The effects of crowdedness and safety measures on restaurant patronage choices and perceptions in the COVID-19 pandemic |
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Institution: | 1. School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia;2. Department of Marketing, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, 3 Management Drive, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia |
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Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of crowdedness and in-restaurant safety measures on consumers’ restaurant patronage choices (eat-in vs. order takeaway vs. not patronize) and their perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an online experiment with 593 US consumers and 591 Australian consumers, we assess the effects of three levels of crowdedness (low vs. medium vs. high crowdedness) and four types of in-restaurant safety measures (none vs. partition vs. increasing distances between tables vs. not using in-between tables) by showing participants an image of the restaurant setting. Results show that US consumers are more sensitive to crowdedness, whereas Australian consumers are more sensitive to different types of safety measures, which greatly influence their patronage choices. In general, safety measures featuring social distancing are preferred over partitions, and there is no preferential difference between the measure of increasing distances between tables and the measure of not using in-between tables. |
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Keywords: | Crowdedness Social distancing Partition screen Restaurant COVID-19 |
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