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.     

Development and validation of the casino service quality scale: CASERV

With intensifying competition among casino operators, consumers are demanding better services. This research conceptualizes casino service quality as a second-order, four-dimensional construct which assesses casino patrons’ perceptions of service delivery, service environment, food service, and service product. Based upon a rigorous psychometric process of scale development and validation through three studies in the casino setting, the authors propose the CASERV scale as a comprehensive instrument for measuring casino services that is reliable, valid, and distinct from other service quality measures. The paper concludes with discussion of managerial implications and future research directions.     

The effect of psychological empowerment climate on restaurant food safety,food quality,and financial performance

ABSTRACT

Consumer food safety incidences that result from employee accidents and behaviors can be detrimental and costly to a restaurant organization. Restaurant organizations and hospitality researchers have sought multiple methods of increasing food safety performance through training and intervention, but this study suggests that shared agreement of psychological empowerment may be a key factor in improving food safety performance, and in turn, food quality and store revenues. Using data from a national chain of quick service restaurants, this study used groups of restaurant employees’ psychological empowerment as an antecedent to food safety performance, measured in a food safety audit, and found significant support. Moreover, using consumer evaluations of food quality and the organization's store revenue records, indirect and direct relationships among psychological empowerment, food safety performance, food quality, and revenues were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Passengers’ perceptions of airline lounges: Importance of attributes that determine usage and service quality measurement

The current exploratory study investigates passengers’ perceptions of airline lounges by measuring the importance of attributes that determine usage and service quality in those facilities. Data collection was the result of a survey of airline lounge users at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea. The attributes that determine airline lounge usage categorize as: image and accessibility, atmosphere, food and beverage (F&B) service, and facility’s dimensions. Atmosphere and F&B service prove to be the most important dimensions affecting passengers’ use of the airline lounge. Service quality variables determining passengers’ perceptions of the airline lounge categorize as: atmosphere, F&B service, employee service, and facility’s dimensions. Among the service quality dimensions, F&B service was the strongest predictor of overall satisfaction and lounge revisit intention. Furthermore, the study considers the relationship of overall satisfaction and lounge revisit intention according to airline selection.     

Towards an understanding of total service quality in hotels

The importance of service quality for business performance has been recognized in the literature through the direct effect on customer satisfaction and the indirect effect on customer loyalty. The importance was recognized by Parasuraman et al. [1985. A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing 49(4), 41–51] in the development of SERVQUAL, a measure of perceived service quality across industries. Although the importance of service quality and service quality measurement has been recognized, there has been limited research that has addressed the structure and antecedents of the concept for the hotel industry.This research addresses the antecedents and structure of service quality in the context of the luxury and first class hotel sectors. The data are analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approaches and a structural model is used to test the structure of service quality.The paper clarifies the dimensions and structure of service quality in the hotel industry. The clarification of the dimensions is important for managers in the hotel industry as it identifies the bundles of service attributes consumers find important. The clarification of the structure is also important as it confirms, in a hotel context, that customers see service quality in its entirety as a second order dimension.     

Attracting and retaining food servers: How internal service quality moderates occupational stigma

This study examines the abilities of internal service quality (ISQ) to moderate occupational stereotype for restaurant food servers. Food servers at restaurants responded to two surveys measuring ISQ and occupational stereotype. It was concluded that ISQ overcomes occupational stereotype to attract and retain food servers in the hospitality industry. This investigation contributes to the hospitality literature and to a better understanding of the world of waiters, especially in reference to employee turnover, employee retention, and motivation to work in the food service industry. This research used an integrative model which may be applied to service sectors outside hospitality.     

A conflict of choice: How consumers choose where to go for dinner

Studies concerning consumers’ decision-making regarding a restaurant choice commonly cite food quality, service quality, and price as important determinants. Less research has focused on how consumers are willing to trade off gains and losses from respective foodservice attributes. Also, extant literature does not account for consumers who use a non-compensatory decision-making strategy. The present study examined consumers’ choices of casual restaurants using a simulation where trade-offs were inevitable. By utilizing a choice experiment, the researchers found that food quality is the most important attribute in restaurant choice, consistent with the literature reviewed. Good service quality, however, does not increase choice likelihood while poor service quality significantly reduces it. Most importantly, we determined a considerable percentage (24.57%) of respondents do not trade off food quality for better service or a lower price. Findings of the study are discussed with implications for practitioners.     

Construction of a service quality scale for the online food delivery industry

The main purpose of this study is based on qualitative and quantitative research procedures, and integrates the key service factors for the online food delivery (OFD) industry extracted by Internet Big Data Analytics (IBDA) to construct a OFD service quality scale (OFD-SERV). This study takes OFD customers in Taipei City as the objects. The results show that 20 key service factors for the OFD industry are extracted through IBDA. The OFD-SERV scale contains six dimensions including reliability, maintenance of meal quality and hygiene, assurance, security, system operation and traceability, a total of 28 items. The results from the structural equation modeling showed that the reliability, assurance and system operation have a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Finally, the findings provide knowledge and inspiration for the current OFD, and enable OFD operators and future researchers to more accurately identify the deficiency of service quality.     

A conceptual model of consumer evaluation of recreation service quality

The paper develops a model which is intended to explain the process by which a consumer evaluates recreation service quality. Much of the difficulty in measuring the quality of recreation services can be attributed to their intangibility, heterogeneity, and the inseparability of their production and consumption functions. Dimensions of recreation services are operationalized in the article, and the criteria used by consumers for evaluating recreation service quality are discussed. Recreation service quality is defined as the outcome of a comparison between expectations of a service and what is perceived to be received. Since much of the reported work in the area of service quality has been undertaken in a commercial context, key differences in the public and commercial sectors which may impact consumers' expectations of recreation services are discussed and integrated into the model.     

The role of food service in tourist satisfaction

The paper is based on empirical investigation carried out amongst a 341-sample population visiting the Black Sea resorts of Romania in August 1997. The purpose of the study was to investigate the role and importance of food service in tourist satisfaction and to note any differences in satisfaction levels between regional groups. Analysis of the findings revealed that significant differences existed between three tourist groups’ satisfaction perceptions of value for money, quality of food, number of dishes, standard of food service, variety of dishes, presentation of food and speed of service in general; and of bread, coffee, meat and soup in particular. Overall results further indicated that quality of food, value for money, variety of dishes, attractiveness of surroundings and presentation of food were the attributes that most affected the overall food service experience in Romania. The paper concludes that food service is an important contributor to tourist satisfaction and that there are significant differences in satisfaction levels with food service between eastern and western European, and Romanian tourists.     

How do foreigners perceive? Exploring foreign diners’ satisfaction with service quality of Chinese restaurants

China has received 138 million inbound trips in 2016. The purpose of travel may vary but these international travelers visit Chinese restaurants as an integral part of their travel experience. Our study tries to comprehend their dining experience and regional differences in service quality (SQ) perceptions. The findings indicate that food and process quality significantly influence satisfaction and behavioral intentions. More importantly, the results reveal that international travelers roving through all the six continents hold significantly different perceptions regarding SQ attributes of Chinese restaurants. Additionally, we found proficiency in Chinese language as a significant contributor in generating dissimilar perceptions.     

Job standardization and service quality: The mediating role of prosocial service behaviors

Service quality has been recognized as a major topic in the tourism and hospitality industry. Although previous literature has examined the relationship between job standardization and service quality, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains a black box. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between job standardization and service quality, and to clarify the role of prosocial service behaviors. Survey data from 336 customer-contact employees and 404 customers in Taiwan indicate that job standardization positively affects role-prescribed service behavior and extra-role service behavior of customer-contact employees, in addition to the service-quality perception of their customers. Extra-role service behavior also positively affects service quality. By contrast, the effect of role-prescribed service behavior on service quality is not significant. In addition, prosocial service behaviors mediate the relationship between job standardization and service quality. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed in this study.     

Understanding the dynamics of the quality of airline service attributes: Satisfiers and dissatisfiers

This research aims to determine the relationship between the quality of airline service attributes and overall satisfaction. Although a number of relevant studies have reported a linear relationship (or symmetric effect) between the two concepts, this work suggests that attribute quality exerts heterogeneous effects on satisfaction or dissatisfaction. A total of 157,035 consumer data from online reviews have been analyzed to achieve the research objective. In accordance with Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman’s (1959) two-factor theory, the findings of this research have determined that the quality of certain service attributes, such as cleanliness, food and beverages, and in-flight entertainment, affects the variations of positive ratings as a satisfier. Other airline service attributes, such as customer service and check-in and boarding, influence the deviations of negative ratings as a dissatisfier. Apart from airline attributes, the individual features and types of airline products have been estimated to improve the understanding of such relationships. In this regard, this study provides important implications to customer-centric marketing in an airline marketplace.     

The effects of teppanyaki restaurant stimuli on diners’ emotions and loyalty

This research examines the influence of restaurant stimuli (i.e., chefs, service staff, other customers, food quality, and atmospherics) on diners’ emotions and loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In teppanyaki restaurants, chefs take orders from diners, prepare food in front of diners, and serve dishes to diners. Although the importance of chefs has been acknowledged by scholars, empirical research on the influence of chefs on diners has been scarce. To augment the literature on how chefs influence diners, this research incorporates “chef’s image” into an extended Mehrabian-Russell model (M-R model) to conceptualize diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. A total of 308 diners from Taiwan were recruited. After examining their completed questionnaires, this study found that chef’s image, service quality, and food quality can affect the positive and negative emotions of diners. Moreover, other diners and restaurant atmospherics affect only the negative emotions of diners. Both positive and negative emotions can affect diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In addition, the managerial implications of this study are discussed.     

The development of an e-travel service quality scale

The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, and to develop a reliable and valid measurement instrument. The concept of an e-service quality construct is first clarified and the processes involved in scale development are then presented. Five core components of e-travel service quality are identified, namely, information quality, security, website functionality, customer relationships and responsiveness. The reliability and validity of this five-factor scale are verified using empirical data, and it is found that the e-travel quality service scale has strong predictive capability in relation to online customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. Moreover, a second-order factor is constructed due to the high correlation among the five factors. Finally, the managerial implications in regard to the research findings are discussed.     

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.     

Service quality in restaurant operations in China: Decision- and experiential-oriented perspectives

Using the decision- and experiential-oriented perspectives as theoretical guides, this article reported an empirical assessment of service quality in restaurant operations. We proposed and tested a conceptual model of service quality using structural equation modeling. Using data from a sample of 284 customers from two large full-service restaurants in southern China, we investigated the relationships of service quality, customer satisfaction, and frequency of patronage. The results supported the significant links between service quality and customer satisfaction, service quality and repeat patronage, but not customer satisfaction and repeat patronage. The study has provided important insights into service quality and customer satisfaction in the field of restaurant operations.     

Measurement scale for eco-component of hotel service quality

Growing acknowledgement of the need to achieve more sustainable forms of development has resulted in environmentally conscious tourists who have indicated a dissatisfaction with existing hotel service quality. The objective of this study was to investigate tourists’ ecological expectations referring to the quality of spas and wellness hotel services in order to develop and test a scale for measuring the ‘eco-component,’ a new component of hotel service quality. The findings revealed four dimensions of the eco-component: hotel staff's eco-behaviour; environmentally friendly and healthy equipment; efficient use of energy and water; and bio-food. Tourists also demonstrated a hierarchy of eco-dimensions, with the most important being hotel staff's eco-behaviour and the least important being bio-food. Tourists’ expectations about the level of eco-dimensions differ significantly with respect to their income, nationality, and the hotel certification. However, no significant difference emerged in their expectations due to different educational levels.     

Change in Consumer Patronage and Willingness to Pay at Different Levels of Service Attributes in Restaurants: A Study in India

Consumer patronage and consumer willingness to pay are the two most important criteria for business development. The current study investigates the changing preferences of consumers in a developing economy with respect to three major service attributes from the restaurant industry: food quality, service, and ambiance. Results indicated that consumers give greater preference to quality over service in high-end restaurants and prefer service compared with ambiance in quick-service restaurants. Food quality was found to have strong interaction effect with two other variables. When food quality was improved from low to high, consumer preferences for ambiance and service tended to change accordingly in the same direction, but not necessarily at the same level. Thus, restaurateurs have a strategic advantage when they choose high quality food and an appropriate level of service or ambiance. Consumer expectations are significantly different for high-end, full-service restaurants and quick-service restaurants in service attributes.     

Impact of hotel-restaurant image and quality of physical-environment,service, and food on satisfaction and intention

This study developed a theoretical framework in which overall image, image congruence, and quality of physical environment, service, and food affect guests’ satisfaction and intentions to revisit a luxury hotel restaurant and visit other restaurants of the same hotel by considering the influence of conspicuousness as a moderator. The measurement model assessment revealed that all items included an acceptable level of measurement quality. Results of the structural analysis indicated that the research variables were in general significantly associated; quality dimensions and satisfaction had a mediating role; and the impact of satisfaction and overall image on decision formation was greater than that of other variables. Moreover, the structural invariance model assessment indicated that conspicuousness acted as a significant moderator. Overall, our proposed theoretical framework was found to include a sufficient power in predicting patrons’ intentions for luxury hotel restaurant products. Using this quantitative approach, our research objectives were wholly achieved.