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Revisiting customers' perception of service quality in fast food restaurants

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.09.008

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 Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

Revisiting customers' perception of service quality in fast food restaurants

crossmark
Aidin Namin
College of Business and Economics, The University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Dr, MS 3161, Moscow, ID 83844, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: This research is an extension to previous work in fast food restaurant marketing. The population of this research
Fast food retailing consists of actual fast food restaurant customers. Following the literature, data are analyzed using Confirmatory
Customer satisfaction Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, and Path Analysis. Findings of this work identify factors
Consumer service marketing impacting customer satisfaction, as well as dimensions of service quality and their rankings in the fast food
Behavioral intentions
restaurant context. Results indicate that there is no direct way of increasing behavioral intentions through
Marketing strategy
improving service quality for fast food restaurants. Rather, behavioral intentions can be improved through
customer satisfaction as an intermediary. Further, this work finds evidence that customer satisfaction can be
improved through service quality, food quality, and price-value ratio, which in turn would pave an indirect path
toward improvement in behavioral intentions in this industry. Results of this research shed light on prioritizing
managers’ focus and resource allocation for customer satisfaction and different dimensions of service quality
and can be used by fast food restaurant managers to set guidelines and strategies in providing better service to
their customers.

1. Introduction satisfaction.
For customer-oriented firms, customer satisfaction is considered a
Providing high quality service to customers is one of the most necessary element for success. Marketers normally seek to create value
important challenges every organization faces. No firm can survive and satisfaction for customers, and service quality is a determinant
unless it can attract and keep a sufficient number of satisfied factor in customer satisfaction. Additionally, in the restaurant industry
customers. Successful performance of firms depends on creation of success and survival of each restaurant depends on the restaurant
distinctive value in services they offer in an effective way for customers. performance and its customers’ viewpoint about it. More loyal custo-
This has made the perceived product quality become one of the most mers (behavioral intentions) who choose to make the purchase and
important competitive factors in the market. decide on repeating their purchase in the future make the business
Customer satisfaction, in general, is one of the most important more successful, which would then help the business survive in a
factors in determining an organization's success and increased effi- competitive market. Therefore, the relationship among behavioral
ciency. This paper uses the definition of customer satisfaction offered intentions, service quality, and customer satisfaction is crucial and is
by the SERVPERF instrument (Cronin and Taylor, 1992): customer investigated in this work in the context of fast food restaurant industry.
performance perceptions and performance importance which measure While these three factors and their relationship have been studied
service quality. The SERVPERF instrument is developed based on the by Qin and Prybutok (2008), more recent research findings necessitate
SERVQUAL instrument by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) in which a need to revisit the problem. Kim and Leigh (2011) at UC Davis Center
service quality is measured as the gap between perceptions and for Healthcare Policy and Research study fast food restaurants’ target
expectations. SERVQUAL suggests that a positive gap would indicate market and identify groups of consumers who are more likely to
satisfaction, while a negative one would indicate dissatisfaction. In this consume fast food products. Based on their findings, people with
research, as is common in the fast food restaurant literature, customer middle level incomes (up to $60,000) and those who work more hours
satisfaction is measured with the SERVPERF instrument and is are more likely to eat at fast food restaurants. These findings challenge
sourced from food quality, service quality, and price-value ratio. A the target market sample used by Qin and Prybutok (2008) for their
detailed discussion of variable choices and their root in the literature is analysis. Their college student sample would not be a good represen-
provided in the paper. According to Kotler and Armstrong (1995), tative of groups of consumers who have middle level income and those
marketers always look for ways to create value and satisfaction for their who work more hours; hence, may not be generalized to other
customers, which is an evidence for the importance of customer circumstances. In other words, this would challenge the findings by

E-mail address: anamin@uidaho.edu.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.09.008
Received 7 June 2016; Received in revised form 1 September 2016; Accepted 17 September 2016
Available online 03 October 2016
0969-6989/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

Qin and Prybutok (2008) and would make their results questionable, concludes with Sections 7 and 8 which present discussion and manage-
which would then call for a revisit of the problem and results based on rial implications and further research directions.
the UC Davis 2011 research findings. Qin and Prybutok (2008)
themselves note in their paper that their results may not be applicable 2. Literature review
to a broader population group and suggest an on-site survey as an
extension to their work to find more valid outcomes. Additionally, a Service has been studied from different angles in the literature.
sample of college students represents less heterogeneity in population, According to Zeithaml and Bitner (1996), service may include beha-
and it is common knowledge that fast food customers are not limited to viors, processes, and performances. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1991)
college students only. Therefore in this work, the author focuses on summarize service quality in three elements: physical quality, which
extending the previous knowledge and findings and seeks potential includes components such as buildings and equipment used; corporate
differences with previous work done in the field. quality, which includes organizational image and attributes; and
In this work the author collects the data from real fast food interactive quality, which results from the interaction between service
restaurant customers and uses a setting similar to the previous work staff and customers and the interaction among customers.
for the analysis. Not all results of the current paper conform to Qin and Understanding of service quality and its relationship with other factors
Prybutok (2008). Results of this paper show that there is no direct way calls for a review of previous research on service quality in fast food
of making improvements in customer behavioral intentions by improv- restaurants.
ing service quality. Rather, this paper finds evidence that in order to In a competitive market, fast food restaurants will need to focus on
reach better behavioral intentions, fast food restaurant managers need improving their service quality in order to be able to compete and
to go through customer satisfaction as an intermediary. The paper survive (Gregory et al., 1998). Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) mention that
provides support that customer satisfaction can be improved through improvement in service quality attracts new customers and helps the
service quality, food quality, and price-value ratio. It also identifies and organization keep their current customers. In addition to that, as Yu
ranks service quality dimensions which would then shed light on (2002) mentions, higher service quality will make customers be more
allocating resources and paying attention to each dimension based on satisfied, which will then increase the repurchase incident (i.e.,
the business strategy and goals for the managers. behavioral intentions). This signals the importance of studying the
This paper's findings show the general population being more relationship among service quality (including its measurement) and
sensitive toward receiving an error-free service as well as having access customers’ behavioral intentions in making the purchase and their
to employees helping them with their requests at a fast food restaurant satisfaction based on the service they receive from the restaurant, along
more than anything else. This is different in some ways from what Qin with other factors studied in the literature. This relationship has been
and Prybutok (2008) found. They found college students’ priority in previously studied (Zeithaml et al., 1996; Oliva et al., 1992; Meuter
service quality and satisfaction to be receiving a sympathetic and et al., 2000). This part of the paper focuses on reviewing the details of
reassuring service with convenient operating hours. While the differ- previous work done in this area.
ences in findings are interesting and may intuitively make sense (for In order to review the literature in this field and given the multiple
example, fast food restaurants located on university campuses are not angles of the problem, and also for the convenience of the reader,
open for long hours; hence, operating hours become important), due to previous work is categorized into three streams. Major papers in each
research findings by Kim and Leigh (2011), results of the work done by stream are reviewed within each block and are used in making the
Qin and Prybutok (2008) may not be a true reflection of the target connection to each hypothesis of this work. The first stream builds the
market for this industry. This would invalidate previous findings and theoretical foundation for Hypotheses 1–3 of this paper. The second
may not offer beneficial and valid managerial implications for fast food stream builds the theory for Hypothesis 4, and the third one supports
restaurant managers. In this work the author's target market sample is Hypothesis 5. These streams are presented as following.
chosen in a way that it would be in line with findings by Kim and Leigh
(2011). The author believes that since findings of this paper are backed 2.1. Service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions
by more recent research in the field, they should be taken into account
more seriously as they come from a population which allows for Service quality has been considered as a superior construct and the
incorporation of Kim and Leigh (2011)'s findings; therefore, they determinant factor for customer satisfaction (Gotlieb et al., 1994). The
would be more generalizable to a broader population. In turn, the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction has been
results should be treated as a more trustworthy source for managerial emphasized by researchers (Storbacka and Lehtinen, 2001). For
implications in this field. instance, emerging service quality models are mostly observed in the
The present study fills the gap and contributes by investigating literature after the 1980's (O’Neill et al., 1998), showing the impor-
customer satisfaction and ranking of service quality dimensions in fast tance of this issue. Law et al. (2004) find the elements impacting
food restaurants. It provides evidence that the path toward making customer satisfaction and their relationship with behavioral intentions.
improvements in behavioral intentions is through customer satisfac- Kivela et al. (1999) develop a predicting model of behavioral intentions
tion as the intermediary. Results show that improving service quality in based on customer satisfaction. Further, while service quality and
fast food restaurants will not directly improve behavioral intentions. customer satisfaction have interactions, Brady and Robertson (2001)
Since in practice no manager has access to an infinite amount of show that service quality impacts behavioral intentions through
resources, by providing ranking of service quality dimensions, the customer satisfaction, which they identify as an intermediary effect.
paper helps managers find their focus area and allocate their resources According to Kim and Lough (2007), the more faithful to a service
better given their business goals and strategies. Fast food restaurant the customers become, the more satisfied from the service they will be.
managers can use findings of this research to improve service quality to That, in turn, will increase their purchase probability (behavioral
their customers. This work also sheds light on fast food restaurant intentions) and will also help the firm use word-of-mouth from its
managerial decisions and helps managers take future steps in creating satisfied customers (Laczniak et al., 2001). Equivalently, negative
a more customer-oriented culture at their restaurants. word-of-mouth can be created by dissatisfied customers. An example
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: in Section 2 a is the case in which a customer gets unhappy or dissatisfied from a
review of the relevant literature is presented. Section 3 and Section 4 company because of an undesired and/or negative reason, which will
cover the conceptual model and hypotheses, and methodology and result in the customer complaining about the situation (Ladhari, 2007)
scale measurement respectively. Section 5 includes the data collection and hence reducing behavioral intentions. These show the close
process and Section 6 focuses on data analysis and findings. Paper interaction among service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavior-

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

al intentions. et al. (2004) study the relationship between factors impacting customer
In addition, service quality has been found to be more important satisfaction. They show that food quality and variety of foods offered
than product quality (Ghobadian et al., 1994). Increasing efficiency and are among the important elements of customer satisfaction. Food
effectiveness in providing profitable services will result in quality quality is an indication of quality of ingredients and food offered by the
increase (Chang and Chen, 1998). Kotler and Armstrong (2000) define fast food restaurant which includes the food's cleanness, freshness, and
a marketing relationship as the process of creating and enhancing healthiness as well as variety of foods offered at the fast food
strong relationships with customers and other benefiting parties based restaurant. Product quality and price are the other elements of
on value. The desired service cycle theory defines the relationship customer satisfaction which need to be measured (Zeithaml and
between internal and external customers in details (Schlesinger and Bitner, 1996). Johns and Howard (1998) show that the main purpose
Heskett, 1991), which in turn shows the importance of service quality of going to a restaurant is to respond to a human need (hunger). In
in fast food restaurants and in creating a cycle of satisfied customers other words, customers go to a restaurant to eat; that's why quality of
and their behavioral intentions to become loyal to the restaurant. food is an extremely important factor in attracting the customers to,
Further, a study modeling the repeat purchase process and customer and maintaining them in, a dining place. They also show that quality of
satisfaction in food shopping (Law et al., 2004) shows that waiting time food is so important that even knowledgeable employees would not be
and other service factors such as staff viewpoint, environment, and considered a substitute for that from the customers’ perspective. Given
sufficient room in the restaurant for food consumption, as well as food the importance of food quality based on previous research findings in
variety and food quality, are all important and influential factors which this field, food quality is treated as a construct of customer satisfaction.
impact customer satisfaction and repurchase incident (i.e. behavioral This builds the theory for the fourth hypothesis of this research, which
intentions). is developed and tested in the next sections of the paper.
Cardello et al. (2000) investigate two groups of variables in the food
context: behavioral and attitude. Behavioral variables include selection, 2.3. Price-value ratio and customer satisfaction
purchase, and consumption. Attitude variables include liking or dislik-
ing the food, the food being tasty or not, tendency toward food Another important factor in determining customer satisfaction is
consumption, and repurchasing the food. They consider the relation- the price to value ratio. Bell et al. (1997) show that customers consider
ships between the food and the location and atmosphere of place where price of an item relative to their overall perceived value of it, rather
the food is served. They show that tendency or distaste of the customer than only the price itself. In particular, Johns and Howard (1998) show
toward the food can be affected by implicit factors independent from that price to value ratio gets a high score as one of the important factors
the food. These factors may include information about the food, in predicting and determining customer satisfaction. Ribeiro Soriano
promotions, location type, or place where the food is served. These (2002) shows the relationship between the price-value ratio with
findings signal the importance of service quality in this industry. customer repurchase incident. Fornell et al. (1996) find a positive
To measure service quality, Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) relationship between the perceived value and customer satisfaction
develop the SERVQUAL instrument which includes five dimensions: where the perceived value is defined as the perceived level of quality
reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. In that compared with the paid price. Therefore, following the literature, in
framework, service quality is defined as the difference between this research the price-value ratio is considered as an important factor
customers’ perception of the service provider's actual performance in customer satisfaction analysis and is used in developing and testing
and the customers’ service expectation from them. SERVQUAL has the fifth hypothesis of this paper.
been used to measure the factors impacting service quality for This research fills the gap in the literature by revisiting and
restaurant customers by Bojanic and Rosen (1994); however, their investigating the direct relationship among service quality (based on
data analysis did not turn out very successful for various reasons, the the aforementioned elements), customer satisfaction, and their beha-
most important one being ambiguity in factor loadings across different vioral intentions using data from actual fast food restaurant customers
constructs. In addition to that, issues with convergent validity and in response to recent findings by Kim and Leigh (2011). It also provides
unstable dimensionality make SERVQUAL a less attractive instrument rankings of dimensions used in service quality which would be useful
for measuring service in the fast food restaurant context (Cronin and for managers to prioritize their offerings based on their available goals
Taylor, 1992). Another commonly used framework to measure service and resources. Findings of this paper shed light on managerial
quality is the SERVPERF instrument (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), which decisions in the field and have useful managerial implications and
does not have the aforementioned issues. The SERVPERF instrument may also be employed by fast food restaurant managers in order to
adds 22 items to the five dimensions introduced by SERVQUAL and improve their customers’ service experience.
has the differences substituted by performance perception for service In the next section the conceptual model used in this paper and the
quality and their importance included in measurement. This paper hypotheses are introduced. Next, the author explains the scale mea-
employs SERVPERF and its five dimensions of service quality in the surement and the data collection process followed by data analysis and
fast food industry as the instrument for analysis. investigation of the hypotheses of the paper.
Earlier discussion of the literature brings up the importance of
relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, service 3. The conceptual model and hypotheses
quality and behavioral intentions, and customer satisfaction and
behavioral intentions which are included and tested in the first three This paper focuses on finding the relationship among service
hypotheses of this work. quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. In other
words, it investigates ways to improve behavioral intentions through
2.2. Food quality and customer satisfaction customer satisfaction and service quality in the fast food restaurant
context. Therefore, the hypotheses are formed to test whether beha-
In addition to service quality, other variables related to customer vioral intentions can be improved directly through improvements in
satisfaction were also tested in fast food restaurants. Shock and service quality or whether that path has to go through customer
Stenfanelli (1992) discuss the theory that service quality, place, satisfaction as the intermediary. In turn, this intermediary itself is
products, and prices affect the restaurant processes and their success. under impact by some factors, and service quality has its own
It has been suggested that service quality is only one aspect of customer dimensions.
satisfaction and that customer satisfaction should be measured from Following the studies on customer satisfaction (as discussed in
different angles rather than from only one (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Law Sections 2.2 and 2.3), food quality and price-value ratio are also added

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

questions is developed. The questionnaire includes questions following

the SERVPERF instrument. Further and in more detail, questions
incorporating service quality and customer satisfaction follow Cronin
and Taylor (1992). Questions about the price-value ratio follow Kim
and Kim (2004) and Kara et al. (1997), and those related to food
quality follow Johns and Howard (1998) and Kivela et al. (1999).
Finally, behavioral intentions questions follow Boulding et al. (1993)
and Keillor et al. (2004). The full questionnaire is presented in the
Appendix A.
Fig. 1. The conceptual model. Following the SERVPERF instrument in order to measure each
construct, the consumer performance perception is multiplied by its
as the constructs of the analysis. In other words, the hypotheses are importance. For instance, if a respondent has found convenience of the
developed to test the relationship between customer satisfaction (as the parking place (question 1) to be very good at the restaurant (corre-
intermediary) and the three constructs which are service quality, food sponding rating equals to 4), and parking has a very important weight
quality, and price-value ratio, as well as the direct relationship between for him/her (corresponding score equals to 5), then total score for
(1) service quality and behavioral intentions and (2) customer satisfac- parking for that respondent would be 4*5=20, similar procedure is
tion and behavioral intentions. In addition by summarizing the done for all questions on page one of the questionnaire. The Second set
discussion presented in Section 2, service quality has five dimensions: of questions (page 2 of the questionnaire) measure customer satisfac-
reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy tion and behavioral intentions through the statements related to each.
(Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988). The paper also investigates the A five-point Likert scale is used for measurement in all 37 questions.
significance of each of these five dimensions in the fast food restaurant Table 1 summarizes the list of questions in the questionnaire used
context and provides rankings based on their importance and role. for measuring service quality, food quality, price-value ratio, customer
Fig. 1 summarizes the discussion and represents the conceptual model satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. The relationship between these
used in this study. The model is the same as the one developed in Qin constructs are investigated in Section 6.
and Prybutok (2008). The measured constructs are used to investigate the five hypotheses
Following the earlier discussions in the paper and reviewing the and to identify the significance and the ranking of the five service
theoretical background of this work based on what was done in the quality dimensions. The next section provides details on how the
past, hypotheses of this work are developed and presented in this survey was conducted and how the data were collected.
section. The present study investigates five hypotheses which test (1)
the causal relationships between service quality, food quality, and 5. Data collection
price-value ratio with customer satisfaction, and (2) the causal relation-
ship between customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. It also The data were collected through offline survey questionnaires three
tests the causal relationship between service quality and behavioral times a day (around breakfast, lunch, and dinner time) from June 8,
intentions. Variables used in each hypothesis and their relationship 2015, to July 25, 2015. The population of the study is from a random
with the literature are explained in the three streams of literature sample of customers from three locations of one of the largest and most
review (Sections 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3) and are similar to the ones studied popular fast food restaurants in the nation in a large city in the US.
by Qin and Prybutok (2008). As discussed earlier, Hypotheses 1–3 are Given the size and huge popularity of this particular fast food chain
explained in the first stream of literature, and hypotheses 4 and 5 are restaurant and the fact that most fast food restaurants (and the fast
discussed in the second and third streams, respectively. The five food restaurant of this study in particular) follow the franchise business
hypotheses are presented below. model and, hence, have to adhere to similar conditions such as menu,
decoration, uniforms, form of greeting, etc., it is believed that the data
H1. : There is a significant and direct relationship between customer
collected from these three locations of this large and very popular chain
satisfaction and their behavioral intentions in a fast food restaurant.
restaurant would be a reasonable representative of other locations of
H2. : There is a significant and direct relationship between service the focal fast food restaurant as well as other fast food restaurants in
quality and customer satisfaction level in a fast food restaurant. the country.
Using a 95% confidence level (z-score 1.96), 0.4 population
H3. : There is a significant and direct relationship between service standard deviation, and margin of error of 0.05, a suggested sample
quality and customer behavioral intentions in a fast food restaurant. size of 246 was reached which was rounded up to a sample size of 250
H4. : There is a significant and direct relationship between food valid responses from the customers was chosen for the survey. The
quality and customer satisfaction level in a fast food restaurant. author continued the survey until 250 complete and non-defective
questionnaires were collected. That resulted in 318 distributed ques-
H5. : There is a significant and direct relationship between price- tionnaires in total, 68 of which were defective and taken out. The
value ratio and customer satisfaction level in a fast food restaurant. respondents were at least 18 years old and were approached in person
In addition to these five hypotheses, as indicated earlier, this paper at the fast food restaurant locations. Each respondent was handed a
also investigates the significance of the five service quality dimensions questionnaire in person by the author. The respondents filled the
and their ordered importance in the fast food restaurant context. This
analysis and the related ranking could be very useful for fast food
restaurant managers since the ranking helps them identify the more Table 1
important dimensions of service quality for their business and helps Questionnaire details.
the managers in allocating resources to each dimension in order to
Construct Question numbers from thequestionnaire
improve their service quality given their business priorities and the
strategies they implement. Service quality 1−21
Food quality 22−25
Price-value ratio 26−28
4. Methodology and scale measurement
Customer satisfaction 29−33
Behavioral intentions 34−37
In order to measure the constructs, a questionnaire with 37

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

questionnaire with no monetary compensation. The sample includes

both “dine in” and “take out” customers. For the “dine in” customers, Table 2
the respondents chose to fill out the questionnaire before or after Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability for each construct.

finishing their food.

Factors Cronbach’s alpha Composite reliability (CR)
In the next section descriptive statistics from the data as well as coefficient
data analysis and findings are presented.
Services quality 0.76 0.85
Food quality 0.72 0.79
6. Data analysis and findings Price-value ratio 0.81 0.88
Customer satisfaction 0.75 0.82
Behavioral intentions 0.79 0.86
The first part of this section presents descriptive statistics from the
collected data. The second part covers data analysis, Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988), and the data validation
paper. First, the estimated Cronbach Alpha coefficients and Composite
tests. Next, the Structural Equation Modeling (path analysis model) is
Reliability (CR) measures are used to test for reliability in the data.
presented and hypothesis testing results are introduced. The former
Results show that all Cronbach Alphas are above 0.7, which indicates
step investigates the relationship between the survey questions and the
that they are at their acceptable level. Also, all CRs are above 0.7,
constructs and their connection with the latent variables, while the
meaning, that they are also at an acceptable level (Olorunniwo et al.,
latter focuses on the relationship between the constructs and incorpo-
2006). Therefore, reliability of the data is verified, meaning that all
rates hypothesis testing. Finally, the significance and ranking of the
indicators measure the latent constructs with reliability. Findings are
service quality dimensions are obtained and presented.
shown in Table 2.
Next is to test for construct validity to identify that the selected
6.1. Demographic features factors have the required accuracy for measuring the desired con-
structs. For this purpose, convergent validity and discriminant validity
This section summarizes the demographic features of the survey are tested. For convergent validity, the Average Variance Extracted
data. (AVE) (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), factor loadings, and Composite
Age: According to the collected data, 111 respondents were Reliability (CRs shown in Table 2) are estimated and used. Composite
between 29 and 38 years old, the highest frequency (44.4%); 14.4% Reliability and factor loadings for each construct are found to be above
of the respondents were between 39 and 48 years old, and 35.6% of 0.7. Results for the AVEs are also all above 0.5; hence, according to
them were aged below 28. The minimum frequency 5.6% belongs to the Fornell and Larcker (1981), they are at the acceptable level. Based on
people who were over 49 years old. It is important to note that more these findings, convergent validity is achieved. Table 3 summarizes the
than 85% of all sample respondents chosen by Qin and Prybutok AVE and factor loadings for each construct.
(2008) were below 30 years old which makes it quite unlikely for a Discriminant validity is the next to be tested. The AVEs and
majority of them to be at the middle income level since they were correlations between each two construct are used to perform the test.
students. This is another indicator that their findings are not necessa- It is observed that the square root of each AVE is greater than its
rily built on a valid sample of target market for fast food restaurants corresponding correlations (Fornell and Larcker, 1981); therefore,
and would not be a real reflection of their customers, hence, their discriminant validity is also achieved. Based on the convergent validity
findings will not provide useful guidelines for managers in this and discriminant validity results, construct validity is achieved and
industry. validated in the data. Table 4 summarizes the discriminant validity
Education: The maximum frequency belongs to respondents with a results.
bachelor's degree, 129 subjects, equal to 51.6% of the questionnaires. According to the model, the results confirm the factors’ relationship
The minimum belongs to respondents below high school, 1.2% of the with the constructs. In other words, the present study performs well by
subjects. Also, subjects with a high school or an associate's degree using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. According to Kline (2015),
comprised 24.8% of the respondents. Finally, 22.4% of the subjects had RMSEA and Chi-Square test are used to assess the model fit. RMSEA
a master's degree and above. is found to be larger than 0.08 for the initial model. Therefore, the
Gender: 128 persons were male, which is 51.2%, and 122 were model would need some corrections from a statistical perspective until
female, which is 48.8% of the population. it reaches at least close to 0.08 for an acceptable fit (MacCallum et al.,
Accompanying parties: Questionnaires show that 47.2% of the 1996). In order to investigate whether the conducted modification
respondents (118 subjects) were with their families, that 23.6% of the makes a significant change in the model, Chi- square test is used (Kline,
respondents were unaccompanied at the time of purchase, and that 2015). According to Table 5, using the Chi-square test and RMSEA, the
29.2% of the respondents were accompanied by at least one friend. initial model reaches an appropriate component construct to be used in
Visit status: 56.4% of the respondents (141) had visited the fast the structural model after six modifications. Therefore, it is concluded
food restaurant more than six times, 26% were first time customers, that the modification process is reached at the best matrix of covariance
and 17.6% had visited the fast food restaurant between two to five in the fifth model as follows.
times. Additionally, analysis of the t-statistics shows that all questions but
three questions (Q2, Q3, and Q37) have a t-value greater than 1.96;
6.2. Data analysis therefore, those questions are dropped from the analysis and the
remaining questions are used for the rest of the analysis. Table 6
In this section, first the data are tested with different goodness of fit
measures, Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used, and the models in the Table 3
analysis are developed. Next, Structural Equation Modeling and path Convergent validity results for each construct.
analysis are used to test the hypotheses, provide rankings to service
Factors Average variance extracted (AVE) Factor loadings
quality dimensions, and investigate their significance. SPSS and
LISREL are used as the two softwares for data analysis in this paper. Services Quality 0.753 0.72
Food Quality 0.841 0.78
Price-value Ratio 0.712 0.81
6.2.1. Confirmatory factor analysis and goodness of fit tests
Customer Satisfaction 0.687 0.73
In order to make sure that the factors studied are in line with the Behavioral Intentions 0.587 0.82
selected variables, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used in this

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Table 4 Table 6
Discriminant validity results for each construct. Measurement Results for the Initial Model.

Services Food Price- Satisfaction Behavioral Construct Question number Path coefficient t-Value Decision
quality quality value intentions
ratio Service quality 1 0.12 2.03 Keep
2 0.09 1.30 Drop
Services 0.753a 3 0.07 0.96 Drop
quality 4 0.28 4.25 Keep
Food quality 0.651 0.841a 5 0.27 4.07 Keep
Price-value 0.593 0.739 0.712a 6 0.28 4.13 Keep
ratio 7 0.40 6.16 Keep
Customer 0.621 0.742 0.673 0.687a 8 0.45 6.97 Keep
satisfaction 9 0.51 8.08 Keep
Behavioral 0.673 0.427 0.584 0.584 0.587a 10 0.45 6.99 Keep
intentions 11 0.62 10.14 Keep
12 0.64 10.66 Keep
Note: 13 0.61 9.85 Keep
a 14 0.72 12.23 Keep
Diagonal elements report the AVE and other matrix entries report the squared
correlation estimation between them. 15 0.68 11.37 Keep
16 0.65 10.72 Keep
17 0.59 9.56 Keep
Table 5
18 0.47 7.39 Keep
Model iterations and chi- square values.
19 0.37 5.63 Keep
20 0.26 3.90 Keep
Fitted Models χ2 Δχ 2 df RMSEA Significance
21 0.28 4.18 Keep

Model 1 1495.25 – 519 0.111 – Food quality 22 0.69 11.46 Keep

Model 2 1468.92 > 2.75 515 0.105 1% 23 0.88 14.61 Keep
Model 3 1415.85 > 2.75 512 0.099 1% 24 0.76 13.18 Keep
Model 4 1384.51 > 2.75 505 0.095 1% 25 0.56 8.80 Keep
Model 5 1382.51 > 2.75 501 0.084 1%
Model 6 1382.98 < 2.75 500 0.083 Insignificant Price-value ratio 26 0.85 14.36 Keep
27 0.72 12.05 Keep
28 0.54 8.56 Keep
summarizes the Confirmatory Factor Analysis results for the measure-
ment model including the path coefficients and the t-values for each Satisfaction 29 0.37 5.70 Keep
30 0.63 10.39 Keep
question.
31 0.56 9.70 Keep
Other fit indices used in this paper to test the model goodness of fit 32 0.76 13.50 Keep
are the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the adjusted 33 0.76 13.54 Keep
goodness of fit index (AGFI), the normed fit index (NFI), the
comparative fit index (CFI), the non-normed fit index (NNFI), and Behavioral intentions 34 0.67 11.19 Keep
35 0.79 14.01 Keep
the parsimonious normed fit index (PNFI). Measured values for each of 36 0.81 14.91 Keep
these indices based on the model, their acceptable thresholds, their 37 0.65 1.76 Drop
relevant benchmark research papers, and the decision based on
comparing the measure values with the benchmark are presented in
Table 7. Based on the results, the model performs well with respect to Table 7
all indices. Model goodness of fit measures.

In summary, based on the tests performed, the model iterations, Index Measured Cut-off Benchmark paper (s) Decision
obtained evidence of reliability as well as construct and discriminant value point
validity, and the goodness of fit measure results, the Structural
Equation Model may be developed and used to test the hypotheses of SRMR 0.06 < 0.10 Sivo et al. (2006) Acceptable
AGFI 0.84 > 0.80 Gefen, Straub, and Boudreau Acceptable
the paper. The next part elaborates on the Structural Equation Model,
(2000)
hypothesis testing, and findings. NFI 0.95 > 0.9 Anderson and Gerbing Acceptable
NNFI 0.95 > 0.9 (1988);Mulaik et al. (1989) Acceptable
CFI 0.95 > 0.9 Acceptable
6.2.2. Structural equation model (path analysis model) PNFI 0.81 > 0.75 Sivo et al. (2006) Acceptable
As discussed in the previous part, the model reaches its appropriate
level in the fifth iteration; therefore, the modification process finishes
and is statistically reliable. Hence, the Structural Equation Model tion (H2), it would not directly encourage the customers to make the
(Jöreskog and Yang, 1996) can be used for hypothesis testing. Figs. 2 purchase and/or revisit for future purchases. Also considering that the
and 3 demonstrate the model results for path analysis coefficients as direct relationship between satisfaction and behavioral intentions is
well as the t-values for all constructs in the model... found to be significant (H1), fast food restaurant managers would still
Based on the results, the five hypotheses of the paper, which are need to improve customer satisfaction in order to improve behavioral
presented in Section 3 are tested here. Table 8 summarizes the five intentions indirectly; however, they would need to rely on some factors
hypotheses, their path coefficient, their t-value, and the hypothesis test other than service quality only. The results of the other two hypotheses,
results. As can be observed, all but one of the study hypotheses which are on food quality and price-value ratio (H4 and H5), confirm
(Hypothesis 3) are confirmed at 95% level since they have t-values this and indicate that more focus should be put on food quality and
larger than 1.96. price-value ratio in a fast food restaurant in order to improve customer
Findings show that service quality is not considered as a direct satisfaction and their indirect effect through customer satisfaction
significant influence for customers’ behavioral intentions (H3). This toward behavioral intentions. The latter would translate into a more
signals that, while providing better service to fast food restaurants successful business in a competitive market. Managerial implications,
customers would significantly and positively impact customer satisfac- insights, and guidelines related to these findings are presented and

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Fig. 2. Structural equation modeling results and path analysis.

discussed in details in the next section of the paper. and behavioral intentions, but such a relationship was found significant
A comparison of these findings with Qin and Prybutok (2008) in Qin and Prybutok (2008). Finally, this paper identifies a direct and
shows that, among findings of the five hypotheses of this paper, two are significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfac-
in-line with what they have found; however, findings do not seem to be tion, while such a relationship was not found to be significant in the
the same in the remaining three. Both studies found a direct and work done by Qin and Prybutok (2008).
significant relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioral Based on the discussion presented earlier in this paper (i.e., a more
intentions and food quality and customer satisfaction. While this paper recent research by UC Davis about fast food restaurants’ target market
finds a direct significant relationship between price-value ratio and and Qin and Prybutok's sample not being generalizable to a broader
customer satisfaction, such a relationship is not found significant in group), validity of previous findings seem to be questionable. It is
their work. In addition to that as discussed earlier, the current study believed that the new findings will be better representative of the
does not find a direct significant relationship between service quality relationship among behavioral intentions, customer satisfaction, and

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

Fig. 3. Estimated path analysis t-values.

service quality in this field and, hence, should be a better source for ranking would be useful for managers to set their focus on the more
managerial implications and guidelines for managers. important dimensions of service quality given their business goals and
strategies and their most likely limited resources. The results show that
all five dimensions significantly impact service quality as their t-
6.2.3. Ranking the service quality dimensions statistics suggest. These findings are ranked based on the standardized
The last part of this section focuses on investigating the significance coefficients and are summarized in Table 9.
and providing a ranking for the five dimensions of service quality. This

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

Table 8 significant determinant of fast food customer satisfaction. Food quality

Hypothesis testing results. includes items such as ingredients used in the food, variety of food
types and beverages offered, healthy menu, etc. According to the
Hypothesis Path t-Value Hypothesis
coefficient result National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NIDDK), more than two in three adults are considered to be over-
H1 Satisfaction Behavioral 0.76 5.03 Confirmed weight or obese. This signals the importance of offering healthier
Intentions
menus to fast food customers, which would then result in more
H2 Service Quality Satisfaction 0.16 2.44 Confirmed
H3 Service Quality Behavioral 0.09 1.50 Rejected customer satisfaction through food quality. According to the findings,
Intentions offering a healthy and diverse menu, with tasty food are important
H4 Food Quality Satisfaction 0.43 4.27 Confirmed criteria for customer satisfaction in this industry. This includes but is
H5 Price-value Satisfaction 0.37 3.92 Confirmed not limited to offering food with different attributes, such as level of fat
and amount of calories included in it for different groups of customers.
Fast food restaurants can also be clear and informative on details of the
foods they offer. Such details could include food ingredients used,
Table 9
Ranked service quality dimensions. information on gluten free fast food, amount of fat and calories in the
food, etc. This will help the fast food restaurants to distinguish their
Rank Construct Standardized coefficient t-Value Effect result services based on food quality and gain better customer satisfaction
levels, which would help them improve behavioral intentions and, at a
1 Reliability 0.94 10.80 Significant
2 Responsiveness 0.81 8.89 Significant
higher level, be more successful in the competitive market.
3 Empathy 0.59 6.88 Significant The other hypothesis testing confirmed the direct significant
4 Assurance 0.59 6.76 Significant relationship between price-value ratio and customer satisfaction in
5 Tangibles 0.42 2.61 Significant fast food restaurants. This factor has two elements, price and value;
therefore, strategies for both factors are discussed here. Fast food
restaurants can modify the prices of their items. They can offer
different food sizes at different price levels for different target
While this paper finds that the general population care more about customers. They can also offer lower per unit price for larger purchases.
receiving an error-free service as well having access to employees Another suggestion would be to offer a variety of “combo” menus,
helping them with their requests, Qin and Prybutok (2008) found which will have a lower price compared to the summation of prices of
college students’ priority to be receiving a sympathetic and reassuring all items included in order to create more value for their customers.
service with convenient operating hours. A discussion on the applica- Another strategy in the competitive market would be to keep an eye on
tion of the new findings is presented in the next section of the paper. the prices offered by the other players in the market and maintain a
Both studies find tangibles to be the least influential dimension of competitive pricing strategy. These strategies can help a fast food
service quality. In this study, responsiveness (0.81), assurance (0.59), restaurant improve its price-value ratio and reach higher customer
and empathy (0.59) ranked as the second, third, and fourth dimensions satisfaction levels, which will eventually result in better behavioral
influencing service quality in the fast food restaurant context. It is intentions and more success in the market.
believed that this ranking would be useful for fast food restaurant Based on the findings, the direct and significant relationship
managers and would help them improve their service quality given between customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions shows that
their business priorities, their available resources, and the strategies fast food restaurant managers should focus their efforts on customers
they choose to implement. returning and repurchasing at their restaurant through improving
Section 7 of the paper provides managerial implications based on customer satisfaction. Using the results of the other two hypotheses,
the hypothesis testing and data analysis findings and provides a bigger as discussed above, fast food restaurant managers can use food quality
picture of the findings by offering insights and suggestions which fast and price-value ratio to improve customer satisfaction and hence
food restaurant managers can use in order to help them find the service behavioral intentions. In other words, customer satisfaction can lead
quality and customer satisfaction strategies that would best suit their to customer loyalty, better service feedback, spread of positive word-of-
businesses. mouth, and eventually intentions to purchase more. The latter can be
translated into better financial outcomes. This shows that management
7. Discussion and managerial implications of customer satisfaction levels is a strategically critical task for fast food
restaurants so that managers can improve behavioral intentions by
This section provides managerial implications based on the results maintaining their current customers and attracting more new ones.
of hypothesis testing. The results show that there is no direct path from Finally, the remaining hypothesis result shows that service quality
service quality to behavioral intentions. Therefore, it is important to significantly and directly impacts consumer satisfaction. Given the
have a deeper understating of how customer satisfaction (as the importance of service quality and its five dimensions, suggestions and
intermediary) can be improved so that fast food restaurants would managerial implication for improving each dimension are offered. In
reach improved behavioral intentions. This section provides guidelines practice, it is unlikely for managers to have access to an infinite level of
on how to improve each construct which enhances in customer resources; therefore, fast food restaurant managers may choose to
satisfaction, as well as a set of guidelines on how to make improve- follow these insights in order to improve each of the five dimensions of
ments in each of the five dimensions of service quality given their service quality for their businesses based on their priorities and
ranking. A detailed discussion on each part is as follows. resources available. This paper provides some suggested insights for
As discussed in Section 6.2.2, fast food restaurants need to improve fast food restaurant managers which can be employed for each service
their food quality as well as their price-value ratio so that they can quality dimension to improve the business. It is important to note that
improve behavioral intentions through improved customer satisfaction. while service dimension rankings are quantified and show the im-
In this part, some suggested strategies for fast food restaurant portance of each dimension, fast food restaurant managers may still
managers are presented to help them make the improvement from need to choose their business focus among these five service quality
those two aspects. dimensions and practice the guidelines which are offered for the
Food is the main offering at any dining place, and its quality is a corresponding aspect based on their business strategy and focus.

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

The standardized coefficient estimation results show that the most parking spot or when time wasted in traffic becomes an issue in bigger
important factor in determining service quality is reliability. This cities. Fast food restaurants can also update their interior decorations
finding shows the importance of punctuality and meeting commitments and designs to enhance service quality. Finally, a very simple but
and services promised to the customers with no mistake by the important factor which if not followed correctly can negatively impact
restaurant staff, which signals the importance and role of employees service quality is to maintain a clean dining place for the customers. By
in customer satisfaction. One way to reach that goal would be to following these relatively simple and straightforward guidelines, fast
provide additional staff training, such as setting standards for service food restaurant managers will be able to improve service quality
levels. Staff would need good training to be able to communicate with through tangibles and create more customer satisfaction.
the customers and provide information they ask for. This information Findings of this study create a clearer picture of the important
includes but is not limited to details about the food offered, the service quality dimensions, as well as the relationship among service
ingredients, types of beverages sold, payment methods, deals, coupons, quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in fast food
discounts, etc. Therefore, making the staff more knowledgeable would restaurants. Given the more recent findings by Kim and Leigh (2011),
result in improved reliability of the fast food restaurant. Another which clarify the target market for fast food restaurant customers, it is
managerial implication to enhance reliability would be to implement believed that relationships and rankings of service quality dimensions
tailored training programs based on the attributes of each fast food identified by Qin and Prybutok (2008) may not be applicable to a
restaurant location. Fast food restaurant managers can also provide the broader population. Therefore, it is believed that the findings and
staff with some degrees of freedom and more authority so that they can insights provided by this work could be more applicable to fast food
offer on-site compensations to dissatisfied customers in order to make restaurants by the managers. These results can be used in improving
sure that those customers leave the restaurant happy and satisfied and service quality, creating proper values for the customers, promoting
that there will be a repurchase incident from them. In summary, given customer satisfaction levels, and enhancing customer loyalty and
the importance of reliability as the major dimension of service quality, behavioral intentions. It is hoped that this research would shed light
it is essential for fast food restaurant managers to improve that on a better customer orientation culture in the fast food restaurant
dimension. Higher service quality levels will then increase customer industry.
satisfaction, which will result in improved customer loyalty and
repurchase incidents (i.e., behavioral intentions). 8. Further research directions
Next is responsiveness, which ranks second in determining custo-
mer satisfaction. As discussed before, responsiveness is the level of In the past, many fast food companies have launched their
speed and accuracy of service provided, staff behavior in crowded businesses in different locations across the globe. People in different
times, and expected time to receive the food while waiting in a line. In countries have different cultures and traditions that may influence their
most cases, dissatisfaction sources from the long wait time in lines. A perception of service quality and the elements related to that along with
suggestion for managers would be to have the fast food restaurants other things. For instance, fast food corporations have found that
equipped with computerized and electronic ordering devices to reduce foreign franchisers often fail in keeping up with the American cleanness
the customer waiting time and, hence, improve customer satisfaction. standards and that they often also use lower quality ingredients which
These machines will enable the customers to order and to pick up their are still considered good in their home country.1 Another example is
food in a more convenient and time saving matter. This gains extra that fast foods are popular for their convenience in the US market,
importance during busy hours of operation. Examples include but are while in other countries, they represent more of a treat.2 These
not limited to drive-through ordering and pick-up options, online examples bring up the importance of having a deeper understanding
ordering and pick-up systems, electronic touch pad menus, and online of fast food purchase motives, consumers’ expectations, and their
menus, which many fast food restaurants have already adopted or are perceptions in different countries and locations. It also makes the
in the process of adopting. Given the importance of this dimension, applicability of findings based on a certain market to other global
following these guidelines will significantly improve service quality, markets challenging and questionable. Therefore, an extension to this
hence, customer satisfaction and as a result of that behavioral inten- work would be to study the research question within a market other
tions. than the US market, in other words, researchers could revisit this study
The third determinant of service quality is empathy, which includes in different markets in order to investigate the potential differences in
paying attention to the customers and their needs. Fast food restaurant consumers’ behavioral intensions and satisfaction based on their
managers may wish to be involved and make sure that the employees perception of service quality in those markets.
understand the customers’ needs by responding to their complaints This paper provides evidence on important dimensions of service
and creating a warm and friendly atmosphere for them. The feeling of a quality in only one type of dining place (i.e., fast food restaurants).
“caring” management and staff will improve service quality at the fast According to Kim and Leigh (2011) the target market for this type of
food restaurant. Improving in service quality by enhanced empathy will dining place is people with midrange income levels. Customers with
result in higher customer satisfaction and more loyalty, which then higher income levels are more likely to choose dining places which offer
turns into a more successful business. premium full service and are mostly categorized as higher end
The fourth important dimension of service quality is assurance. In restaurants. As one would expect, service plays a very important role
order to improve assurance for the customer, the fast food restaurant (and likely with a higher weight compared to fast food restaurants) in
manager and staff can create and enhance a sense of comfort and safety this type of dining places. The interaction among service quality,
in their customers by respectful communications, providing clear behavioral intentions, and customer satisfaction remains unanswered
information, and establishing trust. Staff training can also create and for customers with higher levels of income, who choose to go to a
facilitate communication between the customers and staff. These premium service restaurant and most likely have higher service level
guidelines can then be used to improve service quality through expectations with more delicate customer satisfaction and expecta-
assurance, which will result in higher customer satisfaction levels. tions. Therefore, another interesting extension to this work would be to
According to the findings, the least important element of service do a similar study for premium full service restaurants and investigate
quality is identified to be the tangibles. Suggestions for improving
service quality through this dimension are as follows. Restaurant 1
University of Southern California: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/intl_
managers can meet the customers’ needs by designing and creating a Promotion.html
proper physical environment and opening branches in convenient and 2
University of Southern California: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/intl_
easy-to-access locations. It gains more importance when finding a Promotion.html

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

service quality within that context. These two research directions are left for future researchers.

Appendix A. The questionnaire

The following questionnaire is used for a study on service quality and its relationship with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions at fast
food restaurants.
The full questionnaire should not take more than 15 min of your time. All responses are anonymous and confidential.
Please answer all questions very carefully. Your time and cooperation are appreciated in advance.

Your experience with this fast food Importance for you

restaurant

Very Good Natural Bad Very Questions Very Low Natural High Very
good bad low high

5 4 3 2 1 Convenient parking place 1 2 3 4 5

5 4 3 2 1 Interior decoration and design 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Location 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Clean tables 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Ease of access to the menu 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Staff appearance 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Staff friendliness 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Trained and knowledgeable staff 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Relaxing place to eat 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Trustfulness of the staff 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Fast service 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Reliability of waiting time as it shows on the bill 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Staff being professional during busy times 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Reasonable wait time 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Easiness of ordering and payment 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Staff being error free when taking orders 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Helpfulness of staff/ managers when an ordering 1 2 3 4 5
error happens
5 4 3 2 1 Ease of access to napkin, ketchup, etc. 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Convenience of restaurant hours based on your 1 2 3 4 5
schedule
5 4 3 2 1 Food quality 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Kids menu offering 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Food being nutritious 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Food being tasty 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Freshness of ingredients 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Variety of food options on the menu 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Food price 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Beverages price 1 2 3 4 5
5 4 3 2 1 Meal size 1 2 3 4 5

Please mark how much you agree or disagree with each statement. Very Low Natural High Very
low high

I am satisfied with service quality at this fast food restaurant. 1 2 3 4 5

I am satisfied with food quality at this fast food restaurant. 1 2 3 4 5
I am satisfied with food prices at this fast food restaurant. 1 2 3 4 5
I feel satisfied for choosing this fast food restaurant to eat at. 1 2 3 4 5
I made the right choice by eating at this fast food restaurant. 1 2 3 4 5
I will recommend this place to my friends and acquaintances. 1 2 3 4 5
I will come to this fast food restaurant again. 1 2 3 4 5
I will put a good word for this fast food restaurant when I talk with other people about it. 1 2 3 4 5
I will talk about the shortcomings of this fast food restaurant when I talk with other people 1 2 3 4 5
about it.

Demographic Information
• Gender
Male□ Female□

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A. Namin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017) 70–81

• Age
18 to 28□ 29 to 38□ 39 to 48□ 49 to 58□ 59 and above□
• Education
Unfinished high school□ Finished high school□
Associate degree□ Bachelors’ degree□
Masters’ degree and above□
• In this trip I am visiting this fast food restaurant with….
Just by myself□ Friends□ Family□
• How many times have you visited this fast food restaurant before?
This is my first time□ Two to five times□ More than six times□

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