The joint effect of flirting and emotional labor on customer service-related outcomes

The current studies examined why hospitality employees flirt with customers, and the interaction between flirting and authentic or faked emotional displays. In Study 1, 245 restaurant servers reported their flirting motivations, emotional labor strategy, and perceived rapport. Flirting motivations had a positive effect on rapport when servers engaged in either surface acting or deep acting but not when servers engaged less in emotional labor strategies. In Study 2, 130 servers reported their flirting displays, emotional labor strategies and tip sizes. Flirting displays only increased tips when deep acting was involved. The theoretical and practical implications of flirting are discussed.     

Understanding Mature Customers in the Restaurant Business

Summary

The study reported here examined die differences between intangible service experiences of mature and younger customers in quick-service, casual, and fine-dining restaurants. The authors used ten unpleasant service experiences to identify the significant experiences that can impede satisfaction in three types of restaurants. No unpleasant service experiences were significant for either mature or young customers. However, in the casual dining restaurants, the (1) lack of product knowledge and (2) inattentive servers created significantly unpleasant service experiences for mature customers. In the quick service restaurant, the (1) lack of product knowledge, (2) inattentive servers, (3) rudeness, and (4) lack of cleanliness produced significantly unpleasant service experiences which in turn impeded the satisfaction for the mature customer. The reasons for these findings are discussed, and the authors suggest that the restaurant industry pay more attention to the mature population in order to increase both customer satisfaction levels and profits. A literature review precedes a discussion of the characteristics and service requirements of mature restaurant customers.     

An exploratory study of determinants for restaurant servers’ actual tip earnings: Individual characteristics and work conditions

This exploratory study investigates two different types of determinants for servers’ actual tip earnings (individual characteristics versus work conditions) using readily available organizational data. Unlike previous studies that measured servers’ tips by asking subjects (servers or customers) to report tip amounts, we measure the actual tip earnings of each server extracted from the point of sale system. The results show that work conditions (daily work hours, weekend work hours, and immediate supervisors’ characteristics) have stronger relationships with servers’ tip earnings than servers’ individual characteristics (gender, tenure, and job satisfaction). This study represents an initial attempt to use objective data to measure servers’ tip earnings and explore its potential relationship with work conditions compared to its relationships with individual characteristics which have been frequently examined in previous studies.     

Tipping in New Zealand's restaurants

Tipping has not been common practice in New Zealand, and was formerly actively discouraged. The influence of international travelers, particularly from the United States, seems to have contributed to the custom's becoming more prevalent. At the time of this study, tipping in New Zealand remained a voluntary extra payment given for genuinely superior service. Few table servers counted on tips and sincerely appreciated receiving them. An increase in tipping is not without consequences, however. The service relationships involving managers, servers, and customers are altered by the expectation of tips. In addition, dividing tip pools sometimes causes friction among workers.     

Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Communications Within Stores: A Case Study of U.K. Food Retailers

ABSTRACT

The U.K. Government has argued that more transparency in the ways that companies address and manage environmental, economic, and social issues can help improve relationships with employees, customers, and other stakeholders and U.K.'s large food retailers are increasingly keen to report their commitment to CSR. This paper offers a preliminary examination of the extent to which the U.K.'s major food retailers currently use CSR as a means of communicating with customers within their stores.     

Do Farmers' Market and Specialty Food Store Customers Differ in the Effects of Perceived Utilitarian and Hedonic Shopping Values?

This study explored differences in the effects of perceived utilitarian and hedonic shopping values on customer satisfaction for the two separate groups of the agricultural product marketing channel: farmers' markets and specialty food stores. Empirical data were collected from customers of agricultural product retailers located in Taiwan (N = 412). The results show that different agricultural product marketing channels provide different values to their customers. Farmers' market customers experience a greater hedonic value, and specialty food store customers experience a greater utilitarian value. In addition, the perceived utilitarian and hedonic shopping values of farmers' market customers are more highly positively associated with customer satisfaction than are those of specialty food store customers.     

国际商务旅游活动中对中国式餐饮的需求解读

食品安全是国际商务旅游人士最基本的需求,由于目前中国式餐饮的食品安全问题还存在很多问题,导致国外旅游商务人士在中国就餐时对食品卫生安全的心理需求非常强烈。中国餐饮业应高度重视这一问题,注意食材产地、餐厅环境、餐具及食品加工卫生以及从业人员的素质;在接待服务中要努力满足国外游客的国际社交需要,尊重其国际礼仪和风俗;提供舒适的用餐环境,树立良好食品形象,满足其审美需求以及相对更高层次的需求,使之感受到在中国用餐是一种享受,以吸引和留住客源,增加餐饮业的竞争力。     

Food allergic consumers' preferences for labelling practices: a qualitative study in a real shopping environment

Food allergy is a chronic disease that can only be managed through avoidance of problematic proteins in the diet. Inappropriate communication about food allergens can cause stress and insecurity, which may have a negative impact on quality of life. The aim was to investigate whether information provided through current labelling practices meets the need of food allergic consumers. A total of 40 participants (20 adult food allergy suffers and 20 parents of food allergic children) were recruited from two different European countries (Greece and The Netherlands), and interviewed while shopping in a supermarket. Participants were asked to purchase 15 potentially problematic food items as if for their own household. Their information search behaviour was observed, and participants were questioned about their preferences for food allergen information provision. Participants reported experiencing problems associated with current food allergy information provision. It was reported that inappropriate use of fonts, colours and languages, application of precautionary labelling and lack of harmonization in labelling practices across countries can cause (un)necessary dietary restrictions for food allergic consumers. Research is needed to investigate the feasibility and implementation possibilities for new information delivery strategies and amendments to existing European labelling policy.     

Effects of physical contact on customers' shopping time and behavior

Touch is considered an important factor in various social situations. The present results show that touching customers in the store increased their shopping time, their evaluation of the store and also the amount of shopping. The findings suggest that interpersonal touch can be an important aid to salespeople and servers.     

Customer loyalty to food retailers in Northern Ireland: ‘devoted loyals’ or ‘promiscuous switchers’?

Store loyalty is a major challenge for food retailers, and the food retail market in Northern Ireland has been subject to considerable change in the past decade. Although shoppers will often patronize many stores, they typically have a primary affiliation to a ‘main’ food store that captures the majority of their food purchases. This study uses a unique approach to segmenting customers into groups based on loyalty in terms of both the type of data used to generate a loyalty score and the data collection techniques used. Innovative projective techniques have been used alongside traditional questioning techniques to reveal ‘behavioural’ and ‘emotional’ loyalty indicators, and in doing so create a holistic measure of customer loyalty to a main food store, allowing customers to be segmented into groups based on loyalty. A paper‐based questionnaire was administered to 152 food shoppers from throughout Northern Ireland. Responses to traditional questioning formats and projective techniques (cartoon friends and mini case studies) were analysed and used to generate a loyalty score for each respondent. The first group of customers nearly always visit the same store, are willing to recommend the store to others and are less likely to switch to a competitor, even when offered an incentive to do so. They also rate the ‘hard’ attributes of this store highly. As a result of these characteristics, customers in this segment were termed ‘devoted loyals’. The second group of customers may occasionally use a different supermarket for food shopping, some would consider switching to a competitor if offered an incentive, and they rate ‘hard’ store attributes at a slightly lower level than the ‘devoted loyals’. Based on their group profile, these customers were assigned the title of ‘susceptibles’. The third group of customers are less willing to actively encourage friends and family to shop at a specific store. Many in this group did not consider their current store as their number one choice in the next few years. An incentive to switch to a competitor store is more likely to trigger a transfer of loyalty by this group. These customers were termed ‘promiscuous switchers’.     

Unlocking the transformative potential of customer data in retailing

Retailers collect, process, and use large amounts of data about customers: what they buy, how they buy, when they buy – and when customer loyalty cards are used – who buys the product or service. The use of customer data within the customer relationship management (CRM) framework has largely remained one sided. The potential of customer data for the benefit of the customer’s well-being still needs to be addressed. Reverse use of customer data, i.e. the process of firms converting customer data into information that is meaningful for the customers, extends attention toward using customer data for the benefit of the customer. In addition, selling goods to customers retailers can revise customer data into relevant and meaningful information that can support their well-being. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify and illustrate the transformative potential of the reverse use of customer data in retailing. This is achieved by reviewing literature on CRM, S-D logic, and transformative consumer research, and conducting a case study of a food retailer using point-of-sale data to provide customers with information about the healthfulness of their food purchases. Anonymous customer feedback data is collected and analyzed, and as a result, the transformative potential of customer data is reflected through five themes: self-monitoring, enhanced diet, food literacy, peace of mind, and beyond food healthfulness. These themes illustrate customers’ well-being outcomes resulting from reverse use of customer data.     

A characterization of peanut consumption in four countries: results from focus groups and their implications for peanut allergy prevalence

Rates of peanut allergy in the Western world have increased over the last 30 years, although it is unclear why. While eating behaviours are likely to be connected to allergy prevalence, the precise relevant factors are uncertain. This study aimed to investigate dietary differences and changes in dietary habits in peanut consumption (in apparent and hidden forms) in four different countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, UK), specifically chosen because of their different ‘peanut experiences’. Focus groups revealed a common perception that dietary habits have become less healthy, with more consumption of processed foods and an increase in snacking. In addition, ethnic cuisine was perceived to have had an important impact on European eating habits, while participants identified an increase in consumption of more ‘exotic’ forms of peanuts and their products. These findings point to an increase in exposure to peanuts, particularly in hidden forms, that superficially parallels increased prevalence rates. However, it was also clear that participants lacked knowledge about the composition of food and non‐food products. The dietary trends identified here thus warrant further quantitative investigation, particularly in the context of differential national patterns of allergy prevalence – data on which is currently being gathered within the EC‐funded EuroPrevall project.     

Customers’ Perception of Fish Fast-Casual Restaurants

The objective of the research is to explore Italian customers’ perceptions of fish and seafood fast-casual foodservice restaurants, so to identify expected food, environmental, and organizational attributes’ importance. The sample includes 600 fish and seafood customers interviewed face to face. Data elaboration included an exploratory factor analysis on fast-casual food and restaurant attributes, followed by chi-square and ANOVA to profile customers’ perception towards the level of importance of the factors. Hygiene, personnel, and sensorial attributes are the three most important factors for all groups of customers. Gender and age are the most differentiating socio-economic characteristics. This study is a pioneering research on a restaurant format expanding in European countries and validated an attribute assessment scale for fast-casual restaurants. Results suggest the following managerial implications useful to define investment strategies: guaranteeing high hygiene standards, investing on personnel quality, offering tasty and good food, and targeting strategies focused on customers’ lifestyle.     

老字号小吃败走前门

老字号小吃是微利行业。当高租金、低客流等局面摆在老字号小吃的经营者面前时,他们无奈地选择了撤出。     

Organic food corporate image and customer co-developing behavior: The mediating role of consumer trust and purchase intention

The impact of organic food corporate image on customers' surpassing purchasing behavior is absent in prior literature. Based on the S–O-R framework, the current study focuses on organic food member customers to explore the influence of corporate ability (CA) image and corporate social responsibility (CSR) image of organic food company on the consumption behavior and co-developing behavior of customers. The consumer samples came from 269 member customers of an organic food enterprise in southwest China. The results show that organic food company CA and CSR image positively affect consumer trust and co-developing behavior. CSR image enhances consumer trust and co-developing behavior than CA image does. Additionally, consumer trust and purchase intention play a multi-step mediating role in the relationship between corporate image (CA and CSR) and consumers' co-developing behavior. In conclusion, our findings provide new insights for understanding the relationship between the corporate image of organic food and the co-developing behavior of customers. The research results provide support for organic food companies that can effectively promote consumer trust, continuous purchase, and active engagement in the co-development of products and services by creating an image of ability and social responsibility.     

Qualitative analysis of customer behavior in the retail industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: A word-cloud and sentiment analysis approach

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in customer behavior within the retail industry. Pandemic-induced restrictions and fear of product scarcity led to a change in purchasing frequency, with customers stockpiling non-perishable products such as basic foods and hygiene items. Media and social networks also played a significant role in fueling panic-buying behavior. Although sales decreased, consumption in all food categories increased due to the closure of restaurants and the need to prepare meals at home. The pandemic had a significant impact on both customers and retailers, resulting in staff reductions and a change in business strategies.To explore how Romanian food retailers’ representatives responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and adjusted to changing consumer behavior, the authors employed a qualitative research approach based on an interview guide. The data collected were analyzed using the statistical software R. In data analysis with R, the choice of functions used depends on various factors, such as the type of data, research questions, and analysis methods. Generally, commonly used functions in R for data analysis include data cleaning and manipulation functions such as subset, merge, and transform, data visualization functions such as ggplot2, and statistical modeling functions such as lm and glm, resulting in world clouds and a sentiment analysis.The results show that to develop effective business strategies, qualitative analysis helps identify the root causes of these changes. Sentiment analysis can reveal how retail chains representatives perceived the safety measures implemented in stores, such as social distancing and mask-wearing mandates, and how these measures affected customers’ shopping behavior. It also sheds light on how customers shopped and whether they planned to continue using these methods post-pandemic. Understanding these insights is crucial for retail companies to adapt their operations and better serve their customers in the post-pandemic world.     

Influence of price and brand image on restaurant customers’ restaurant selection attribute

The study examines the influence of price and brand image on three major restaurant quality attributes (ambiance, food quality, and service quality). A total number of 363 cases from the survey were used to assess the proposed model for structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicated that brand image significantly affected customers’ restaurant attribute preference. Living status (residents vs. tourists) partially affected customers’ restaurant attribute preference. This study provides valuable information about restaurant customers’ preferences. The results also demonstrate how restaurant operators attract new customers and retain existing customers by improving their ambiance, food, and service quality.     

Restaurant tipping and service quality A tenuous relationship

The connection between service quality and tip sizes is tenuous at best, as shown by an analysis of 14 studies (involving 2,645 dining parties at 21 different restaurants) that examined the relationship between service and tips. The meta-analysis of the studies sought to statistically combine 24 correlations between tipping and service. While the studies taken together found that, indeed, tips increased with the perceived quality of service, the relationship was weak enough to raise doubts about the use of tips to motivate servers, measure server performance, or identify dissatisfied customers.     

Who will make an indulgent food choice after having fulfilled their healthy eating goal?

This research considers how subjective nutrition knowledge and calorie consciousness moderate the effects of eating goals on indulgent vs. healthy consumers and their on subsequent choices. A two between‐subjects design (an eating goal invoked by a main course: healthy vs. indulgent) was conducted, where the choice of salad dressing (healthy or indulgent) was a dependent variable. Two individual traits (subjective nutrition knowledge and calorie consciousness) were considered as moderators between eating goals and food choices. The results indicated that individuals with high levels of subjective knowledge about nutrition or with a high level of consciousness about calories were more likely to choose a healthy option when their indulgent goal had been invoked. However, they were more likely to make indulgent choices when their healthy goal had been fulfilled by the main course. In contrast, for those with low levels of subjective nutrition knowledge or with a low level of consciousness about calories, food choices were not influenced by the eating goal which had been invoked. The findings could help practitioners in the food industry to develop different food combinations with which to satisfy their customers through understanding personality traits.     

Estimating Consumer Losses From Unavailable Advertised Grocery Specials

Supermarkets regularly advertise food specials to provide information on new products and seasonal products, to induce new customers to the store and to retain old customers by good price / quality relationships. But how important are the purchase of advertised food specials to food shoppers? Do they realize significant savings from buying advertised specials? If advertised specials are not available, how much do consumers lose? These questions are addressed in this article through the use of a Monte Carlo simulation, based on a comprehensive conceptual model of the determinants of unavailability.