Impact of Employee Behavior on Restaurant Customer Satisfaction

This report, published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, examines the impact of restaurant employee service behavior on customer satisfaction. The study, conducted through a survey of 212 tourists in Jordan, explores both functional and personal aspects of employee behavior. The findings reveal that both aspects contribute to customer satisfaction, with personal aspects having a more significant influence. The research emphasizes the importance of employee behavior in shaping customer perceptions of service quality, highlighting the need for foodservice managers to implement programs that improve both functional and personal aspects of their employees' performance. Furthermore, it recommends that marketers prioritize personal aspects of foodservices in their marketing strategies to enhance customer experiences and build stronger relationships.

International Journal of Hospitality Management66 (2017) 46–53
Contentslists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Hospitality Management
j o ur na l hom e pa g e :w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i j h o s m a n
The impact of personal and functional aspectsof restaurantemployee
service behaviour on customer satisfaction
Jebril A. Alhelalata, Ma’moun A. Habiballaha,∗, NaseemM. Twaissib
a Departmentof Hotel and TourismServicesManagement,PetraCollegefor Tourismand Archaeology,Al-HusseinBin Talal University,Ma’an,Jordan
b Departmentof BusinessAdministration,Facultyof BusinessAdministrationand Economics,Al-HusseinBin Talal University,Ma’an,Jordan
a r t i c l e i n f o
Articlehistory:
Received14 November 2016
Receivedin revised form 25 June 2017
Accepted6 July 2017
Keywords:
Restaurantservicequality
Servicebehaviour
Customersatisfaction
Serviceencounter
Personal aspects
a b s t r a c t
Employeebehaviourplaysa significantrole in satisfyingrestaurantcustomers,however,thereis a paucity
of researchhighlighted personal and functional aspectsof employee behaviour and their influence on
customer satisfaction.Accordingly, this study aims to bring a deeper insight of the impact of restau-
rant employee service behaviour on customer satisfaction.Using survey approach, the current study
collected data from 212 tourists who had a dining experience in Jordan. The results of data analysis
showed that both functional and personal aspectsof service behaviour where able to explain customer
satisfaction,with higher contribution of personal aspectsover the functional ones.Dependingon study’s
findings, some implications were suggestedincluding a recommendation to foodservice managers to
adopt reinforcementprogramsthat improve functional and personalaspectsof their employees.A further
recommendationwas proposedto marketers,to givea higher attentionto personalaspectsof foodservices
in their marketing activities.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Customer satisfaction with foodservice can be evaluated
through a set of factors including service quality, product quality,
hygiene,and atmosphereamong others (Yuksel and Yuksel, 2002).
While the total meal experience that considers both food quality
and service quality contributes to the conceptualizing of the cus-
tomer satisfaction concept (Johns and Pine, 2002). Pizam and Ellis
(1999) reported that customer satisfaction in restaurant services
represents a harmonious mixture of elements that may include
food and beverages,the behaviour and attitude of employees,food
service, and the environment. In a more specific view, customer
satisfactionor dissatisfaction,as a result of the employee-customer
interaction process,is affectedby employeebehaviour (Emery and
Fredendall, 2002). In addition, Medeiros and Salay (2013) stated
that the attitude and friendliness of employeesare strongly related
to customer satisfaction in foodservice.
∗ Correspondingauthor. Present//permanentaddress: Department of Hotel and
Tourism Services Management, Petra College for Tourism and Archaeology, Al-
Hussein Bin Talal University, P.O. Box 20, Ma’an, Jordan.
E-mail addresses:[e-mail](J.A. Alhelalat),
[e-mail](M.A. Habiballah),naseem [e-mail]
(N.M. Twaissi).
Accordingly, previous research highlighted the service quality
aspects of restaurants and foodservice establishmentsas a major
determinant of customer satisfaction.Employees’interaction with
customers has greater impact on customer satisfaction than any
other factors; the focus here is on increasing customers’ positive
experiencethrough enhancing high levels of service quality deliv-
ered through the interaction process (Juwaheer, 2004; Ariffin and
Maghzi, 2012; Turkey and Sengul,2014).
The importance of service employee interpersonal characteris-
tics in a service quality context is salient in both marketing and
quality literature. For instance, Customer Relationship Marketing
is built on service encounters; it is concerned mainly with per-
sonalized marketing communication betweenserviceprovider and
servicecustomer(Beatsonet al.,2008; Wang and Hsu, 2012; Turkey
and Sengul,2014).
The main application of employees’ interpersonal character-
istics in the service context is the employee-customer service
encounters. Service encounters depend on the communication,
customer orientation, customization of service, employee adapt-
ability and employee’s emotions, among others (Hennig-Thurau,
2004).Therefore,there is a great focus on the commitment of front
line employees to the basis of service encounters to improve the
overall performanceand quality of the establishment.
Various scholars claimed that not much researchhas been done
on the role that employees are playing in providing excellent ser-
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.07.001
0278-4319/©2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53 47
vice in restaurants(Hanna et al., 2004; Voon et al., 2013), and very
little attention was given to personal and human characteristics
of restaurant service employees(Baker et al., 2013). Therefore,the
focus of this researchis to understandthe extentto which employee
behaviour affects customer satisfaction in restaurants.Hence, the
research aims are set to target actual customers in a fine dining
environment in order to enrich the researchoverall outcomes and
its contribution to service behaviour knowledge. For that purpose,
the employees-related factors of restaurant servers are studied
deeply in two major portions: personal aspectsand service related
aspects.
2. Literature review
Application of service quality basis in foodservice industry is
the focus of abundant research.Food quality, employee behaviour
and friendliness, service quality, atmosphere and physical envi-
ronment are among factors that affect customers’ evaluation of
their dining experience (Medeiros and Salay, 2013; Gagi´c et al.,
2013).In the same context,Lashleyet al. (2004) discussedthe meal
experiencefrom its emotional and social perspectives,considering
occasion, atmosphere,food and service as its major components.
Having considered the need for an approach to explain the accu-
mulative customer experience with restaurant services; the Five
Aspects Meal Model (FAMM) developed by Gustafsson(2004) and
Gustafssonet al. (2006) involves aspectsof room, product, manage-
ment system,atmosphereand meeting as the main elementsof the
customer experience in restaurants.The latter one named ‘meet-
ing’ is concerned with the interaction process between guest and
waiters as well as with other guests.In another viewpoint, Gibbs
and Ritchie (2010) looked at the meal experience from a “drama”
point of view reporting that customer, food, staff and setting are
the componentsof customer experiencein fine dining restaurants.
Therefore,the server-guestinteraction is one of the most significant
reasons for going out to a fine dining restaurants.
Employeebehaviour links betweenthe organization and its cus-
tomers which representsits values and service orientation (Gracia
et al., 2010). Within this context, employee behaviour is an impor-
tant factor which explains customer perception of quality and
overall satisfaction (Saad and Amy, 2007). However, it was admit-
ted that little attention is given to the exploration of behaviours
displayed by frontline personnel who play a key role in creating
satisfactory service encounters (Hanna et al., 2004; Baker et al.,
2013). Th focus here is on the employee’sskills related to the suc-
cessful communication and satisfying customer needs.Hence, the
concept of ‘soft skills’ is important here; soft skills, according to
Weber et al. (2009),refers to the ability of the employeeto commu-
nicate and understand others in the interpersonal and emotional
levels.Furthermore,the social role of both restaurantstaff and cus-
tomers depends heavily on staff’s soft skills; the ‘off-script’ role in
the restaurant drama (Gibbs and Ritchie, 2010).
Customers tend to perceive employee behaviour as shaped by
the organisation’s policy of service orientation (Liljander, 2000;
Beatson et al., 2008). The behaviour of service employees affects
customers’perception of service quality; the successand failure of
service delivery depend basically on the attitudes and behaviours
of the contact employees. Previous studies found that employee
behaviour is the most influential factor in shaping customer’sper-
ceptions (Hennig-Thurau, 2004; Wall and Berry, 2007; Baker et al.,
2013).
Furthermore,it was concluded by Nicolini and Salini (2006) that
customer evaluation of service is affected highly by the psycho-
logical interaction between customers and employees as well as
technical characteristics of service delivery process. Baker et al.
(2013) reported that the behaviour of employees during the ser-
vice encounteris a major factor in affectingcustomers’evaluationof
the service,as well as their satisfactionand behavioural intentions.
Hence,employees’behavioural characteristicsof bringing comfort
and personal attention to customersare highly emphasizedas part
of service quality dimensions (Hennig-Thurau, 2004).
Tsaura and Linb (2004) defined service behaviour through the
prescribed role of employee during the service encounter (for-
mal role) and the personal behaviour of employees while serving
customers. Additionally, employee behaviour is concerned with
the actions taken by the employee while performing a service.
Employee behaviour has more importance in the service sector
becauseof the uniquenessof employee-customerinteraction there
(Chien-Wen et al., 2013).
Earlier research identified employee-relatedaspectsas dimen-
sions of service quality assessment;for example, responsiveness,
assuranceand empathyas three out of five major dimensions of the
popular SERVQUAL are concerned with the behaviour of employ-
ees (Hennig-Thurau, 2004).Accordingly, it is the customer’sdining
experiencein the restaurantthat createscustomer satisfactionand
intention to repurchase.Yuksel and Yuksel (2002) stated that cus-
tomers are likely to spend their time and money in a pleasant
serviceenvironment.They also arguedthat customer evaluation of
dining experienceincludes the time spent (waiting time and dining
time), the service environment (tangibles and intangibles), social
interaction and value for money. In addition, there is a large focus
on restaurant staff’s attentiveness,attention to details, flexibility,
tolerance, amiability and desire to serve as the dominant aspects
of meal experience(Gibbs and Ritchie, 2010).
In 2003, Kusluvan distinguished between the effect of the indi-
vidual aspects (personal characteristics of service employee) and
situational aspects(the employeerole and attitude while perform-
ing service).In a broaderview, Wall and Berry (2007) contributed to
the service behaviour characteristicsby considering the functional
clues and humanic clues of service.Functional clues are related to
the technical quality of the service,particularly relating to whether
the service is performed competently; the focus here is on food
quality and the efficiency of service. While humanic clues con-
sider service employee behaviour and characteristics; including
body language,smiling, greeting and friendliness among others. It
is believed that both functional clues and humanic clues are deter-
minants of service quality and service excellence. It is believed
also that humanic clues moderate the effect of mechanic clues. In
restaurants, customers’ perceptions of service quality are highly
affected by humanic clues than functional ones (Wall and Berry,
2007). In a latter research,it was highlighted that humanic clues
in restaurantscan be summarized as friendly and helpful employ-
eeswith cordial greetings,body language,tidiness and appropriate
appearance;while functional clues relate to the competenceof the
service processitself (Wall and Berry, 2007; Garg,2014).However,
it was concluded by Gibbs and Ritchie (2010) that only staff who
are technically skilled and at the same time can go beyond their
predeterminedrole can achieve a positive meal experience.
Chien-Wen et al. (2013) referred to service attitude as the
behavioural tendency which is more frequently demonstrated by
service employeesduring the interaction process with customers.
They concluded that service attitude is a key factor to improve
competitive advantagesin the hospitality and tourism industries.
But, researchrarely explores the role played by service attitude in
forming personality and servicebehaviour.Chien-Wen et al. (2013)
claimed that good service quality must include reliability, respon-
siveness, assurance and empathy of first-line employees; it also
involves service attitude. Hence, Employee behaviour depends on
emotional and aestheticattitude besidestheir external appearance
and behaviours (Turkey and Sengul,2014).
In relation to employee’s service behaviour measures, previ-
ous researches suggested numerous factors including personal

48 J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53
hygiene,neat and tidy appearance(Becker et al., 1999; Yuksel and
Yuksel, 2002; Akbaba,2006; Kattara et al., 2008; Gagi´c et al., 2013;
Voon et al., 2013; Ko and Su, 2014; Tan et al., 2014), attentiveness,
speedof service,responsivenessof staff, willingness to help, readi-
ness to answer questions (Becker et al., 1999; Yuksel and Yuksel,
2002; Akbaba, 2006; Ha and Jang, 2010; Gagi´c et al., 2013; Baker
et al., 2013; Voon et al., 2013; Ko and Su, 2014), well-information,
ability to demonstrategood menu knowledge, professional knowl-
edge (Becker et al., 1999; Akbaba, 2006; Ha and Jang, 2010; Gagi´c
et al., 2013; Baker et al., 2013; Voon et al., 2013; Ko and Su, 2014;
Tan et al., 2014), server’ssmile, friendliness, politeness,entertain-
ing behaviour(Beckeret al.,1999; Yuksel and Yuksel, 2002; Akbaba,
2006; Gagi´c et al., 2013; Voon et al., 2013; Tan et al., 2014), being
caring, giving individualised attention to customer needs (Akbaba,
2006; Voon et al., 2013; Ko and Su, 2014; Tan et al., 2014) and
communication and lingual skills (Yuksel and Yuksel, 2002; Baum,
2006; Kattara et al., 2008; Ko and Su, 2014).
In addition to aforementioned service behaviour measures,
Becker et al. (1999) highlighted the importance of server’s com-
fortable manners that contribute to customer satisfaction in
restaurants.While, Mei et al. (1999) concluded that service quality
is representedby three dimensions mainly: employee behaviour,
tangibles and reliability. In a more recent study by Yuksel and
Yuksel (2002) it was found that restaurant service quality is
explained by the standards of service efficiency, consistency and
staff’scompetency.Furthermore,Kattara et al. (2008) focused on a
set of aspectsthat affect customer evaluation of restaurantservice
quality including service proceduresand dealing with complaints.
Moreover, Baum (2006) discussed the required skills in the
international hospitality industry and suggestedgeneric,emotional
and aesthetic dimensions; those are related to communication,
problem solving, experiential and humanic skills. Whilst, Baker
et al. (2013) highlighted the factors of wait time, quality of ser-
vice and their role in achieving customer satisfaction through the
interaction process within which s/he evaluatesservice behaviour
and service quality.
Voon et al. (2013) referred to all aspects of employees’ role
played in diner’s experienceas human service; theseinclude, trust,
making customers feel confident, charging accurately,and provi-
sion of serviceas promised. In 2014, Ko and Su investigateda set of
measuresof servicebehaviouras indicators for servicequality; they
concluded that staff serviceattitudes,respectfor customerprivacy,
ability to handle challengesand unexpectedsituations, handling of
customer complaints and marketing and promotional talents are
the key dimensions determining the well-performed service. Fur-
thermore, Tan et al. (2014) stated that service quality depends on
staff’s accuracyin taking order and delivering food, staff’s training
and experienceand comfortable staff’s manners.
Finally, as mentioned earlier, little attention was given to per-
sonal and human aspects of food service employee behaviour;
although various researchershavestressedon the role of restaurant
employees in achieving customer satisfaction as well as market-
ing objectives (Hanna et al., 2004; Wall and Berry, 2007; Voon
et al., 2013; Baker et al., 2013). Therefore, this study attempts to
fill this gap through studying servicebehaviour from both personal
and functional viewpoints. For the purpose of this research, and
to make a contribution to the effort of enriching service employee
behaviour studies, service behaviour aspectsof restaurant servers
(concluded from the above literature review) were assorted in
two major groups: personal-related aspects and service-related
aspects.Personal service set includes: staff appearanceas neat and
tidy, personal hygiene,smile, friendliness, entertaining behaviour,
comfortable manners, politeness, linguistic skills and overall cor-
diality. While functional service aspects include: attentiveness,
menu knowledge, service accuracy and speed, availability when
needed, individualized attention to customers, complaints han-
dling behaviour, sanitation and privacy respect.
3. Methodology
3.1. Model testing
The current study’s conceptual model was built Based on the
context of the presentstudy and in the light of the literature review.
Variables of this model were unified by the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1. H0: the perception of personal service practices
of restaurant staff cannot predict the variance in restaurant cus-
tomers’ satisfaction.
H1: the perception of personal service practices of restaurant
staff can predict the variance in restaurant customers’satisfaction.
Hypothesis 2. H0: the perception of functional service practices
of restaurant staff cannot predict the variance in restaurant cus-
tomers’ satisfaction.
H1: the perception of functional service practices of restaurant
staff can predict the variance in restaurant customers’satisfaction.
3.2. Materials and methods
After identifying study’s hypotheses,a research design was set
up to essaythese hypotheseseffectively.This researchdesign was
following the quantitativeparadigm.It was practically transformed
into different methods and techniquesas discussedin more details
in the following sections.
3.3. Sampling
This research was carried out on 400 tourists who had a meal
experience in Jordanian fine dining restaurants. These fine din-
ing restaurants were those offering full Food and Beverage(F&B)
services to provide dedicated courses from fixed menu or from a
la carte one; they are characterized by high quality of furniture,
décor and interior design, utensils and all table related set items.
Since there was not any framework available for study’s popula-
tion (tourists attended Jordanian restaurants),it was very difficult
to select sample subjects using probable sampling techniques.
Instead,all fine dining restaurantsworking in Jordan were selected
within which, tourists were targetedconveniently.Inclusion crite-
ria were: tourists, from any country, who had meal experiencein a
Jordanian fine dining restaurantand willingness to participate vol-
untarily in this research.Exclusion criteria include: any customer
who is not tourist (such as business customers)and who had meal
experience in a restaurant which is not classified as a fine dining
one. Homogenization of sample subjects within certain criteria is
to neutralize any intervening impact from restaurants’ environ-
ments (they were all tourists who have eaten in similar restaurant
environments).
3.4. Data collection
For primary data collection, a self-administered questionnaire
was built up. It incubated three major parts. The first part mea-
sured study’s participants’ perception of personal and functional
service aspects of Jordanian restaurants’ employees; within this
part 13 items were included to assessfunctional aspectsof employ-
ees’behaviour(including speedof service,menu items’ knowledge,
hygiene practices, responsiveness to guests’ needs, communica-
tion skills, respect of guests’ time space & helping in choosing
an order) and 14 items to assess personal aspects (including

J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53 49
Table 1
Descriptivestatisticsof the common food servers’practices.
No Item Mean SD
Functional practices
1. The service speedwas in a satisfactorylevel 3.01 0.93
2. The waiter/waitress can explain how menu items are prepared 3.00 0.92
3. The waiter/waitress follows good hygiene practiceswhile serving food 2.95 0.87
4. The waiter/waitress is ready to clarify any ambiguity in menu items 2.94 0.96
5. The waiter/waitress can handle customer’sspecial needseffectively 2.92 0.92
6. The waiter/waitress is attentiveto customerneeds 2.90 0.95
7. The waiter/waitress doesn’tdisturb personal conversationsamong customers 2.90 0.85
8. The waiter/waitress respectscustomer’stime spaceduring meal experiencewithout bothering 2.89 0.98
9. The waiter/waitress pays attention to customerswithout being asked 2.86 0.90
10. The waiter/waitress knows well the ingredientsof menu items 2.83 0.99
11. The waiter/waitress can assist customer in choosing what to order 2.83 0.94
12. The waiter/waitress can accommodatecustomercomplaints professionally 2.79 0.98
13. The waiter/waitress has effectivecommunication skills 2.76 0.94
Overall mean 2.89
Personal practices
14. The waiter/waitress’ nails are clean and neat 3.07 1.21
15. The waiter/waitress’ clothes appear clean and tidy 3.00 1.33
16. The waiter/waitress shows always comforting facial expressionssuch as smiling 2.99 1.26
17. The waiter/waitress’ behaviour is entertaining 2.96 1.24
18. The waiter/waitress’ hair looks clean and neat 2.95 1.26
19. The waiter/waitress’ responsiveeye contact with customersis appreciated 2.94 1.27
20. The waiter/waitress reactsempathically to customer’smood 2.92 1.24
21. The waiter/waitress’ behaviour is casual and moderate 2.90 1.46
22. The waiter/waitress’ attitude in generalis cordial and hospitable 2.88 1.22
23. The waiter/waitress speaksfriendly and warmly 2.88 1.17
24. The waiter/waitress’ personal manners createa comfortable atmosphere 2.87 1.25
25. The waiter/waitress speakspolitely and respectfullyto customer 2.85 1.30
26. The waiter/waitress makessure any special requestsare well accommodated 2.85 1.31
27. The waiter/waitress respectscustomers’privacy 2.81 1.25
Overall mean 2.92
Satisfaction
28. There is a good variety of menu’sitems which are preparedvery well 3.20 1.30
29. The location is good and accessible 3.11 1.38
30. I’m satisfiedwith the level of servicesoffered 2.94 1.25
31. The atmosphereis nice & consistentwith restaurant’stheme 2.82 1.33
32. The prices are reasonable& there is a good value for money 2.57 1.23
Overall mean 2.93
appearance aspects such as clothes & nail cleanliness, comfort-
ing facial expressions, entertaining practices, handling of guests’
special needs,empathy,friendly communication, cordiality & good
personal manners). The second part assessed the respondents’
overall satisfaction with meal experience elements in Jordanian
restaurants; these elements include level of service, atmosphere,
menu, price (value of money) and location and accessibility. Both
previously mentioned two parts employed a five point Likert-
scale where 1 =‘Strongly disagree’,2 =‘Disagree’3 =‘Neither agree
nor disagree’ 4 =‘Agree’ and 5 =‘Strongly agree’. The last part of
study’s tool was built using multiple choice questions to profile
participants’ characteristicsincluding gender,age,nationality and
frequency of visit to Jordan. After designing the questionnaire, a
pilot test was carried out on 10 tourists who tried some fine dining
restaurants’services in Jordan. Fortunately, there was no need to
make any changeto the questionnaire.Thence,212 questionnaires
were completedby tourists who had a meal experiencein Jordanian
fine dining restaurantsduring the year 2015.
Questionnaireswere distributed with the cooperationof restau-
rants’administrations.Servicecaptainswere employed as research
fieldworkers. They were tutored about the good surveyingpractices
and to commit to research ethics. Questionnaires were submitted
to tourists on their tables after finishing their meal and during
bill payment time. After finishing the whole meal experience,
tourists are expectedto have a complete perception for all aspects
of restaurant’s services (functional & personal). Five of the com-
pleted questionnaires were excluded from analysis because they
were incomplete which may affect their usability. Accordingly, the
responserate was calculated as (51.75%).
3.5. Data analysis
After collecting data,they were coded and entered into Statisti-
cal Packagefor the Social Sciences(SPSS)version 22. Then, sample
profile was depicted using descriptive statistics,and so a standard
multiple regressionwas implemented to examinestudy’shypothe-
ses. Furthermore, Crombach’s alpha analysis was used to assess
questionnaire’sscalesreliability; results of this analysis confirmed
that all questionnaire’sscaleswere internally consistentwith Cron-
bach’s alpha >0.7which is considered to be a good value (Cavana
et al., 2000).
4. Results discussion
4.1. Respondentsprofile
The current study coveredtourists who had a meal experiencein
one of the Jordanian fine dining restaurants.Most of respondents
(64.3%)visited Jordan for the first time. According to their gen-
der, they can be divided into two reasonablyequal groups: female
(51.7%)and male (48.3%).Also, study’ssample involves three semi-
equal groups: participants aged less than 36 years (39.1%),others
aged between 36 and 55 years (25.6%)and the reminders (35.3%)
were aged over 56 years.
Participants of the present study belong to different regions
around the world, where 62.3%of them came from European coun-
tries, 23.7% belong to Asia and another 14.6% from South and
North America. These percentagesare close to those of visitors by
regions declared by Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

50 J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53
(JMoTA); European countries (58.4%),Asian and pacific countries
(23%),American countries (11.5%)(JMoTA, 2015).
4.2. Descriptiveanalysisof study’sscales
As a steppingstone of depicting the influence of food servers’
practices on customers’ satisfaction, it was necessary to verify
customers’ perception of these practices. Such verification will
be helpful in understanding results of advanced analysis for food
servers’practicesimpact on customers’overall satisfaction.Restau-
rant customers’ perceptions of common food servers’ practices
within the meal experiencewere summarizedusing the descriptive
statistics. Then, these statistics were arranged according to their
means in descendingorder from the highest to the lowest as pre-
sented in Table 1. Where “1” equals “strongly disagree”,“2” equals
“disagree”,“3” equals “moderately agree”,“4” equals “agree”and
“5” equals “strongly agree”.
As shown in Table 1, there is an overall moderate tendency
for tourists in Jordan to consider aspects of both types of food
servers’ practices: functional (M =2.89) and personal (M =2.92);
as these results tell, there was an overall belief that food servers
in Jordanian restaurants offer better personal behaviour than the
functional one. However, in each group of service practices,some
aspectsgained the highest agreement.Among functional practices,
aspects related to speed of service (M =3.01, SD=0.93), knowl-
edge of menu items’ preparation (M =3.00, SD=0.92), hygienic
practices (M =2.95, SD=0.87) and menu items’ full knowledge
(M =2.94, SD=0.96) achieved the highest scores of agreement;
whilst in the personal group, aspects of food servers’ appearance
including nail cleanliness(M =3.07,SD=1.21)and clothes (M =3.00,
SD=1.33), food servers’ comforting facial expressions (such as
smile) (M =2.99, SD=1.26) and entertaining behaviour (M =2.96,
SD=1.24) where the highest agreedones.
A comprehensivereview of previously mentioned results stands
out how food serversin Jordanian restaurantsdemonstrateservice
behaviour emphasizing on tangible aspectswithin their functional
practices (e.g. service speed, menu items & hygiene) and even
within personal ones (e.g. servers’ appearance,comforting facial
expression & entertaining practices); while weaker performance
was shown on their intangible aspectsof their service behaviour.
Furthermore, results in the table above highlight the shortcoming
in food servers’communication skills (M =2.76, SD=0.94).
A third dimension which was descriptively analyzed within
this study is tourists’ satisfaction with their meal experience
in Jordanian restaurants. As presented in Table 1, tourists were
moderately satisfied with the whole of their meal experience
(M =2.93); particularly, there were two main satisfactoryelements
in their experience: food (M =3.20, SD=1.30) and restaurant loca-
tion (M =3.11, SD=1.38). However, among different satisfaction
scale’selements,the paid price for the meal and tourists’ perception
of its value of money had the lowest agreement(M =2.57,SD=1.23).
In other words, it is an implied complaint about prices charged by
Jordanian fine dining restaurants.Theseresults revealeda depiction
of the meal experience provided by Jordanian fine dining restau-
rants; that is, fine dining restaurantsin Jordan are located properly
and are offering a satisfactorylevel of meal experience,but it is still
not equivalent to the value of money related to their prices.
4.3. Hypothesestesting
The present research investigated relationships among three
major constructs: restaurant customers’ satisfaction (dependant
variable),their perception of employees’functional service aspects
(independent variable) and personal service aspects(independent
variable). To achieve these investigations, two hypotheses were
Table 2
Multiple regression-coefficientvalues of study’smodel constructs.
Variable Standardized
coefficient “Beta”
Sig. (PCC∗)2
Personal service aspects 0.728 0.000 0.514
Functional serviceaspects 0.138 0.003 0.018
R square 58.4%
Sig 0.000
(PCC∗) =Part Correlation Coefficient.
developedand examined.Resultsof this examination are presented
and discussedwithin this section.
The two hypotheses of the current study’s model were built
to examine the predictability of tourists’ perception of restaurant
employees’personal and functional service aspects to their over-
all satisfaction.These two hypotheseswere tested using standard
multiple regression analysis. Results of this analysis are shown in
Table 2.
The statistical findings presented in Table 2 revealed that the
study’s model significantly predict the satisfaction of tourists
attending restaurants in Jordan. It was able to explain 58.4%
(p ≤ 0.0001)of the variance in tourists’ satisfaction. These results
reject the null hypothesis and support the alternative one of
hypotheses1 and 2.
The main results of the regressionmodel clearly show significant
effect of both personal aspectsand functional aspectsof employee
behaviour on customer satisfaction.This finding is consistent with
the literature that service behaviour in general(personal and func-
tional) affectscustomer satisfactionand the level of servicequality
(including Wall and Berry, 2007; Baker et al., 2013; Garg, 2014).
Furthermore, in relation to food consumption, food experience
in leisure tourism was considered a component of the overall
tourist experience (Quan and Wang, 2004; Mason and Paggiaro,
2012). However, past research confirmed that consumer leisure
behaviour is based partly on service encounter during the service
processing(Noone et al., 2009). Accordingly, the successin satisfy-
ing international customers in restaurantsdependson employee’s
behaviour during the interaction process (Kong and Jogaratnam,
2007).
In addition, the results indicate that all the study’s model
constructsmake a statistically significant contribution to the expla-
nation of variance of tourists’ satisfaction.Among these variables,
personal service aspects make the largest contribution (␤ =0.728,
P ≤ 0.0001). It participates in a unique contribution of the total
regression explanation with a par correlation equals 51.4%of the
variance in total tourists’ satisfaction scores.
Accordingly,the most important issue here is the result that per-
sonal aspectsof employee service behaviour have higher effect on
customer satisfaction than functional aspects.In accordancewith
the findings of Beckeret al. (1999),customershighly value the staff
appearanceand personal hygiene,along with their smile and com-
fortable manners more than other aspectsof service behaviour. In
addition, Chow et al. (2007) looked at the attitude and behaviour
of employees and found them significant on the quality of ser-
vice encounters and therefore the quality of service. Moreover,
Wall and Berry (2007) found that positive humanic clues of service
(as personal manners) are more important than functional clues;
they stated that when inconsistency of service occurs, it is best to
be strong in humanic clues. Voon (2013) concluded that human
aspectsof service (as appearanceand friendliness, politeness, and
reliable behaviour of employees) are the most important factors
in shaping customer satisfaction.Thus, the current study’sfindings
are supportedwith previous studies’findings; especially,in relation
to the importance of the personal aspectsof service behaviour.

J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53 51
Previous research on restaurant service quality in Jordan took
different approachesfrom the current study. Abu Ali and Howaidee
(2012) discussed the quality of tourism services (restaurants,
tour guides, transportation, souvenirs and public services among
others) and its effect on tourist satisfaction in Jerash city (north-
ern Jordan) as a tourism destination. They found that restaurant
services have a distinctive impact on the tourist satisfaction. Fur-
thermore, Akroush et al. (2013) researched the service quality
in the Jordanian restaurants in the context of internal market-
ing from restaurant managers and employees’perspectives.They
concluded that employee related factors (recruitment, training
and communication) positively affect service quality. In a more
recentstudy by Arasli and Baradarani(2014)which investigatedthe
tourist satisfaction with Amman city as a destination, it was found
that food, shopping, tourist attractions and safety are significant
determinants of tourist satisfaction.In spite that previous studies
succeededto identify generic factors influencing tourists’ satisfac-
tion and to highlight the importance of foodservices in achieving
that satisfaction; they did not explain how restaurant employees
participate in achieving tourist satisfaction.
Accordingly, the current study which employed a designated
questionnaire measuring specific service behaviour aspectswithin
fine dining tourism restaurants, is believed to be the first of its
kind in the Jordanian restaurant industry. Thus, one of this study’s
major contributions to the body of knowledge is bridging the gap of
research by exploring in detail how different behavioural aspects
of restaurant employees can explain the variation in tourist satis-
faction; it sheds the light on this important issue in a rarely studied
population. Moreover, the present research’sfindings confirmed
that Jordanian restaurant employeesare performing well in terms
of their personal service practices.Such performanceof restaurant
employeesin satisfying tourists, without ignoring their weak func-
tional performanceespeciallyin communication,supports Jordan’s
competitivenessas a tourism destination.
In general,there were some studies that researchedfunctional
and personal aspectsof restaurantservice staff; nevertheless,they
followed different approaches from the current study. For exam-
ple, Wall and Berry (2007) studied customers’ perceptions of
casual-dining restaurantsin the pre-selection stagethrough using
a stimuli technique by showing photos and videos to investigate
customers’(a group of college students and community represen-
tatives)expectationsof the service;thus,actualcustomerswere not
questionedabout a real meal experiencein the chosen restaurants.
Another study by Garg (2014) which investigated service quality
of fast-food restaurantsfrom students’perspective,found an equal
effect of both functional and personal (humanic) aspects of ser-
vice on students’perception; where humanic aspectsof serviceare
believed to gain less concern than food and physical qualities in
such types of restaurants.
The current study analyzedcustomer satisfactionand its associ-
ation with both functional and personal aspectsof service among a
group of tourists in a fine dining experience.Thus,results of the cur-
rent study are of great importance in the field of service behaviour
by evaluatingactual customer satisfactionthrough addressingtwo
of the most important restaurantstaff’sservicebehaviouralaspects.
Consequently,this study is differentiatedfrom previous ones in two
manners: firstly, it is a field researchwhich followed social realism
philosophy to interpret actual customers’satisfactionby analyzing
their perception of various aspectsof food servers’behaviour. Sec-
ondly, this study was carried out on fine dining environment,where
a full range of F&B servicesare offered; which involves high inter-
action between guests and food servers and enables customers to
judge comprehensively a large number of aspectsof food servers’
behaviour. This latter point is believed to strengthen the current
study’s outcomes by way of in other types of restaurants(fast food
and casual dining) less interaction is needed and, therefore, less
emphasis on service behaviour is given than that in fine dining
restaurants.
5. Conclusions
It is believed that this research is one of few studies trigger-
ing actual fine dining customers’satisfaction by investigating food
servers’personal and functional practicesas differentiated dimen-
sions. Such investigation led to innermost results of study’s topic.
Based on the previously discussed findings, it can be concluded
that restaurant staff’s personal and functional service aspectssig-
nificantly and positively influence their customers’ satisfaction.
Whereas, personal aspects have shown a superiority in predict-
ing customers’ satisfaction. Put differently, the overall customer
satisfaction levels were higher when they had higher perception
of restaurant employees’ personal service aspects, which indi-
cates that customers highly appreciate the cordiality, politeness,
appearanceand personal attitude of restaurant employees.This is
supposedto support a fact that serviceis influencedby the personal
approach of service provider; this issue is salient in the character-
istics of service as intangible and heterogeneous.
6. Implications
Based on results from actual fine dining customers’evaluation,
the current study brought to light the role of two master groups of
aspects (functional aspects and personal aspects) of food servers’
behaviour framing customer satisfaction. These aspects and their
composing elements must be the stepping stone of any service
quality improvement.Accordingly,a set of managerialimplications
can be put forward in order to maximize the benefitsof the current
researchin achieving high customer satisfaction levels.
First: foodservice establishments’ managers and Human
Resources (HR) managers are recommended to adopt human
resourcesstrategywith a group of proceduresenhancingstaff’sser-
vice behaviour.Theseproceduresmay include formal and/or on job
training of employeeswhich provides them with necessaryskills to
improve customers’meal experience.To foster these skills, a con-
tinuous reinforcement program must be adopted, which ensures
employees’commitment to proper personal and functional service
practices.HR managersare highly recommendedto apply rigorous
recruitment procedures focusing on the personal characteristics
of food service employees to ensure that they possessthe desired
personal qualities. Furthermore,this study’sfindings revealedthat
professional food service behaviour as well as personal hygiene
of service employees is a key success factor; hence, more efforts
should be put on ensuring the staff’s commitment to professional
food service with a focus on food safety issues. Moreover, since
personal aspects of food server’s behaviour showed a superior-
ity in satisfying customers, a well-designed motivation program
is recommendedto enhancethese aspectsamong employees.
Second:In accordancewith the current study’sfindings, the dis-
tinctive role of personal aspects over the functional ones should
be taken into consideration through marketing activities in a way
that enhances customer satisfaction and regularity of visit. Thus,
it is suggested to arrange marketing activities toward demon-
strating personal qualities of employees (such as friendliness and
attentiveness); this is a necessity especially for restaurants that
consider staff’s skills and their personalities as a strength. Also,
this study found that price is the weakest element perceived by
tourists; thence, it is recommended to organize a marketing mix
that improves perceivedreasonabilityof prices and add more value
to restaurant customers’money.
Third: among the major beneficiaries from the current study’s
findings are the hospitality and food serviceeducationbodies (such

52 J.A. Alhelalatet al. / InternationalJournal of HospitalityManagement66 (2017)46–53
as universities, vocational schools and institutes). They can uti-
lize this study’sfindings in developing their educational programs.
These programs should differentiate between functional service
skills obtained by extensive field internships and personal poten-
cies which need to be consolidated during simulated service time;
with more focus on coursesrelated to etiquette,F&B serviceethics,
communication skills and handling of guests’special needs.
Finally: elementsof this study’stool can be employedby tourism
authorities as a checklist of quality control for foodservice estab-
lishments. Theseauthorities are advised to focus more on personal
service elementsin any future hospitality managementpolicies, as
study’s findings confirmed the superiority of these elements’con-
tribution to tourists’satisfaction;which ultimately helps in creating
a positive image of the country as a tourism destination. Further-
more, the Jordanian authorities can build upon study’s findings
in promoting Jordan as a tourism destination by demonstrating
positive features such as the hospitable and friendly workers and
the quality of food products within Jordanian foodservices.Such
promotion might be helpful at the time of political and security
instability within the Middle East. However, Jordanian authorities
must also handle weakness within these foodservices; examples
include controlling of product prices and adopting training policy
to improve communication skills of foodservices’employees.
7. Limitations
Despite the uniqueness of its findings, this study had been
under some limitations, among which are finance and time lim-
itations. The whole efforts of investigation were carried out by
the researchers(who work as full-time university lecturers) in a
restrictedtime out of their work schedules;and dependingon their
personal savings only. Additional studies with better resources,
including more time and fund, are required to expand the scope
of researchto cover other hospitality services.
Another difficulty confronted in the present research was the
lack of population frame impelling the use of convenience sam-
pling, which may impact its generalizability.If an accuratedatabase
can be available for foodservicesor even different hospitality ser-
vice customers, it is recommended to repeat the research using
more robust sampling technique.
The current study was focused on two groups of food servers’
practices and their predictability of customers’ satisfaction. How-
ever, it excluded some intervening factors such as culture and
demographics of customers. Culture directs peoples’ behaviour
through the guidance of their thoughts, values and beliefs. Never-
theless,the exclusion of culture as a variable was becausecultural
effect is wider than being included within this research paper.
The cultural impact on individuals’ behaviour happens from many
angles including different layers (national culture, organisational
culture & occupational culture), subcultures (basedon gender,age
& ethnicity) and cultural dimensions (individualism vs. Collec-
tivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance . . . etc). The scope
and resources of this study does not allow handling these topics.
Accordingly, a future researchinquiring the relationship of various
cultural effects on food servers’ personal and functional practices
with customer satisfaction is necessary.
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