Search results

Virtual kitchens are a new business phenomenon, and how customers react to the new business model is still a largely unexplored topic. The purpose of this study is to examine the underlying mechanisms of consumers’ different responses to their reasoning of the new and disruptive business model of the virtual kitchen.

Based on the attribution theory and situated focus theory of power, this study conducts three online experiments to test the proposed framework. A total of 487 US residents who had prior experience with restaurant food delivery participated in the studies.

The results indicate that external attribution (vs internal attribution) and ethnic cuisine (vs mainstream cuisine) are more likely to elicit customers’ empathy and justice, leading to higher purchase intentions with virtual kitchens. A mainstream virtual kitchen is better off attributing itself to external factors. The significant effects of causal attribution and cuisine type on purchase intention only exist with powerful customers and those with high moral identity.

The results of this study provide valuable insight to virtual kitchen businesses to better position and market themselves to gain customers’ support. The findings also suggest that ethnic and mainstream restaurants should strategize their marketing communications about virtual kitchens differently.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to provide in-depth insight into the growing phenomenon of virtual kitchens. It also contributes to the extant literature on attribution theory and situated focus theory of power.

This paper aims to outline the innovation process activities described by quick‐service restaurant (QSR) managers and to compare it with an earlier QSR process model and with those used in other food service settings.

Six semi‐structured interviews with QSR chain executives in the USA were conducted to better understand the underlying factors and dimensions that describe successful innovation process practices.

For new QSR menu innovations, the development teams follow a structured approach to reduce the likelihood of failure due to issues such as poor consumer demand or implementation. QSR screen new food innovations approximately five times during the development process. Furthermore, today's QSR innovation process integrates more sophisticated market research technology and a post‐audit is carried out after the new food concept has been launched. In comparison with studies of Michelin‐starred chefs QSR development teams use an approach that is much more explicitly structured as a whole due to the larger scale roll‐out as well as greater cross‐functional and regional differences to consider in the QSR setting.

The study was conducted in only one country and on a small sample. Based on an analysis of the findings, the innovation development process of QSR can be broken down into 13 main steps. Compared with earlier hospitality innovation studies, the process in this setting includes multiple screenings for high‐risk innovations, and greater emphasis on operational and training issues.

The study expands the scope of hospitality innovation research and the findings have important implications not only for QSR settings but also for other restaurant segments, and for other hospitality service endeavours.

The usage of robot waiters in the hospitality industry is growing, thus increasing the number of human–robot interactions in frontline services. Focusing on robot waiters in restaurants, this study aims to propose the social cognition (SC)–psychological ownership (PO)–customer responses (CR) model, while examining the association between SC, PO, robot anthropomorphism and CR.

The hypotheses of this study are tested using a three-step mixed-method approach that includes partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

PLS-SEM demonstrates the mediating role of psychological ownership on the relationship between SC, customer attitudes regarding being attended by a robot and revisiting intentions. Robot anthropomorphism enhances the relationship between SC and psychological ownership. NCA indicates that SC and psychological ownership are necessary conditions for the presence of favorable attitudes and revisiting intentions. FsQCA suggests that different configurations of the antecedent conditions lead to better attitudes and revisiting intentions.

Frontline hospitality robots need to be perceived as warm, competent, responsive and adaptable to customer requests to elicit positive responses. Managers should employ attractive robots displaying anthropomorphic features. Managers need to ensure that customers have some knowledge about robots before interacting with them. Managers should also consider customer heterogeneity and the context in which the robots will be deployed.

Based on the psychological ownership theory, this paper analyzes the relationship between SC, psychological ownership and CR. Anthropomorphism moderates the relationship between SC and psychological ownership.

Food is a key element in tourism experiences. This study aims to investigate the interplay of sensory and non-sensory factors in food tourism experiences and models their influence on satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

The study focuses on the culinary experiences of 304 tourists dining at ethnic restaurants and uses causal relationship discovery modelling to analyse data.

Sensory factors are important in tourists’ culinary experiences with cleanliness, noise levels and room temperature at the top of the causal chain. Results also indicate the interplay between sensory and non-sensory factors to explain overall satisfaction, intention to return and intention to say positive things.

Using embodied cognition theory, the study offers novel insights into the role of senses in food tourism experiences at rural destinations.

美食是乡村旅游的主要吸引物之一。本研究的目的是调查游客在用餐体验中感官和非感官因素的相互作用, 以及这些因素如何影响游客的满意度和行为意愿。

本研究使用因果关系建模的方法来分析 304 名在某地方特色餐厅用餐的游客的问卷数据。

结果显示, 对于游客的用餐体验而言, 感官和非感官因素具备同等的重要性。此外, 结果发现, 游客感知到的噪音水平、适宜的室内温度及清洁度在与其他因素的相互作用中非常重要, 并能激发游客的满意度和重游意愿。

基于认知理论, 本研究为更好地理解感官因素和非感观因素在乡村旅游情境下的游客用餐体验中的作用提供了新的知识。

La comida es un elemento clave en las experiencias turísticas. Este estudio investiga la interacción de factores sensoriales y no sensoriales en las experiencias de turismo gastronómico y modela su influencia en la satisfacción y las intenciones de comportamiento.

El estudio se centra en las experiencias culinarias de 304 turistas que cenan en restaurantes étnicos y utiliza modelos de descubrimiento de relaciones causales para analizar los datos.

Los factores sensoriales son importantes en las experiencias culinarias de los turistas con la limpieza, los niveles de ruido y la temperatura ambiente en la parte superior de la cadena causal. Los resultados también indican la interacción entre factores sensoriales y no sensoriales para explicar la satisfacción general, la intención de regresar y la intención de decir cosas positivas.

Utilizando la teoría de la cognición incorporada, el estudio ofrece nuevos conocimientos sobre el papel de los sentidos en las experiencias de turismo gastronómico en destinos rurales.

This paper aims to investigate the perceptions by owners and staff working in causal full-service restaurants in Macao of their two major subcultures of customers: Hong Kong Chinese and Taiwan Chinese in terms of their dining behavior and preferences.

Face-to-face interviews with 36 service staff of casual dining restaurants in Macao were conducted through the purposive convenience sampling method. Thematic content analysis was conducted in the data analysis.

The results reveal that although the customers from the two Chinese subcultures have a similar appearance, use the same Chinese characters and share common cultural inheritances; their dining behavior and preferences are perceived as being different.

Practical implications are given on how to better design the products and services to meet each subgroup’s needs for enhancing customers’ experience and service quality in restaurant settings.

This study focuses on examining if there are any sub-cultural differences in food behaviors and preferences among Hong Kong and Taiwan visitors, who are the major tourist sources in the world market. It contributes to the scarce literature on intracultural dining variances of sub-groups within Chinese.

This study aims to examine the impacts of restaurant servers’ actions on the customers’ emotional contagion and the impacts of customers’ emotional contagion on their intention to tip and the likelihood of tipping. This study also explores social compliance and examines its impacts on customers’ intentions to tip and the likelihood of tipping.

Taking a restaurant in Taiwan as an example, this study uses questionnaires to investigate five constructs of the research framework, which are restaurant servers’ actions, restaurant customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion, customers’ intention to tip, customers’ likelihood of tipping and customers’ social compliance. The questionnaires were distributed online using Surveycake website. A total of 310 completed questionnaires were collected.

The results indicate the following: restaurant servers’ actions positively affect customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion; customers’ emotional contagion positively affects their intention to tip and likelihood of tipping; customers’ social compliance positively affects their intentions to tip and the likelihood of tipping; and customers’ emotional contagion partially mediates the effects of restaurant servers’ actions on customers’ intention to tip and likelihood of tipping.

The hypothesis test results in this article not only successfully integrate or confirm the research findings of past scholars, but also expand the scope of research on related topics. Furthermore, the research findings of this study provide restaurant practitioners with rich marketing implications.

微笑可换来小费吗？餐厅服务员行为会影响顾客的情绪感染和小费行为吗？

摘要

本研究旨在检验餐厅服务员行为对顾客情绪感染的影响, 以及顾客情绪感染对他们给小费意愿和可能性的影响。本研究还探讨了社会合规性, 并检查了其对顾客给小费意愿和给小费可能性的影响。

本研究以台湾一家餐厅为例, 使用问卷调查研究框架的五个结构, 即餐厅服务员行为、餐厅顾客情绪感染、顾客给小费意愿、顾客给小费可能性以及顾客的社会责任。本研究使用了Surveycake线上问卷调查网站, 在线上分发问卷, 并共收集到 310 份已完整问卷。

本研究结果表示：（1）餐厅服务员的行为正向影响顾客情绪感染, （2）顾客的情绪感染正向影响他们给小费的意愿和可能性, （3）顾客的社会责任正向影响他们给小费的意愿和可能性, 以及（4）顾客的情绪感染部分中介了餐厅服务员行为对顾客给小费意愿和小费可能性的影响。

本文的假设检验结果不仅成功地整合或证实了以往学者的研究成果, 而且扩大了相关课题的研究范围。此外, 本研究的研究结果为餐厅从业者提供了丰富的营销意义。

¿Sonriendo por propinas? ¿Afectarán las acciones de los camareros al contagio emocional y a las propinas de los clientes?

Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar cómo impactan las acciones de los camareros de restaurantes en el contagio emocional de los clientes, y cómo ese contagio emocional influye en su intención de dejar propina y en la probabilidad de hacerlo. Este estudio también explora el cumplimiento social y examina su impacto en la intención de los clientes de dejar propina y la probabilidad de hacerlo.

Tomando un restaurante en Taiwán como ejemplo, este estudio utiliza cuestionarios para investigar cinco constructos del marco de investigación, que son las acciones de los camareros del restaurante, la susceptibilidad de los clientes del restaurante al contagio emocional, la intención de los clientes de dejar propina, la probabilidad de hacerloy el cumplimiento social de los clientes. Los cuestionarios se distribuyeron online a través de la web Surveycake. Se recogieron un total de 310 cuestionarios completados.

Los resultados indican: (1) las acciones de los camareros del restaurante afectan positivamente a la susceptibilidad de los clientes al contagio emocional, (2) el contagio emocional de los clientes afecta positivamente su intención de dejar propina y la probabilidad de hacerlo, (3) el cumplimiento social de los clientes afecta positivamente su intención de dejar propina y la probabilidad de hacerlo, y (4) el contagio emocional de los clientes media parcialmente los efectos de las acciones de los camareros del restaurante sobre la intención de los clientes de dejar propina y la probabilidad de hacerlo.

Los resultados de la prueba de hipótesis en este artículo no solo integran o confirman con éxito los hallazgos de estudios previos, sino que también amplían el alcance de la investigación sobre temas relacionados. Además, los resultados de este estudio proporcionan a los profesionales de la restauración importantes implicaciones de marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a comprehensive hierarchical model of the interrelationships among five higher order marketing constructs (service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, restaurant image and behavioural intentions) for moderate upscale restaurants in Malaysia. A third order conceptualisation of service quality is also included in the empirical analysis.

The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations.

Service quality, customer satisfaction and restaurant image all have a strong, positive impact on the behavioural intentions of moderate upscale restaurant patrons. Service quality, perceived value and restaurant image are also important determinants of customer satisfaction. Behavioural intentions to re-patronise a restaurant and recommend it to friends are influenced more strongly by restaurant image than by customer satisfaction. Three primary dimensions and ten pertaining sub-dimensions are modelled in the third order conceptualisation of service quality. The primary and sub-dimensions also vary in importance amongst the customers in the sampling frame.

This is the first empirical research that develops and tests a comprehensive hierarchical model for moderate upscale restaurants to provide a complete and integrative analysis of a service setting. The interrelationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value restaurant image and behavioural intentions are assessed. A third order conceptualisations of service quality is also included in the modelling framework.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between perceived quality association and purchase intention to re-patronise Shariah-compliant brand restaurants among Muslims in Malaysia, particularly in the Klang Valley.

By purposive sampling, the researcher focused on particular characteristics of a population that are of interest that are best to answer the questionnaires and have a specific type of people who can provide the coveted information. By using a self-reporting questionnaire, data from 531 respondents were obtained and analysed using structural equation modelling-partial least square.

The results showed that perceived quality association has significant and positive influences on intention to re-patronise Shariah-compliant brand restaurants. Atmospheric ambience, food taste, value for money and service personnel were indicators of perceived quality rather than characterising the content of perceived quality. Amongst the four indicators, service personnel were the most important elements for the perceived quality association and were followed by food taste. Delicious food at a reasonable price was the third criterion that is prioritised by consumers in choosing restaurants. Moreover, the atmospheric factor loading showed the lowest among the three dimensions because atmospheric ambience was the last choice when consumers re-patronise Shariah-compliant brand restaurants. Therefore, it is important for Shariah-compliant brand restaurants to concentrate on service personnel aspect and food taste in formulating their marketing strategies to sustain their competitive advantage. These insights could be used to overcome the challenges of purchase intention of Shariah-compliant brand restaurants.

The first limitation is that the data for this paper were gathered from casual dining sit-down restaurants in Malaysia, especially in the Klang Valley. Thus, the findings may not be generalised to other types of restaurants. There are various types of restaurants in Malaysia; thus, the outcomes might be not similar to this research. Second, it was found that several respondents asserted that the topic of this paper is sensitive in nature, even for Muslim consumers. Thus, the researcher had to clarify the reasoning of the paper and the definition of Shariah-compliant brand restaurants despite the definition has been written on the first page of the questionnaire.

Measuring service quality by making comparisons between the customers’ expectations and the perceived performance has received much attention from both researchers and marketers. The importance of perceived quality originates from its beneficial impact on purchase intentions. This paper represents the perceived quality association as a second-order reflective model consisting of four dimensions: atmospheric ambience, food taste, value for money and service personnel, and these dimensions must be highly correlated. Buying patterns of food consumption vary between individual, from culture to culture, society to society and country to country. In managing Shariah-compliant brand restaurants, the production and food process should be governed by specific rules in Shariah. By giving real information and no false promise, the Shariah-compliant brand restaurants will gain welfare and consumers’ trust to purchase.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of perceived customer value, such as the perceived quality and perceived sacrifices, and the effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (CL) in the restaurant industry.

Based on an extensive literature review, a research model and questionnaire were designed. To assess the hypothesised relationships, data were collected in a field survey. Partial least squares regression (a variance-based regression analysis of SEM) was selected to analyse the relationships within the research model.

The findings of this study indicate that the perceived monetary sacrifice (PMS) and perceived service quality were found to be antecedents of perceived value (PV), whereas PMS was the major precursor of PV. Further, PV was found to have a substantial influence on customer satisfaction and CL.

The study provides a better understanding of the price–value–satisfaction–loyalty relationships in the restaurant context in a more holistic sense and recommendations to move this research stream forward.

This paper aims to explore the dynamics and performance of on-premise wine trade business.

The study involved in-depth interviews with six on-premise businesses in Seoul, South Korea. The data obtained were methodically analysed to understand the impact of different variables through a qualitative business dynamic model.

Customer satisfaction and number of customers are key performance factors for on-premise wine trade business. Customer satisfaction is driven by servicescape, wine lists and front-line employees. However, the length of wine list impacts directly on inventory costs and staff knowledge, while the number of service staff in the business has a non-linear effect on profits, as service staff does not grow linearly with the number of customers.

One important limitation is that the business dynamics model, which is based on South Korean cases, used only owners/sommeliers’ perspectives but not consumers’ perspectives. There are two implications. First, in terms of on-premise wine trade, the alignment of servicespace, front-line employees, wine lists and pricing strategy is key to shape customers’ expectations and confirm the market positioning of the business. Second, for wineries, understanding the dynamics of on-premise wine trade can help them to find strategies to position their wines.

The paper offers two contributions. Firstly, the paper provides the first exploratory study on the business dynamics of on-premise wine trade businesses, which complements existing wine-buying behaviour studies. Secondly, the study explores the on-trade channel in South Korea, providing insights into an important Asian market.