Exploring the Impacts of Service Guarantee Strategy

This study examines the impacts of service guarantee in terms of consumers' perceived purchase risks, loyalty, complaint behaviors, and intent to use “word-of-mouth” within the context of the casual dining restaurant segment. The scenario method was developed and used to test the research hypotheses. The results of the study reveal that a well-executed service guarantee could reduce consumers' perceived purchase risks, and increase a positive word-of-mouth and customer loyalty. On the other hand, it also raises consumers' intent to complain upon service failure. Furthermore, the results of the study indicate that a “specific” service guarantee is much more effective in reducing consumers' perceived purchase risks, and increasing consumers' intent to claim after a service failure as opposed to an “unconditional” service guarantee. The results of the study suggest that a service guarantee offered by independent restaurants could offer a competitive advantage over brand restaurants not offering a service guarantee.     

Willingness to Pay for Customization: The Impact of Choice Variety and Specification Assistance

Research in mass customization suggests that consumers are willing to pay more for customization, but limited studies to date have investigated product or process related factors that would affect consumers' willingness to pay for a customized product. In a foodservice context, we empirically tested the impact of choice variety and specification assistance on consumers' willingness to pay for the customized product. The study results indicate that consumers would pay more for the customized product if extensive choice variety was provided for each product component. However, specification assistance was not found to affect consumers' willingness to pay.     

The appeal of sustainability in luxury hospitality: An investigation on the role of perceived integrity

This research investigates the effect of a luxury hotel's marketing communication strategy on consumers' willingness to book a room. In particular, the article compares two types of communication message: one that mainly highlights the hotel's attention to environmental sustainability and the other that focuses on customer service. The paper tests the hypothesis that a sustainability-focused communication leads to a higher willingness to book a room (compared to the customer service-focused strategy) because it increases consumers' perceptions about the hotel's integrity. Moreover, the study proposes that consumers' dispositional environmental concern magnifies this effect. One online and one realistic field experiment provide empirical evidence for the research hypotheses. This article contributes to the literature on sustainable luxury tourism and hospitality by proposing a novel theoretical framework, grounded in perceived hotel integrity, to explain why consumers might react positively when learning that a luxury hotel is committed to sustainability.     

THE EFFECTS OF SITUATIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON CONSUMER COMPLAINT BEHAVIOR IN RESTAURANT SERVICES

This study developed and tested a model to investigate the effects of situational and individual differences on consumers' propensity to complain in a restaurant setting. A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that convenience of complaining and expectation of resultant benefits, consumers' attitude toward complaining, consumer involvement with a dining experience (e.g., dining on a special occasion and expensive food), and perceived self‐importance, are factors associated with the likelihood of engaging in complaining behavior. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results of the study are discussed in detail.     

The effect of different crisis communication channels

This study examines the effect of consumer-to-consumer crisis communication on consumers' safety perception and willingness to travel by comparing consumer-to-consumer communication with business-to-consumer crisis communication in a natural disaster context. The results reveal that consumer-to-consumer crisis communication effectively increases consumers' safety perception and willingness to travel by the equal degree as business-to-consumer communication does for groups with a high perceived risk. The findings also indicate that consumer-to-consumer crisis communication strongly affects consumers' decision-making process in a situation with a low perceived risk. This study extends knowledge of the classic crisis communication theory to a new era and practically contributes to organizations by shedding light on the effect of consumer-to-consumer crisis communication.     

Consumers' Intention to Purchase Environmentally Friendly Wines: A Segmentation Approach

There has been a remarkable increase in environmental consciousness worldwide. Consumers are beginning to change their behavior to integrate environmental considerations into lifestyle choices, such as how well products satisfy their needs and how these products affect the natural environment. In some cases, consumers have expressed a willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products. A goal of marketing is informing the public of the availability of goods and services that will advance their quality of life. However, this is true only if marketing's communication aids in informing, educating, and channeling consumers' needs toward “green” products and services. This study investigated the relationship of wine consumers' environmental knowledge, attitudes, gender, and their expressed intention to pay more for an environmentally friendly wine. The results suggest these variables could be used for segmentation and for selective marketing to reposition the product and then redirect consumers toward environmentally friendly wine purchasing.     

The impact of product placement on TV-induced tourism: Korean TV dramas and Taiwanese viewers

This study examines of the ways in which Korean TV dramas affect Taiwanese consumers’ attitudes toward the locations where the dramas are filmed (onscreen locations). Previous studies have incorporated balance theory into product–character association models and have demonstrated that consumers tend to align their attitudes toward products with the valence of a character’s attitudes toward the products. Unlike previous studies, this article attempts to investigate the product–character association model in a cross-cultural setting where the ‘products’ considered are the onscreen locations. To account for the effect of similarity between Taiwanese culture and Korean culture, the concept of perceived cultural proximity is introduced into the balance-theory-based model. The results show that consumers’ parasocial relationships with a character and consumers’ attitudes toward the character are related to their attitudes toward the location. However, this relationship is significant only for those viewers with high perceived cultural proximity between Taiwan and Korea.     

Restaurants and COVID-19: What are consumers’ risk perceptions about restaurant food and its packaging during the pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent U.S. in-restaurant dining restrictions deleteriously affected the restaurant industry. While dining restrictions were adopted to prevent human contact, evidence suggests that consumers may mistakenly perceive that restaurant "food" and its "packaging" are risky sources of COVID-19. To explore consumers' COVID-19 risk perceptions about food itself, restaurant food specifically, and restaurant food packaging, this study collected nationwide U.S. consumer survey data (n = 958) using an online consumer panel. Findings showed that: (1) consumers were less concerned about contracting COVID-19 from food in general than restaurant food and its packaging, with consumer restaurant concern highest for food served in restaurants, and lowest for hot/cooked restaurant food followed by restaurant food from carry-out; and (2) the risk perceptions of consumers varied with financial concern for food, gender, and being in a high-risk category of COVID-19. Implications for researchers, restauranteurs, government, and food safety professionals are discussed.     

Menu engineering re-engineered: Accounting for menu item substitutes in pricing and menu placement decisions

Menu engineering is a popular technique deployed by restaurant operators to assess menu item popularity and profitability, and guide key decisions including menu item pricing, sell strategies, and menu design. While traditional menu engineering models have been criticized for their underlying assumption of menu item interdependency, there has been little focus in the literature on addressing this shortcoming. In this paper, we address one type of interdependency, menu item substitution. We propose a holistic 5-stage approach to menu item pricing and menu placement that leverages own- and cross-pricing elasticity data to account for within-category substitutes. We present a field experiment, using two years of data from 48 outlets within a U.S. steakhouse restaurant chain, to demonstrate how this approach can be applied in a restaurant setting. We also provide empirical support for the positive net revenue effects of menu item pricing, and menu placement, decisions that account for within-category substitutes.     

The Antecedents and Consequences of Travelers' Need for Uniqueness: An Empirical Study of Restaurant Experiences

Dining out at a restaurant is one of the most important parts of travelers' tourism experience. The purpose of this research was to examine the antecedents and consequences of travelers' need for uniqueness (CNFU) in their restaurant experiences. Based on a literature review, three theoretical antecedents (perceived firm innovativeness (PFI), perceived firm uniqueness, and brand prestige) and three theoretical consequences (utilitarian value, hedonic value, and behavioral intentions) were proposed. During this process, it was theorized that consumers' uniqueness-seeking behaviors can be strengthened and/or weakened by three psychological moderators: attention to social comparison information (ATSCI), face consciousness, and materialism. By integrating the theoretical arguments, a structural model was proposed. The proposed model was tested using data collected from 379 travelers who had dined out at a luxury restaurant in the past three months. According to the data analysis results, PFI, perceived firm uniqueness, and brand prestige were all confirmed to be important factors in enhancing CNFU. Furthermore, it was determined that CNFU bears a positive impact on behavioral intentions, an impact that is mediated by perceived value. Lastly, the moderating roles of ATSCI and materialism were found to be significant. In the latter part of this research, managerial implications derived from the data analysis results are discussed.     

Restaurant revenue management: Do perceived capacity scarcity and price differences matter?

Revenue management (RM) has become an indispensable strategic tool in capacity-constrained service industries whose total revenue often depends on the abilities of firms to use capacity efficiently. The restaurant business is similar enough to traditional RM industries such as hotels and airlines, but restaurants also have unique characteristics that pose special challenges to restaurant operators. Among the unique characteristics of restaurants are the relative flexibility of service capacity and the flexible duration of a meal, which are important subjects to be considered in the implementation of RM practices. In addition, when a restaurant operator practices a demand-based variable pricing policy to adjust demand, the magnitude of the price differences may influence fairness perceptions of the policy. Based on the commodity theory and the equity theory, this study hypothesizes that two main effects, namely, perceived scarcity of capacity in a restaurant and price differences, influence the perceived value of a restaurant's offerings and the fairness perceptions of a restaurant's RM practices. As hypothesized, the negative effects of price difference on fairness perceptions are supported by the results. However, findings suggest that perceived scarcity of capacity influences neither the perceived value of a restaurant's expected offering nor the fairness perceptions for a restaurant's RM practices.     

Speaking of allergies: Communication challenges for restaurant staff and customers

Managing customer allergies is an essential job task for restaurant workers. The present study catalogs common work features and challenges involved in the verbal communication of food allergies. Allergy communication is approached as a form of risk communication occurring within a socio-technical work system. Critical incidents and qualitative surveys of restaurant staff (n = 138; 3400 statements), along with qualitative surveys of customers with allergies (n = 61; 795 statements), are subject to thematic analysis to examine those practices most likely to improve customer safety and subjective experience. Key findings suggest improved outcomes when staff prompt customers to disclose their allergies at first contact, when fewer staff are involved in allergy communication and management, and when double-checking/check-ins are integrated throughout the communication process. These can serve as provisional best practice recommendations, and should be studied more thoroughly in combination with written communication strategies, restaurant resources, and environmental demands.     

When rich pictorial information backfires: The interactive effects of pictures and psychological distance on evaluations of tourism products

Using data from five studies (i.e., a pilot study and four experiments), we examine the interactive effects of pictures and psychological proximity on consumers' evaluation of tourism products. The extant literature has suggested that providing rich pictorial information or construing a psychologically proximal tourism product can independently increase consumers’ generation of mental images and render a positive attitudinal judgment. However, our findings on the effectiveness of these two strategies in combination are mixed. Specifically, we find that if the tourism product is a psychologically distal one, consumers evaluate it more favorably when rich pictorial information is provided than when the information is not available. If the product is a psychologically proximal one, the reverse is true. Our findings, therefore, suggest an important situation that might be intriguing to both tourism product managers and advertisers --when rich pictorial information backfires.     

Entrepreneurial motives and characteristics: An analysis of small restaurant owners

The purpose of this study was to gain information about the characteristics of small restaurant owners in China. The data for the study were hand-collected by survey questionnaires in four cities across three provinces in China. We found three main results. First, small restaurant entrepreneurs were characterized by one of three distinct motives in that they were autonomy seekers, family protectors, or profit seekers. Second, their funding sources were predominantly private rather than institutional. And third, the entrepreneurial business was the main source of the family's income. These findings have implications for development programs, financing, and education in developing China's restaurant industry. This study appears to be the first to investigate empirically entrepreneurial activity among small business owners in the Chinese restaurant industry.     

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.     

The windfall gain effect: Using a surprise discount to stimulate add-on purchases

How can the business maximize revenue while providing discounts? This research suggests that hospitality operators may stimulate add-on purchases with the adoption of surprise discounts. Two experiments investigated factors that influence hospitality consumers’ ancillary spending. Study 1 tested the discount and product type effects on additional spending intentions for a cruise booking. Study 2 identified how the depth of surprise discount and add-on product type influence consumers' add-on purchase decisions for an online hotel booking. The findings indicate that a surprise discount and hedonic items induce consumers' unplanned purchases. A hedonic add-on item is preferred over a utilitarian item when a low discount is offered. Impulse buying mediates the effect of surprise discount and product type on unplanned purchase intentions. This research extends the traditional discount role, by demonstrating that a discount promotion can induce consumers' additional purchases. The findings provide guidance for effective pricing strategies and add-on marketing mix.     

A STUDY OF PERCEIVED RISK AND RISK REDUCTION OF PURCHASING AIR‐TICKETS ONLINE

The concept of perceived risk explains consumers' purchasing behavior that involves risk with unanticipated or uncertain consequences. Using perceived risk theory, this study explored customers' risk perceptions regarding online air‐ticket purchases. This study discovered that security risk was the most important predictor to overall risk regarding online air‐ticket purchases. In addition, nonpurchasers perceived a higher risk than online purchasers, in terms of performance, security, financial, psychological, and time risks. Regarding risk‐reduction strategies, shopping around over the web was more important to online purchasers than to non‐purchasers. In addition, reputation of web vendor, well‐known brand, symbol of security approval, and recommendation of family and friends were perceived as preferred risk‐reduction strategies when making online air‐ticket purchases. Further, this study's results revealed that respondents' perceived risks of online air‐ticket purchases differed according to demographic characteristics. The implications of the research findings for online marketing activities are discussed.     

Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Restaurant Employees

Abstract

With the cost of litigation and the dollar amount of settlements both increasing substantially, it is with a pro-active view to look at the perspective of sexual harassment by restaurant employees. The purpose of this study is to measure female restaurant employees' and male restaurant employees' perceptions and attitudes on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. By analyzing the responses of the female restaurant employees and male restaurant employees, a better understanding of the similarities and differences among these two distinct employee segments could be obtained. This research paper will try to provide some useful information when it comes to sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and what policies should be implemented.     

Differences in Tourism Marketing Strategies Between Wineries Based on Size or Location

While the number of United States wineries has doubled and wine production tripled, only three states represent the majority of wineries and wine production. Yet, small wineries must contend with similar production issues that larger wineries face: cultivation of grapes, fermentation of juice, and finally bottling of the product.By comparison small wineries face an even tougher challenge—attracting consumers' attention to their products, much of which must be sold directly to consumers at the winery. These cellar door sales account for substantial dollar and case volume and are particularly lucrative.This study examined the relationship in off‐site and on‐site marketing strategies based upon winery size and location. The results indicated differences in tourism marketing strategies particularly with wine education at rural wineries and food/wine pairing techniques at larger wineries.     

Effects of restaurant franchising: Does an optimal franchise proportion exist?

Franchising has significantly affected the US economy, contributing to a rapid growth of its retail sales. To identify whether franchising influences a restaurant firm's financial performance, this study investigated (1) the profitability and intangible values of both franchise and non-franchise restaurant firms and (2) the effect of the combination of franchised and company-owned outlets of restaurant firms (i.e., franchise proportion). The results of this study showed that (1) franchise firms had significantly higher profitability than non-franchise firms and (2) the relationships between franchise proportion and firm profitability and intangible value were curvilinear (inverted U-shape), verifying the existence of an optimal franchise proportion. The results propose a possibility that restaurant franchisors could maximize their profitability and intangible value with an optimal franchise proportion when other variables held constant, implying that it is important to pay attention to the franchise proportion together with other management strategies.