American customers' expectations of service quality toward an Indian restaurant compared to an American restaurant

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The increasing number of immigrants in the USA has made the American society more diverse, making the increase in ethnic restaurants an interesting research topic. As people from different cultures settled in the United States, they brought with them their culture influences as well as their food. Ethnic restaurants have emerged in the past decade and many establishments have introduced cuisines from different parts of the world. The acceptance of ethnic cuisine is tremendously positive. One reason is that Americans are traveling further from home exposing them to new cuisines that they may look for when they return home. By studying the factors that are important to people in choosing an ethnic restaurant versus and American casual dining restaurant, the ethnic restaurant owner becomes better equipped to emphasize the needs of the customers. In addition, this study will help the ethnic restaurant owners in understanding the importance of service quality expectations in ethnic restaurants. This study will give ethnic restaurant owners direction to where they should focus their attention and efforts to provide quality service. This study will help the ethnic restaurant owners to better understand the importance of keeping the customer happy and provide them insight on how they can improve themselves by establishing service quality standards based on the findings of this study. Finally, this study will be based upon what Americans expect as a culture. This study will also help understand the role gender and age play in determining differences in expectations. It is important to understand what aspects of service quality are important in matching good service to what is culturally expected.