The intricate relationships of consumers’ loyalty and their perceptions of service quality, price and satisfaction in restaurant service

Actions are oriented to delight travelers: A sequential mediation model to explore the relationship between travel quality and re-travel intentions

The actions are oriented to delight travelers where existing protocols fall short of solving problems in the travel and tourism industry, seeking the retention of commuters by offering travel quality. The present study investigates the travel decision-making process by exploring the nexus between travel quality and re-travel intentions (RTI). The study also analyzes the relational switching cost's (RSC) unique role as a sequential mediator in driving travel quality through the theoretical lens of expectancy disconfirmation theory. Furthermore, the study also explores the role of gender in explaining RTI. 434 real-time responses were collected following the lifetime value (LTV) approach. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The study reveals that travel quality significantly influences commuter satisfaction. The results also suggest the indirect effect of RSC on commuter satisfaction (CS) and (RTI). Finally, it is suggested that RTI is higher among female commuters than male commuters. The fundamental contribution of this study is developing and testing the travel decision-making process by extending the EDT model. Additionally, the TRAVQUAL scale contributes to measuring perceived and expected travel quality. Commuter satisfaction and relational switching costs act as sequential mediators, while gender emerges as a moderator, emphasizing the greater significance of re-travel intentions among female commuters post-RSC. These insights contribute valuable perspectives for enhancing travel experiences and decision-making processes in the travel and tourism industry.

Using the Theory of Perceived Value to Determine the Willingness to Consume Foods from a Healthy Brand: The Role of Health Consciousness

Eating low amounts of healthy foods leads to high rates of diet-related diseases. How can we control and reduce the increase in these diseases? One of the recommendations is to improve nutritional competence, which means greater health consciousness. The objective of the present study is to determine the influence of health consciousness on the dimensions of perceived value and their impact on the willingness to consume foods from a healthy brand. Through a non-experimental, cross-sectional, and explanatory study, the responses of 518 participants (men and women) who confirmed being consumers of the healthy brands of food were analyzed. The study included adults aged from 18 to 58 years recruited using non-probability sampling. Data was collected using a self-report form and statistically analyzed using Smart PLS. The findings support that health awareness positively and significantly influences perceived quality value, perceived financial value, perceived social value, and perceived emotional value; contrary to this, it was detected that the perceived financial value does not influence the willingness to consume foods from healthy brands. This study contributes significantly to health science by showing how the theory of perceived value predicts the intention to consume healthy brands, with health consciousness intervening in this prediction. Therefore, it is concluded that the study population that consumes healthy foods has experienced the positive impact of perceived value and reports that the factors that comprise it influence their intention to consume healthy foods.

Understanding consumers' continuous-use intention of crowdsourcing logistics services: Empirical evidence from China

Crowdsourcing logistics-based O2O (online to offline) has been increasingly implemented to help individuals or merchants tackle down the problem of intra city instant delivery in China. However, since insufficient control is imposed on free couriers, consumers are subjected to certain risks generated by the uneven service quality provided by free couriers, such that the continuous-use intention to adopt crowdsourcing logistics may be affected in an unexpected manner. A sampling survey was carried out in China's first- and second-tier cities, with 292 valid questionnaires collected. On that basis, the corresponding hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares (PLS) method. The findings of this study revealed that trust, perceived value, and satisfaction positively contributed to continuous-use intention, where trust contributed the most. Perceived risk exerted a significant negative effect on continuous use intention. Trust is capable of notably reducing perceived risk. Crowdsourcing logistics service quality is the critical driving variable of perceived value and satisfaction. Perceived risk has a negative moderating effect on satisfaction-continuous-use intention relationship, showing that the higher the perceived risk, the weaker the effect of satisfaction on continuous-use intention. Given perceived risk, a conceptual model was built by integrating e-CSI model (e-Customer Satisfaction Index Model) and PAM-ISC model (Post-acceptance Model of IS Continuance Model). From the integration, the findings of this study are expected to provide decision-making basis for crowdsourcing logistics platforms to help solve the "last mile" delivery problem.

Determinants of health-conscious consumers’ intention to adopt fitness apps

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing consumers’ intention to adopt health fitness apps. The target population for this study were current users of health fitness apps. The data collection process was completed using a Google e-mail form with a cover letter for the convenience of customers, wherein 308 respondents were the final sample size. Data were collected from current members of health clubs and fitness centers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Most of the respondents were males (56%, n = 308), whereas females were 44%, n = 134. Five-point Likert scale was used, where ‘1’ means ‘Strongly Disagree’ and ‘5’ ‘Strongly Agree’, to clarify the item-wise questionnaire. SPSS data analysis software for research purposes was used to evaluate the hypotheses. Cronbach Alpha (α) value was used to justify the reliability of the variables. Four items measure price value; perceived performance, health consciousness, facilitating condition, hedonic motivation are measured by two items; self-efficacy – by three. The results show that the selected six determinants positively and significantly affect consumers’ intention to use health fitness apps. Overall, these variables can explain 55.50% of the variance in predicting behavioral intentions to adopt health fitness apps. Furthermore, this results could provide significant clues to health fitness app developers that can severely influence users to adopt health fitness apps for their wellbeing.

How The TQM Journal has addressed “quality”: a literature review using bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This study investigates the overall publications of The TQM Journal since its inception with an aim to identify the trending topics and emerging trends.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative bibliometric and social network analysis techniques composed of keywords, co-occurrence network and keyword cluster detection are employed to conduct the investigation. A total of 968 papers published in The TQM Journal till August 2022 were sourced from the SCOPUS database to conduct the analysis.

Findings

The research identifies five themes from the published articles namely, customer service experience and satisfaction; quality management and organizational performance; quality measurement tools and models; quality and sustainable development; and quality and competitive advantage. The study also identifies the most significant articles, authors and countries published in the journal and shows that Industry 4.0 is the trending topic and quality 4.0 the new emerging trend in the journal.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is carried out only for papers published in The TQM Journal till August 2022; those after this month are not included in the analysis. The outcome of this study is dynamic in nature and subject to change over time as more papers, citations and collaborations are added to the list.

Originality/value

This is the first article of its kind to explore The TQM Journal publications with an aim to identify trending and emerging topics and also the most valuable authors based on the number of publications and citations through the bibliometric analysis.

Web design and trust as moderators in the relationship between e-service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty

Purpose

This research aims to investigate the effects of e-service quality on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The moderating effects of web design and trust in the relationship between e-service quality and customer satisfaction are also explored.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model involving various dimensions of e-service quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, price perception and web design is developed, and hypothesized relationships are tested using Hayes’s PROCESS macros. A survey instrument and data from 650 respondents who are regular e-buyers from the southern part of India are used.

Findings

The results indicate that e-service quality positively relates to customer satisfaction and loyalty. The findings also suggest that price perception and trust are vital in enhancing customer satisfaction. Further, the indirect effect of e-service quality on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction is supported. Finally, web design (first moderator) and trust (second moderator) significantly influence the relationship between e-service quality and customer satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

This research underscores the importance of e-service quality, web design, and trust in influencing customer satisfaction. Based on the findings from this study, e-retailers are suggested to discover the methods of building and improving customer trust and create a web design that is appealing to the customer to enhance satisfaction and loyalty. Some of the limitations of this study include common method bias and social desirability bias. However, the authors have taken adequate care to minimize these biases.

Originality/value

This paper used the e-service quality model and investigated the consequences of e-service quality during the post-pandemic new normal period in a developing country (India). The double moderation of web design and trust is a novel idea that previous researchers have not explored to the best of the authors' knowledge and makes a significant contribution to service marketing. In addition to providing resounding evidence of direct relationships, the three-way interaction investigated in this study makes this study unique and pivotal.

Do memorable restaurant experiences affect eWOM? The moderating effect of consumers' behavioural engagement on social networking sites

Purpose

Many restaurants offer high-quality service to their customers, hoping to provide memorable experiences that influence their loyalty and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). However, consumers' memorable experiences do not always imply positive eWOM. This study aims to (1) verify the direct impacts of the perceived quality by consumers of casual dining restaurants on positive emotions, negative emotions and memorable experiences; (2) investigate the impacts of memorable experiences on the propensity to loyalty and eWOM; (3) test the moderating effect of consumer behavioural engagement on social networking sites (CBE-SNS) on the relationship between memorable experiences and eWOM.

Design/methodology/approach

This survey included 475 university students in Brazil. Participants answered an electronic form about their experiences in casual dining restaurants. Structural equation modelling tested the hypothetical model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974).

Findings

The quality perceived by restaurant consumers (stimulus) positively impacts their memorable experiences and positive emotions and negatively affects their negative emotions (organism). Memorable experiences positively impact the propensity to loyalty (response). The CBE-SNS moderates the intensity of the relationship between memorable experiences (organism) and eWOM (response).

Originality/value

This study is the first that demonstrates the relationships between perceived quality, positive and negative emotions, memorable experiences, the propensity to loyalty and CBE-SNS and e-WOM in restaurants. Casual dining restaurants must offer their customers services with high perceived quality, positively impacting their emotions and their memorable experiences. Finally, restaurants must create strategies and actions to increase the CBE-SNS to encourage them to share their memorable experiences through eWOM.

A roadmap for the application of PLS-SEM and IPMA for effective service quality improvements

Purpose

The paper provides a step-by-step guide in the guise of a roadmap for service improvement initiatives using importance performance map analysis (IPMA).

Design/methodology/approach

To empirically illustrate how IPMA can be applied to any service industry, three sectors are considered; sports and fitness (study A), hospitality (study B) and higher education (study C). Following the proper selection of measuring instruments and their evaluation using structural equation modeling-partial least squares (Smart-PLS), IPMA is applied to identify those attributes having strong total effects (high importance) over the targeted construct (satisfaction) but which also have low average latent variable scores (low performance).

Findings

For sports and fitness (study A), the physical aspects and programme quality require managerial attention. For the hospitability sector (study B), it is service commitment, interaction quality and internal sense of happiness. Whereas for higher education (study C), it is administrative quality as well as the element of transformative quality, namely the university’s role in adding to its students’ emotional stability, which needs the attention of the top management.

Originality/value

This study provides researchers and practitioners with a roadmap for applying PLS-SEM and IPMA for continuous service quality improvement. The roadmap extends upon Ringle and Sarstedt’s (2016) work. It highlights critical decisions that need to be considered in the pre-analytical stages of the IPMA application, i.e. at the research design phase in selecting the most appropriate service quality measurement model specifications. It not only contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence to advance theory development in the quality management field but also has implications for the practitioners in any service sector on where to focus their attention for an effective service improvement.