Customer Loyalty with Fine Dining: The Moderating Role of Gender

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Customer Loyalty with Fine Dining ---The Moderating Role of
Gender
Article in Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management · May 2014
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Customer Loyalty With Fine Dining: The
Moderating Role of Gender
Emily Maa, Hailin QUb & Rasha Ali Eliwab
a Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith
University, Brisbane, Australia
b School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Oklahoma State
University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Accepted author version posted online: 16 Oct 2013.Published
online: 27 Mar 2014.
To cite this article: Emily Ma, Hailin QU & Rasha Ali Eliwa (2014) Customer Loyalty With Fine Dining:
The Moderating Role of Gender, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23:5, 513-535, DOI:
10.1080/19368623.2013.835250
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2013.835250
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Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23:513–535, 2014
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1936-8623 print/1936-8631 online
DOI: 10.1080/19368623.2013.835250
Customer Loyalty With Fine Dining: The
Moderating Role of Gender
EMILY MA
Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
HAILIN QU and RASHA ALI ELIWA
School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Building customer loyalty is an important strategy for the
success of fine-dining restaurants. Knowing individual customers’
differences, especially the distinction between male and female
customers in service quality and image perception, as well as sat-
isfaction and loyalty formation, is crucial to attract and retain
customers. This study examined the structural relationships among
food quality, staff service quality, image, customer satisfaction, and
loyalty in the context of fine-dining restaurants with a special focus
on gender’s moderating effects. The results showed that food quality
and staff service quality both contributed to the customers’ satis-
faction and perceived image of the restaurant. Restaurant image
and customer satisfaction explained a large variance in customer
loyalty. Gender moderated five out of the six proposed relation-
ships, which supported gender’s moderating role in the context of
fine-dining restaurants.
KEYWORDS gender, customer loyalty, fine-dining restaurant
image
INTRODUCTION
The restaurant industry plays an important role in the U.S. economy.
The number of restaurants outlets has reached 980,000 with revenue of
approximately 660 billion (National Restaurant Association, 2013). The
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514 E. Ma et al.
fine-dining segment has experienced steady growth in the past 10 years
and now accounts for about 10% of the total industry sales (Tlapa, Miller,
& Washington, 2011). Even during the time of the global financial crisis and
economic downturn, the fine dining sector’s performance was still strong and
is expect to retain its popularity (Ban, 2012). The National Restaurant News
predicted that fine-dining restaurants would remain popular if they continue
to offer individuality, food quality, and a more casual setting (Thorn, 2014).
Fine-dining restaurants are defined as restaurants offering full table ser-
vices with an upscale food and beverage menu. These restaurants generally
have a more sophisticated décor and ambiance, the wait staff is usually
highly trained and often wears more formal attire, and there is often a dress
code for patrons (Tlapa et al., 2011). Attracting and retaining customers is
a challenging task for fine-dining restaurants due to increased competition
in the foodservice industry (Mealey, 2011). Fine-dining restaurants need to
offer customers not only the finest in food, but also the finest in service and
atmosphere. To gain a competitive advantage, a fine-dining restaurant has to
create a unique image that is distinctly different and higher end than other
restaurants. A favorable restaurant image with a unique concept influences
customers’ emotions and expectations regarding the service and food quality
(e.g., Wall & Berry, 2007). Further, a good fine-dining restaurant image will
help to build customer loyalty (Rosenbloom, 1981).
Customer loyalty is a critical factor for the continued success of fine-
dining restaurants (Wall & Berry, 2007). It is estimated that a 5% increase
in customer loyalty would lead to the profit increase from 25% to 85%
(Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994). Restaurants could
increase sales through loyal customers mainly because of three reasons. First
of all, loyal customers are less price-sensitive. This is especially important
to fine-dining restaurants targeting the higher end of the market. Second,
loyal customers are willing to purchase more frequently and are more open
to try new products or services. Third, loyal customers are more likely to
spread positive word-of-mouth and bring in new customers (Reichheld &
Sasser, 1990). In addition, the cost of retaining loyal customers can be five
times as less than attracting new customers (Wills, 2009), thus greatly reduce
marketing cost (Tepeci, 1999). Reichheld and Sasser (1990) indicated that an
improvement of 5% in customer retention could lead to an increase of 25% to
75% in profit. Therefore, creating customer loyalty has become the ultimate
goal for many restaurants (Eakuru & Mat, 2008; Oliver, 1997).
The relationships among food and service quality, restaurant image,
customer satisfaction and loyalty have been a research focus in the restau-
rant context (e.g., Hurst, 1970; Moser, 1987; Meyers, 1991; Wall & Berry,
2007; Ha & Jang, 2010). However, there has been surprisingly little focus
on gender differences/similarities in the fine dining experiences. There has
been little research attention paid to theoretical questions about how male
and female customers perceive the aspects of the dining experiences andDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 15:08 07 January 2015

Gender Difference in Fine Dining Loyalty 515
how gender moderates the structural relationships among the previously
identifiedconstructs that lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty, such as
food quality (e.g., Qu, 1997; Ha & Jang, 2010), service quality (e.g., Tu, Lin,
& Chang, 2011) and image (e.g., Ryu, Lee, & Kim, 2012).
Gender difference has been an important research theme in many dis-
ciplines, such as biochemistry, neurobiology, physiology and psychology.
There are profound differences between men and women in terms of their
emotional and psychological needs, and the way they perceive and react to
the environment and incidents (http://www.gendermatters.org.au). From a
practical perspective, knowing gender difference in a macro sense, is impor-
tant in the formulation of country economic and social policies and strategies
while in a micro sense is essential for the success of any given business
(Mitchell & Vassos, 1998). In restaurant contexts, a lack of understanding
of gender differences would lead to problems in both product and service
design (Schall, 2003). In addition, more women can now afford to pay for
fine dining experiences that were once reserved for men. According to a
recent report, women control more than 60% of all personal wealth in the
United States and by 2028, the average American woman is expected to
earn more than the average American male. In addition, women have much
stronger spending power than men. Women account for $7 trillion in con-
sumer and business spending, which is 85% of all consumer purchases (She
Economy Website, 2013). In addition women are more willing to spend in
luxury goods and services including fine dining sectors.
Knowing gender differences in the fine-dining restaurant context would
fulfill both theoretical and practical needs. The study would contribute to a
better understanding of male and female customers’ perception and behavior
differences in the restaurant contexts. It will also help the industry to have a
better understanding on customers’ need and provide suitable products and
services. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine if the different
genders would have different perceptions on fine-dining experiences and
if gender moderates the structural relationships among food quality, staff
service quality, restaurant image, customer satisfaction, and loyalty in the
context of the fine-dining restaurant.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Key Antecedents of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Customer loyalty in restaurants is defined as the customer’s inclination to
patronize a given restaurant repeatedly during a specified period of time
(Enis & Gordon, 1970). It has both a behavior and an attitude dimen-
sion (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000). The behavior dimension refers to
repeated dinning behavior (Bowen & Shoemaker, 1998), while the attitudinal
dimension refers to customers’ intentions to repurchase and to recommend aDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 15:08 07 January 2015