Experimental marketing practices leading to consumer loyalty in restaurant business

• Autor(a) principal: Lekstutytė, Alina
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/13800
• topic: Experiential marketing; Disconfirmation; Customer satisfaction; Customer Loyalty; Gestão de empresas; Marketing; Satisfação do cliente; Fidelidade à Marca; Indústria da restauração

The experiential marketing is an emerging marketing field, which allows companies to differentiate the brands by creating unique, pleasurable and memorable experiences, which appeal to all senses, the heart and the mind. Hospitality industry and specifically restaurants can be mentioned as having the advantage in the experiential marketing context, as this is the area where all the senses can be engaged and personalized experiences can be presented directly to the customer. Based on the theoretical framework, this study proposed a conceptual model to examine how experiential marketing practices, suggested by Schmitt (1999) as the strategic experiential modules (SEMs), affect expectation disconfirmation, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in different types of restaurants. In order to check the formulated hypotheses, the structural equation modeling analysis was used. The results of the study showed that the perception of affective (FEEL) and creative cognitive (THINK) experiences had a direct positive impact on expectation disconfirmation and indirectly through expectation disconfirmation affected customer satisfaction. Moreover, a relationship between expectation disconfirmation and customer satisfaction was supported and an indirect effect of expectation disconfirmation through customer satisfaction to customer loyalty was indicated. Furthermore, a direct positive effect of customer satisfaction to customer loyalty was proved. Finally, the study did not indicate a significant difference in relationship between experiential marketing practices and expectation disconfirmation among fine dining, casual dining, fast casual and quick service restaurants. The managerial implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.