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.

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.

Does every customer respond in the same way to restaurants’ preventive measures (PM)? To answer this question, the purpose of the present study was to examine the moderating role of need-for-cognition (NC) and customer-restaurant relationship strength (RS) in the impact of restaurants’ PM on dine-in intentions using a trust (Study 1) and psychological discomfort (Study 2) as mediators.

Two studies were conducted using a 2 (PM: present vs control) × 2 (RS: strong vs weak) factorial design. NC was treated as a continuous variable in the regression model.

The results of two experimental studies showed that people with a high NC are more likely to show positive responses (higher trust and less discomfort) to restaurants’ PM when they have strong relationships with the restaurant. In contrast, people with a low NC did not show any interaction between PM and RS for trust and discomfort.

For restaurants targeting people with a high NC and with more returning customers than new customers, the study results suggest that safety measures should be promoted.

The present study expands the knowledge of customers’ reactions to restaurants’ PM by using the theoretical foundation of the ELM. The results of this study contribute to hospitality research by demonstrating the differences in customers’ thought processes according to their NC and the strength of their relationship with the restaurant.

This study aims to examine how cruise ship dinescapes, as a specific type of organized and staged service environment, influence customers’ attitudes, on-board behaviour, satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Data was collected using a cross-sectional survey from 552 passengers on-board one of the big cruise ships with a Caribbean itinerary.

Cruise ship dinescape, as an on-board food experience platform, is built on three dimensions: restaurant atmospherics, interactions with other guests and restaurant staff. The findings show how these dimensions influence passengers’ emotional experiences and quality perceptions. The results also show how travellers’ cruise ship dinescape satisfaction affect their overall vacation satisfaction and future travel behaviour.

The findings imply that cruise companies should pay extra attention to organised food service environments like dinescapes staged for passengers. Through these scapes cruise companies may provide favourable platforms enabling dining satisfaction, but also social interaction and co-creation of memorable experiences.

This study builds a comprehensive model in cruise ship context, which links dinescape experiences to overall cruise ship dining experiences and dining behaviour mediated by emotional and perceived quality outcomes with further consequences.

Meal ordering apps (MOAs) have transformed the customers' dining habits, particularly during mobility restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the theoretical cover of the extended stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, this paper attempts to explore the critical antecedents and outcomes of customer MOA engagement which predict the continuous purchase intentions using these apps. A multigroup analysis is conducted to investigate the difference between the hypothesized relationships between the Chinese and Indonesian consumers.

A mixed-method approach, including a systematic literature review, an open-ended essay (qualitative) with 139 MOA users and an online survey (quantitative) with 1,207 MOA users in total, was used for hypotheses testing.

The structural equation model results revealed that customer MOA experience factors such as mobile online reviews (MR), food quality (FQ), restaurant reputation (RR), service quality and system quality (SyQ) are the absolute positive factors that influence customer MOA cognitive, affective and behavioral engagement, which in turn affect continuous purchase intentions. The multigroup analysis results reveal that Chinese customers prioritized MR and FQ for customer MOA engagement (cognitive, affective and behavioral). Comparatively, Indonesian customers placed most importance on RR and SyQ.

Considering a market-specific setting and based on the extended SOR framework, this study is one of the first to take a comprehensive look at the critical antecedents and outcome of multidimensional customer MOA engagement in the developing countries’ (China and Indonesia) online to offline meal delivery context. Further, this study investigates the customer continuous purchase intentions as an outcome of MOA engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also reveal the differences in consumer behavior across the two developing but culturally diverse countries samples during the pandemic.

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

To test the model hypotheses, sports consumers who use social media and have purchased at least one online sports product were selected as the research group. Online survey method was used, and 836 participants were reached. The model was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) through smart PLS software.

As a result, the quality, credibility and usefulness of the information consumers encounter on online platforms cause them to adopt information about products or services, and then exhibit online purchase behavior. While the attractiveness and trustworthiness of celebrities are seen as important factors affecting consumers' online purchase of sports products, the effect of celebrity expertise was found to be ineffective in this study.

Marketers can develop more effective eWOM strategies by considering consumers' expectations. Businesses that want to implement an effective marketing strategy may prefer celebrities in product promotions or advertisements of their brands.

This research revealed the effect of eWOM and celebrity endorsement on the online purchase behavior of sports consumers in terms of the sports industry. Unlike previous studies, this study examined these variables together on sports consumers and contributed to the development of models.

Memorable customer experience (MCE) is a key factor affecting customer loyalty and revisit intention. Hospitality managers must identify factors that create MCEs. This study aims to investigate relationships among perceived coolness, customer engagement and MCE and examine the mediation effect of customer engagement.

Two samples of 434 restaurant customers and 372 hotel customers in Taiwan returned questionnaires. Hypotheses were examined by structural equation modeling.

The results demonstrated that perceived coolness positively affected customer engagement and MCE and that customer engagement positively affected MCE. Furthermore, customer engagement mediated the relationship between perceived coolness and MCE.

This study is cross-sectional, which limits causal inference. Furthermore, this study only investigated customers of Taiwanese restaurants and hotels, and the findings may not be generalizable to other industries and countries.

This study contributes to the MCE knowledge in hospitality by elucidating the association among perceived coolness, customer engagement and MCE. The findings can aid hospitality managers in developing marketing strategies, fostering customer engagement and creating MCEs.

This study aims to investigate how different menu types trigger diners’ behavioral intentions in restaurants’ innovation diffusion from paper to digital menus.

Four menu types, namely, paper menus with text only, paper menus with text and images, digital menus that show text and images or text and video with self-service technological functionality, are designed to empirically examine a mental process through which perceived information quality, perceived food quality and perceived service quality influence diners’ behavioral intentions.

Based on the online survey data from 502 diners, results show that the menu design influences customers’ perceptions. The video-based digital menu is the most effective to generate diners’ behavioral intentions, followed by a paper menu with text and images.

This study contributes to the innovation diffusion theory and stimulus-organism-responses theory to encourage the joint use of auditory and visual channels for digital menu design in restaurants.

The authors confirm the digital transformation in menu design in restaurants. Restaurant diners are also prepared and comfortable with digital menus, especially in the postpandemic world.

本研究目的在于调查在餐厅从纸质菜单到数字菜单的创新扩散过程中, 不同菜单类型如何影响餐厅客人的行为意向。

通过设计并使用四种菜单类型, 分别为只有文本的纸质菜单、具有文本和图片的纸质菜单、显示文本和图片或文本和视频的数字菜单以及具有自助技术功能的数字菜单, 本研究以实证方法考察了感知信息质量、感知食品质量和感知服务质量如何影响餐厅客人的行为意向的心理过程。

根据对502名餐厅客人的在线调查数据显示, 菜单设计影响了客人的感知。基于视频的数字菜单是影响餐厅客人行为意向最有效的菜单类型, 其次是文本和图片的纸质菜单。

本研究表明应鼓励在餐厅数字菜单设计中同时使用听觉和视觉元素。因此, 为研究促进了创新扩散理论和刺激-有机体-反应理论的发展。

我们证实了数字菜单在餐厅菜单设计中的转型。餐厅客人, 尤其是在在后疫情时代, 已经准备好并愿意接受使用数字菜单。

This study aims to demonstrate that the Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) framework, integrating performance management with system dynamics modelling, enables decision-makers to identify sustainable strategies in online food delivery platforms, thereby avoiding company failure.

This study undertakes a multistep methodological approach. After the literature review, a retrospective case study approach was used. To build the DPM framework and the system dynamics simulation model, primary and secondary data were collected and analysed.

This study by adopting the DPM perspective highlights the critical role performance drivers play to assess the viability of alternative growth strategies in food delivery digital platforms. As such, the findings complement extant studies which highlighted the need for adopting a dynamic perspective in Performance Measurement and Management (PMM), particularly in complex and turbulent environments. Findings also highlight that in food delivery platforms, network effects may result insufficient to reach a critical volume of users and factors such as key drivers impacting platform attractiveness must be considered to design effective PMM.

Future studies may apply the DPM framework here suggested to multiple digital platforms, to validate this study's findings.

This paper offers a guidance to practitioners and scholars to design effective PMM in food delivery digital platforms.

This study offers an innovative perspective to analyse the interdependences among main mechanisms underpinning the performance of food delivery platforms. As such, it contributes to enrich prior PMM literature and addresses the call for more empirical and theoretical PMM contributions in fast-changing and turbulent environments.