Antecedents of Customer Loyalty and Perceived Service Quality: A SEM Analysis of Thai Restaurant Brands

With over 15,000 Thai restaurants worldwide and 5,342 in the USA alone, Thai cuisine has been repeatedly internationally acclaimed for its taste, flavors, smell, and nutritional values. The Thai Ministry of Commerce has also established a global objective to find and award the best Thai food restaurants using Thai Select Premium (TSP), Thai Select Unique (TSU), and Thai Select brand labels. Therefore, using systematic random sampling, 620 diners were selected from certified Thai Select restaurants (TSR) in either Los Angeles, New York, Miami, or Chicago to ask for their opinions concerning factors important to each restaurant's service loyalty (SL). The four constructs, 18 observed variables, and six hypotheses were analyzed using LISREL 9.1. Results revealed a significant positive effect (88% R-2) on the causal factor interrelationships on TSRs' SL. Additionally, the three factors affecting SL the most were service tangibility, taste perceptions, and brand image, with total effect values of 0.94, 0.43, and 0.31, respectively. Finally, when each US diner was asked why they chose to eat Thai food, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that taste (49.50%) and healthiness (32.90%) were most important. The study also adds to the literature by highlighting the importance of Thai cuisine contributing to healthier lifestyles.