Food quality and employee task performance have been demonstrated to positively influence customer evaluations of restaurant dining experience. This study extends previous research by incorporating customer affective responses to examine the mediating processes underlying the relationships between customer perceptions of task performance/food quality and perceived value. The moderating influences of employee hospitality and entertainment cues on the relationships between customer perceptions of task performance/food quality and their affective responses were also examined. Results from surveying 308 customers of full-service restaurants showed that customer affective responses mediate the relationships between task performance/food quality and perceived value. The results also indicated that the relationship between food quality and affective responses increases with employee hospitability. However, employee hospitability negatively moderates the relationship between task performance and affective responses. Additionally, strong entertainment cues positively reinforce the relationship between task performance and affective responses, but do not significantly affect the relationship between food quality and affective responses.
In the restaurant business, customer perceived value is a key consideration for managers in increasing customer satisfaction and revisit intention (Yoon et al., 2007). Previous empirical evidence has indicated that several factors in food and beverage service process can enhance customer perceived value, including food quality and safety (Namkung and Jang, 2007 and Knight et al., 2007), task performance of service staff (Kim and Cha, 2002 and Zeithaml et al., 1996), physical environment (Ryu et al., 2008, Ryu and Jang, 2007 and Ryu and Jang, 2008), and customer positive emotions (Liu and Jang, 2009). For the majority of consumers, the key elements of restaurant foodservice are food quality (Sulek and Hensley, 2004) and employee task performance (Kim and Cha, 2002). These key elements can positively affect customer emotional state and further influence perceived value (Jang and Namkung, 2009 and Pullman and Gross, 2004).
However, from the perspective of hospitality, customers require not only appropriate employee task performance and food quality, but also psychological bonds through emotional and social interactions during their dining experience (Lashley, 2008 and Levy, 2010). Prior studies have suggested that commercial hospitality providers can use various methods to create memorable hospitality experiences for customers, such as enhancing customer perceptions of employee hospitability, or using entertainment to reinforce customer positive affections and perceived value (Duman and Mattila, 2005, Hyun et al., 2011, Jensen and Hansen, 2007 and Hemmington, 2007). By providing employee hospitability, restaurants can enhance customer physical and psychological comfort (Lashley et al., 2005), while entertainment can stimulate hedonic and enjoyable emotions (Sit et al., 2003). These factors can facilitate interpersonal interactions with host employees and other customers (Hemmington, 2007 and Levy, 2010). The level of social and emotional benefits induced by employee hospitability and entertainment thus can help enhance the effects of perceived employee task performance and food quality on customer affective responses. Although previous studies have examined the impact of the food itself and employee task performance on restaurant customer affections, the potential moderating effects of employee hospitality and entertainment cues on the relationships between these variables remain unclear. Thus, researchers may not adequately understand the overall hospitality experience of restaurant patrons. Hospitality providers are also likely to ignore the significant impact of hospitality and entertainment functions on the effects of the key elements of foodservice on customer affective responses in increasing customer value and improving marketing strategies (Teng, 2011).
Previous studies have sought to identify how food and service quality influence customer emotions and behaviors in a restaurant consumption context (e.g., Jang and Namkung, 2009, Ladhari, 2009 and Pullman and Gross, 2004). However, few have considered attributes related to commercial hospitality and the potential boundaries of the effects important to customer evaluations of dining experience. Results of this study thus present several theoretical implications to fill this gap in the research.
First, this study extends previous research on the key elements of foodservice in a restaurant setting by demonstrating that consumer perceptions of employee task performance and food quality impact positive affective responses and perceived value. This enables the empirical examination of the different effects of task performance and food quality on customer affections. Additionally, this study examines the way in which affective responses mediate the relationships between task performance/food quality and perceived value in the context of restaurant consumption. The mediating effects indicate that restaurant operators can enhance customer perceived value by creating positive affective responses derived from positive perceptions of food quality and task performance. The analytical results not only identify the major influences on customer dining experience but also link consumer emotions and behavioral outcomes.
