Business Research Methodology Report - Assessment 1: Literature Review

This report presents a literature review on the theoretical concept of dining consumption in a restaurant context. It analyzes four academic articles, including a conceptual article proposing the theory and articles using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research designs. The report provides a brief summary of the theory's progression, identifies common and different themes across the articles, discusses study limitations, and suggests future research directions. Key findings include the importance of customer satisfaction, brand relationships, menu descriptions, and service quality in influencing dining consumption. The report highlights the socio-economic status of customers, the impact of brand image, and the role of various restaurant attributes in shaping customer behavior. Limitations of the studies are also discussed, along with potential areas for future research, such as exploring the physical experience in restaurants and improving service quality.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Business research Methodology
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Provide reference for each academic article (formatted using the Harvard
Referencing Style)
Conceptual
article
(proposed
theory)
Saad Andaleeb, S. and Conway, C., 2006. Customer satisfaction in the
restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model. Journal of
services marketing, 20(1), pp.3-11.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/08876040610646536/
full/html
Quantitati
ve article
Erkmen, E. and Hancer, M., 2019. Building brand relationship for restaurants:
An examination of other customers, brand image, trust, and restaurant
attributes. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 31(3), pp.1469-1487.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCHM-08-2017-0516/
full/html
Qualitative
article
Schjøll, A. and Alfnes, F., 2017. Eliciting consumer preferences for credence
attributes in a fine-dining restaurant. British Food Journal, 119(3), pp.575-586.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/BFJ-06-2016-0264/full/
html?fullSc=1&mbSc=1&fullSc=1

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Mixed
method
article
Mathe-Soulek, K., Slevitch, L. and Dallinger, I., 2015. Applying mixed methods
to identify what drives quick service restaurant's customer satisfaction at the
unit-level. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 50, pp.46-54.

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Table of contents
Brief summary of the theory and progression.................................................................................4
Common themes..............................................................................................................................4
Different themes..............................................................................................................................4
Study limitations..............................................................................................................................5
Future research directions................................................................................................................5

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Brief summary of the theory and progression
Customer satisfaction can be considered as the important component that can bring
significant impact on the fine dining consumption trends. In order to generate high utility as well
as standard behavioral economic perspectives of the customers, understanding the changing
customer behavior is important for the organizations. Analyzing the theoretical aspects of dining
consumption in restaurant industry, it can be said that high price consumption model can play an
important role for operating the fine dining behavior. Collaborative consumption can be
considered as the new consumer behavior form that highly gets influenced based on the
restaurant environment. Depending on the luxury restaurant environment, the emotions of the
customers can being significant impact on developing the perceived experimental values of
them. In order to shape the food and beverage consumption behavior of the customers,
understanding the needs of the customers is important for providing standard quality of services
(Mathe-Soulek, Slevitch and Dallinger 2015).
Common themes
Socio economic status of customers is play the significant role in case of driving the
consumption trends of the customers in restaurant. Due to changing dining pattern of the
customers, it has brought important impact on the managerial implications in the restaurant
sector. All the four articles have highlighted different key influencing factors in the restaurant
sector that can influence the consumption pattern of the customers. In the first article ‘Customer
satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model’, it has
been identified that depending on the service quality which is being provided by the company
can play an important role for satisfying the needs of the customers (Saad Andaleeb and Conway
2006). In order to motivate the consumption behavior of the customers, with the effective

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introduction of customer satisfaction model, managerial activities can be done in proper manner.
The second article ‘Building brand relationship for restaurants: An examination of other
customers, brand image, trust, and restaurant attributes.’ has also focused on the sequential link
between experience attributes of the customers with the brand image (Erkmen and Hancer 2019).
Depending on the standard service quality, it becomes easier for the organization to drive the
consumption characteristics of the guests. Third article ‘Eliciting consumer preferences for
credence attributes in a fine-dining restaurant’ has highlighted the impact of menu description. It
is true that depending on the presentation of the food as well as quality, consumption behavior
can get motivated (Schjøll and Alfnes 2017). In the fourth article, the author has also mentioned
about the speed of service, cleanliness, accuracy and taste of foods as the important key drivers
for customers’ consumption process (Mathe-Soulek, Slevitch and Dallinger 2015).
Different themes
In the first article, the regression model has been introduced for highlighting the customer
satisfaction in the restaurant industry. In this article, it is mentioned that depending on the
physical appearance and design, significant impact on the hospitality industry can be identified
(Saad Andaleeb and Conway 2006). The second article has shed light on the significant impact
of brand relationship in terms of ensuring growth in the Restaurant industry. It is true that
customer relationship with the brand can bring the significant impact in terms of ensuring
standard quality of services in the workplace. In this article, the author has developed sentimental
link between brand relationship and brand preferences, which can bring significant impact on the
restaurant experience attributes (Erkmen and Hancer 2019). In the third article, it has been
identified that by adding animal welfare related words in the menu description, it can be easier
for the company to bring important impact on the customers’ choice. By continuing this, the

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article has mentioned price and quality of the food as important contributors for changing
selection perspectives of the customers (Schjøll and Alfnes 2017). In the fourth article ‘Applying
mixed methods to identify what drives quick service restaurant's customer satisfaction at the
unit-level’, it is mentioned that depending on the different performance implementation methods,
growth perspective in the restaurant business can get affected. In order to allocate the resources,
identification of an optimal set of QSR attributes as well as solving the problem optimization
problem is important in the restaurant business (Mathe-Soulek, Slevitch and Dallinger 2015).
Study limitations
Although these four articles have introduced different behavioral directions of the
customers while consuming in a restaurant, however, it is also true that due to changing business
environment as well as lack of specification various limitations can be faced by the others
organizations while implementing the strategies used in these articles. Improper implementation
guide as well as lack of clarification regarding the performance attributes in the restaurant
industry, the theories mentioned in the first article cannot be applied. In the second article, brand
image and restaurant attributes have been highlighted as the important factors for driving the
customers’ consumption. However, other factors such as food quality, time management,
marketing and taste of food are also important, which has not been mentioned in the article. In
the third article, organic food has been highlighted as the major influencer for driving
consumption behavior of the customers. However, in case of targeting diverse customer segment,
this strategy cannot be applied. In the fourth article, it has been identified that temperature,
accuracy and taste have been highlighted as the major priorities for managing the customer
consumption trends. However, there are other factors such as environment, quality, quantity and
price, which are also important for driving the customer satisfaction in restaurant industry.

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Future research directions
Analyzing the future research directions of these articles, it can be said that the first
article can enhance the further research scope on the physical experience of the customers in
restaurant sector. It can also help entrepreneurs for providing better customer experience. In the
second and third article, different factors related to customer satisfaction in the restaurant
industry have been mentioned, which can help the new organizations to improve their service
quality. By continuing this, it can also be said that the fourth article has focused on managing the
performance implementation methods, which can help to change the growth perspectives of the
entrepreneurs in the competitive restaurant industry.

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Reference list
Erkmen, E. and Hancer, M., 2019. Building brand relationship for restaurants: An examination
of other customers, brand image, trust, and restaurant attributes. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(3), pp.1469-1487
Mathe-Soulek, K., Slevitch, L. and Dallinger, I., 2015. Applying mixed methods to identify what
drives quick service restaurant's customer satisfaction at the unit-level. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 50, pp.46-54.
Saad Andaleeb, S. and Conway, C., 2006. Customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an
examination of the transaction-specific model. Journal of services marketing, 20(1), pp.3-11.
Schjøll, A. and Alfnes, F., 2017. Eliciting consumer preferences for credence attributes in a fine-
dining restaurant. British Food Journal, 119(3), pp.575-586.