The impact of Servicescape on Customers5 Service Experience: Focusing on authenticity and exoticism in an ethnic restaurant

The impact of Servicescape on Customers5 Service Experience: Focusing on authenticity and exoticism in an ethnic restaurant

With the increase in the number of people traveling abroad and living in a foreign country, there is an increase in preference for global ethnic food; consequently, the number of ethnic restaurants has been increasing. Thus, it is imperative to understand how customers experience and respond to an ethnic restaurant. The purpose of this research is to examine the ejfect of the servicescape (substantive and communicative) on the place attachment and service experience evaluation through authenticity and exoticism. To conduct this research, data were collected from 412 online survey respondents who had experienced dining out at an ethnic restaurant in the preceding 6 months. The results revealed that substantive servicescape and communicative servicescape positively influenced authenticity and exoticism; in turn, authenticity and exoticism positively influenced place attachment. It was found that authenticity had slightly more influence on place attachment. Place attachment positively influenced experience intensification and experience extension. The empirical results showed that communicative servicescape had a stronger ejfect on authenticity and exoticism than substantive servicescape. Moreover, authenticity and exoticism were found to be important to place attachment and service experience evaluation in the context of an ethnic restaurant. Thus, managerial strategies should be set up and oriented as discussed.