I Am Satisfied: A Study on Consumer Loyalty in Restaurants Employing the Dineservice Scale

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, mediated by satisfaction. Thus, we held an empirical study on restaurant costumers in São Paulo city. Based on an extensive literature review, two central hypotheses were formulated: perceived quality of services has a direct and significant relationship with loyalty, and satisfaction is a mediator, contributing to the perceived value of service and customer loyalty. We conducted a survey research with 444 consumers who attend restaurants at dinner in São Paulo city and used Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the relationship between paths and hypothesis. The results show a positive and significant relationship between perceived quality of services and customer loyalty, also similarly found that satisfaction has a mediating role in that relationship. As a managerial contribution, the results provide some important directions to restaurants managers on creating strategies to provide a superior service quality to their customers and consumers. This study is justified both theoretically and managerially, as in Brazil, just a few amount of studies have been published on the relationship between perceived quality of services and mediating role of consumer loyalty for satisfaction in the hospitality industry.