• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.179-196
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• 2009

As consumers are more conscious about the preferred traits and branding in restaurant selection, restaurant practitioners are getting more interested in the traits which constitute and influence consumers' brand association. Dining selection is known to be a complicated psychological process that consumers undergo, incorporating social and cultural values, personal tastes, and other psychological factors. This study was designed to investigate the specific non-food traits perceived by consumers in fine restaurant selection. Also, it prioritized those examined traits. Building on exploratory qualitative research, results from 11 interviews through focus group sessions were utilized in data analysis. Content analysis of the interviews enabled categorization of the associations. The categorized variables were utilized for empirical data analysis of conjoint analysis. First, the results suggested five superior traits such as atmosphere, price, customer relations, employee competence, and convenience of systems in fine restaurant brand association. Second, they were prioritized in the order of atmosphere, price, consumer relations, employee competence, and convenience. Finally this study provided practical implications for fine restaurant professionals in linking consumers' psychologically networked traits to brand selection.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.228-245
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• 2012

This study attempts to investigate the relationships among psychological traits, environment, attitude on education, satisfaction with education, and learning transfer of restaurant entrepreneurship education. The samples of this study were selected from the restaurant entrepreneurs who were running restaurants after having taken the restaurant entrepreneurship education in Seoul and Kyonggi Province. Three hundred and eighty nine copies of the questionnaire, with a 86.4% response rate from a judgmental sample of 450 restaurant entrepreneurs, were utilized to study the relationships between research constructs. SPSS (11.5 version) and AMOS 5.0 were employed to analyze the uni-dimensionality of research concepts and reliability tests, and structural equation modeling was employed to verify the research hypotheses. Need for achievement and ambiguity tolerance, and environment showed a positive effect on attitude to education. Attitude to education was related positively with satisfaction with education, and satisfaction with education showed a positive effect on learning transfer of the restaurant entrepreneurship education. The managerial implications of these results were also examined.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2010

This study reviews the influence of culture in interpersonal servicescapes by examining the restaurant retail setting. Two cultures (Canada and France) are surveyed in order to better understand their retail expectations towards interpersonal servicescapes. Using Hofstede's (1991) cultural dimensions to explain some of the differences between Canadian and French restaurant patrons, this study demonstrates a potentially interesting research avenue in the field of cross-cultural interpersonal services marketing. It demonstrates that cultural dimensions do not operate independently but interdependently. Understanding this can help retailers better explain complex service interactions between countries that may appear similar in terms of various socio-demographic features. In this exploratory research, a measure via exploratory factor analysis was developed, one that encompasses both the physical and service aspects common to interpersonal servicescape by using personality traits. This measure was tested in order to better understand the service expectations between two cultures, Canada and France. Five dimensional structures were uncovered in both cultures but with different traits and groupings. The differences between the traits uncovered and the overall Canadian and French personality structures find some explanation using Hofstede's (1991) cultural dimensions. The results of this survey point to a possible explanation as to why when services are transferred between cultures, the perceptions of them can be different and sometimes even lead to service failure. There are clearly some cultural differences between the Canadian and French consumers and their overall expectations regarding their consumption experience. Reviewing the first factor of the French and Canadian personality structures shows that the individualist/collectivist differences are apparent between the Canadian and the French cultures. The second dimension also has quite a few traits in common, five, all of which have the personal treatment aspect of the restaurant experience that a service provider would be responsible for: polite, respectful, and dedicated. Notable is that the French dimension does not include the authenticity or the hospitable aspect of the experience but includes even more features that are inherent to the personal interaction, such as charming and courteous. The third dimension of the Canadian and French structures reflects completely different expectations. Whereas the French dimension centers around energy and enthusiasm, the Canadian version is more laid-back and relaxed. There is extroversion in the French dimension to introversion in the Canadian dimension. This could be explained by differences on the Uncertainty Avoidance dimension as outlined by Hofstede (1991). The fourth dimension seems to confirm previously outlined cultural differences. Whereas Canadians, being a bit lower on uncertainty avoidance and power distance, prefer an intimate and private experience, the French continue to expect extraversion and inclusive features to their experience. The fifth dimension is in the French personality structure a clear expression of the high power distance society, where the roles of the players in the restaurant experience are clearly defined and the rules of engagement preserved. This study demonstrates that different cultures clearly do relate to different expectations regarding interpersonal services. This is apparent in the dimensions that come up in both the French and the Canadian personality structures, not only in terms of how different they are but also in with which cultural dimensions these can be explained. For interpersonal servicescapes, the use of personality traits is interesting as it allows for both physical and service features to be accounted for. Furthermore, the social component inherent to interpersonal servicescapes surfaces in most of the dimensions of the service personality structures. The quality of social exchanges is extremely important, and this even more so in cross-cultural situations, where the expec tations regarding the service experience may vary. As demonstrated by this research and using Hofstede's (1991) paradigm, not all societies will have the same expectations pertaining to the interpersonal services. Furthermore, the traditions surrounding the type of service can also have an impact on the service evaluations and differ between countries and cultures. However, using personality traits may also allow for retailers to see which service traits are common to two or more cultures where they seek to be present, and focus on these in the offering. The findings demonstrate the importance of the individualist and collectivist dimension for interpersonal servicescapes. This difference between the French and the Canadian personality structure is apparent in the most dominant dimension as well as within others. The findings are a step in explaining how retailers can transfer and then measure interpersonal services across cultures.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2014

This study examines the relationship between tip amount and its possible antecedents: bill size, the Big Five personality types, meal type, food quality, atmosphere, service quality, consumer gender, server gender, customer hospitality experience, race, and alcohol consumption. A survey of southeastern undergraduate students was conducted to collect information about the customer, server and customer tipping habits. While the analysis suggests that service is an important factor, it shows that other factors affect tip amount. Furthermore, these factors affect tip amounts in many different ways. Some examples of these factors include bill size, alcohol consumption, gender dynamics, meal type, food quality, and personality type. The conclusion suggests the intuition behind these factors by providing a dissection of their meaning and their importance to servers, customers, and managers alike. Purpose: This study tests restaurant customer tipping habits and some personality traits that have received limited previous attention as predictors of tipping. Methods: This study is that the tip amount was self-reported, business students at a university in a large southeastern city of USA were asked to complete a tipping journal. Results: This study was able to replicate the service-tipping relationship. Moreover, this study reiterated that server friendliness is a very powerful tool to increasing tips. Conclusion: This study strongly indicate that service has a positive relationship with tip amount, and also produce a positive relationship with emotional stability and a negative relationship to conscientiousness.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.162-168
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• 2010

Comic book has a different story structure from western movies, i.e. New Character->reaction->food->master mediation->effect of food->disappearance ->conclusion. Comic book is full of media traits. The master is like a shaman, who console people with food of memory. Food also is a media, which carries message of memory instead of savor itself. Restaurant is a media, in which many events occur and rhetoric of rumor pervade. Foods of memory massage our feeling sense, like a media. In conclusion, comic book has a analogous role to that of Marshal Mcluhan's Media theory.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.61-77
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• 2010

Hotel practitioners are searching for leadership typology to maximize employees' capabilities and consistency in their attitude. Also, they are increasingly interested in their employees' traits which constitute and influence their job attitude. This study sought to investigate the impact of servant leadership mediated through self-leadership on employees' job attitude. Focused on hotel restaurant employees, representing 15 hotels in Seoul Metropolitan Area, a survey was conducted and 272 respondents out of 297 were empirically analyzed. The collected data was analyzed with the SPSS 12.0 for Windows and AMOS software program. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results suggested that servant leadership has a significant impact on self-leadership. Furthermore, self-leadership was found to have a significant impact on job satisfaction. However, direct influence of self-leadership on organizational commitment was not found. Finally, servant leadership was found to have a direct impact on job satisfaction. On the other hand, servant leadership positively influences on organizational commitment when mediated through self-leadership. In addition, this study provides practical implications for hotel restaurant professionals in linking servant leadership mediated through self-leadership to job attitude.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.126-133
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• 2010

The purpose of this research was to reveal how Korean food is currently perceived by the "foodies" of New York City and to determine what social status Korean food has in the city that is deemed the "Restaurant Capital of the World." In-depth personal interviews were performed to provide a deeper insight into the comments and subject matters. Most foodies selected kimchi and Korean barbecue as the most distinctive foods in Korean dining. Korean food's distinguishing traits were extracted in four areas: specific ingredients and tools, preparation procedures, and rules. Sensory characteristics, local adaptation, service, side dishes, and the main strengths and short-comings of Korean foods were investigated. Perception toward the taste of Korean food was generally positive, but poor quality of service and lack of organization in establishments were found to be negative factors.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.53-66
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• 2016

Present study confirmed the influential relationships among menus choices, IMC activities, customer satisfaction and revisit intention as perceived by Italian restaurant consumers to establish the marketing strategy. The results are as follows: The menu choice traits of the Italian restaurants have proved that menu quality, menu composition, and physical offer have significant influences on the customer satisfaction. In addition, all the factors of menu choice traits except physical offer have significant effect on the customer's revisit intention. Furthermore, the IMC activities of the Italian restaurants have been proved that the advertisement and the public relations have significant influence on the customer satisfaction and revisit intention, but there was no signigicant impact with personal selling. Last, the customer satisfaction has been identified as a critical antecedent of revisit intention in this study.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1-13
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• 2015

The purpose of this research is to do exploratory analysis on the relationships between demographic characteristics of entrepreneurial candidates and their developmental level of entrepreneurial traits as well as the choice of business field. We analyzed gender, age, and educational level of the entrepreneurial candidates and their developmental level of entrepreneurial traits such as achievement tendencies, degree of awareness, planning skills, sincerity, interpersonal relationship, and problem-solving skills. Industry fields were classified into 4 types: restaurants, retail, services, internet business. Descriptive statistical analyses, logistic regressions, and variance analyses were performed about the sample data gathered from 1,441 persons since the year 2002 to 2014. Males and highly educated above university preferred service industry than restaurant, retail, and internet business. Females preferred internet business, retail, and restaurants than service industry field. The young persons under 20 showed higher probability to choose internet business. The college level and high school graduates preferred retail and restaurants than service industry. The developmental level of entrepreneurial traits were higher in male and highly educated. By this study, we could find the divide between groups with high and low probabilities of failure: restaurants and retail field showed higher failure probability than service industry in the business fields of self-employed. Furthermore, we could identify that entrepreneurial traits also had been developed differently depending on the groups. It is necessary to refrain from entering into the fields with high failure probabilities as well as to provide supporting policies to build the systems and environment to reduce the cases to begin new business without special knowledges and know-hows. The competency development training should be provided in the early stage of start-ups considering their entrepreneurial traits and aptitudes. Not only the assessment of the entrepreneurial traits but also professional counseling from initial stage are necessary.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.25-51
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• 2012

Researches about the relationship between SST(Self Service Technology) and TRI(Technology Readiness Index) have been carried out after TRI was developed by Parasuraman and his colleagues(2000). We hypothesize Consumer Readiness can also influence consumer's motivation, attitude, and intent to use SST. Currently, there has been no research on this subject. In this study, we investigated the relationship between TR, Consumer Readiness and SST Core Attitudinal Model which Dabholkar & Bagozzi(1994) proposed. The researchers also investigated moderating effects of consumer traits and situational factors to verify the acceptance of such forms of service delivery by all kinds of consumers and under different situational contexts. Self consciousness, the need for interaction with an employee, and the technology anxiety were used as consumer trait variables. Perceived waiting time and perceived crowding were used as situational variables. 380 questionnaires were distributed to a sample group of people in their 20's and 30's, and the data were analyzed with structural equation model using AMOS 18.0 program. All of Cronbach's alpha values representing reliabilities were satisfactory. The values of Composite Reliability(CR) and Average Variance Extracted(AVE) also showed the above criteria, thus providing evidence of convergent validity. To confirm discriminant validity among the constructs, confirmatory factor analysis and correlations among all the variables were examined. The results were satisfactory. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1. Optimism and innovativeness of TR partially influenced the motivation to use SST. People who tend to be optimistic use SST because of ease of use and fun. The innovative however, usually use SST due to its performance. However, consumer readiness of role clarity, ability and self-efficacy influence all the components of motivation to use SST, ease of use, performance and fun. The relative effect of consumer readiness on the motivation to use SST was much stronger and more significant than that of TR. No other previous studies have examined the effects of Consumer Readiness on SST usage motivation, attitude and intention. It is academically meaningful that the researchers verified that Consumer Readiness is the important precedent construct influencing the self service technology core Attitudinal Model. Our findings suggest that marketers should consider fun and ease of use attributes to promote the use of self service technology. In addition, the SST usage frequency will rise rapidly when role clarity, ability, and self-efficacy which anybody can easily handle SST is assured. If the SST usage rate is increased, waiting times for customers could be decreased. Shorter waiting time could lead to higher customer satisfaction. It may also result in making a long-term profit owing to the reduced number of employees. Thus, presentation of using SST by employees or videos showing how to use it will promote the usage attitude and intent. 2. In SST core attitudinal model, performance and fun factors among SST usage motivation affected attitudes of using SST. The attitude of using SST highly influenced intent to use SST. This result is consistent with previous researches that dealt with the relationship between motivation, attitude and intention. Expectation of using SST could result in good performance just like the effect of ordering menu to service employees and to have fun since fun during its use could promote more SST usage rate. 3. In the relationship among motivation, attitude and intent in SST core attitudinal model, the moderating effect of consumer traits(self-consciousness, need for interaction with service employees and technology anxiety) and situational factors(perceived crowding and perceived waiting time) were tested. The results also supported the hypothesized moderating effects except perceived crowding. The highly self-conscious tended to form attitudes to use SST because of its fun compared to those who were less self-conscious because of its performance. People who had a high need for interaction with service employees tended to use SST for its performance. This result indicates that if ordering results are assured, SST is easily accessible to even consumers who have a high need for interaction with a service employee. When SST is easy to use, attitudes strengthen intent among people who had a high level of anxiety of technology. People who had low technology anxiety formed attitudes to use SST because of its performance. Service firms must ensure their self service technology is designed to be easy to use for those who have a high level of technology anxiety. Shorter perceived waiting times strengthened the attitude to use self service technology because of its fun. If the fun aspect is assured, people willing to use self service technology even perceive waiting time to be shorter than it actually is. Greater perceived waiting times form higher level of intent to use self service technology than those of shorter perceived waiting times. This implies that people view self service technology as a faster alternative to ordering service employees. The fun aspect of self service technology will attract a higher rate of usage for self service technology. 4. It has been proven that ease of use, performance and fun aspects are very important factors in motivation to form attitudes and intent to use self service technology regardless of the amount of perceived waiting time, self-consciousness, need for interaction with service employees, and technology anxiety. Service firms must consider these motivation aspects(ease of use, performance and fun)strongly in their promotion to use self service technology. Ease of use, assuring absolute performance compared to interaction with service employees', and adding a fun aspect will positively strengthen consumers' attitudes and intent to use self service technology. Summarizing the moderating effects, fun is the most valuable factor triggering SST usage attitude and intention. Therefore, designing self service technology to be fun will be the key to its success. This study focused on the touch screen self service technology in fast food restaurant. Although it has its limits due to the fact that it is hard to generalize the results to any other self service technology, the conceptual framework of this study can be applied to future research of any other service site.