Abstract
Purpose: This study was conducted to find ways to improve foodservice quality and satisfaction of middle school students in school lunch service. Recognition of concerns about school lunch and quality attributes was evaluated by gender. And we tried to investigate quality attributes which could affect degree of foodservice satisfaction by gender. Methods: Two hundred students from each of 6 middle schools (3 schools in urban and 3 schools in rural) in Gyeonggi Province were surveyed using self-developed questionnaires. Total of 1,103 questionnaires (male 556 and female 547) were collected and data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, cross table and stepwise multiple regression by SPSS 11.0. Results: There were not significant differences in average importance scores (male 4.09, female 4.06) and average performance scores (male 3.36, female 3.30) of quality attributes between middle school boys and girls. But there were significant differences in 7 and 6 of 25 quality attributes in evaluating importance and performance respectively by gender. There was not a significant difference (male 3.13, female 3.24) in degree of foodservice satisfaction by gender. But there were significant differences in the distribution of satisfaction. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that degree of satisfaction was influenced by a taste of food, quick complaint handling, providing favorite foods, and food hygiene in male students (F=$51.1^{***}$, adjusted $R^2$=.265). Degree of satisfaction was influenced by a taste of food, providing favorite food, proper meal prices, providing a wide variety of food in female students (F=$91.4^{***}$, adjusted $R^2$=.399). Conclusion: We found out that there were significant differences in quality attributes when evaluating importance and performance and in quality attributes which could affect foodservice satisfaction by gender.
