Maziriri, E. T.Rukuni, T. F.Mafojane, Mathapelo2023-09-112023-09-112022http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12180Dissertation (M.Com.(Business Management))--University of the Free State, 2022The increasingly competitive rivalry within the restaurant industry creates immense pressure among those within the industry. Many restaurants fail to survive or thrive in this industry, even though it is such a lucrative industry. There are many restaurants, differentiation becomes difficult, and competition is intense. The study sought to predict factors influencing the satisfaction and behavioural intentions of restaurant consumers through a blended approach by identifying factors that can help stimulate customer satisfaction, such as service quality factors (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance) and hygiene factors(personal hygiene, cleanliness of equipment and surfaces, cleanliness of restrooms), and the study further predicts that the successful application of these factors by restaurants can lead to post-behavioural intentions, such as restaurant attachment, willingness to pay price premia, return patronage intention and positive word of mouth. Data was collected from 300 restaurant customers in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the results, and Smart-PLS to test and assess the validity of the hypothesised relationships in the model. It was precisely found that assurance positively and significantly impacted customer satisfaction. However, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, and empathy were insignificant and did not influence customer satisfaction. In addition, only cleanliness of restroom under hygiene was found to have a positive and significant influence on customer satisfaction. However, personal hygiene and cleanliness of equipment and surfaces did not have a statistically significant influence on customer satisfaction. It was also found that customer satisfaction positively and significantly impacts restaurant attachment. Moreover, it was found that restaurant attachment has an impact on willingness to pay price premia, return patronage intention and positive word of mouth. This study recommends that a restaurant should use a blended approach of high service quality and proper hygienic conditions to secure and enhance customer satisfaction which ultimately leads to positive behavioural intentions. This study broadens the knowledge base currently in marketing and customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry. Lastly, the study concludes with identifying the limitations of the study and presents future research opportunities.enService qualitypersonal hygienecleanliness of equipment and surfacescleanliness of restroomscustomer satisfactionrestaurant attachmentwillingness to pay price premiumsreturn patronage intentionpositive word of mouthDissertationUniversity of the Free State