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The restaurants in Peru enjoy today a high level of international recognition, and the gastronomy of the country is recognised as one of the best in the world. For this reason, aspiring to excellence should be one of the priorities in the industry, which should mean, among other things, enhancing those aspects related to food with the greatest impact on the maximum level of customer satisfaction. However, to the authors knowledge, this research line has not been addressed before in the context of Peruvian restaurant, so that this research focuses on assessing the influence of food – through the concept of food values –, on the probability of reaching the maximum level of satisfaction both with the food consumption experience and with the foods consumed in restaurants in Peru. This research also takes into account differences according to the geographical origin of the customers.

An in-person survey of customers was conducted at the exit of different flagship restaurants with a high level of recognition and tourist orientation in the department of Ayacucho (Peru) between September and November 2022. Five restaurants acknowledged as tourist restaurants were selected for this study, of which, one has been officially granted the status of Tourist Restaurant and One Fork, in accordance with the Peruvian legal regulations. A total of 468 valid questionnaires were collected. The database was analysed using descriptive statistics, principal component factor analysis for food values, and binary logistic regressions.

The following food values factors emerged from the factorial analysis: “Image and Accessibility (IAA)”, “Ethics and Sustainability (EAS)” and “Natural Food-Safe (NFS)”. For the overall sample, IAA is more influential in the probability of obtaining the maximum level of both satisfactions (i.e. satisfaction with the food consumption experience and with the foods consumed in restaurants in Peru). In second place, EAS, as well as NFS (the latter one with a significance level of 90%), also affect, in this order, the probability of obtaining the highest level of satisfaction, but only with the foods consumed. When the geographical origin of the customer is considered (regional, national, international), interesting findings appear. For national customers, IAA is the factor with the greatest impact on the probability of achieving the maximum level of the endogenous satisfaction variables considered, followed by EAS, whilst for regional customers, only EAS is found to be influential in the probability of obtaining the maximum level of both types of satisfaction. For international customers, no factor is found to exert a significant influence.

This is the first study to assess the influence of food values on the maximum level of satisfaction among restaurant customers in Peru with both the food consumption experience and the foods consumed. Thus, this research represents a notable contribution to this research line, especially considering the great international reputation of Peruvian cuisine.

This study aims at investigating how the level of brand–consumer interaction between luxury brands and consumers on social media may affect the perception of brands’ luxuriousness. In particular, this study is focused on the moderating role of consumers’ materialism.

This study adopted a quantitative approach. Data were collected with two online experiments. Study 1 was run to test whether a luxury brand’s product description was perceived as more luxurious when published on a social media platform versus the brand’s website, and if consumers’ materialism influences this effect. Study 2 explains the underlying psychological mechanism by underlining the mediating role of psychological distance.

The results show that branded luxury products are perceived as more luxurious when these are communicated on a social media platform (vs on the brand’s Web page), and consumers are high (vs low) in materialism, due to high psychological distance.

Previous literature has neglected the relationship between materialism and social media communication, as well as the potential differential effect that a high versus low level of brand–consumer interaction may have, for luxury brands, in the online context. This study fills this gap by investigating the role of a consumer-related characteristic (i.e. the level of materialism) that represents an important dimension in luxury consumption. Moreover, this study sheds light on the mediating role of psychological distance in the context of luxury brands’ online communication.

The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ behaviour in fast-food restaurants in Spain. To this end, the authors conducted a survey that combined a classification of food values, as proposed in the relevant literature, with a related model that links personal values to behaviour.

A sample of 400 consumers was gathered from two different, leading fast-food chains operating in Spain. With these data, respondents were grouped through hierarchical cluster analysis and K-measures, and in accordance with Lusk and Briggeman’s (2009) food values and the food-related lifestyle model. The authors validated these clusters by means of ANOVA and discriminant analysis, which led to useful observations about inter-group differences in consumers’ habits, as well as their satisfaction, trust and loyalty.

The results indicate that consumers can be clustered into three groups based their food values assessments: the “mainly utilitarian” group, the “mainly hedonic” group and the “ethical values” group. These groups not only demonstrate diverse habits, but also differ on key variables such as satisfaction, trust and loyalty.

The authors offer several managerial recommendations for designing and developing segmentation strategies in the fast-food industry. Any such strategies should acknowledge that all consumer groups appear to value restaurants’ efforts to provide them with both hedonic and utilitarian benefits, although the extent varies across groups.

Among the relevant literature, this research is the only one that examines the existence of distinct consumer groups based on their food values assessments. In addition, this paper analyses inter-group differences in terms of both diverse consumptions habits (frequency of visits, expenditure, etc.) and key marketing variables (satisfaction, trust and loyalty).

Given food industry manufacturers and retailers' growing economic interest in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this research aims to contribute to the understanding of consumer food decisions in this specific geographical area. Thus, the intention is to analyze whether there are significant differences in the appreciation of food values according to certain key demographics of consumers (related to the individual and the context) in one of the largest SSA economies: Nigeria.

The review of the relevant literature enabled us to propose a series of hypotheses regarding potential significant differences in the appreciation of a series of food values (in particular, price, safety, environmental impact, nutrition and weight and measures) according to variables related to the individual and the economic and social context. In order to test the hypotheses, a structured questionnaire was personally administered to 500 Lagos residents between June and July 2020. The questionnaire contained, as well as diverse questions related to the appreciation of food values selected for this study, a group of questions about the consumers' sociodemographic characteristics – at both the individual and context level. The database was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal–Wallis tests.

The results show that nutrition and weight and measurement values are the most and least appreciated food values, respectively. However, these values differ across segments determined by the chosen sociodemographic variables.

The results of this study are preliminary and not a complete representation of the Lagos State population, and, consequently, of the Nigerian population. Additional studies in the same and other countries in SSA are needed to confirm the authors’ findings. The results, however, provide an insight into what the most likely outcomes are. A field survey was used as respondents tend not to answer online surveys spontaneously.

Food manufacturers and retailers should encourage consumer-operator feedback mechanisms to improve product characteristics and development. The variations found across each segment can be capitalized upon for advertising and branding food products.

Having selected a country in SSA for the study is an important contribution, given that few studies have focused on this geographical area.

This study aims to determine which factors underlie the store attributes that contribute to a particular food store image. Furthermore, heightened recent attention to private labels in the food retailing industry creates the need to assess whether the factors vary, depending on customers' brand proneness and their impact on key marketing performance variables (satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, behavioural loyalty).

The proposed analysis features 211 questionnaires out of a sample of 391 consumers surveys gathered in four different store formats; 137 of which were completed by consumers who admitting being private label prone, and 74 pertaining to consumers who considered themselves national brand prone. The underlying food store factors were identified using factorial analysis of principal components, and their influence on consumers' satisfaction and loyalty was evaluated with linear parametric regression models.

Store attributes related to providing sufficiently convenient purchasing experiences and a special atmosphere are most important for private label brand-prone consumers and enhance their satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. For national brand-prone consumers, attributes related to quality are more important for enhancing marketing performance variables.

The results enable a clear identification of food store factors that vary with the consumer segment being considered (private label prone consumers vs. national brand prone), as well as their differential impacts on key marketing performance variables.

To appeal to private label-prone consumers, food retailers should put particular emphasis on the attributes of the store itself, especially those that enhance convenience and the pleasantness of the store atmosphere. To attract national brand-prone consumers, they primarily need to highlight aspects related to quality.

This research emphasises the importance of building competitive strategies in food retailing based on: an increased knowledge about the attributes and factors that food consumers value more highly; and brand type preferences.

Talent is a critical factor for organizational success. Multinational corporations (MNCs) face the challenge of fierce competition for talent worldwide by increasing their efforts in global talent management (GTM). To improve the strategic alignment of GTM, organizations increasingly incorporate information and communication technology (ICT) applications to support their GTM system. However, not every organization is successful at applying these new opportunities (e-GTM) and aligning them successfully with their organizational strategy. This chapter aims at conceptualizing the relationship between strategic GTM and strategic ICT in an aligned effort. It presents a conceptual framework that identifies four types of MNC approaches to e-GTM.

By means of a review of, both the GTM literature as well as the ICT literature, we connect the two concepts, GTM and ICT into e-GTM, into a framework along two axes: the extent to which MNCs apply GTM (ad hoc vs. strategic) and the scope of ICT in MNCs (operational vs. strategic).

Although the framework identifies four approaches to e-GTM in MNCs, the framework is less black and white than as presented. Companies can display e-GTM characteristics which place them in the gray areas in between each of the profiles. Additionally, we assume that achieving the alignment of strategic GTM and strategic ICT is an iterative process.

Since strategic alignment is not static but continuously changing, it requires companies to reevaluate their current GTM practices and ICT applications constantly while scanning the external market for new developments in the field of GTM and ICT to ensure the innovative state of their system. Furthermore, we assume that MNCs from high-tech sectors are more successful in supporting their strategic GTM applications with suitable ICT applications than MNCs from low-tech sectors. The study presents a first step toward researching the relationship between strategic GTM and strategic ICT in MNCs. The proposed framework might be used as a foundation for further research studies.

The framework presented in this chapter can help MNCs to address the issue of connecting GTM and ICT.

The relationship between GTM and ICT have not been conceptualized before. Furthermore, the typology presented in this chapter, with four approaches to ICT-enabled GTM, is a new way of looking at the GTM–ICT relationship.

Expanding the market share of safe food through a modern retail system has faced a lot of difficulties in Vietnam. Thus, a further understanding of consumer behaviour and loyalty towards such food is essential for food retailers. This study aims at exploring segments of consumer loyalty and its influential factors towards safe food brands in the country.

Based on a sample of 250 consumers buying safe food in Hanoi city in February 2019, two-step cluster and multinomial logistic regression analyses were applied.

The results show that four segments of brand loyalty were formed from the interaction between attitudinal and behavioural loyalty as the framework of Dick and Basu (1994), namely, true loyalty, spurious loyalty, latent loyalty and disloyalty. Notably, over 60% of the consumers were in latent loyalty and spurious loyalty, indicating variety-seeking behaviour, multi-brand loyalty or low recognition of the brand. Consumer satisfaction was the most vital motivating consumers to higher loyalty levels. Additionally, brand trust and brand familiarity played significant roles in developing true brand loyalty. An attractive selling store and friendly staff were also important in enhancing brand loyalty.

This study is one of the first to elicit consumer loyalty and identify factors driving the loyalty towards brands of safe food in a developing country like Vietnam.

This paper aims to establish the main factors that underlie store attributes, to examine which exert the greatest influences on the achievement of a maximum level of customer satisfaction. This study seeks to determine if there are significant differences not only in the factor compositions but also in their influence on customer satisfaction, depending on the country of residence of focal customers.

The test of the proposed framework consists of analyses of two samples of customers that purchased in grocery stores in Spain and the USA. Following a factor analysis of the principal components, a binary logistic regression analysis tests the influence of the identified factors on customer satisfaction.

This work contributes to extant literature by assessing differences in the main factors that contribute to satisfaction with food stores, depending on the location of the customer.

This work is especially useful to grocery retailers that operate, or plan to operate, in different countries; it outlines key factors to consider to achieve upper‐bounded customer satisfaction scores.

The proposed classification of attributes and factors, according to their importance for customers' evaluations in different countries, includes three main factors. The first‐order factor includes the most valued attributes by all customers, independent of the country of residence. The second‐order factors include attributes with lesser importance though still valued by customers; the importance depends on the country of residence. Finally, the third‐order factor attributes are valued relatively less.