Servicescape in Delivering Values to Customer to Enhance Service Quality and Behavioural Intention

Abstract

Purpose: Nowadays, café shop chains are becoming a trend and growing rapidly in Vietnam. There are numerous people who spend their time in cafes and this has become part of the current lifestyle. Therefore, cafe chains owners compete in offering new cafe concepts to attract customers and deliver their values to customers effectively. To gain competitiveness and attractiveness, a cafe must possess an interesting servicescape and provide a good impression toward customers in a cafe. Therefore, this study is to evaluate the role of servicescape as an antecedent to service quality and behavioral intentions in the Vietnam market. Research design, data, and methodology: The study was conducted through survey questionnaires who had used the service at coffee shop chains in cities of Vietnam. We apply the PLS-SEM method to analyze data and test hypotheses. Results: Servicescape is a second-order construct including hygiene, space, ambiance, design, and equipment. Servicescape also impacts directly on overall service quality, employee service quality, and behavioral intention. Conclusions: Servicescape plays a role as an antecedent for service quality and behavioral intention. Therefore, it confirms the importance of managing servicescape in order to deliver more value to customers through improving service quality so that enhance intention to return to use services in coffee shop chains.

1. Introduction

As life grows, the demand for coffee is increasing, leading to the appearance of more and more cafes with a variety of forms and styles, especially in the largest cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and some developing cities such as Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, and Da Lat. This coffee chain business has a large number of potential customers, bringing attractive profits, thus leading to increasingly fierce competition between brands. Vietnam is known as one of the world’s fastest-growing retail coffee markets and the world’s second-largest producer and exporter of coffee (Statista, 2021). According to the International Coffee Organisation, Vietnam showed a steady per capita soluble coffee consumption when compared to other countries over the past decade. Domestic consumption of coffee from 2012 to 2018 with CARG (compound annual growth rate) remained at 7.9% (Viracresearch, 2019). The domestic coffee consumption market is a fierce competition of well-known foreign coffee brands such as Starbuck, Coffee Beans & Tea Leaves, Gloria Jeans & Dunkin Donuts with local chains such as Trung Nguyen, Phuc Long, Highlands, Coffee House, Cong Cafe´, King Coffee, and other local brands. The coffee industry represents one of the fastest-growing segments in the food-service industry with more than 10, 000 coffee stores across the country (Jolliffe, Kwan, & Yen, 2010). The explosive growth and wide appearance of coffee brands create an extensively competitive market where brands must look for ways to attract and retain their customers as well as enhance profitability (Islam, Ahmed, Ali, & Ahmer, 2019). Therefore, it is essential to study the behavior of customers in this field to help managers come up with reasonable business strategies.

Besides, it can be seen that customers come to coffee shops not only to enjoy coffee but also to enjoy the space and relax with family, friends, and partners... For customers, when visiting a certain coffee shop, space is always the first aspect of the service that is felt by customers, and customers can form the impression of the level of service they will receive. In addition, most Vietnamese people have a rather special style of enjoying coffee, they do not consider coffee as a fast drink, have anti-drowsiness effects, but they enjoy coffee as a cultural thing: sip and think. This further affirms the importance of space in cafes. There is a saying that we will not have a second chance to change in terms of the original impression, and for this reason, it is argued that the service space should be seen as an antecedent to the perception of service quality (Hooper, Coughlan, & Mullen, 2013). This view contradicts the theory of traditional service quality that tangible means are only an installed component of the overall service quality and not an antecedent of service quality (Parasuraman’s SERVQUAL service quality measurement model, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994 consists of 5 components: Tangible, Reliability, Empathy, Responsiveness and assurance, with 22 observation variables). However, in the context of the coffee shop, we believe that the role of the servicescape should be considered as an independent factor that has a direct impact on the overall service quality. Furthermore, previous studies often focus on restaurants and hotels (Khan, Garg, & Rahman, 2015; Kim & Choi, 2013; Walter & Edvardsson, 2012) and theme parks (Wu, Li, & Li, 2018; Ali, Amin, & Cobanoglu, 2016; Ali, Kim, & Ryu, 2016; Dong & Siu, 2013), a significant lack of works is identified in the coffee shop setting (Wu, 2017). Although the coffee shop environment also includes the most outstanding characteristics of the service industry such as the mutual interactions, activities, and co-producer role of the customer (Han & Ryu, 2009). Consequently, there is a considerable research gap that concentrates on understanding the impacts of a cafe´s physical environment on service quality and Behavioral intention centered on the antecedent of servicescape.

Since the term "Servicescape" was introduced by Bitner (1992), there have been many studies that have demonstrated the impact of the servicescape on post consumer concepts such as customer emotions and satisfaction (Johnson, Mayer, & Champaner, 2004), shop image (Baker, Grewal, & Parasuraman, 1994), behavioral intention (Harris & Ezeh, 2008), service quality (Hightower, Brady, & Baker, 2002; Reimer & Kuehn, 2005), monetary value (O'Cass & Grace, 2008). Besides, previous studies show that customer satisfaction is the key factor, explaining customer loyalty (Jones & Suh, 2000; Anh & Thao, 2019) The simple explanation is that only when customers are satisfied with products and services, they tend to use the service more and more often. While servicescape is one of the factors that can directly or indirectly form customer satisfaction, there is still too little practical research conducted to investigate the impact of the servicescape, as this relates to the customer service experience (Hoffman & Turley, 2002).

In the service delivery process, research studies claimed that pleasure servicescape always leads to a positive endorsement from the customer side and employees also act positively but inefficient and poor servicescape and design will lead to frustrate both employees and customers. That is why Bitner and Zeithaml (2003) declared servicescape as the facilitator that assists employee performance in an organization. Liu and Jang (2009) declared the servicescape as “the facilitator’s role is demonstrated when the physical environment increases or restricts the efficient flow of activities during the service encounter”. Hwang, Song, and Lee (2014) proposed the needfulness of strategic human resources management which reflects the nature of the department to improve the level of delivering service. As a result of the impact of servicescape on each employee’s emotional reactions and motivations. Han and Lee (2016) also analyzed motivation of hoteliers has an impact on the behavior of offering service. These indicate that the importance of servicescape in delivering service to customers in the service industry, however, there is still a lack of empirical researches in coffee shop chains.

Therefore, this study focuses on determining the independent role of the servicescape for service quality and its impact on customer behavioral intention, the quality of service employees, and the overall quality of service applied to the type of coffee chain business in Vietnam. After the first section introduces the reasons for motivation the study, the next section presenting the theoretical background and hypothesis development, research methodology constitutes Section 3 followed by data analysis and results in Section 4. Finally, the paper ends with conclusions and implications in Section 5.

2. Theoretical background and research model

2.1. Theoretical background

2.1.1. Servicescape

Servicescape plays an extremely important role in expressing service delivery experience and the ability to bring satisfaction to customers. Since the servicescape implements two functions, first of all, it shows the image, positioning, and differences, the second is to facilitate the transfer of services to customers with the highest efficiency. The functionality and importance of the servicescape outlined above are true in any case, regardless of the type of service, from entertainment services to functional services (Wakefield & Blodgett, 1996; 1999).

Servicescape is perhaps the most commonly used term when it comes to the effects of tangible and intangible signs on consumers, and there are three other names commonly used to describe the same concept: atmospherics, environmental psychology, and the store environment. However, although called with different words, when studying each concept, it is easy for us to recognize that the most common thing when it comes to servicescape is the physical aspect. Although the physical aspect exists in many researchers' notions of servicescape, some authors realize that, when clients are affected by each stimulus associated with the physical aspect, they often tend to react to the overall environment (Holahan, 1982). While under the impact of individual components related to the physical aspect, stimulating components of the same nature, whether tangible or invisible, will also be reflected in the service space model, as they are essential in creating for customers the service experience. Therefore, the servicescape is a gathering of physical environmental factors that customers can feel through the senses such as Hearing, Touch, Sight, Taste, and Smell (Kotler, 1973).

Obviously, the physical aspect of the environment is the aspect that is mentioned mainly when it comes to servicescape. Greater emphasis on the social aspect allows researchers to recognize that, throughout the service experience whether invisible or tangible, the interaction between humans and the physical environment, and between people in that space together, will create certain influences that intervene customer behavior in the space in which they exist (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1988). This intervention creates two different types of basic reactions, either the excitement of staying in the servicescape, from which there is a tendency to repeat the searching and existing behavior in that space or to dodge and look for another more suitable servicescape (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). This shows the direct impact of the servicescape on customer satisfaction, business efficiency, and employee motivation.

In summary, when studying the influence of the servicescape on customer behavior, the servicescape must be considered from both a physical and social perspective, in which the social aspect should be concerned about the factors that belong to people in that service environment (Harris & Ezeh, 2008).

2.1.2. Components of servicescape

Approach from a physical perspective:

According to Bitner (1992), three factors make up the service space:

Firstly, ambient conditions. This is an aspect of the service that has the potential to affect the senses such as touch, hearing, sight, taste, and smell (Bitner, 1992). It is assumed that, when environmental factors are maintained at a satisfactory level, they do not directly promote the purchase of customers, however, if any factors exceed the acceptable limit, they will harm their behavior (Hightower et al., 2002). As seen from previous studies, the business environment, ambient signals are one of the most extensively studied aspects of the servicescape (Turley & Milliman, 2000) with a wide range of environmental factors studied such as music (Milliman, 1986; Yalch & spangenberg, 1990; Areni & Kim, 1993; Herrington & Capella, 1994; 1996; Dubé, Chebat, & Morin, 1995; Yalch & Spangenberg, 2000; Chebat, Chebat, & Vaillant, 2001; Jacob, 2006), lighting (Areni & Kim, 1994; Summers & herbert, 2001) and olfactory signals (Bone & Ellen, 1999; Davies, Kooijman, & Ward, 2003).

Secondly, the functional aspect and spatial layout and functionality. Functionaledge is understood as all tools and items to perform the main function such as how to organize and arrange items to serve the main function of the service space most effectively and reasonably. We can better visualize functional factors through various types of services, such as Highlands coffee with sales system, aisle space layout, seats, lighting, dispensing system, and materials system. This functional aspect has a direct impact on the customer's ability to meet the most basic requirements.

Finally, the elements related to aesthetic appeal, unlike the functional aspect, when it comes to the artistic aspect is to refer to the architectural structure that works to make customers feel comfortable and enjoy this common service space. The artistic aspect directly affects the conditions in the servicescape and increases customer satisfaction. The functional aspect can only reflect the core value of the product and service, while the fine art element provides additional expected values. Because of this special nature, the art factor, if invested and creative, will increase the level of customer satisfaction.

Approach from social perspective:

This social approach is about behavior from an employee-to-customer perspective, and the servicescape needs to take into account the image and behavior of employees. The employee's image is evaluated based on the performance of the employee's ability and the level of customer evaluation of the external form of the employee. Employee behavior is reviewed and evaluated based on the attitude of employees to customers, expressing the level of trust of customers for employees.

From the above analyses, it can be seen that the approach to the elements that constitute the servicescape should be based on the constituent elements of both approaches to be able to make an accurate, specific determination of how they impact the customer behavioral intention on coffee shops.

2.2. Hypotheses and research model

Overall, research on service quality assumes that service quality is an overall assessment of a product or service, and it depends on consumer expectations (Grönroos, 1984), this is a customer-centered approach. Many service quality theories describe service quality as a multi-dimensional concept, although there is not a high unity in the number of components, tangible signs are a widely acknowledged component. Tangible elements combined with the appearance of the design of the facility, the suitability of the equipment, and the way employees are expressed (Parasuraman, Berry, & Zeithaml, 1985; 1988; 1991; 1994). Likewise, Brady and Cronin (2001), Rust and Oliver (1994), and more recently Wall and Berry (2007), Pollack (2009) all describe the service quality covered by the quality of the service environment. Part of Bitner's (1992, p. 63) study on the service space did not refer to any service quality model, instead, she argued that “Customers [...] tend to use external signals (such as service environments) to infer quality”. Since then, Bitner (1992) believes that servicescape contributes to customers' awareness of the service quality, but this study has not been clearly modeled. As part of a larger model, Hightower et al. (2002) found that servicescape was a predictive factor in the perception of service quality, however, this theoretical implication was not discussed for clarification. Therefore, we believe that there must be a difference between these two concepts, and the servicescape should be considered as an antecedent to the customer perception of service quality.

Besides, although many studies are emphasizing the importance of servicescape, there has not been much empirical research proving the impact of servicescape on service quality in previous studies. Reimer and Kuehn (2005) studied the impact of servicescape on service quality in the banking sector, and they found that service spaces had a stronger impact on service quality than most previous studies in the field. Furthermore, Hightower et al. (2002) found a strong positive relationship between service space and service quality in the consumer services sector. Reimer and Kuehn (2005) agreed with previous authors that service spaces have a direct impact on service quality

What's more, a customer can use the service space as a platform to shape their perception of the personal service they are about to receive, in case the service space works as expected. This is consistent with the views of several authors in this field (Brady & Cronin, 2001; Wall & berry, 2007), but mainly derived from the original model of Grönroos (1984). Accordingly, Grönroos (1984) describes the service quality that includes two aspects: technical and functional. The functional aspect shows how the service is delivered to the customer, while the technical aspect refers to what the customer receives. Using this as a basis in this study, we believe that the functional aspect relates to the role of employees in transferring services to customers, while the technical aspect refers to the overall assessment of the service quality. Therefore, the study expects that the customer's feelings about the quality of service of employees have a direct impact on the evaluation of service quality in general.

From the analysis and arguments as presented above, we believe that the servicescape is a prefix that affects the employee's service quality, thereby directly affecting the overall service quality will be more appropriate in the context of the café business service industry. The following hypotheses reflect this assumption:

H1: Servicescape has a positive impact on the employee's service quality.

H2: Servicescape has a positive impact on the overall service quality.

H3: Employee service quality has a positive impact on the overall service quality.

In general, previous studies have pointed to the fact that having a good service experience leads to positive behavioral reactions (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996). Therefore, good service quality is considered an important factor for the survival of the business (Anh & Thao, 2019). The truth is that the service quality received will determine whether a customer will engage in positive word-of-mouth behavior and the intention to return regularly. Over the years there have been many studies that have demonstrated a positive relationship between the service quality and the intention of returning customers (Alexandris, Dimitriadis, & Markata, 2002). Keaveney (1995) believes that the causes of customer conversion behavior come from a variety of reasons, however, most of these reasons are related to the shortcomings of service quality.

In addition, Soriano (2002) and Dubé, Trudeau, and Bélanger (1994) argued that the atmosphere/surroundings (servicescape) had a significant impact on the customer's intention to return, the service atmosphere being a direct stimulus to customer behavior. Ibrahim (2009), also affirmed the role of the service space that has a strong positive impact on the customer behavioral intention with the context in coffee shops. In addition, this relationship is also evidenced in the research of Hooper et al. (2013) with the context of retail stores. Therefore, we propose hypotheses as follows:

H4: Servicescape has a positive impact on behavioral intention.

H5: Overall service quality has a positive impact on behavioral intention.

Figure 1 describes the servicescape as an antecedent that directly affects the quality of service of employees and has an impact on the assessment of the overall quality of service and the behavior of customers. At the same time, the quality of service of employees also affects the overall quality of service and in the end, the overall quality of service has a direct impact on the intended behavior.

3. Methodology

The study is conducted through two stages: qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research with group discussion techniques to refine scales. Quantitative research through data collected by survey questionnaires, then using PLS-SEM to test hypotheses in the research model.

The data was collected from respondents who used services in coffee shops. To enhance the generalization ability of the data we collected data through online survey questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with customers who have been using the service at many cafes with various brands such as Highlands, Phuc Long, Starbucks, The coffee house (each brand 100 samples) in big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City (190 samples), NhaTrang (70 samples), Quy Nhon (70 samples) and Da Lat (70 samples) between October 2019 and February 2020. There are two reasons that we chose the above cities to collect data. Firstly, Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city and has the most dynamic economy in the country with a concentration of many famous coffee brands as well as residents living from many provinces and cities throughout the country. Secondly, cities such as Da Lat, Nha Trang, and Quy Nhon are attractive tourist destinations in recent times that have attracted a large number of domestic visitors as well as famous coffee brands to make the data collection process more convenient and diverse.

The scale used to measure research concepts inherited from previous studies, then adjusted to the context of Vietnamese research and culture is summarized by the authors in Table 1.

Figure 1: The proposal model

Table 1: Summary of scales

4. Data analysis and results

4.1. Sample description

After screening the questionnaire, the remaining 326 respondents were valid for conducting data analysis. The sample is described in the table below.

Table 2: Descriptive data

4.2. Scale evaluation

The scale evaluation of concepts in the research model includes the determination of reliability, internal consistency reliability, convergence values, and discriminant values (Hair, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2011; 2012; Henseler, Ringle, & Sinkovics, 2009). Table 3 describes indicators obtained through PLS-SEM analysis techniques.

To assess the convergence value of the scale, the average variance extract (AVE) is used. Fornell and Larcker (1981) recommended that ave should be above the 0.5 thresholds. The results show that AVE is above this value level, which proves the converged value of the scale. 

The discriminant value is evaluated using Fornell and Larcker's criteria (1981). Accordingly, the root square of the AVE of each concept must be higher than the correlation factors with all other concepts (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The results presented in Table 4 confirm the discriminant value of the scale since the root square of each AVE concept (located on the bold diagonal in Table 4) is greater than its correlations with any other concepts.

The above results showing that the scale meets the requirements of reliability and validity can be used to conduct testing of research models and hypotheses using the PLS-SEM technique.

Table 3: Measurement model assessment

Table 4: Discriminant validity assessment

4.3 Hypotheses testing

The evaluation of path estimating systems of the PLS- SEM approach is presented in Table 5. The results showed that all hypotheses were supported with significance at a 95% confidence level.

Table 5: Test results of hypotheses

5. Discussions and managerial implications

5.1. Discussions

The results of the study show that Servicescape is a multi-dimensional concept containing 5 components that reflect quite a lot of the Servicescape of the café in the Vietnamese market. In the components of the Servicescape, the most important component is Design, followed by the elements: Ambiance, Hygiene, Space, and Equipment. Thus, in order to improve the sense of customer Servicescape, managers need to pay attention to all the components as stated. Particular attention is paid to the role of Design in coffee shop chains. In addition, the results of the study also demonstrate the independent role of the Servicescape towards the overall service quality and its impact is direct and meaningful as a prefix of service quality. While other authors stand out in the field of service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988; 1994; Rust & Oliver, 1994; Brady & Cronin, 2001; Wall & berry, 2007; Pollack, 2009) published studies in which the tangible factor (Servicescape) is a component of service quality. The difference between previous studies and our research is that the majority of previous studies do not seek to clearly differentiate between Servicescape and service quality. This is one of the important contributions to the theory of service quality. The results of this study have pointed out that the Servicescape (tangible factor) is located outside the components of the service quality and serves as an antecedent, rather than an element of service quality. Here we can see that for consumers when visiting a service (café), the service environment is the first aspect of service that is felt by customers, and at this stage, consumers are likely to form an impression of the level of service they will receive. Indeed, it is difficult to erase the first impressions and it is for this reason that we believe and have pointed out that the servicescape should be seen as a prerequisite for the perception of service quality. This view differs from the majority of previous studies of service quality given that the tangible factor is a core aspect besides a wide range of other aspects of service quality. Our research demonstrates theoretical reasonableness as well as providing empirical evidence through a model that once again affirms that the servicescape is an independent construct that has a direct impact on service quality during customer evaluation.

In addition, the factors Servicescape and Employee Service Quality both have a positive impact on Overall Service Quality with coefficient value β=0.147 and 0.145, respectively. At the same time, Overall Service Quality has a positive impact on Behavioral Intention with β=0.220. In addition, Servicescape also has a direct impact on Behavioral Intention with β=0.128. Through this, we can see that to increase the Behavioral Intention of customers, it is necessary to focus on investing in increasing the Overall Service Quality, as well as the role of the Servicescape is very important because of its indirect and direct impact on the overall service quality and the customer's behavior. The results of this study are also consistent with the results of research by Hooper et al. (2013) in the field of retail in convenience stores.

5.2. Implications

This study provides some implications for administrators in the field of coffee shop services in particular and services in general. Firstly, managers need to be aware of the impact of the Servicescape as a marketing tool because of its independent role with service quality. Research has in place that reviews of Servicescapes directly affect behavioral intention. Therefore, managers need to consider the importance of tangible and intangible factors as strategic goals. Consumers find that the quality of service in terms of intangible factors such as the reliability of the service provided by employees as well as the physical aspects of the Servicescape (tangible) have a direct impact on the perception of the overall service quality. Therefore, to provide customers with the best service quality experience, it is necessary to pay attention to both the servicescape aspect of the service as well as the employee service quality at the coffee shops. Moreover, Servicescapes not only influence the customer's value creation but also have an impact on their future purchasing and consumption behavior.

The importance of servicescape in any type of organization cannot be neglected because it impacts a positive aspect of an organization, service delivery process, service quality, strong positive image that subsequently affect the customer satisfaction, service experience, repurchase intentions, and loyalty. When servicescape in cafe meets their expectation. It will affect consumers' emotional responses and desire to stay in the cafe. A cafe will become the third lace and place identity to customers (Hwang, Kim, & Lee, 2016).

For the employee service quality, it is necessary to communicate to employees the benefits of maintaining the comprehensiveness and assurance of the service environment to facilitate customers to meet their goals. On the other hand, the training in each operation, acumen, flexibility when dealing with and solving problems occurs also contributes a large part in creating sympathy for customers. Besides, servicescape plays an important role in delivering service process to customer through employee performance. So it is recommended to put more effort into making service and marketing strategies to improve the ability to deliver service.

The overall service quality always plays a decisive role in the positive reviews of customers when they use products and services at coffee shops. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the policy that all products/services in the shop ensure quality and always meet the needs of customers. Quality from raw materials for processing into products must ensure clear origin, cleanliness and ensure the health of consumers because this is the trend of consumers today. They are increasingly interested in health, to safe coffee brands for consumers (Anh & Hanh, 2019). In addition, the quality also comes from the service style. Managers need to regularly pay attention to the behavior and comments of customers when they contribute comments, it is necessary to inquire about the true feelings of customers.

Besides that, managers should be aware of the components of the Servicescape. For Hygiene: All internal and external spaces such as tables, chairs, aisles, toilets, walls, glass doors, and floors ... must always be kept clean, always in a state of no garbage and the manager must always regularly supervise the environmental sanitation. As for the space element, it is necessary to make customers feel curious and excited to see the designs in coffee shops with special styles, from floor-to-ceiling materials to glass door designs, aisle hallways, display items. As for the Ambience, it is necessary to focus on factors such as music, which is an indispensable component in the space of every café, always of special interest to customers. Music is not the main factor that creates customer loyalty, but it is a factor that can make customers no longer want to stick around, returning to the shop if it is unacceptable to feel the music in the space. The study not only detected the significant impact of the negative genre but the sound quality and volume level also accounted for an important part of customer satisfaction. For the Design element, in order to succeed in attracting and retaining customers, design is a step that needs to be carefully invested in the first place. Aesthetics are important, but it is more important to create comfort, relaxation, and harmony between everything from color to interior design. The remodeling and re-innovation of the space in coffee shops such as repainting new watercolors, or further decoration of furniture and other items is a job that is both timeconsuming and money-consuming, and difficult to do but if done, it will make the servicescape in the store fresher, allowing to maintain the attractiveness to customers. The maintenance and innovation of the service if not prioritized, the possibility that customers will come to use the services of other competitors is possible. For the Equipment element, managers must ensure that all self-service equipment such as alarms for receiving water works well and no damage to any machinery or equipment occurs. In general, it is necessary to constantly manage and pay attention to the Servicescape, to innovations and ways to improve. In addition, the speed of the Internet (Wifi) is also a utility belonging to the equipment element and the first factor when deciding to choose to stick with coffee shops, if the need to work is the main need of customers. When the purpose of going to the café is to solve the work, the Internet quality is always of special interest and priority when deciding to choose a café.

5.3. Limitations and Direction of Further Research

Although this research is one of the few studies on the role of Servicescape for the overall quality of service in the Vietnamese market and the results have proven the independent role of the Servicescape compared to service quality in general, as well as its impact on employee service quality, overall service quality, and behavioral intention. However, there are still some limitations such as samples selected by convenient methods in cafes in some provinces, so the generalized study should consider even though we have made efforts to collect data so that it is as diverse as possible in terms of time and finance. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to carry out other studies in the form of choosing more representative samples in many coffee shops in major cities of Vietnam, especially cities in the northern region. Besides, this study also needs to conduct in other service areas such as restaurants and hotels. In addition, because the data was collected before the covid-19 pandemic, it could be considered when generalizing this result due to changing customer behavior starting from social distancing, challenges faced by participants due to the pandemic were not assessed and also resources other than coping strategies (e.g., availability of social support, physical health) were neglected. Future research should, therefore, use more comprehensive data collected after the pandemic crisis to rule out potential explanations.