Determinants of dining satisfaction and post-dining behavioral intentions

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate the determinants and consequences of dining satisfaction with restaurant services. A total of 338 undergraduate business students participated in this research. Results reveal that there exist three sources of customers’ satisfaction with restaurant services: positive emotions, perceived service quality and negative emotions. Positive emotions have more impact on customers’ satisfaction than negative emotions. In addition, emotions mediate the impact of perceived service quality on dining satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction has a significant impact on recommendation, customer loyalty and willingness to pay more.

Introduction

Growing competition in the restaurant industry and the increasing importance of consumer patronage impose the need to provide better services and satisfy consumers. Soriano (2002, p. 1065) noticed, “Restaurant failures are partly a result of management's lack of strategic orientation in measuring and focusing on customer satisfaction”. Customer satisfaction can directly affect customer loyalty, organizational profits, return patronage, complaint behaviors and word of mouth communications (Dubé et al., 1994, Stevens et al., 1995, Soriano, 2002). Therefore, understanding the antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction is of utmost importance, which is the main concern of this study. This study proposes that satisfaction is influenced directly by emotional responses and indirectly by perceived service quality. Also, this study posits that satisfaction influences behavioral intentions such as recommendation, customer loyalty and willingness to pay more. The most important contribution of this study is the introduction of emotional responses as an intervening variable between perceived service quality and satisfaction with restaurant services. This study posits the emotional side of the consumption experience as a fundamental determinant of satisfaction (Westbrook, 1987, Oliver, 1997, Bigné et al., 2005).

Understanding emotions is crucial for service firms because the way consumers feel about a product or service will affect their purchase decision (Barsky and Nash, 2002). Emotions have been viewed as an important determinant of satisfaction. For example, the atmosphere of the restaurant (e.g., cleanliness, crowdedness, music, noise, and lighting) can affect a consumer's emotions, which in turn influences his or her overall satisfaction with the service delivery process and outcome. Our literature review reveals that there is still a need to empirically study the role of the emotional component in satisfaction formation. For example, what is the role of positive and negative emotions in satisfaction formation? How do affective reactions, positive or negative, influence satisfaction? How does the evaluation of the multiple elements of restaurant services determine both positive and negative affects?

This paper is organized as follows. First, relevant previous research on restaurant satisfaction and service quality is reviewed. Then, the conceptual model relating the constructs studied in this research is presented and discussed. The research methodology and main results are examined in the third and fourth sections. Concluding remarks, implications, and future research directions are presented in the last section.

Section snippets

Literature review and conceptual model

Several topics have been studied in the restaurant satisfaction and service quality domains. Among the main topics studied are the determinants of restaurant evaluation (Dubé-Rioux, 1990, Yüksel and Yüksel, 2002, Iglesias and Guillén, 2004, Sulek and Hensley, 2004) and repeat patronage (Dubé et al., 1994, Oh, 2000, Soriano, 2002, Sulek and Hensley, 2004). The most important studies that examined restaurant service quality and satisfaction are described in Table 1. These studies reveal that

Participants

A total of 338 undergraduate business students agreed to participate in the survey. A convenience sample of students was deemed appropriate for the purposes of this study. Students represent an interesting market for restaurant owners. As per the National Restaurant Association (2001), “Households headed by persons under age 25 spent 45.5% of their total food dollar on food away from home—more than any other age group”. As adults grow older, their spending and patronage to the restaurant

Results

The final sample included 52.1% women and 46.4% men (1.5% of the respondents chose not to answer the gender question). The 97% of respondents are under 30 years of age. Table 2 reports means and standard deviations for the 29 items of DINESERV. Table 3 reports Cronbach alpha coefficients for service quality, satisfaction, positive emotions and negative emotions.

Structural equation modeling using EQS 6.1 was performed in order to test the model proposed in Fig. 1. All variables described in the

Discussion

The results of this study show that positive emotions, negative emotions, and perceived service quality are three main sources of customer satisfaction with restaurant services. Positive and negative emotions mediate the effect of perceived service quality on satisfaction. Statistically speaking, the standardized coefficients reveal that positive emotions have more impact on customers’ satisfaction than negative emotions. This result contradicts Liljander's and Strandvik's (1997) findings,

Limitations and future research directions

This research contributed to a deeper understanding of the effect of perceived service quality and emotional components on satisfaction and thereafter, its effect on behavioral intentions. However, results of this study cannot be applied conclusively to the whole restaurant sector and all types of services because of the different nature and characteristics of the numerous restaurant and service types. This study does not distinguish between the diverse types of restaurants. Therefore, it is

Conclusion

The general purpose of this research was to investigate the determinants and consequences of dining satisfaction with restaurant services. The major contribution of this paper is the development of a satisfaction model including a separate emotional component as a determinant of satisfaction. The emotional responses are elucidated by perceived service quality. This paper's contribution is not limited to the role of emotions in the satisfaction model. In light of the results, this study

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