The Impact of Servicescape Cues on Consumer Prepurchase Authenticity Assessment and Patronage Intentions to Ethnic Restaurants

Abstract

In the context of ethnic dining services, authenticity is the key ingredient. This study aims to investigate the impact of servicescape dimensions on consumers’ prepurchase authenticity perceptions and patronage intentions to ethnic restaurants. The authors propose that three key dimensions of the servicescape—the physical setting, service providers, and other customers—provide ethnic-associated cues for consumers to assess authenticity in the preconsumption stage. Empirical results from a between-subject experimental design suggest that servicescape dimensions can induce preconsumption authenticity perceptions of ethnic restaurants and that the dimensional cues interplay to affect authenticity assessments. Furthermore, a customer’s ethnicity (referent ethnic vs. mainstream) affects how she/he interprets servicescape cues and, therefore, his/her authenticity assessment. The perceived authenticity, together with a consumer’s trait of cosmopolitanism and his/her familiarity with such ethnic restaurants, consequently affect consumers’ patronage intentions. These findings contribute to hospitality research on consumers’ authenticity assessments of ethnic restaurants. Furthermore, managerial implications for ethnic restaurants in terms of marketing strategies will be discussed.

Gastronomy experiential traits and their effects on intentions for recommendation: A fuzzy set approach

“…Most studies on restaurant service quality demonstrate that service quality is a major determinant for entailing satisfaction and future intentions (Jang, Liu, & Namkung, ; Liu & Jang, ; Liu & Jang, ; Wang & Mattila, ). Liu and Jang () addressed a positive relationship between dining atmosphere (interior design/spatial layout, ambience, and human elements) and behavioral intentions.…”

The effects of cosmopolitanism and tradition on the evaluation and intentions of the users of fast food restaurants

“…A similar study has proved that a strong sense of the national identity greatly affects the consummation of local products in the food sector, whereas cosmopolitanism greatly affects the consummation of global products (Cleveland, Papadopoulos & Laroche 2011). However, there is a small number of studies focused on the analysis of cosmopolitanism in the service sector and its impact on the consumer's behavior (Nijssen & Douglas, 2008;Wang & Mattila, 2015). Based on the theoretical concepts and the aforementioned studies, it can be assumed that consumers with a strong sense of cosmopolitanism prefer using the services of foreign fast food restaurants, taking into consideration the fact that they are mostly a part of the globally present fast food chains.…”

“…Slično istraživanje je dokazalo da izražen nacionalni identitet u velikoj meri utiče na konzumiranje lokalnih proizvoda u domenu hrane, a kosmopolitizam u slučaju globalnih proizvoda (Cleveland, Papadopoulos & Laroche 2011). Međutim, mali je broj studija koje u fokusu imaju kosmopolitizam u uslužnom sektoru i njegov uticaj na ponašanje potrošača (Nijssen & Douglas, 2008;Wang & Mattila, 2015). Na osnovu navedenih istraživanja, može se pretpostaviti da će potrošači sa izraženim kosmopolitizmom preferirati korišćenje usluga stranih restorana brze hrane, pošto su oni pretežno deo globalno prisutnih lanaca brze hrane.…”

Does aTerroirProduct Tell the Same Story to Tourists, Day-trippers and Local Consumers? The Moderating Role of Variety-seeking Tendency and Perceived Authenticity

“…Kolar and Zabkar (2010) have highlighted a 'lack of scaling efforts on authenticity'. Few ad hoc scales have been proposed in the literature, mostly for dining services (Wang & Mattila, 2013) or tourist sites (Camus, 2010;Grayson & Martinec, 2004). Nevertheless, there exists a scale that measures the 'perceived authenticity of a food product' (Camus, 2004).…”