How Customer Personality Traits Influence Brand Loyalty in the Coffee Shop Industry: The Moderating Role of Business Types

This study examines how perceptions associated with customer personality traits can affect customer satisfaction, customer brand identification (CBI), and involvement as well as the development of brand loyalty. Social identity theory was applied to explain these effects as it relates to coffee shop businesses and further investigate relationships between customers and a brand. The verified model with a survey sample of 743 customers confirmed that customer personality traits had significant effects on customer satisfaction and CBI. Customer satisfaction had positive effects on CBI, involvement, and brand loyalty. CBI had significant influences on involvement and brand loyalty. Involvement was, in turn, positively associated with brand loyalty. In addition, the relationships between these variables were moderated by business type (i.e., independent coffee shop vs. franchise coffee shop).     

Empirical verification of a conceptual model of local food consumption at a tourist destination

This study empirically tests a conceptual model of local food consumption proposed by Kim et al. (2009) and examines relationships among the key factors found in the model. This study quantitatively identified factors affecting local food consumption: five motivations (cultural experience, interpersonal relationship, excitement, health concern, and sensory appeal); food-related personality traits (food neophobia and food involvement); and ‘demographic factors’ (i.e., gender, age, and annual income) and their relationships. This study showed that demographic variables (gender and age) were related to some motivational factors and significant differences in the FNG associated with gender, age and income.     

Effects of service quality and food quality: The moderating role of atmospherics in an ethnic restaurant segment

This study empirically examined not only the relationship between perceived quality and satisfaction/loyalty, but also the role of customer perceptions of atmospherics in an ethnic restaurant segment. Specifically, this study, using hierarchical regression analyses, investigated the direct effects of service quality and food quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as the moderating effect of the perception of atmospherics, in Korean restaurants. As expected, this study showed that service and food quality have positive and significant effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This suggested that, similar to other restaurant segments, employee service and food are of great importance for ethnic restaurants as well. Verifying the moderating role of atmospherics, however, this study found that good employee service can be more effective for increasing the satisfaction and loyalty of customers with a low perception of the atmospherics compared to those with a higher perception. Further, providing quality food is particularly critical for creating customer satisfaction in ethnic restaurants where atmospherics are not satisfactory. More detailed findings and implications are also discussed.     

Why do satisfied customers switch? Focus on the restaurant patron variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement

Company efforts to make customers switch from competitive brands to their own or induce them to repurchase their own brands are very important in their marketing activities and in this regard studies of customer variety-seeking orientation and level of involvement in decision making play a crucial role in explaining customers’ product selection activities. The purpose of this study intends to examine interrelationships among customer satisfaction, loyalty, and switching intent in family restaurants and verify the moderating effect of customer variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement. A total of 305 patrons in Korea participated. The results showed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Participants expressing a high level of satisfaction were more likely to switch restaurants. Whether customers feel loyalty determines their switching intent. There were moderating effects related to customer variety-seeking orientation in the causal relationships between customer loyalty and switching intent. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

Enhancing ethnic food acceptance and reducing perceived risk: The effects of personality traits,cultural familiarity,and menu framing

This study examined whether innate food-related personality traits (food neophobia), as well as food external factors such as cultural familiarity and menu framing, influence U.S. customers’ reluctance to try ethnic foods. In order to achieve this aim, this study first investigated whether familiarity with cultural contents (e.g., music or movies) helps reduce the perceived risk of ethnic foods and, further, whether it increases acceptance of novel foods. Second, food related behaviors, willingness to try ethnic foods and perceived risk, were examined under various menu conditions with different visual and verbal information frames using a sample of U.S. consumers with varying levels of food neophobia. The results empirically suggest that increasing familiarity with Korean culture through exposure to Korean lifestyles, music, movies, and soap operas could alleviate food neophobia as a barrier to accepting novel ethnic foods. Moreover, the results of the scenario experiments indicate that the menu design format can serve as a tool not only to increase customers’ willingness to accept ethnic foods, but also to reduce the perceived risks of trying ethnic foods.     

Role of service encounter and physical environment performances,novelty, satisfaction,and affective commitment in generating cruise passenger loyalty

This research developed a theoretical model explaining the relationship between service encounter performance, physical environment performance, novelty, overall satisfaction, and loyalty in the cruise context. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that service encounter performance and physical environment performance were significant predictors of novelty, which in turn affected overall satisfaction and loyalty. The mediation test indicated that novelty significantly mediated the effect of service encounter performance and physical environment performance on satisfaction; and overall satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between novelty and loyalty. The relationship between physical environment performance and novelty and the relationship between novelty and overall satisfaction were significant in the high affective commitment group. In addition, the relationship between novelty and loyalty was only significant in the low affective commitment group.     

Examining the Antecedents of Destination Loyalty in a Forest Setting

Loyalty has become a critical part of leisure research due to increasing competition in the field and the recognition of the importance of loyal visitors. To further develop loyalty research, this study looks at the issue of destination loyalty in a forest setting. It specifically focuses on revealing the formation of attitudinal, conative, and behavioral loyalty and the relationship between destination loyalty and related concepts that influence the strength of loyalty: service quality, satisfaction, and activity involvement. Six hypotheses were tested to represent the relationships among six factors. Forest recreationists who perceive high service quality tend to have high satisfaction and activity involvement that lead to destination loyalty. The findings also substantiated the conceptual framework of loyalty formation.     

Employee loyalty in Hungarian hotels

This paper's focus is the association between Hungarian employees’ job satisfaction and their loyalty to the organisation. Data were collected from over 600 hotel employees throughout Hungary by questionnaire, designed to elicit their attitudes to loyalty and perspectives with respect to job satisfaction. Principal component analysis identified potential key contributors to job satisfaction (personal satisfaction gained from participation and recognition, social involvement, career development and salary and benefits) and to employee loyalty (commitment to managers and company, job conditions, personal benefits, service element and location, and career and status). An examination of the inter-relationships revealed that managers’ treatment of employees and the positive benefits of social involvement in the workplace had a greater impact on employee loyalty than monetary rewards.     

The Moderating Role of Water Park Service Quality,Environment, Image,and Food Quality on Perceived Value and Customer Loyalty: A South Korean Case Study

This study empirically examined not only the relationship between perceived value and customer loyalty, but also the moderating role of service quality, environment, image, and food quality at a water park, a segment of the tourism industry. In particular, the current study, using hierarchical regression analyses, examined the direct effects of perceived value on customer loyalties—loyalty and behavioral loyalty—as well as the moderating effect of four elements. As anticipated, this study showed that perceived value has significant and positive effect on both types of loyalty. In addition, the result of the interaction effects showed that service quality and food quality acted as moderators on the relationship between perceived value and attitudinal loyalty; however, water park image acted as a moderator on the relationship between perceived value and behavioral loyalty only. Finally, these results indicated that three elements—service quality, water park image, and food quality—have significant interaction on the relationship between perceived value and attitudinal/behavioral loyalty. These findings may provide water park operators with useful and detailed guidelines for satisfying customer loyalty levels, both attitudinally and behaviorally. More detailed findings and implications are also discussed.     

Do employees’ satisfied customers respond with an satisfactory relationship? The effects of employees’ satisfaction on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant

The purpose of this study is to understand the interrelationships among employees’ satisfaction and customer's satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant. The study was administered to 69 employees and 258 customers. The results showed a positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and customer satisfaction. However, employees’ satisfaction did not have a significant, direct impact on customer loyalty, but showed an indirect influence via customer satisfaction. In addition, customer satisfaction was positively associated with customer loyalty. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

Customers’ perceptions in value and food safety on customer satisfaction and loyalty in restaurant environments: moderating roles of gender and restaurant types

Using a valid sample of 334 restaurant diners, this study investigated the relative effects of perceived value and food safety on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The proposed model was consistent with other cognitive–attitudinal–behavioral frameworks. This study also explored how these two perceptions on customer satisfaction were different based on gender and restaurant type. We found support for all of the hypothesized relationships. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that customer satisfaction mediated the relationships between two antecedents and customer loyalty. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research were discussed.     

Relationships among work-family supportive supervisors,career competencies,and job involvement

This study aims to explore the relationships among work-family supportive supervisors, career competencies, job involvement, and job satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of 1012 hotel employees working in the frontline of the hospitality industry in China. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate the relationships among the constructs. The findings indicate a positive relationship between work-family supportive supervisors and career competencies. Career competencies contribute positively to job involvement and job satisfaction. This study provides insights into how managers of human resources can retain qualified staff and increase the job satisfaction of employees.     

Enhancing customer loyalty in tourism services: the role of customer-company identification and customer participation

Travel agencies are high-contact service organizations and customer orientation plays a critical role in their success. However, not all the academic research on the effect of customer orientation on service performance has been positive. This research examines the effect of customer orientation on customer loyalty through two mediators: customer satisfaction and customer-company identification. The study also investigates how customer participation moderates the relationships between two mediators and customer loyalty. The findings are as follows: (1) customer orientation has significantly positive impacts on customer satisfaction and customer-company identification as well as on customer loyalty; (2) two mediators have significantly positive impacts on customer loyalty; and (3) customer participation moderates the relationships between the two mediators and customer loyalty. The research results indicate that customer-company identification can be used as an additional way to enhance customer loyalty. Important theoretical and managerial implications for travel agencies are also provided in this research.     

Influence of institutional DINESERV on customer satisfaction,return intention,and word-of-mouth

The objectives of the study were to investigate the relative importance of institutional DINESERV factors (i.e., food quality, atmosphere, service quality, convenience, and price and value) that affect customer satisfaction in the university dining facilities and to examine the influence of customer satisfaction on return intention and word-of-mouth endorsement. A web survey questionnaire was distributed to 4659 students at a public university in the Midwest from May 10–24 in 2005. Factor analysis, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that all Institutional DINESERV Dimensions had a significant positive effect on overall customer satisfaction and revisit intention. Improving customer satisfaction, which results in increased return intention and positive word-of-mouth endorsement in university foodservice establishments, will in turn not only strengthen customer loyalty, but also improve the dining facility's reputation and generate greater revenue.     

The effects of customers’ perceptions of brand personality in casual theme restaurants

Although existing studies recommend that restaurant chains develop and communicate salient brand personalities, no research to date provides empirical evidence that perceptions of unique brand personality by consumers lead to positive outcomes in the restaurant business. Therefore, using a sample of 336 adults, this research models the causal relationships between brand personality perceptions, brand preference, attitudinal loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth (W-O-M) behavior for the Olive Garden and Chili's restaurant chains. It was found that for both chains, brand personality perceptions have a positive effect on brand preference and attitudinal loyalty, brand preference has a positive impact on attitudinal loyalty, and attitudinal loyalty has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth (W-O-M) communication. In addition, for the Olive Garden and Chili's brands, it was also found that there is a direct link between brand preference and word-of-mouth behavior.     

Effects of Stability and Controllability Attribution on Service Recovery Evaluation in the Context of the Airline Industry

This study examines the relationships between service recovery, stability and controllability attribution, recovery satisfaction, and customer loyalty. We collected data on service recovery, failure attribution, recovery satisfaction, and customer loyalty through a survey of airline passengers in Malaysia. The results indicate significant positive relationships between service recovery dimensions and recovery satisfaction, and between recovery satisfaction and customer loyalty. Both stability and controllability were negatively related to recovery satisfaction. The results provide support for the moderating effects of service failure attribution (stability and controllability) in the recovery process dimension. By recognizing the important role of stability and controllability attribution and its negative effects, service management should become highly involved in facilitating appropriate service recovery to satisfy customers after a failure. The results have important implications and suggest some interesting avenues for future research.     

Impact of Restaurant Experience on Brand Image and Customer Loyalty: Moderating Role of Dining Motivation

This study seeks to determine which restaurant experiences influence the image of a restaurant's brand and formation of customers' loyalty. The research examines the connections among restaurant experiences, brand image, satisfaction, and loyalty in the context of full-service restaurants. This study also investigates the moderating effect of customers' dining motivations on the formation of brand image. The results of this study suggest that: (a) A restaurant's environment and food quality positively influences brand image and customers' satisfaction, (b) customers' perceptions of price fairness do not influence brand image but does affect customers' satisfaction, (c) development of customers' positive brand image does not drive satisfaction but does influence loyalty in full-service restaurants, and (d) customers' dining motivations moderate the relationship between restaurant experiences and perceptions of brand image. These results provide a basis for investigating which restaurant experiences are critical in eliciting development of a positive brand image and which have behavioral consequences. This study also offers mangers a perspective for developing marketing strategies to strengthen brand image in full-service restaurants.     

How Service Quality Affects Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency: The Effects of Customer Satisfaction,Service Recovery,and Perceived Value

This study develops a conceptual model of the effects of service quality on customer loyalty that reflects the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of service recovery and perceived value, and applies this model to the travel industry. A survey and analysis confirm that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by service quality, and customer loyalty is positively influenced by customer satisfaction. Furthermore, customer loyalty is indirectly influenced by service quality through the mediator of customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is found to be stronger for customers who have a positive experience of service recovery; and the correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is stronger for customers who perceive high service value.     

Variety seeking in restaurant choice and its drivers

The purpose of this study was to identify variety drivers in restaurant settings and to examine their influence on diners’ variety seeking intentions. More specifically, this study considered perceived quality, customer satisfaction, overall boredom, and boredom with restaurant attributes as variety drivers and examined how they affect customers’ variety seeking intentions. Further, this study investigated the moderating role of personality characteristics and overall loyalty level toward a restaurant in the relationship between variety drivers and variety seeking intentions. The results showed that atmospheric quality, overall boredom, and boredom with atmospheric attributes significantly influence variety seeking intentions. Personality characteristics reflecting optimal stimulation level also played a moderating role in the relationship between overall boredom and variety seeking intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided in the conclusion.     

Role of food neophilia in food market tourists’ motivational construct: The case of La Boqueria in Barcelona,Spain

In this paper we advocate the study of local food markets to explore fundamental issues about the relationship between these urban tourist attractions and visitors’ motivation and satisfaction. Based on a survey in La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, Spain, we test the direct effect of escape from routine, cultural experience, prestige, and food market involvement on satisfaction, and also the moderator role of food neophilia in this relationship. We conclude that tourists visiting food markets are motivated mainly by cultural experience and interaction with local producers, while food neophilia plays a significant moderator role.