A Comparative study of customer perceived value as a driver for fine dining restaurant selection

A case of Thai consumers and Expatriates

Abstract

Customer perceived value is important as a key factor to predict consumption behavior, to understand consumer insights, and to create competitive advantage and develop marketing strategies. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between customers’ perceived value and its drivers which influence fine dining restaurant selection. This study proposes a framework and hypotheses by integrating the emotional model of Mehrabian-Russell (1974) and Zeithaml’s customer perceived value theory (1988). The results indicated that perceived value and monetary cost were the key factors that influence consumers’ intention to select a fine dining restaurant. Food quality, service quality, monetary cost and non monetary cost were found to be the essential factors which directly affect the overall customer perceived value of fine dining restaurants, in a positive way for quality and a negative way for cost. The perceptions of customer perceived value and restaurant selection for Thai consumers and expatriates were different. For Thai consumers, food quality, service quality and positive emotion directly influence value and restaurant selection was based mainly on perceived value and monetary cost. Expatriates, in contrast, emphasized the atmosphere and service quality, which enhance their positive emotion. Additionally, the positive emotion of the dining experience was a key factor for fine dining restaurant selection.