What Drives Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Happiness in Fast-Food Restaurants in China? Perceived Price, Service Quality, Food Quality, Physical Environment Quality, and the Moderating Role of Gender.

The fast-food service industry has been growing rapidly across China over the last few decades. In accordance with the rising consumption level in the country, Chinese customers care increasingly about their food choices. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that can influence customer satisfaction, loyalty, and happiness, with a particular focus on the moderating role of gender. Data were collected through an online survey completed by customers who visited Western fast-food restaurants (KFC, McDonalds, etc.) in China. The structural equation model was applied to test 12 hypotheses. Results showed that perceived price, food, service, and physical environment quality positively affected customer satisfaction. Perceived price can significantly influence customers' judgement of the quality dimensions of a restaurant. Moreover, customer satisfaction and happiness can lead to a sense of loyalty. Happiness functions as a mediator between satisfaction and loyalty. Nonetheless, our findings indicated that customers' perceptions of food quality based on price and satisfaction levels based on service quality differ significantly between the genders, which demonstrated that gender moderation exists in food consumption. This study will contribute to a better understanding of managerial and theoretical perspectives, which will be beneficial for subsequent research.

Investigating Consumer Attitude and Intention towards Online Food Purchasing in an Emerging Economy: An Extended TAM Approach.

Along with the development of the Internet and technology, food retailers have increasingly adopted online channels that enable consumers to buy food products online. This research aims to investigate the factors that influence consumer attitude and intention towards online food purchasing. A research framework was developed by combining the technology acceptance model with website trust, which is an important facilitator of online shopping. Using an online survey, data were obtained from 319 online food shoppers in an Asian emerging economy, i.e., Vietnam. Results from structural equation modeling show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and website trust are important drivers of attitude towards online food purchasing. Among these drivers, perceived ease of use has the greatest impact on attitude. Additionally, attitude and website trust exert a direct and positive effect on intention towards online food purchasing. Taken together, these findings have important managerial implications for key stakeholders, such as online food retailers, associations, and policy makers. One key implication is that online food sellers must endeavor to make their websites simple to use, easy to navigate, reliable, and secure. Several potential caveats for future research studies are also presented in this paper.