The Effects of Customers’ Purchase Decision Involvement (PDI) in the Foodservice Industry upon Customer Satisfaction and Behavioral Intent : Moderating Effects of the Customer Value

The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of customers’ purchase decision involvement on the customer satisfaction and behavioral intent in family restaurants, and explain the moderating effects according to customer value (hedonic vs. utilitarian). The study involved 363 Korean customers, this study reviewed reliability and fitness of research model and verified total 4 hypotheses with Amos program. The results showed a positive relationship between customers’ purchase decision involvement and customer satisfaction. Participants who reported a high level of purchase decision involvement were more likely to be visits for the family restaurants. Also, customer satisfaction was positively associated with customers’ behavioral intent. And, customer satisfaction appears to play a mediating role between customers’ purchase decision involvement and behavioral intent. In addition, the results showed that the effects of customers’ purchase decision involvement on customer satisfaction was significantly stronger in the utilitarian value - seeking group, and the effects of customers’ purchase decision involvement on behavioral intent was significantly stronger in the hedonic value - seeking group. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.