On the relationship between perceived performance, consumer satisfaction, and restaurant loyalty

The research into consumer satisfaction has been progressing rapidly fueled by satisfaction-profitability relationship investigation, in which the loyalty is considered as the proxy between satisfaction and profitability. However, there is no consensus on the micro process of satisfaction influencing loyalty up to now. This paper wants to address this issue by an empirical study under a restaurant context, in which the relationship between perceived performance, consumer satisfaction and loyalty is examined using likelihood of repurchase, likelihood of recommendation and reputation as the mediating variables. The results show that there is no evidence support the direct effect from satisfaction to loyalty. Hence, the authors conclude that firms should make their marketing strategy beyond the perspectives of perceived performance and consumer satisfaction, and improve consumer loyalty through multiple aspects.