brand prestige have a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions. Simultaneously, green brand image, green price, and brand prestige have a significant effect on purchasing decisions. The research implication for AQUA is that it is recommended to be able to maintain the image it already has while still applying green marketing as a tool to support product-purchasing decisions. For further research, the researchers should add other variables and indicators such as green products, green advertising, lifestyle, and social influence.

Are co-created green initiatives more appealing than firm-created green initiatives? Investigating the effects of co-created green appeals on restaurant promotion

This study investigates how co-created green appeals influence restaurant customers’ green behavioral intentions. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study investigates the effect of appeal type (i.e., co-created vs. firm-created) on customers’ green behavioral intentions and the two-way interaction between appeal type and customers’ green involvement. The study also examines how customers’ perceptions of restaurants’ green reputations moderate the joint effects between appeal type and customers’ green involvement. To explain the effects of co-creation appeal, the study identified a mediator (i.e., a restaurant’s perceived green innovativeness). The results reveal significant effects of appeal type; the two-way interaction between appeal type and customers’ green involvement; and the three-way interaction among appeal type, customers’ green involvement, and restaurants’ green reputations. The mediating effect of the perceived green innovativeness of restaurants was also confirmed by the results of this study. The study offers helpful suggestions for restaurant practitioners to develop effective green marketing strategies.

The role of cooking practices in the transmission of the foodborne parasite Taenia solium: A qualitative study in an endemic area of Southern Tanzania.

The pork tapeworm Taenia solium is a zoonotic food-borne parasite endemic in many developing countries causing human cysticercosis and taeniosis as well as porcine cysticercosis. It mainly affects the health of rural smallholder pig farmers and their communities, resulting in lower health status, reduced pork quality, and economic loss due to condemnation of pigs or low pricing of pork. This qualitative study aimed to identify key food related practices linked to consumption of pork at village level, of importance for transmission of taeniosis. We used an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm in a multiple case study of exploratory qualitative research design. Data was acquired through guided and probing interviews with 64 pork cooks, and 14 direct observations in four villages in a T. solium endemic area of Mbeya Region in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The study showed that the informants were members of communities of practice through their pork cooking practices, one community of practice for the restaurant cooks and one for the home cooks, learning, sharing, and distributing their cooking skills. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the pork cooks generally had some awareness of there being something undesirable in raw pork, but they had very diverse understandings of what it was, or of its potential harm. Major potential transmission points were identified in restaurants and in home kitchens. It appears that the pork cooks act according to socio-cultural and economic factors guiding them in their actions, including pressure from customers in restaurants, the family values of tradition in the home kitchens, and the culturally guided risk perception and appraisal. These practices might generate potential transmission points. Future research on interventions aimed at preventing the spread of T. solium taeniosis should recognise the importance of tradition and culture in risky food practices.

Exploring the impact of restaurants' physical environment on kitchen employees' creativity

This study examines the effect of the physical environment on the social dynamics of employees and their perception of resource adequacy, which eventually leads to their creative performance. The subjects are kitchen employees who are regularly required to invent new dishes to offer restaurant customers so there is a sense of novelty. Data were collected from 425 kitchen employees who worked in ten Taiwanese restaurants. The study uses AMOS to perform structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The results show that the physical environment's functionality does not affect employees' social dynamics. However, spatial efficiency does. This study provides evidence that differences in the physical environment change the perceived adequacy of facilities and social dynamics and affect creativity.

Investigating the Critical Factors Effecting Customers Loyalty: An Empirical Assessment

Globally, the fast-food restaurant industry is a complex and ever-expanding business sector. Many people in Pakistan visit fast food restaurants on a regular basis. Establishing a relationship with the client and providing outstanding services are vital in the restaurant industry. This research intends to examine the factors influencing customer loyalty in fast food restaurants in Pakistan. This research used a descriptive quantitative survey approach. The sample population for this research comprised of fast-food restaurant customers. This research examined consumers of global fast-food chains (such as McDonald's and KFC), as well as local and regional fast-food chains (such as Fry Chicks and Pizza Online, etc.). The researcher collected data from 190 customers chosen in line with the item-to-rate theory. The questionnaire for this research consists of seven parts and 19 questions. The data revealed that food quality, service quality, price, and location, as well as the physical environment, had a significant direct effect on consumer satisfaction. In addition, the research revealed that customer satisfaction significantly affects customer loyalty. This study is limited to fast food customers residing in Lahore.

What Drives Customer Satisfaction? : Evidence From Customer Fast Food Restaurant Indonesia

This study aims to examine the positive effect of food quality and brand image on satisfaction and to examine the positive effect of satisfaction on word mouth. Then, tested the moderation of price fairness on the relationship between product quality and brand image and tested the moderation of price fairness on the relationship between satisfaction and word of mouth. Methods of data collection by using a questionnaire. The number of samples in this study were 260 fast food restaurant customers. Data analysis with partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that food quality and brand image had a positive effect on satisfaction, then satisfaction had a positive effect on word of mouth. Furthermore, price fairness does not moderate the relationship between product quality and satisfaction, the relationship between brand image and satisfaction, the relationship between satisfaction and word of mouth. Keywords: brand image, food quality, price, satisfaction, word of mouth

Connecting the Dots of Brand Experience and Happiness: The Mediating Role of Happiness Orientations

Purpose:Consumer research studies that have already been conducted on happiness have claimed that businesses should make their customers happier via experiences, but they have not addressed how specific brand experience elements may make customers happier. To address this gap, the main purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of brand experience on happiness via happiness orientations. Methodology:This study uses a survey as a research method. This research uses a cross-sectional time horizon design. The target audience for the study was the restaurant's customers. Data has been collected from 443 customers in different major cities of Pakistan. Findings:SEM is used for CFA and direct hypotheses testing, SEM is used. However, for mediation analysis, PROCESS micro has been used in SPSS. The result reveals that both sensory and emotional brand experience by exception has a positive effect on happiness orientations. Furthermore, happiness orientation mediates the relationship between brand experience dimensions and happiness. Conclusion:The present research found that each of the brand experience aspects had a distinct impact on happiness. It is advised that marketers concentrate on each dimension of brand experience instead of concentrating as a whole.

Service recovery efforts' influence on consumers' desire to reciprocate and forgiveness: the mediating role of perceived justice

PurposeThis paper investigated the impact of firms' service recovery efforts on consumers' desire to reciprocate and forgiveness in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. Additionally, this study examined the mediating role of perceived justice between service recovery efforts and their outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUsing snowball sampling technique, an online survey was administered and 259 responses were collected from casual-dining restaurant customers. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were used to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that perceived justice significantly mediates the effect of service recovery efforts on the consumers' desire to reciprocate and forgiveness. Moreover, high (vs. low) service recovery efforts lead to high consumer forgiveness.Practical implicationsThe study provides insights for managers into how optimal recovery efforts predict consumers' positive responses and minimize the effect of service failure in South Asian consumers.Originality/valueThis research is among the early endeavors to examine consumers' desire to reciprocate in service recovery context. Also, this is the first study to validate the impact of service recovery efforts on consumers' desire to reciprocate and consumer forgiveness in a South Asian country.