The Impacts of Restaurant Technology on Customer Dining Experiences: The Moderating Role of Need for Interaction: An Abstract

Abstract

At the era of technology, customers’ dining experiences are revolutionary different than ever before. Thus, this study seeks to understand the impacts of restaurant technology on customer dining experiences Furthermore, the study places particular emphasis on exploring the moderating effects of the need for interaction on customer dining experiences through the application of restaurant technology. A theoretical framework has been proposed to explain the relationships among restaurant technology, service quality, service experience, relationship quality and need for interaction. The questionnaires are distributed in 28 restaurants which adopted different levels of technology services in Taiwan. The total of 712 surveys are collected for further analysis. The study tests six hypotheses using structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and multi-group analysis. As expected, the study findings suggest that restaurant technology have positive effects on service quality and service experience. The findings indicate that customers who experience restaurant technology are more likely to perceive high service quality and service experience. Moreover, the results suggest that restaurant technology have a detrimental impact on relationship quality. Customers are likely to show lower relationship quality when they experience high level of restaurant technology. Finally, need for interaction changes the nature of the relationship between restaurant technology and relationship quality. More specifically, restaurant technology has stronger negative effects on relationship quality when need for interaction is high rather than low. The results of study provide useful information for the restaurant industry to incorporate the technology applications in the operation and service enhancement.