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This services marketing research provides a theoretical framework for experiential and relationship marketing and extends the theory of transcendent customer experience (TCE). Specifically, this paper aims to identify how the drivers (emotional intelligence [EI]), outcomes (customer loyalty, willingness to pay and word of mouth [WOM] intentions) and influences (openness to experience) of TCE are integrated. The research contributes to the theoretical debate regarding ability-based and self-reported EI measures by examining their influence on TCE.

Students and general consumers provided data through structured online surveys in three survey-based experiments. Linear and multiple regressions, mediation analyses and simple effects tests were used for data analysis.

Findings suggest that self-reported and ability-based measures of EI influence TCE differently. Participants who had high self-reported EI evaluated positive service encounters as more transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. Participants who had high ability-based EI evaluated positive service encounters as less transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. TCE experiences evoked higher loyalty, willingness to pay (WTP) and WOM recommendations. Furthermore, dispositional factors were significant in forming TCE: participants who were highly open to experience and had high ability-based EI interpreted their service encounter as less transcendent than did participants who were more closed to experience and had low ability-based EI.

TCE, a relatively new concept, offers theoretical advancement in context and constructs. The student-provided data gave high internal validity; the general consumer-provided data gave external validity. Ideally, a future field study in an actual consumption setting should replicate the findings. A self-reported questionnaire used to measure constructs may have introduced common method variance that biased the results.

By understanding that EI affects perceptions of transcendence in positive/negative service encounters, marketers can better implement consumer-oriented marketing strategies that will enhance TCE, customer loyalty, WTP and WOM.

Despite considerable research in experiential and relationship marketing, room remains for theoretical and practical enhancement in the under-researched concept of TCE. This research is the first attempt to extend TCE theory to marketing by identifying the drivers, outcomes and moderators of TCE in service encounters. The research also provides theoretical advancement in EI research. The results contradict previous research claiming that ability-based and self-reported measures are equally valid. Instead, using the two EI scales interchangeably leads to potentially different outcomes.

When customers decide to dine out, they choose a restaurant for both physiological and psychological reasons. The psychological reasons include the hedonic/enjoyment goal of the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether dining experiences that provide a positive or negative hedonic value will influence positive word of mouth (PWOM), switching intentions (SI) and willingness to pay (WTP).

Two survey-based experiments using student (N = 112) and general restaurant consumer samples (N = 270) were conducted to test the proposed theoretical model. The student sample provided internal validity, whereas the general consumer sample provided external validity for the study. Two types of manipulations were used to manipulate positive and negative restaurant service encounters. The second study randomly assigned participants into positive or negative scenarios.

The results suggest that positive (negative) service encounters lead to higher (lower) hedonic value. Higher hedonic value leads to PWOM, WTP and reduced SI. The findings of this study would assist restaurant managers and service scholars by bridging the gap between experiential and relationship marketing.

The current research investigates the dining out experience with a holistic lens.

The purpose of this research was to identify the drivers of customer loyalty in the context of green marketing. In particular, the extended theory of reasoned action model specified here added crucial constructs in consumer behavior, namely, consumers’ trust and beliefs about corporate social responsibility, to increase the predictability of the model. Additionally, the moderating role of level of education in predicting customer loyalty to hotels was also examined.

A mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural model was developed to understand the theoretical relationships between identified constructs. Additionally, multiple regression analyses were used to identify the moderating role of level of education in predicting consumer loyalty. Data collected through an online survey from 446 hotel guests were used for the analyses.

The results indicated that in addition to attitude and subjective norms, consumers’ trust in hotels’ intentions to be green influence their loyalty to green hotel enterprises. Further investigation also showed significant moderating influence of levels of education in their choice to be loyal to green hotels.

Even though the majority of the study’s sample has extensive travel experience, the data were collected from university employees, which might have limited the findings of this study.

Consumers need to trust ethical claims in adopting green practices to become loyal customers. Hence, it is imperative for marketers to convey that their business believe in proenvironmental activities. Additionally, marketers should not neglect their level of education because it influences their loyalty to green hotels. Green marketing should target not only an individual customer but also his/her ties to significant others, because subjective norms influence customer loyalty to green hotels.

This research developed a comprehensive model to understand customer loyalty to green hotels, thus providing insights to marketers and academics about a timely subject, namely, green behavior. In doing so, this research added crucial constructs to extend the traditional model of theory of reasoned action as well as examined the moderating role of level of education in the identified model.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of service recovery experiences on customer engagement in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) in the hotel industry and explore the psychological motives and mediating mechanisms driving consumer behavior.

A scenario-based experimental design on Qualtrics was used, with a pre-test (N = 200). The main study data were collected using Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform.

Findings reveal that negative service experiences lead to higher engagement in negative WOM compared to positive and satisfactory recovery service experiences. Even well-executed recovery efforts may not completely eliminate negative WOM. The mediating role of emotional responses is substantiated, as heightened negative service experiences result in more intense negative emotional responses, leading to increased engagement in negative WOM.

The study emphasizes the importance of service recovery strategies and the need for businesses to consistently strive for exceptional service quality. It also highlights the complexity of customer reactions to service experiences, suggesting that further research is needed to explore the factors that minimize negative WOM across various service contexts.

This research examines the influence of consumer environmental consciousness and perception of menu information in the formation of restaurant image. The concepts of mindfulness and mindful consumption were used as the theoretical background for the study.

Using a quasi-experimental setting, data were collected from restaurant consumers dining at an upscale casual restaurant in the southeastern United States over a four-week time. Structural equation modeling, multi-group analysis and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesized relationships between research constructs.

Results suggested that consumer environmental consciousness does not have a direct effect on the formation of restaurant image. However, consumer environmental consciousness influenced consumers' perception of menu information, and the perception of menu information consequently influences the restaurant image.

Foodservice industry increasingly interested in sustainability practices. Consumers want to know the connections between food and its impact on their health and the environment. Findings reveal that environmentally conscious consumers actively sought out menu information, and that once the information they were seeking was perceived, it significantly strengthened the perception of restaurant image.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research that investigated the environmental consciousness construct in a live restaurant context.