The effect of customer’s intercultural competences on perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in the restaurant sector
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2024-06-27
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en
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Intercultural service encounters occur more often as a consequence of globalisation. These encounters, in which different cultural backgrounds meet, are seen as more complex. Both service provider and customer must understand each other's roles because not doing so can lead to dissatisfaction according to role theory. Literature provides evidence that employee’s intercultural competences positively contribute to customer satisfaction, but little is known about customer's intercultural competences. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether intercultural competences possessed by the customer will contribute to their satisfaction. In doing so, perceived service quality is seen as a mediator because it is stated to be an antecedent of satisfaction by literature. Intercultural competences are measured by means of 5 dimensions: cultural empathy, openmindedness, emotional stability, flexibility, and social initiative. Results show only customer's cultural empathy and openmindedness positively affect satisfaction, and for perceived service quality only openmindedness and social initiative play a positive significant part. Perceived service quality mediated the relationship between cultural empathy and openmindedness. The results imply that managers of intercultural restaurants should lure the openminded, culturally empathic, and socially initiative customer via positioning marketing activities.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen