I’m loving it but hating US: Understanding consumer emotions and perceived service quality of US fast food brands

The studies which connect international marketing emotions with perceived service quality are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap and take into account the consumers’ perceived animosity, religiosity, and ethnocentrism to connect these with perceived service quality and purchase intentions of US-based fast food brand chains currently operating in Pakistan.

The authors collected data by means of a self-administered questionnaire, distributed among 500 consumers, randomly selected, patronized the four US fast food brands, namely, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway in the city of Lahore in Pakistan. The data are analyzed by employing Structural equation modeling (SEM) based on AMOS 21.0 software.

Results of this study reveal that religiosity and ethnocentrism among Pakistani fast food consumers are low and do not influence the decision to purchase fast food brands. However, consumer emotions influence service quality perceptions – ultimately leading to purchase intentions.

The study generally adds to marketing and specifically to international food service marketing knowledge by eliciting the role of religiosity, animosity, and ethnocentrism to delineate service quality and purchase intentions. Furthermore, the external validity of PAKSERV scale and the context of Pakistan – a collectivist Muslim country are also the unique products of this study.