Emotional Bonding and Diner’s Loyalty to Restaurants in Umuahia, Abia State

Abstract

The study focused on emotional bonding affect diner’s loyalty among restaurants in Umuahia, Abia State. The specific objectives of the study are; to examine the influence of quality, price, response time, accessibility and trust on diner's loyalty among restaurant in Umuahia metropolis, Abia state. To achieve the objectives of the study, survey research design was adopted. Convenient sampling was used to select 196 diner's from the selected restaurants in Umuahia metropolis. The data collection involves primary data through the use of structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that quality, price, response time, accessibility and trust have a significant influence on diner's loyalty among restaurants in Umuahia, Abia State. Therefore, the study concludes that emotional bonding plays a significant role in enhancing diner's loyalty in restaurant business. Based on the findings, the study recommends that restaurant managers to become aware of the strategic role of quality and to set up expansions and improvement plans aiming at attracting consumers’ satisfaction. It is also important to know how to better manage relationship marketing by using technological tools like customer relationship management (CRM). Consumers are certainly attached to products and they become loyal. Also, it is recommended that products be offered at reasonable prices, good quality and attractive packaging, thereby providing a pleasant experience for consumers. Additionally, product managers need to pay special attention to generating persuasive content on social media in particular. It is important to make sure that the content of ads is in line with the long-term goals and strategies of the business.