Moderating roles of customer characteristics on the link between service factors and satisfaction in a buffet restaurant

Elucidating the role of digital technologies in bridling the ramifications of COVID-19 in restaurant services: moderation of pandemic susceptibility and severity

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to augment the perceived service quality (PSQ) dimensions as well as evaluate the effects of pandemic susceptibility and severity by appending crucial enablers of customer satisfaction (CS) in the restaurant industry (RI).

Design/methodology/approach

The top 10 restaurants from Mumbai and Kolkata were selected based on the Conde Nast Traveller Magazine List, 2020. The study used a cross-sectional design to collect responses from 840 respondents across the two major metropolitans of India after the second wave of COVID-19 by employing a structured questionnaire. The proffered hypotheses in this study were validated using factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques.

Findings

This research espies pivotal facilitators of CS and customers' perceived value (CPV). The results divulge that food quality (FQ) and tangibility dimensions markedly enhance CS while the FQ and digital technologies (DT) dimensions augment CPV in Indian restaurants. The study asserts that CPV acts as a partial mediator between FQ and DT on the one hand and CS on the other. In addition, perceived pandemic susceptibility (PPSU) and perceived pandemic severity (PPSE) moderate the association between CPV and CS in restaurants.

Research limitations/implications

This study exemplifies the critical enablers of CS and CPV that may invigorate restaurant owners, managers and policymakers to prioritize the identified dimensions to aggrandize CS and CPV quotients.

Originality/value

The study enriches the literature by assimilating DT and CPV dimensions in a comprehensive theoretical framework. The research is unique in attempting to unfurl the moderating effects of PPSU and PPSE in the RI.

A critical assessment of employer branding to retain knowledgeable workforce: study on current employees of the information technology firms

Purpose

This study aims to explore and validate the antecedents of employer branding (EB) and assess their impact on EB measures taken by Indian information technology firms while promoting themselves as an employer of choice.

Design/methodology/approach

Through the method of content analysis of the EB literature published between 2010 and 2020, a total of 77 research articles that were published in various eminent sources, including papers 11 papers from Elsevier, 28 from Emerald, 12 from Taylor and Francis, 8 each from Wiley and Sage and finally 10 from Springer, were chosen for the final analysis. The results were confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling.

Findings

The analysis revealed the significant themes of the content: the primary antecedents of the EB, i.e. compensation and benefits, career opportunities, work–life balance, work environment and corporate social responsibility. The findings proposed that the employees working in the IT firms are more concerned about the compensation package, work–life balance and work environment. The study also suggested that employees love to work for organizations that benefit society and the environment.

Originality/value

The study emphasized the identification of the antecedents which are vital in impacting the organization’s EB strategy. The study suggested that corporate social responsibility, compensation and benefits and work–life balance are a few of the important antecedents that play a crucial role in engaging and retaining the existing talented employees in IT firms. Through the EB strategy, the firms can differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Factors Affecting the Repurchase Intention of Organic Tea among Millennial Consumers: An Empirical Study

The study aims to identify the factors affecting consumers’ intention to repurchase organic tea in an emerging country such as Bangladesh. The study adopted the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory, which uses seven constructs as the predictor of repurchase intention. This is a quantitative and empirical study that adopted cross-sectional survey methods. The convenience sampling method was used to collect data from 340 young respondents who visited supermarkets in Dhaka between October and November 2021. In order to analyze the obtained primary data, the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used. The findings revealed that product satisfaction, perceived values and brand trust are the predictors of repurchase intention. Surprisingly, we did not find that promotional efforts effected repurchase intention. The study also identified food quality and information quality as the antecedents of perceived value and product satisfaction, while the antecedents of brand trust were product satisfaction, food quality, brand image, information quality and promotional effort. The study suggested numerous theoretical and policy implications to improve repurchase intention of organic tea in the context of emerging economies such as Bangladesh.

Bridging the Perception Gap between Management and Customers on DINESERV Attributes: The Korean All-You-Can-Eat Buffet

Our study is based on the premise that there are differences between the key service attributes that restaurant managers prioritize and crucial DINESERV attributes that are important to customers’ perception of their experience at a restaurant. This paper investigated the perception gap between operators and customers on the service attributes of Korean all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants, and it suggests strategic alternatives to bridge this perception gap. To investigate this perception gap, we first used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the priority ranking of the service attributes that restaurant managers employ for enhancing customer satisfaction. Second, we used the importance-performance analysis (IPA) methodology to reveal the importance that customers place on individual restaurant service attributes and how they affect customer satisfaction. Finally, this paper integrated AHP and IPA to scrutinize the perception gap between managers’ prioritization and customers’ view of the importance of DINESERV attributes. The theoretical contribution of this study is the proposed integrated AHP-IPA model that combines the manager and customer perspectives. This model differentiates our study from previous studies that analyzed operator prioritizations and customer perceptions separately. Furthermore, we offer strategic alternatives for managing service attributes that are suitable for multiple types of buffet restaurants, including hotel, specific, and casual buffet restaurant types that are categorized by the food served and service procedures employed.

Assessing the Importance of Health in Choosing a Restaurant: An Empirical Study from Romania

In the context of a spectacular growth of the Romanian restaurant market, it has become a necessity for managers to analyze the decision-making process related to restaurant selection toward obtaining a competitive advantage, which can be achieved through better segmentation and adequate targeting. The main objectives involved the identification of the main factors that influence restaurant selection by evaluating the role that health concerns play in this process and identifying consumers’ restaurant profiles. A survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews as the contact method, in order to identify the main factors considered important for consumers in the city of Cluj-Napoca in the decision-making process related to restaurant selection. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to group the attributes. The non-hierarchical cluster analysis through the use of the k-means method was used to define different groups within the sample and identify common features. Results suggest that the analyzed restaurant market is dominated by three segments of consumers, of which the largest is represented by “health seekers”: a group of young women with medium and low incomes. As such, the possibility of consuming healthy meals within a restaurant is the most important factor for them during the decision-making process for restaurant selection. The present study has important managerial implications. Restaurant managers should admit that this process represents the starting point in designing restaurant concepts, as this type of information is fundamental for management decisions. On the other hand, the study offers important information regarding consumer perception of food, which has recently changed significantly, especially in the segment of young consumers to whom health is very important.

Measuring of job satisfaction: the use of quality of work life factors

Purpose

Banking industry forms a part of financial services that has emerged itself as the most important source for India’s economic growth. Job satisfaction of employees is one of the important pre-requisites to ensure smooth functioning of banks. The purpose of this paper is to explore the association of job satisfaction with the quality of work life factors of bank employees (n=300), followed by the essential influential relationship of these concepts with socio-demographic characteristics, thereby, proving its own distinct contribution to the subsist body of literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This study has considered five private sector banks in India and has used the technique of multi-stage sampling to collect primary data. The respondents from different cadres, namely, executive, associate and manager involved in customer-oriented interactions participated in this survey. The analysis has been conducted by applying descriptive statistics, regression analysis (impact of the quality of work life factors on job satisfaction) and χ2 statistics (association of the quality of work life and job satisfaction with socio-demographic variables). The results have been compared with the Herzberg Theory of Job Satisfaction.

Findings

The results of the study show the presence of variance (R2 61.40 percent) in job satisfaction as explained by the quality of work life constructs. The unconducive work environment has confirmed negative association with job satisfaction. The study foresees to contribute useful information to the top management level in the organizations to enhance employees’ overall job satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The opaqueness with which the Indian banking industry has its roots and existence in India, the present study clearly has limits: the small size of the sample and the study considered only private sector banks.

Practical implications

A planned approach at organizational and individual level is highly recommended. The bank management must realize the importance of their devoted staff by giving them quality work environment. The initiatives like regular exercise routines can be adopted to reduce stress. Some respondents expressed the need for intercity branch associations, which can help them to solve common problems, better learning opportunities with an informal atmosphere along with other training sessions organized formally.

Originality/value

The paper gives a theoretical explanation of the quality of work life and job satisfaction factors in the Indian private banks falling under the umbrella of Indian banking industry with respect to the employees of private sector banks.

Perceptions of fine dining restaurants in Pakistan

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between restaurant key attributes, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The mediating role of customer satisfaction is assessed between restaurants’ key attributes of service quality and behavioral intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from a sample of 296 customers dining in the fine dining restaurants of Pakistan through a self-administered questionnaire. The data were then analyzed through regression analysis and gap analysis. Model fitness was checked in SPSS AMOS through CFA.

Findings

The findings suggest that the key restaurant attributes have a significant positive effect on behavioral intentions. Customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between key restaurant attributes and behavioral intentions. The findings also suggest that there is a significant gap between the perceptions of customers regarding the importance and performance of key restaurant attributes.

Practical implications

The result indicates that food taste and environmental cleanliness are the cornerstones of fine dining restaurants’ success in Pakistan and are among the strongest predictor of customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions; while improvement efforts should be made in four key areas, i.e., healthy food option, food freshness, food safety and fair price.

Originality/value

No comparative study has been directed in fine dining restaurants of Pakistan with respect to the key restaurants attributes, i.e., food quality attributes, service quality attributes, atmospheric quality attributes, and other attributes which have been analyzed in the current study. This research was conducted to investigate the perceptions of customers toward the fine dining restaurants of Pakistan to measure the key restaurants’ attributes that influence customers’ satisfaction and their post-dining behavioral intentions. This study will facilitate restaurants’ managers to understand the stronger and as well as the weaker aspects of service quality and permit them to investigate the factors which contribute toward customers’ satisfaction and their post-dining behavioral intentions in order to build and maintain long-term relationship between restaurants and customers.