Experiential Value, Relationship Quality, and Customer Loyalty in Full-Service Restaurants: The Moderating Role of Gender

This research proposes and empirically tests a model of the relationships among experiential value, relationship quality, and loyalty within the context of full-service restaurant patronage. Specifically, the authors focus on the role that experiential value plays in explaining the link between relationship quality and customer loyalty, and whether there are gender differences inherent to the proposed framework. Hypotheses implied by the model are tested on a sample of 368 patrons of U.S. full-service restaurants. Findings revealed that customers' experiential value perceptions are significant predictors of relationship quality, and that gender moderates (1) the relationship between relationship quality, and behavioral loyalty and (2) the relationship between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. These findings are discussed in terms of both academic and practitioner implications.