The Effect of Service Emotional Experience on Relational Performance in the Family Restaurant

패밀리 레스토랑의 서비스 감성체험이 관계적 성과에 미치는 영향

It is widely agreed that customers' purchase are strongly influenced by their emotions. despite the obvious importance of eliciting positive emotional responses from customers, we find no record that family restaurants have ever measured or used customers' emotions as a management tool. This study aimed to verify the importance of the customers' emotion in the relational performance of family restaurant business. In order to achieve the object of the study, the effect of emotional factors on service satisfaction, revisit, word-of-mouth were analysed. The data were collected from 450 customers who had visited five family restaurants in Seoul more than once during the last three months from September 20 to October 5, 2002. Emotional variables in service experience process were grouped as three factors; in the middle of having food, in entering and leaving restaurant and in the waiting line. It is proved that customers had different emotions in each process of family restaurant service experience. Multiple regression analysis was employed to explore the influence of three emotional factors on relational performances such as satisfaction, revisit and word-of-mouth. It was found that customers were influenced by emotional factors in entering and leaving restaurant, secondly influenced in the waiting line and least influenced in the middle of having food. Finally, the findings indicated that customers' emotional factors in whole service experience process from entering to leaving the restaurant should be successfully cared by service staff. Future research is recommended to find out which specific emotional factors affected on relational performance of family restaurant.