Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
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findings that customers’ satisfaction evaluation of the same service quality/performance differed between age 
groups. Specifically, the OSQ-CS link was stronger for the high age group than for the low age group. Further, 
although the CS-RVI link was identical, the CS-WOMI link differed between the two age groups, with the link 
being stronger for the high age group than for the low age group. This implies that once customers have a pleasant 
experience at a specific restaurant and are satisfied with superior service, customers in the high-age group are more 
likely to be engaged in WOM behaviors than customers in the low age group. They are more likely to actively 
spread positive WOM and recommend the restaurant to acquaintances and others. 
Unexpectedly, the OSQ-CS-WOMI link did not differ significantly across genders. One possible reason 
would be that from the male customers’ perspective, services (or food) in the restaurant could be regarded as low 
involvement products. In investigating customer behavior in the automobile industry, Mittal and Kamakura (2001) 
found a significant gender difference in customer loyalty. Male customers’ satisfaction with product performance 
more strongly affected their loyalty. Since for most men, automobiles are considered a high involvement product 
that leads to extensive interest in and search for product-related information (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Mittal, 
1989), male customers’ loyalty could be more strongly influenced by its antecedents (Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 
2006). With regard to restaurant services as low involvement products, male customers might be unlikely to 
sensitively evaluate the services they experienced in the restaurant and to allocate time (or effort) toward being 
engaged in WOM behaviors. Thus, against our expectations, the QSQ-CS-WOMI link did not differ significantly 
across gender groups.
Although researchers insisted that other personal characteristics reflected by demographic variables, such 
as income, education, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds, play a significant role in explaining consumer behaviors 
(Godsmith and Goldsmith, 1996; Im 
et al
., 2003; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001), it is currently not known whether the 
proposed links are consistent across the personal characteristics of restaurant customers. The potential effects of 
these personal characteristics should be also measured to rigorously explain the formation of behavioral intentions.
Additional investigation of these issues would make an interesting extension of this study. Future research should 
also examine other influencing factors on the OSQ-CS-BI link, such as perceived value and switching barriers, 
which would lead to a deeper understanding of customer behaviors in the restaurant industry.