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Factors influencing word of mouth behaviour in the restaurant industry

Mohammad Reza Jalilvand (Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Sirous Salimipour (Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran)
Mehdi Elyasi (Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabatabei University, Tehran, Iran)
Mehdi Mohammadi (Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)

Marketing Intelligence & Planning

ISSN: 0263-4503

Article publication date: 6 February 2017

11826

Abstract

Purpose

Restaurants with limited promotion budgets depend mainly on word of mouth (WOM) among customers. WOM seems particularly important to the marketing of services. This is because services are experiential in nature and difficult to assess before purchase. In the restaurants context there is little research on WOM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that may influence tourists’ WOM about restaurants implying on the critical role of relationship quality.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive literature review is conducted to identify the major factors influencing WOM in the context of restaurant industry. The study utilizes self-administered questionnaire survey and the target population are the customers who have referred to the restaurants of Tehran, Iran. A convenience sampling approach was utilized to collect a sample of 326 customers. A structural equation modeling procedure is applied to the examination of the antecedents of WOM.

Findings

The paper found that food quality, personal interaction quality, physical environment quality, and perceived value influence WOM behavior of customer in an indirect way through relationship quality.

Practical implications

This research conjectured that an understanding of factors that influence the tourist to talk each other about a given restaurant are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the study helps to understand how these factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the long-term economic sustainability of restaurant industry in Iran.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, this research will be the first attempt to explore influential factors on WOM in restaurant industry focusing on the critical role of relationship quality. It is expected that researchers will find this research a contribution to the WOM literature, particularly in restaurant industry.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for the constructive suggestions and insightful guidance.

Citation

Jalilvand, M.R., Salimipour, S., Elyasi, M. and Mohammadi, M. (2017), "Factors influencing word of mouth behaviour in the restaurant industry", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 81-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-02-2016-0024

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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