The antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions for full-service restaurants

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions for full-service restaurants. The economic crisis is known to have had a deep impact on consumer behavior with regards to restaurants and this study is primarily focussed on exploring the effects on the traditional antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions as full-time restaurants attempt to reposition their offer. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved 218 respondents who were guests of full-service restaurants. In terms of statistical analyses, confirmative factor analysis was used to test the suitability of the proposed model for measuring satisfaction and revisit intentions, while structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relationship among variables of the conceptualized model. Findings – The results confirmed the significant impact of atmosphere and quality of interaction on guest satisfaction. It was interesting to notice that perceived price has no statistically significant impact on guest satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction, along with atmosphere and perceived price emerged as a significant trigger of revisit intentions. While measuring impact of atmosphere and perceived price on revisit intentions, both direct and indirect effects were measured. Originality/value – This study emphasizes in particular, the significance of revisit intention as an important behavioral reaction and reveals its antecedents. In a limited number of studies, models for understanding triggers of revisit intention were developed as separate variables, rather than as components of behavioral reactions. In that context, the tested model identifies causal relationships between latent variables. Restaurants involved in the survey are full-service restaurants dealing with the changing behavior of guests who are heavily impacted by the economic crisis. Guests show a tendency to reduce their visits to restaurants in these circumstances, forcing restaurants to reformulate their service offering in order to align with changing customers’ needs.