CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter begins with the research framework of the study, followed by the

discussion of multiple concepts that serve as the backbone of the study in a

conceptually, theoretically and empirically way. Some prior research conducted on

the concept and the issues raised are also discussed in this chapter. Lastly, this chapter

concludes the discussion by proposing the relationships among the variables used in

the research framework.

2.2 RESERACH FRAMEWORK

A number of topics have been studied in the FFRs. Among the main topics studied is

the customer satisfaction with the restaurant services (Brady et al., 2001; Gilbert et

al., 2004; Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Bougoure and Neu, 2010). These studies show that

service quality is a key determinant of customer satisfaction. In addition, there are

also studies which have demonstrated that service quality, food quality and perceived

value are the key factors in the formation of customer satisfaction in FFRs and

subsequently in the influence of behavioural intentions in FFRs (Qin and Prybutok,

2009; Qin, Prybutok and Zhao, 2010).

Taking these findings into consideration, the following Figure 2.1 is proposed as the

research framework of this study where service quality, food quality and perceived

value are the determinants of customer satisfaction while behavioural intentions are

the consequences of customer satisfaction. This research framework is adapted from

14
the study by Qin and Prybutok (2009). Qin and Prybutok (2009) used this research

framework to study fast food consumers in the United States.

Based on the research framework, three types of variables have been identified in this

study namely independent variable (service quality, food quality and perceived

value), dependent variable (behavioural intentions) and mediating variable (customer

satisfaction). Independent variables are defined as antecedent entities that have effects

on other variables named the dependent variables (Walker, 1999). Mediating

variables are the connecting elements that transfer the effects of independent variables

to dependent variables. For instance in a hypothetical causal sequence of three or

more variables, the middle variable is considered as a mediator (Tabachnick and

Fidell, 2007).

More specifically, the research framework proposes three main factors namely service

quality, food quality and perceived value have influence on customer satisfaction and

behavioural intentions. Additionally, it also proposes a model to examine the

mediating effects of customer satisfaction in the relationship between service quality

and behavioural intentions, between food quality and behavioural intentions and

between perceived value and behavioural intentions. Every element in each of the

factors will be discussed in more depth in the following section.

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 Service Quality

H1

H5
Customer Behavioural
Food Quality
H2 Satisfaction H4 Intentions

H3
Perceived Value

Figure 2.1 Research Framework

2.2.1 Service Quality

Due to the rapid growth in importance of services in an organisation and in an

industry, several research have been carried out extensively to develop service quality

theories and models over the decades.

Researchers have found difficulties in defining the concept of service quality

(Parasuraman et al., 1985). These difficulties are mainly due to the way the services

were produced, consumed and evaluated (Chelladurai, 1999). Gronroos (1984) and

Zeithaml et al. (1990) argue that service quality is more complicated than product

quality. The physical attribute of products enables errors in the production to be easily

detected and thus necessary solutions can be taken immediately to correct the

mistakes before they are sold to customers. Compared with product quality, service

quality is difficult to measure physically because services are abstract entities with

characteristics such as intangible, perishable, heterogeneous and simultaneous

16
(Lovelock, 2001). Consequently, several definitions have been given to service.

Among the definitions for services are “actions that transfer values” (O’Sullivan et

al., 2002), “the transaction with the absence of ownership” (Lovelock, 2001), “deeds,

processes and performances” which come with their own inherent qualities to

differentiate them from goods (Zeithaml, 1998).

Resulting from the variance in the definitions of service quality, many methods have

been formulated to measure service quality. Parasuraman et al. (1985) develop a 22-

item SERVQUAL scale, which consists of five dimensions, namely Tangible,

Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy, to measure service quality. The

SERVQUAL instrument posits that service quality is the difference between

customers’ expectation and their perceived perceptions of the actual service, which is

known as disconfirmation approach. Based on this approach, the customers’

expectation and perceptions are measured after service is provided.

There are three possibilities under the disconfirmation approach namely positive,

negative and zero. The positive disconfirmation happens when the perceived service

is higher than the expectation while if the perceived service quality is lower than the

expectation, the negative disconfirmation exists. The zero disconfirmation is referring

to the scenario when the perceived service is the same as expectation.

By integrating with the five dimensions in SERVQUAL, thus service quality is a

multi-dimensional phenomenon (Vandamme & Leunis, 1993, Bougoure and Neu,

2010). The five dimensions in SERVQUAL are defined as below (Parasuraman et al,

1988):

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 1) Tangible involves the physical facilities of service, the equipment, the

appearance of personnel and the communication materials.

2) Reliability includes consistency of performance and dependability.

3) Responsiveness is defined as the willingness or readiness of employees to be

helpful and to provide prompt service to the customers.

4) Assurance consists of employee’s knowledge and courtesy and their ability to

show confidence and develop trust in the customers.

5) Empathy refers to the individualised caring attention that is displayed to each

customer.

While the SERVQUAL has been applied as a benchmark in service quality

measurement across different industries and countries, several researchers have

criticised heavily this approach from theoretical and practical view (Ladhari, 2008).

They have pointed out a number of weaknesses including the use of gap scores, the

overlap among five dimensions, shortcomings concerning convergent and

discriminant validity, the confusing definition of the “expectation” construct and

unstable dimensionality (Babakus and Boller, 1992; Carman, 1990; Cronin and

Taylor, 1992; Buttle, 1996).

Based on the criticisms, a modified version of SERVQUAL was developed (Bougoure

and Neu, 2010). Cronin and Taylor (1992) propose SERVPERF or a performance-

only instrument of the gap measurement in which the expectation portion in the

SERVQUAL model is removed. The SERVPERF instrument has a better performance

than the SERVQUAL scale in an overall measure of service quality (Cronin & Taylor,

1994). Compared to SERVQUAL scale, SERVPERF is

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able to explain more, if not most of the variance in an overall measure of service

quality across four industries: fast food, dry cleaning, banks and pest control (Cronin

and Taylor, 1992). Hence, many researchers provide preferential support to the

performance-only measures to measure service quality in different service industries

(Gilbert et al., 2004; Keillor et al., 2004; Law et al., 2004; Parasuraman et al., 1994).

Andaleeb and Conway (2006), Carman (1990) and Olorunniwo et al. (2006) indicate

that modification of SERVPERF items is necessary to better fit in various service

industries. Consequently, this has motivated researchers to examine other influential

variables of service quality within the fast food industry.

In addition, SERVPERF approach is also selected to measure service quality for a

number of reasons. Firstly, a lot of empirical evidence in the literature supports the

use of performance perceptions to measure service quality (Cronin et al., 2000).

Secondly, performance perceptions have greater reliability and validity compared to

the SERVQUAL approach, which compares the difference between customer’s

expectations and quality perceptions (Parasuraman et al., 1996).

2.2.2 Food Quality

Today, restaurant business, specifically the business dealing with fast food, is

characterised as a highly competitive market. Food is a core product and it plays a

crucial role in the restaurant business (Liu and Jang, 2009). Several researchers have

provided strong support that food quality is one of the key factors for success (Du and

San, 2005; Lawless, 1995). Empirical evidences reveal that food quality has a

significant impact on a firm’s long term financial performance due to its ability to

create a favourable preference for the firm’s products when consumers can

19
differentiate its product quality from others in a meaningful way (Du and San, 1995).

Hence, to be able to gain competitive advantage and survive in the market, it is

therefore essential for the restaurant managers to identify which attributes are vital

and reachable to consumers and to know which parameters have impacts on the

purchase decision (Bryhni et al., 2002).

The definition of food quality is a very subjective matter (Moskowitz, 1995). Each

individual has different perception on food quality as food quality is a heterogeneous

term (Rohr, Luddecke, Drusch, Muller and Alvensleben, 2005). Peri (2006) defines

food quality as “a system of product requirements both material and immaterial,

related to the product in itself, the production context, the product-packaging system

and the product-market system”. Bredahl (2003) includes the sensory, health,

convenience and process dimensions in his definition of food quality. Customers are

clear about what kind of food quality they want, which has led to the growth of food

industry. However, there is still a lack of well-defined concept of food quality

(Cardello, 1995). Cardello (1995) claims that the dearth of proper definitions of food

quality is because interest in defining food quality was found only among food

scientists who formed a minority among those concerned with food quality.

Darby and Karni (1973) have argued that quality is generally classified into three

dimensions which are search, experience and credence. Search dimensions are related

to the quality which can be determined by the customer at the time of purchase while

experience dimensions are related to the quality which can be determined only after

the purchase. Lastly, credence dimensions are related to the quality which customers

20
can never determine neither upon nor post-purchase but with no choice, they have to

trust the comments of others (Bech-Larsen & Grunert, 2001).

In general, food quality can be evaluated in objective and subjective ways. A number

of studies have been undertaken to distinguish objective and subjective food quality

(Grunert, 1997; Brunso et al., 2004). ‘Objective quality’ is concerned with the

product- and process-oriented quality. More precisely, product-oriented quality is

related to the physical attributes of the foods such as fat content and use of pesticides

in the food while process-oriented quality refers to the quality control and quality

consistency in the food production. On the other hand, ‘Subjective quality’ considers

consumers as the central component and their perception towards quality. Therefore,

‘subjective quality’ can be defined as consumer-oriented quality.

The marketing and food literature has confirmed consistently that food quality has an

effect on customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. This hypothetical concept

is constantly supported by many empirical studies (Liu and Jang, 2009; Sulek and

Hensley, 2004; Ha and Jang, 2010).

In a restaurant business, food is a core product and it plays a crucial role (Liu and

Jang, 2009). Similarly, Namkung and Jang (2007) and Sulek and Hensley (2004) have

described food quality as a fundamental component of a dining experience. Many

food service providers believe that people go to restaurants for the food. Thus,

customers are satisfied if they get the food they want (Andaleeb and Conway, 2006).

However, this assumption may not be applicable to full service restaurant customers

21
because their main intention is to transact business or to enjoy the company of others

such as friends, family and spouse (Andaleeb and Conway, 2006).

Other notable studies are those conducted by Sulek and Hensley (2004). They

examine the importance of food, physical setting and service in full-service restaurant.

Their findings show that food quality is the most important factor influencing

customer satisfaction and predicting behavioural intention in restaurant choice. In

addition, Ha and Jang (2010) have evidenced a positive relationship between food

quality and customer satisfaction as well as loyalty in Korean restaurants.

Another seminal work is the study conducted by Dube et al. (1994). Dube et al.

(1994) have provided theoretical and empirical evidence for the relationship between

food quality and repeat-purchase intention in an upscale restaurant setting. They also

have evidence that among the seven restaurant characteristics, food quality is the most

influencing factor in repeat-purchase intention among restaurant customers. The

greater the food quality, the greater customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions

are.

In the similar vein, Kivela et al. (2000) use various attributes such as tastiness of food,

menu variety and nutrition to investigate the influence of excellent foods on customer

satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Furthermore, in a study conducted by Raajpoot

(2002), food presentation, serving size, menu design and food variety were used to

examine product quality in the food service industry. Sulek and Hensley (2004)

categorise food quality into three general characteristics namely safety, appeal and

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diet acceptability. Appeal category consists of taste, presentation, texture, color,

temperature and portion size.

2.2.3 Perceived Value

Value is at the central of what customers receive from a marketing exchange (Lai et

al., 2009) and has been conventionally described as a trade-off between price and

quality (Sinha and DeSarbo, 1988). In a marketing context, the definition of perceived

value is not just limited to the perspective of money, but may also from the

perspective of quality, benefit and social psychology (Kuo et al., 2009).

From the perspective of money, value is created when consumers pay lesser for goods

by using coupons or promotions (Bishop, 1984). In economics terms, this concept can

be defined as consumer surplus. More specifically, perceived value is the gap between

the highest price which customers are willing to pay for a certain product or service

and the actual amount money paid.

The quality perspective indicates that value is the gap between money spent for a

product and the product quality (Bishop, 1984). It is in fact that a favourable

perceived value is generated when less money is paid for a high quality product.

On the other hand, the social psychology perspective notes that the formulation of

value is relevant to the particular meanings of purchasing goods to the buyer’s

community (Sheth et al., 1991). Sweeney and Soutar (2001) believe that goods have

the ability to increase the impact of social self-concept due to their portrayal of social

economic status and social culture.

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Lastly, the benefit perspective points out that perceived value is “ consumers’ overall

assessment of the utility of a product based on the perception of what is received

benefits and what is given” (Zeithaml, 1988). The underlying premise of this

definition reveals that benefits and sacrifices are imperative in the value formulation.

The meaning of sacrifice is not limited to the money paid for a certain goods but may

also include the non-monetary costs such as transaction cost, search cost, negotiation

cost and time incurred during the purchase (Cronin et al., 2000).

Over the years, the importance of perceived value has drawn attention from the

academic and the practical circles. Kara et al. (1995) and Gilbert et al. (2004) note

that perceived value greatly influence customer satisfaction in FFRs. Moreover,

several researches claim that perceived value as a fundamental element to predict

buying intentions (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003; Cronin et al., 2000; Pura, 2005).

Consumers and marketers have become more concerned with the importance of value

(Dodds, 1991) because value is a key determinant in today’s marketplace.

Although the impacts of customer perceived value on the formation of customer

satisfaction and behavioural intentions have been received recognition recently.

Nevertheless, there is still little research being carried out perceived value compared

to the popular constructs of service quality and customer satisfaction (Tam, 2000).

Qin and Prybutok (2009) have revealed that, in fast food studies, only service quality

and customer satisfaction be used to determine behavioural intentions; however, using

only service quality and customer satisfaction to determine behavioural intentions

may be inadequate because a customer who is satisfied with the service and product

might not have a favourable perceived value towards that particular product and

24
service (Petrick, 1999). Woodruff and Gardial (1996) have claimed that customer

satisfaction is the response to the value pursued in the exchange process.

Consequently, in an attempt to monitor the performance of a firm, managers should

first indentify what are the key factors in the formation of perceived value. In other

words, perceived value is considered as a cognitive assessment, while satisfaction

signifies an affective response that in turn leads to behaviour.

Petrick (2004) argues that the lack of studies on the customer perceived value is

highly due to a limited number of well-developed scales of the construct. In the

studies by Cronin et al. (1997) and Patterson and Spreng (1997), overall perception of

value was measured by uni-dimensional scales in which a limited number of items

were used to determine value. Petrick (2002) has pointed out the use of uni-

dimensional scales in measuring perceived value is inadequate due to the assumption

that consumers have a common perception of value, when in fact price, quality,

benefits and sacrifices have proven to have impacts on perceived value. Consistent

with this notion, Woodruff and Gardial (1996) argue that determinants of value differ

among consumers and thus they concluded that a uni-dimensional scale of customer

perceived value lacks validity.

Due to the weakness of uni-dimensional in assessing customer perceived value, there

have been efforts to develop a multi-dimensional perceived value scale. Based on a

conceptual framework constructed by Sheth et al. (1991), Sweeney and Soutar (2002)

have developed the first multi-dimensional scale of perceived value which is known

as PERVAL. The PERVAL operationalises perceived value as a four elements

containing of quality, price, emotional value and social value. All these four elements

25
are related to the potential purchase of durable goods in a retail setting. The nature of

these four value elements have been tested and the results reveal that in terms of

explaining behavioural outcomes related to customer choice, the multiple value

dimensions is outperformed than an “overall value for money” item. Therefore, it can

be concluded that perceived value should be operationalised in multi-dimensional

scales. There is another multi-dimensional perceived value scale named SERV-

PERVAL developed by Petrick (2002). Petrick (2002) creates five dimensional

constructs namely quality, monetary price, non-monetary price, reputation and

emotional response to assess customer perceived value in a service context. This

multi-dimensional scale of perceived has been adapted and applied to the luxury

cruises context.

2.2.4 Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is regarded as the heart of all marketing activities. According to

Machleit and Mantel (2001), the principal purpose of marketing in services is to

satisfy customer needs and wants. The ability to satisfy customer is essential in

service industry due to the fact that satisfied customer will reward the firms with

favourable behaviours. In particular, researchers have found that enhancing customer

satisfaction will drive to higher future profitability (Anderson et al., 1994), increase

consumers’ willingness to pay a higher price, make a good recommendation and use

the products or services frequently (Reichheld, 1996) and develop customer loyalty

(Fornell, 1992). In other words, all these empirical evidences have suggested that

customer satisfaction plays a significant role in generating long-term benefits for

companies in terms of sustained customer loyalty and profitability (Homburg et al.,

2006).

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There have been many attempts to clarify and define customer satisfaction in the

service and marketing literature. Consequently, many definitions of customer

satisfaction have been given by researchers. Oliver (1997) links customer satisfaction

to the consumer’s fulfillment response in which the level of consumption-related

fulfillment is pleasant or unpleasant. Day (1984) describes customer satisfaction as a

post purchase evaluation on the purchase decision, while Hunt (1977) views

satisfaction as an assessment made when the product or experience was as good as it

was supposed to be. In a study by Ha and Jang (2010) to examine customer

satisfaction in an ethnic restaurant segment, customer satisfaction is viewed as a

cognitive assessment of service or food quality and affective elements created by

consumption experiences.

Due to its importance in marketing, researchers from both the academia and the

industry have developed distinct theories to explain the concept of customer

satisfaction. These theories are Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory (Lewin, 1938),

Contrast Theory (Howard and Sheth, 1969), Assimilation or Cognitive Dissonance

Theory (Anderson, 1973), Equity Theory (Oliver and Swan, 1989) and Value-Percept

Theory (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983).

Among all the theories, the expectancy-disconfirmation theory is the most widely

accepted theory to explain customer satisfaction. Based on this theory, customers have

expectations about products and services before consumption. This theory is based on

the cognitive process of confirmation of expectation (Oliver 1980, 1989) in which

customers evaluate their satisfaction level by comparing perceived performance with

their pre-consumption expectation.

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Although the expectancy-disconfirmation theory is widely accepted, many scholars

have argued that it is insufficient to evaluate customer satisfaction by considering

only cognitive aspects. In these challenging circumstances, many researchers have

gone beyond these cognitively toned model formulation. According to the

performance-based approach, they have suggested assessing customer satisfaction by

incorporating cognitive judgments and affective reaction during consumption (Mano

and Oliver, 1993; Oliver, 1992; Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). In other words,

customer satisfaction is described as the total consumption perception of consumers

when using a service or product. Consistent with the suggestion, Westbrook (1987)

note that satisfaction is an assessment of the consumption emotions resulted from the

product usage, while Yi (1990) argues that satisfaction judgment is the result of

processing affective element of consumption experience.

There is some controversy in explaining the relationship between service quality and

customer satisfaction (Anderson et al., 1994; Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). Their

relationship has sparked keen academic interest among researchers over the years

(Bitner, 1990). Although researchers generally agree regarding the positive

relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, their causal

relationship, whether service quality causes customer satisfaction (Bolton and Drew,

1991; Parasuraman at al.,, 1994; Spreng and Mackoy, 1996) or customer satisfaction

causes service quality (Bitner, 1990) is still an argument (Shemwell et al., 1998).

Dabholkar (1995) find that the causal relationship is subjected to the service situation,

while on the other hand, Parasuraman et al. (1985) and Hellier et al. (2003) argue that

there is no relationship in specific situations.

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2.2.5 Behavioural Intentions

Referring to the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), behavioural

intention is one of the motivational factors of a volitional behaviour and is strongly

correlated to the behaviour itself (Jang and Feng, 2007). The degree of the

relationship between behavioural intentions and actual actions has received a strong

criticism among the researchers. However, behavioural intentions are still widely

accepted as a rational factor to predict future behaviour (Quelette and Wood, 1998).

Donovan and Rossiter (1982) predict customer buying behaviour by examining the

importance of patronage intentions in terms of willingness to return to the store and

positive word-of-mouth.

Behavioural intentions have been defined as the probability to which an individual to

execute a particular behaviour in the future (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). In general,

behavioural intentions can be classified into favourable and unfavourable. Favourable

behavioural intentions consist of a positive word of mouth such as saying good things

about the organisation and recommending the service to others, paying a premium

price and remaining loyal. On the other hand, unfavourable behavioural intentions

refer to leaving the company, spreading negative word-of-mouth and spending less

money. The profitability and the market share of a firm are highly associated with the

favourable behavioural intentions.

Word-of-mouth refers as a process in which customers who have used a certain

product or service discuss/pass their experiences with/to another person not directly

related to the service provider (Westbrook, 1987). In sum, word-of-mouth represents

the flow of information about products, services or companies from one customer to

29
another. Positive word-of-mouth is a behavioural intention that links to the intention

to recommend. In this regard, word-of-mouth is used as a trusted external source of

information for a customer who has yet to understand and to experience a certain

goods or service. Thus, the positive word-of-mouth is an influential determinant to the

firm’s profitability (Zeithaml et al., 1996).

Repurchase intentions refers to the consumer’s belief that he or she will purchase

good or service from the same firm (Hellier et al., 2003). The repurchase intentions

are driven by the past purchase experience. As for willingness to pay more, it is

defined by Zeithaml et al, (1996) as the likelihood of a consumer to pay more than a

competitors charge to pursue a product or service.

Loyalty refers to the consumers’ intention to make a repeat purchase of a certain

products or services (Oliver, 1997). Loyalty can be captured by having more

transactions with a service provider in the future and by stating a favourite for it

(Zeithaml et al., 1996). Reichheld and Sasser (1990) claim that a high level of loyalty

is strongly associated with the firm’s profitability.

While restaurant industry is a highly competitive industry (Gregoire, 1995), it is

essential for restaurant operators to have a deep understanding of the attributes of

favourable post-dining behavioural intentions. The attributes such as saying good

things about the restaurant, recommending the restaurant to others and repeat

purchasing can provide a useful guidance to restaurant operators to attract and retain

customers (Liu & Jang, 2009).

30
As for the context of Korean restaurant, Ha and Jang (2010) find that there is a

positive linkage between customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions by using

attributes such as to dine in restaurant again, spread positive things about the

restaurant to others and recommend the restaurant to others in their study.

Consistent with the findings of Ha and Jang (2010), Ryu et al. (2008) find that

customer satisfaction is positively associated to behavioural intentions in quick-casual

restaurants industry by using attributes such as visit the restaurant again, recommend

to friends and more frequently visit the restaurant. In examining behavioural

intentions in fast-food restaurant settings, Qin and Prybutok (2009) use several

favourable post-dining behavioural intentions determinants such as recommendation,

intention to dine here again and saying good thing about the fast food restaurant in

their study.

Oliver (1980, 1999) proposes that customer satisfaction is another fundamental

component of post-purchase behavioural intentions. Numerous studies have indicated

that the attitude of a customer towards a product or service is directly affected by

customer satisfaction, which in turn motivates customers to purchase the products and

service again in the future.

In addition, Zeithaml et al. (1996) develope a model of 13-item battery to measure a

broader range of behavioural intentions. The model of 13-item battery is a

combination of both previous research and newly added behaviour intentions

attributes. Prior research has incorporated behavioural intentions such as purchase

intentions (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), repurchases intentions and willingness to

31
recommend (Boulding et al., 1993). According to Zeithaml et al. (1996), the newly

added behavioural intentions are the possibility of a customer to pay a higher price,

their loyalty to a company when price increase, their likelihood to have more business

with the company in the future and lastly their propensity to complain if service

problem happens. Even if previous researchers have catagorised the 13 items into four

main groups, namely purchase intentions, price sensitivity, word-of-mouth

communications and complaining behaviour, Zeithaml et al (1996) describe

behavioural intention in five dimensions, which are loyalty, switch, pay more,

external response and internal response. Out of 13 items, five items for loyalty, two

items for switch and pay more respectively, three items for external response and

lastly, one for internal response.

2.3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Service quality and customer satisfaction are inarguably fundamental concepts within

services marketing literature (Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). Their relationship has

gained huge research interest in the services marketing arena over the decades (Bitner,

1990). The studies posit mixed findings on the causal direction between service

quality and customer satisfaction. Consequently, there is an argument on the causal

relationship with suggestions that customer satisfaction drives service quality (Bitner,

1990) and service quality drives customer satisfaction (Spreng and Mackoy, 1996).

However, it is generally accepted that service quality is an antecedent of customer

satisfaction both from a theoretical viewpoint (Heskett et al., 1997; Oliver, 1992) and

a practical viewpoint (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; across industries. For example,

32
Brady and Robertson (2001) find that service quality affects customer satisfaction in

the fast food industry in the United States.

While many researchers have pointed out the importance of service quality and

customer satisfaction in helping firms to compete more efficiently in the market, a

number of service and satisfaction studies have been undertaken in various service

industry. Results reveal that there is a positive relationship between service quality

and customer satisfaction in various service industry. For example, Cronin and Taylor

(1992) believe that service quality has positive impacts on customer satisfaction in

four service industry namely banking, pest control, dry-cleaning and fast food.

Similarly, Bei and Chiao (2006) argue that service quality is positively associated

with customer satisfaction in three service settings namely petrol station, baking and

automobile repairs.

Within the restaurant context, Yuksel and Yuksel (2002) note that at an aggregate

market level, service quality is the most important contributor to dining satisfaction.

Andaleeb and Conway (2006) study the factors which influence customer satisfaction

in full service restaurant segment. Their study shows that service responsiveness has

the most significant influence on customer satisfaction.

In the similar vein, Qin and Prybutok (2009) and Qin, Prybutok and Zhao (2010)

study the relationships among service quality, food quality, perceived value, customer

satisfaction and behavioural intentions in FFRs. Apparently, the findings show that

service quality directly and positively influenced customer satisfaction among fast

food consumers in the United States and China, respectively.

33
Additional evidence can be found in the work of Bougoure and Neu (2010). They

study the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in the

Malaysian fast food industry. In that particular study, 300 students from a large

Malaysian University in the Klang Valley were asked about their perception on

service quality and customer satisfaction in the FFRs in Malaysia. The 29-item

DINESERV scale proposed by Stevens et al. (1995), which consists of five

dimensions namely included tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and

empathy, was used in Bougoure and Neu’s (2010) study. The findings provide

indications that service quality positively influences customer satisfaction among

Malaysian fast food consumers. Thus, it can be concluded that when consumers

perceptions towards service quality is positive, customer satisfaction will be more

favourable.

In the context of this study, by addressing the importance of service quality to

customer satisfaction, it is important for FFR managers and service providers to gain

a deep understanding of how their customers perceive the service they provide, and

what are the key determinants of the perceived service quality in FFRs. Thus, this

study suggests:

Proposition 1: The more favourable consumer’s perception towards service quality,

the more favourable will the customer satisfaction be.

2.4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD QUALITY AND

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Past research have empirically examined the importance of food quality in restaurant

settings due to food is the core product of a restaurant and plays a crucial role in

34
influencing customer satisfaction and determining post-dining behavioural intentions

(Liu and Jang, 2009). A number of food service providers claim that people go to

restaurants for the food and they are satisfied if they get the food they want (Andaleeb

and Conway, 2006). Thus, it can be concluded that food is highly related to customer

satisfaction in the restaurants (Johns and Howard, 1998; Kivela et al., 1999).

Among the seminal studies are those conducted by Namkung and Jang (2007) who

identify food quality in terms of food presentation, taste and temperature leading to a

favourable customer satisfaction, Ha and Jang (2010) have evidenced a positive

relationship between food quality and customer satisfaction and between food quality

and loyalty in Korean restaurants, and Sulek and Hensley (2004), who evaluate the

importance of food, physical setting and service in a full-service restaurant, the

findings reveal that food quality is far more important to customer satisfaction and

predicting behavioural intentions than other variables.

Consistent with the previous studies, Qin and Prybutok (2009) have witnessed a direct

link between food quality and customer satisfaction in the FFRs in the United States.

Furthermore, the same findings have also been found in China FFRs (Qin, Prybutok

and Zhao, 2010). In sum, it can be concluded that high food quality often leads to

favourable customer satisfaction while a low food quality tends to lead to

unfavourable customer satisfaction among fast food consumer across western and

eastern countries. Based on these theoretical foundation and empirical studies, this

study suggests that:

Proposition 2: The more favourable consumer’s perception towards food quality, the

more favourable will the customer satisfaction be.

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2.5 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED VALUE AND

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

There has been a growing recognition that perceived value has impacts on customer

satisfaction and behavioural intentions. In an effort to further understand the

relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction, service and

marketing researchers have begun to examine the relationship between perceived

value and customer satisfaction (Babin et al., 1994; Zeithaml, 1998; Patterson and

Spreng, 1997; McDougall and Levesque, 2000; Lai et al., 2009).

Most studies have theoretically and empirically evidenced the positive impacts of

perceived value on customer satisfaction in different service settings. In particular,

Babin et al. (1994) find that perceived value (in terms of hedonic and utilitarian value)

has positive effects on customer satisfaction. Zeithaml (1998) claim that the level of

satisfaction for customers who perceived that they received ‘value of money’ is

higher than customers who did not perceive they received ‘value for money’.

Furthermore, Andreassen and Spreng (1997) argue that perceived value positively

correlated to customer satisfaction in designing a customer loyalty model in a

complex service context. Consistent with the previous findings, McDougall and

Levesque (2000) indicate that perceived value is the most important contributor to

customer satisfaction in four service sectors, specifically restaurant, auto service,

hairstylist and dental services. Additional support is found in the work of Lai (2009),

the study has revealed that perceived value induces customer satisfaction in the tele-

communication in the mainland of China.

36
In the context of FFRs, at least two studies have been conducted to investigate the

relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction (Qin and Prybutok,

2009; Qin, Prybutok and Zhao, 2010). In their studies, the same research framework

was used to study the influence of perceived value on customer satisfaction among

fast food consumers in the United States and China, respectively. A respondent’s

perceived value was assessed using the items ‘competitive price for food’,

‘competitive price for beverages’ and ‘value worthy of money’. The studies posit

mixed findings on the relationship. In particular, insignificance relationship perceived

value and customer satisfaction is found in the United States while in China,

significance relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction is found.

Qin and Prybutok (2009) explain that the insignificance relationship in the United

States is probably because of the homogeneous nature of the construct within the FFR

group rather than the importance of the perceived value construct within food service.

Additionally, cultural factors might be another reason of the mixed findings since the

instrument used in the studies was developed in western cultural context (Qin,

Prybutok and Zhao, 2010).

The evidence leads the present study to suggest:

Proposition 3: The more favourable consumer’s perception towards value, the more

favourable will the customer satisfaction be.

2.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND

BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS

Based on the review of the literature, the influence of customer satisfaction on

behavioural intentions has been proven by many researchers (Parasuraman et al.,

37
1991; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Customer satisfaction is always used to predict the revisit

intentions and return patronage of consumers in services and marketing literature (Ha

and Jang, 2010; Gerpott, Rams and Schindler, 2001; Iglesias and Guillen, 2004).

Results reveal that consumers with a higher level of satisfaction are more likely to

have a stronger likelihood to repurchase and recommend the product or service to

others (Zeithaml et al., 1996). More specifically, repurchase will be more frequent

when the customer satisfaction is enhanced (Kuo et al., 2009).

In the service industry, the overwhelming number of studies on customer satisfaction

has confirmed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioural

intentions (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Kivela et al.,

1999; Zeithaml et al., 1996). For example, Gerpott et al. (2001) and Tung (2004),

respectively, study the telecom industry in Germany and SMS service in Singapore.

Their studies find that customer satisfaction is a reliable predictor of post-purchase

intentions.

In a restaurant setting, Iglesias and Guillen (2004) believe that as an attempt to

survive and achieve competitive edge in the competitive markets, restaurant

practitioners shall identify the factors which influence customer satisfaction to predict

behavioural intentions. Yuksel and Yuksel (2002) and Oh (2000) argue that customer

satisfaction plays a pivotal role in the success of a restaurant because it leads to repeat

patronage, brand loyalty and new customers through word of mouth promotion.

Other studies of the restaurants also support Yuksel and Yuksel’s (2002) arguments.

Ladhari et al. (2008) find that customer satisfaction positively associated with

38
recommendation. Recommendation is essential in the restaurant industry due to the

uncertainty associated with purchase and the difficulties in evaluating the service.

Additionally, Ladhari et al. (2008) also find that customer satisfaction has positive

influence on customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is a key contributor to the success of

a restaurant. Through the findings of this study, firms must give efforts to increase

customer satisfaction which leads to more favourable behavioural intentions.

Among the studies of fast food industry, Qin and Prybutok (2009), Bougoure and Neu

(2010), and Qin, Prybutok and Zhao (2010), respectively, examine the fast food

industry in the United States, Malaysia and China. They have concluded that

customer satisfaction positively impacts behavioural intentions. Based on the

evidence from the past studies, the present study suggests that:

Proposition 4: The higher the customer satisfaction, the more positive will the

behavioural intentions be.

2.7 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS THE MEDIATING FACTOR

BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS

Previous studies of services marketing have provided empirical evidence that high

service quality greatly affects customer satisfaction and their behavioural intentions.

Zeithaml et al. (1996) have pointed out that service quality positively influences

behavioural intentions. Behavioural intentions are important in services marketing

due to its effects on positive word-of-mouth, recommendation to others and revisiting

the provider. Among all the antecedents of customer satisfaction, service quality has

gained a huge interest among the researchers because it is controllable and by

improving service quality, customer satisfaction can be enhanced which in turn

39
influences the consumer’s intention to purchase the service. Bitner and Zeithaml

(2000) argue that when a firm delivers a superior service, this drives to positive

customer satisfaction which in turn increases customer retention and consequently

brings profit to the firm.

A number of studies have been carried out to examine the role that customer

satisfaction plays in mediating the relationship between service quality and

behavioural intentions in different industry contexts. Hong and Goo (2004) find that

the path “service quality ◊customer satisfaction◊loyalty” is significant in Taiwanese

service firms. Additional support from the works of Olorunniwo and Hsu (2006), they

claim that customer satisfaction fully mediated the direct relationship between service

quality and behavioural intentions in the retail banking industry.

Similar conclusions have been found in the study of Caruana (2002). In that particular

study, Caruana (2002) examines the relationship among service quality, customer

satisfaction and service loyalty in Malta’s bank. She uses a model to examine the

mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the relationship between service quality

and customer loyalty. Retail banking customers are used in order to validate the

model. Caruana (2002) find that customer satisfaction mediates the effect of service

quality on service loyalty. In other words, service quality influences service loyalty

through customer satisfaction. Moreover, the findings of that particular study show

that service quality is a key contributor to customer satisfaction with explaining 53%

of the variance.

40
Bougoure and Neu (2010), in their study, assess the mediating effects of customer

satisfaction in the relationship between service quality and behavioural intentions

among Malaysian fast food respondents. The results of the study show that service

quality affects customer satisfaction judgments and these judgments affect

consumers’ repurchase intentions. Such results provide useful input to fast food

managers in order to achieve, retain, upgrade and leverage competitive advantages in

a competitive market.

Consistent with the findings of Bougoure and Neu (2010), Qin and Prybutok (2009)

find that service quality directly and positively influences customer satisfaction,

which in turn influences behavioural intentions of the fast food consumers in the

United States. Similarly, the same findings have also been found for the fast food

consumers in China (Qin, Prybutok and Zhao, 2010). The evidence leads the present

study to suggest:

Proposition 5: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service

quality and behavioural intentions in the Malaysian fast food industry.

2.8 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS THE MEDIATING FACTOR

BETWEEN FOOD QUALITY AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS

Several studies support that customers’ satisfaction with a restaurant’s food quality is

playing a pivotal role in determining return patronage of customers (Oh, 2000).

Namkung and Jang (2007) have evidenced a positive relationship between food

quality and customer satisfaction while Clark and Wood (1999) argue that food

quality is the key factor in customer loyalty in restaurant settings. In other words, high

food quality induces higher levels of customer satisfaction which in turn leads to

41
higher levels of behavioural intentions, such as revisit intention, spreading positive

word of mouth or recommending the restaurants to others (Chow et al., 2007).

Despite the importance of the interrelationship of food quality, customer satisfaction

and behavioural intentions in fast food industry, this conceptual relationship has

received little research attention. Among the studies of FFRs, most focused on the

relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction (Qin and Prybutok,

2009). In addition, in Malaysia, most of the studies focused on the normative and

legal aspects of Western-based fast food restaurants (Azudin and Karaim, 1988; Noor,

2006). Hence, not much evidence from past research could be found in the relevant

literature.

A study conducted by Qin and Prybutok (2009) could give some evidence. Qin and

Prybutok (2009) argue that food quality directly and positively influence customer

satisfaction, which in turn influences behavioural intentions for the fast food

consumers in the United States. In a similar vein, Qin, Prybutok and Zhao (2010)

provide evidence of the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the relationship

between food quality and behavioural intention in the FFRs in China.

Thus, the evidence leads the present study to suggest:

Proposition 6: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between food quality

and behavioural intentions in the Malaysian fast food industry.

42
2.9 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS THE MEDIATING FACTOR

BETWEEN PERCEIVED VALUE AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS

It is only recently that there has been a growing recognition to the role of perceived

value in explaining behavioural intentions through customer satisfaction. Gill et al.

(2007) believe that examining the mediating role of customer satisfaction will give a

better understanding of the effects of perceived value on behavioural intentions. The

significant relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction has been

acknowledged as a salient construct in understanding consumer behaviour (Kwun,

2010).

Many studies have evidenced the mediating effects of customer satisfaction between

perceived value and behavioural intentions. The relationship between customer

perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions is both theoretically

and empirically justified (Gill et al., 2007). Theoretically, the well accepted attitude/

behaviour framework formulated by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) can be used to justify

the relationship. This framework posits that cognition leads to affective which in turn

leads to behavioural outcomes. Empirically, the relationship can be justified with a

few similarities found in the studies which have considered the simultaneous impact

of customer perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The

studies have pointed out that customer satisfaction is positively associated with

behavioural intentions and perceived value is positively associated with behavioural

intentions (Wakefield and Barner, 1996; Sirohi et al., 1998; Sweeney et al., 1999).

Gill et al. (2007) test a model of customer perceived value on behavioural intentions

with customer satisfaction posited as a mediating variable in the cellar door context.

43
Customer perceived value in this study was measured by a multi-dimensional scale

consisting of five dimensions, namely quality of service, price, social value, technical

value and epistemic value. The findings have confirmed that customer satisfaction has

mediation effects for relationships from perceived value to behavioural intentions.

Specifically, a favourable perceived value can induce customer satisfaction that can

bring about favourable behavioural intentions. In the same study, results also reveal

customer satisfaction fully mediates service quality while price, social value and

technical quality are only partly mediated by customer satisfaction. Thus, it can be

concluded that the mediating effects of customer satisfaction may differ across

dimensions of customer perceived value.

Additional support is found in the works of Qin, Prybutok and Zhao (2010). Similar

with the previous studies, they find that that customer satisfaction plays the role of a

mediator in the relationship between perceived value and behavioural intentions for

the fast food consumers in China. In other words, customer satisfaction plays as a

mediator in signalling the effects of perceived value on behavioural intentions in the

fast food industry in China. Based on the above findings, this study suggests that:

Proposition 7: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived

value and behavioural intentions.

2.10 CONCLUSION

Based on the thorough review of literature which has been discussed in this chapter,

there are evidences to show that service quality, food quality, perceived value are

strongly related to customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in service

industry.

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The research framework of this study has identified three types of variables in this

study, namely independent variables (service quality, food quality and perceived

value), mediator (customer satisfaction) and dependent variable (behavioural

intentions). It develops a FFR successful model by examining the five key constructs

in the fast food industry. This model has never been used in fast food studies in

Malaysia. Numerous conceptual and empirical studies that are related to the

antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction have been referred. In

addition, a proposition of customer satisfaction playing a mediating role in the

relationship between service quality, food quality, perceived value and behavioural

intentions is developed.

45