The COVID-19 crisis and factors driving international tourists’ preferences for contactless dining services

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to integrate the theory of planned behavior and the protection motivation theory to propose a theoretical framework for examining the influence of attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms on international tourists’ intentions to select restaurants with contactless dining services (CDSs) as a protective behavior against COVID-19. This study further tested the moderation effects of subjective norms on attitude and perceived behavioral control links with intention. Design/methodology/approach In all, 344 international tourists completed questionnaires via QR-coded Google forms in Phuket Old Town and Patong Beach in Thailand. Data analysis was conducted by SPSS and Smart-PLS (partial least square). Findings Intention to select a restaurant with CDSs was influenced by attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. Subjective norms had a significant negative moderating effect on attitude and intention links. However, the moderation effect of tourists’ subjective norms on the connection between their perceived behavioral control and intention toward restaurant dining was not proved. Practical implications Providing CDSs could be a quick solution to decrease the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry. Originality/value This study incorporated CDSs to expand the application of the integrated model of theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory as a theoretical basis in the restaurant industry to explain how international tourists’ behavioral choices may change during the pandemic in Thailand. This study also contributes to the travel risk literature by highlighting the influence of attitude anchored on risk and efficacy beliefs (perceived vulnerability, severity and response efficacy) in predicting protective behavioral intention.

PLS-SEM’s most wanted guidance

“…Originally developed by the econometrician Herman Wold (Wold, 1982), and subsequently substantially extended by Jan-Bernd Lohmöller (Lohmöller, 1989), PLS-SEM has recently been massively disseminated through hospitality, tourism and leisure research (Ali et al , 2018; do Valle and Assaker, 2016; Kono and Sato, 2022; Usakli and Kucukergin, 2018), as well as through numerous other fields of scientific inquiry, such as computer sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, medicine, political sciences, psychology and sociology. Recent studies in the hospitality field apply PLS-SEM, for example, to assess the factors driving contactless dining services as a protective behavior against COVID-19 (Yasami et al , 2022), restaurant innovativeness’s impact on generation Z’s destination image (Ding et al , 2022) and the antecedents of customers’ loyalty to mobile food delivery services (Su et al , 2022). Several aspects have contributed to PLS-SEM’s prominence in hospitality research and beyond (Sarstedt et al , 2022b).…”

What influences restaurant dining out and diners’ self-protective intention during the COVID-19 pandemic: Applying the Protection Motivation Theory

“…However, knowing what determines a patron’s willingness to comply with regulations and new normal practices to protect themselves while dining out, as well as what drives restaurant visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, is still limited. Existing literature on the topic is scarce and tends to offer in-depth investigation of specific such factors as air-conditioning ( Lu et al, 2020 ), hygiene ( Yasami, 2021 ), contactless dining services ( Yasami et al, 2022 ), food and packaging ( Byrd et al, 2021 ), crowdedness ( Wang, Yao & Martin, 2021 ), private dining facilities ( Kim & Lee, 2020 ), consumers’ reservation session abandonment behavior ( Peng & Chen, 2021 ) and restaurant dining behavior ( Jeong et al, 2021 ). Although these studies offer valuable knowledge as a foundation to understanding customer behavior and practices in the restaurant industry during the pandemic, none of these studies except Jeong et al (2021) has addressed specifically the body of knowledge that may explain customer willingness to accept the new normal requirements during a restaurant visit.…”

Understanding Factors Shaping Green Cosmetic Purchase Intentions: Insights from Attitudes, Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control

“…Positive attitudes towards environmentally friendly products strongly predict purchase behaviour (Liu et al, 2020). Furthermore, a number of studies by Yasami et al (2022); Hsu (2021) came to similar conclusions, concluding that consumer perceptions of the potency of their intentions to buy a product will be greatly influenced by their attitudes towards their purchasing behaviour or purchases of particular products. In summary, attitude is crucial in shaping consumer intentions, making it a powerful predictor of behaviour and purchase intentions (Dhir et al, 2021).…”