How reputation creates loyalty in the restaurant sector

Purpose - This study attempts to investigate the causal relationships between perceived trust, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation to understand how customer perceptions evolve into customer loyalty in the restaurant sector. Design/methodology/approach - This study develops a research model and empirically examines the model by collecting data from two different chain restaurants. Based on the aggregated responses (n = 529) from surveys conducted in the two selected chain restaurants, structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the variables. Findings - The results reveal that corporate reputation creates loyalty through trust and value, two factors that act as important mediating variables in the model. Another key finding, based on a comparison of the total effects, is that perceived trust affects customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and that it has a stronger effect than perceived value. Practical implications - Along with the reputation-loyalty linkage, which is mediated by trust and value, the minor influence of customer-perceived value implies that restaurant managers should consider enhancing their diners' perceived value by providing innovative products and services. Originality/value - This study develops a conceptual stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model that reflects the mediating role of trust and value to indicate the effect of the customer perceptions of the corporate reputation on customer loyalty in the restaurant sector.