Restaurant Service Quality in Relation to Customer Satisfaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67167/vertex.656Keywords:
DINESERV Model, Foodservice Industry, customer loyalty, hospitality management, dining experience quality, digital service adoption, provincial marketsAbstract
Service quality is a critical driver of customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry, yet little research has examined this relationship among independently owned restaurants in smaller, developing-economy markets such as the Philippine provinces. This study determined the level of restaurant service quality and customer satisfaction in Misamis Occidental, Philippines, and tested whether a significant relationship exists between the two constructs. A descriptive-correlational design surveyed 396 customers across 10 independently owned restaurants using convenience sampling, with a researcher-made and validated questionnaire analyzed through weighted mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation. Restaurants demonstrated very good service quality and very high customer satisfaction overall, though technology was rated lower than every other dimension on both measures. All twenty-five correlations between the service quality and customer satisfaction constructs were positive and highly significant, ranging from moderate to strong, with assurance and empathy showing the strongest associations. These results indicate that service quality functions as a significant antecedent of customer satisfaction in the independent restaurant setting and identify technology as the most underdeveloped dimension relative to its peers. The findings carry direct implications for restaurant owners and local tourism stakeholders: sustaining current service standards while investing in technology-enabled touchpoints, such as digital ordering or reservation systems, could meaningfully strengthen customer satisfaction and loyalty. Given the cross-sectional design and the geographic scope limited to one province, these findings should be interpreted as context-specific rather than broadly generalizable across all restaurant markets.
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