The effects of interactional fairness on satisfaction and behavioral intentions: Mature versus non-mature customers

Given the growing number of mature people, mature consumer behavior has become an increasingly important area of interest to marketers. This article focuses on the effects of interactional form of service fairness to mature customers as compared to non-mature in the U.S. restaurant industry. Following a two-step approach, this study investigates how age differences moderate the relationships between interactional fairness and satisfaction/behavioral intentions. This research stresses the mediating role of satisfaction between interactional fairness and future behavioral outcomes. The findings have important implications for the successful management of customer relationships in a restaurant setting. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

Influence of restaurant atmospherics on patron satisfaction and behavioral intentions

The purpose of this research was to investigate empirically the influence of restaurant atmospherics on the dining satisfaction and behavioral intentions of restaurant patrons. An extensive literature review first identified five dimensions of restaurant atmospherics, namely: facility aesthetics, ambience, spatial layout, employee factors, and the view from the window. Data were collected from 10 middle and upscale full-service restaurants in Hong Kong, and factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were then performed to unveil the relationship between restaurant atmospherics and dining satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The results reveal restaurant atmospherics to have a significant influence on patrons’ dining satisfaction and their behavioral intentions, particularly their intentions to return and spread positive word-of-mouth and their willingness to pay more. Dining satisfaction itself was also found to have a significant influence on behavioral intentions, particularly the intentions to return and to recommend the restaurant. The paper concludes with the practical implications of the research.     

Perceived justice in service recovery and behavioral intentions: The role of relationship quality

This study examined restaurant customers’ perceptions of justice according to service recovery effort levels and whether perceived justice influences customers’ future behavioral intentions. This study also investigated whether the effects of perceived justice on future behavioral intentions vary across customers’ relationship quality levels. The results showed that high recovery efforts were consistently evaluated highly in terms of perceived justice when compared to low recovery efforts, regardless of the level of relationship quality. Additionally, perceived justice brought about by service recovery efforts has a positive effect on customers’ future behavioral intentions. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that relationship quality plays a moderating role between perceived justice and behavioral intentions in the distributive and procedural justice dimensions. Implications for the restaurant industry are also discussed.     

Experience quality,perceived value,satisfaction and behavioral intentions for heritage tourists

This paper examines the visitor experience of heritage tourism and investigates the relationships between the quality of those experiences, perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. A total of 447 respondents completed a survey conducted at four main heritage sites in Tainan, Taiwan. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, the results reveal the direct effects of the quality of experience on perceived value and satisfaction. However, it is the indirect and not direct effects of the quality of experience that impact on behavioral intentions when mediated by perceived value and satisfaction. Overall, the relationship “experience quality → perceived value → satisfaction → behavioral intentions” appears to be evident.     

The fading affect bias: Examining changes in affect and behavioral intentions in restaurant service failures and recoveries

The fading affect bias (FAB) refers to the way in which affect associated with a negative event fades more quickly than affect associated with a positive event. The FAB is a healthy coping behavior developed by humans to deal with negative emotions. Drawing on the FAB hypothesis, this study investigated whether customers’ negative experiences of service failures faded more quickly from their memories than positive experiences did, such as contentedness with recovery efforts and overall satisfaction. This study also examined the moderating role of the type of service failure and service recovery on changes in the intensity of the FAB. The results suggest that individuals dissipate their anger about negative service experiences and their discontent by reappraising the event in a more positive light and by boosting implicit positive experiences (i.e., the experiences provided in service recovery). However, the amount of affect that faded significantly differed among failure types. The results also demonstrated that service recovery can help individuals evaluate a service more positively and reduce their intentions to engage in negative behaviors over time. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed in detail.     

The impact of personal and functional aspects of restaurant employee service behaviour on customer satisfaction

Employee behaviour plays a significant role in satisfying restaurant customers, however, there is a paucity of research highlighted personal and functional aspects of employee behaviour and their influence on customer satisfaction. Accordingly, this study aims to bring a deeper insight of the impact of restaurant employee service behaviour on customer satisfaction. Using survey approach, the current study collected data from 212 tourists who had a dining experience in Jordan. The results of data analysis showed that both functional and personal aspects of service behaviour where able to explain customer satisfaction, with higher contribution of personal aspects over the functional ones. Depending on study’s findings, some implications were suggested including a recommendation to foodservice managers to adopt reinforcement programs that improve functional and personal aspects of their employees. A further recommendation was proposed to marketers, to give a higher attention to personal aspects of foodservices in their marketing activities.     

Servicescape,positive affect,satisfaction and behavioral intentions: The moderating role of familiarity

This study is the first to assess the relationships between substantive and communicative servicescape, positive affect, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in a highly substantively staged hotel setting, as well as the moderating effects of brand and architectural familiarity. One hundred fifty online responses were obtained from guests who stayed at a hotel in the Rioja region of Spain, designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, famous for creating architectural landmarks that disrupt the local landscape. Data were analyzed utilizing Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that both substantive and communicative servicescape positively influence hotel customers’ positive affect, which has a positive impact on satisfaction, and which in turn significantly increases behavioral intentions. Brand familiarity moderates the relationship between substantive servicescape and positive affect, with the influence being greater for participants with low familiarity than for those with high familiarity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.     

Perceptions of Chinese restaurants in the U.S.: What affects customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions?

This study investigates American customers’ perceptions of Chinese restaurants in the U.S., using the Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) approach. This study also examines which attributes of Chinese restaurants influence American customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The IPA shows that environmental cleanliness and attentive service are two important areas where Chinese restaurateurs can make improvements. In addition, food taste and service reliability appear to be key attributes for Chinese restaurants’ success. Overall, this study indicates that food quality, service reliability and environmental cleanliness are three pivotal attributes to create satisfied customers and positive post-dining behavioral intentions. Chinese restaurant managers should reasonably allocate their limited resources to restaurant attributes based on their contributions to customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions.     

Perceived values,satisfaction, and behavioral intentions: The role of familiarity in Korean restaurants

This study examined American customers’ perceptions of values regarding dining experiences in Korean restaurants in the United States. Specifically, the effects of hedonic and utilitarian values on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions were investigated. This study also examined the moderating effect of familiarity with Korean restaurants on the relationships among perceived values, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Overall, the results indicated that American customers valued the utilitarian aspects of Korean restaurants more than the hedonic aspects. Additionally, utilitarian aspects had a stronger impact on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions than hedonic aspects. However, when considering customers’ familiarity level with the restaurants, hedonic aspects more effectively induced positive behavioral intentions in the low familiarity group, proving that familiarity has a moderating role. Conversely, utilitarian aspects appeared to be more influential in terms of the behavioral intentions of the high familiarity group. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Factors influencing the effectiveness of online group buying in the restaurant industry

Group buying, which provides daily discounts for various services and products, is a new form of marketing that has attracted the attention of both practitioners and academic researchers. However, it is unclear what factors influence the effectiveness of a group buying promotion. This study presents an analysis of 862 restaurant group buying deals based on the secondary data collected from a restaurant guide website. The results indicate that group buying effectiveness – namely, the number of coupons sold, satisfaction improvement, and return intention of group buying customers – can be affected by the discount depth of a deal as well as the service quality and popularity of a restaurant. These findings provide useful insights regarding the elements that are necessary to make a group buying promotion work.     

Bike-traveling as a growing phenomenon: Role of attributes,value, satisfaction,desire, and gender in developing loyalty

This research was designed to investigate the role of bike-tourism attributes, perceived value, satisfaction, desire, and gender in bicyclers' loyalty generation process. We employed a survey methodology. Using the data collected from members of bicycle clubs in China, we conducted a structural analysis and test for metric invariance. Results showed that our theoretical model explained a sufficient amount of the variance in loyalty; the hypothesized relationships in our research framework were generally supported; and cognitive, evaluative, and motivational processes were significant mediators. Moreover, the proposed moderating impact of gender was partially supported. Overall, our empirical findings make a significant contribution to advancing our knowledge of how product attributes, value, satisfaction, and desire are related and how these relationships are affected by gender in the formation of bicycle travelers' loyalty.     

Festival attributes and perceptions: A meta-analysis of relationships with satisfaction and loyalty

Festivals provide economic, social and cultural benefits to the communities in which they occur, and contribute to event tourism and destination marketing. This research reports a meta-analysis of the festival literature to evaluate the factors that contribute to festival satisfaction and loyalty. Attributes were classified into six categories: activities, authenticity/uniqueness, concessions, environment, escape and socialization. The analysis revealed that festival activities (program, entertainment, thematic activities) and environment (atmosphere, convenience, facilities) are the most important determinants of satisfaction and loyalty. Two perceptions were evaluated: cost/value and service quality. The analysis revealed that cost/value is important for both satisfaction and loyalty, whereas service quality is relatively unimportant. Satisfaction with the festival is strongly related to loyalty. The findings suggest that festival planners should focus on providing an enjoyable program in a comfortable environment at a reasonable price. This strategy will cultivate repeat attendance and stimulate future visits to the festival destination.     

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer loyalty in the hotel industry: A cross-country study

The study examines the role of customer perceptions of CSR in improving customer loyalty by exploring its direct and mediated effects through service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation in a cross-country setting. Data from Pakistan, China, and Italy was collected through surveys to explore customers’ hotel experiences. The hypotheses were tested with SmartPLS-3. Findings for the overall sample revealed that CSR affected customer loyalty positively and significantly. Nonetheless, this relationship was insignificant in the samples from Pakistan and Italy, while it was found to be only partially significant in China. The findings also revealed a direct, positive and significant impact of CSR on service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation. The direct relationships among all these variables were also significant across samples. Customer satisfaction and corporate image were identified as significant mediators of the CSR-loyalty link, but service quality and corporate reputation were found insignificant.     

Make a customer,not a sale: Tourist satisfaction in Hong Kong

Although tourism literature is replete with visitor satisfaction studies, little attention has been paid to comparing satisfaction between tourism sectors. Tourism is a complex system and the tourist satisfaction and performance of one sector have significant implications on another. This situation makes a comparative study indispensable for holistic tourism planning. Moreover, a destination is an amalgam of tourism products. It would therefore be parochial to examine one tourism product without comparing it to other products in the tourism system. Knowledge and understanding of such comparisons ensure comprehensive planning by tourism decision makers and marketers. In meeting the objectives declared in the introductory section, the study builds on previous research to adopt the Tourism Satisfaction Index Model and the Expectancy-Disconfirmation framework. Questionnaires are the main data collection instrument and data are analyzed through a series of statistical procedures. The findings reveal considerable differences in satisfaction between attractions and hotels. A strong correlation is identified between satisfaction and loyalty, and four antecedents of satisfaction are confirmed. The implications of the study are subsequently discussed.     

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.     

Measuring festival quality and value affecting visitors’ satisfaction and loyalty using a structural approach

Perceived value is understood to be a precursor of customer satisfaction and loyalty and is itself impacted by product quality. The linkages between quality, value, satisfaction, and loyalty have been gaining increasing attention in the marketing field. Accordingly, this study examines whether quality dimensions have an impact on perceived value, which, in turn, affects satisfaction and loyalty, in the context of the Punggi Ginseng festival.     

Effective restaurant rating scale development and a mystery shopper evaluation approach

Dining is a major attraction for tourists visiting Taiwan. In 2008, the Taipei City Government commissioned a project to produce a list of recommended restaurants in Taipei for tourists. To facilitate the selection process, we developed a restaurant rating scale using a mystery shopper approach. This study entailed 20 questions that covered all elements of the consumers’ dining experience in a table-service restaurant setting, as well as a comprehensive mystery shopper training program to ensure consistency of quality in the evaluation process. This research involved the top 500 restaurants in Taipei. The findings revealed that our rating scale achieves internal consistency, validity and model fit. This study provided an important tool for further industrial applications and research opportunities. Further, this study proposes future research directions.     

Sources of satisfaction with luxury hotels for new,repeat, and frequent travelers: A PLS impact-asymmetry analysis

There are differences in service expectations according to travelers' experiences. This study aims to identify the structure of service quality factors with regard to satisfaction with luxury hotels concerned with new, repeat, and frequent travelers to Macau. The data are analyzed by a partial least squares (PLS) impact-asymmetry analysis in order to explain how the structure of factors can influence the behaviors of three visitor segments. The results of this study explore the transformation of the factor structure of customer satisfaction across different experiences encountered. This study contributes to the knowledge of life cycle theories using three-factor theories that position most of the quality attributes in the introduction stage as excitement factors; they show various types of factors in a growth stage, and they unify to performance factors when the products and services mature. Thus, asymmetrical analyses are highly appropriate for studying customer behavior throughout the customer life cycle.     

Corporate reputation,satisfaction, delight,and loyalty towards rural lodging units in Portugal

This paper enriches the model of delight and satisfaction that Oliver et al. (1997) propose and Finn (2005) modifies, with a suggested causal relationship between disconfirmation and arousal and the introduction of two new variables: the lodging unit's corporate reputation and perceived quality. The modified model is applied to rural tourism accommodations in Portugal and validated using PLS (Partial Least Squares). The results suggest that the lodging unit's reputation is a more significant determinant of loyalty than satisfaction or even delight. This study further supports the conceptualization of customer delight and customer satisfaction as distinct constructs. Results may help managers of rural tourism accommodations to develop and implement more successful relationship marketing strategies.     

The theme park experience: An analysis of pleasure, arousal and satisfaction

This article analyses how visitor emotions in a theme park environment influence satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Emotions consist of two independent dimensions, i.e. pleasure and arousal. Two competing models were tested. The first model is derived from the environmental psychology research stream as developed by (An Approach to Environmental Psychology, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1974), where the visitor's arousal generates pleasure and, in turn, approach/avoidance behaviour. This emotion-cognition model is supported by Zajonc and Markus (1984). The second model to be tested is based on Lazarus’ (Emotion and Adaptation, Oxford University Press, New York, 1991) cognitive theory of emotions. In this latter model, emotions are elicited by visitors’ disconfirmation of the theme park. Using confirmatory factor analysis, it was supported that the cognitive theory of emotions better explains the effect of pleasure on satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, consumers’ willingness to pay more for the service is more likely to be induced by disconfirmation than by satisfaction alone. Managerial implications concerning the cognitive–affective sequence of satisfaction are discussed.