Servicescape and Customer Satisfaction in a Fine-dining Restaurant Setting

Abstract

This study examined the effect of servicescape – ambience, spatial layout, social dimension and information dimension on customer satisfaction in fine-dining restaurants. Guided by a cross sectional research design, we obtained primary data from 280 customers using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics sufficed for data analysis, while regression analysis was instrumental in hypotheses testing. The findings revealed that ambience, spatial layout and information dimension had significant positive effects on customer satisfaction in restaurants, while social dimension had a negative and non-significant effect on customer satisfaction. This study demonstrates the predictive power of restaurant servicescape to influence customers’ experiences. The insights generated provide definitive empirical evidence that confirms that customer satisfaction could be improved through deliberate design of restaurant servicescape. As such, the study provides a strategic blueprint for restaurant operators in servicescape design for maximum customer satisfaction. With these insights, this study contributes to restaurant service marketing in African countries by providing empirically-verifiable evidence that a key strategy to improving customer satisfaction is deliberate and strategic servicescape design. It also contributes to the stimulus-organism-response theory by confirming that its basic premise holds true in the restaurant context, thereby furthering the applicability of the theoretical framework in restaurant-based research.

Keywords

• servicescape
• customer satisfaction
• ambience
• spatial layout
• restaurants