The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures and brand trust on customers’ intention to revisit restaurants in the new normal: A moderated-mediation analysis

• Main Author: Bernardo, Aileen Kristina Miranda
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Consumer behavior; Customer loyalty; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020—-Influence; Restaurants—Public relations; Marketing
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_market/46; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=etdm_market
• Institution: De La Salle University

The restaurant industry was one of the most affected businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, which heightened the level of uncertainty, disrupting the eating-out behavior of customers. Given this situation, customers dining in a safe environment and a trusted restaurant were the primary reasons. To test these hypotheses, this research paper aimed to determine the moderating effect of COVID-19 preventive measures and mediating effect of brand trust on customers’ intention revisit restaurants using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This study adapted a non-probability quota sampling with a seven-point scale questionnaire administered online to 407 working professionals from identified Central Business District (CBD) cities in the National Capital Region (NCR). The extended Theory of Planned Behavior model was analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) through SMART PLS 3.3. Results indicated that attitude and perceived behavioral control directly influenced revisit intention to restaurants. This implies that customers’ beliefs and willingness to dine-in were solid motivators to revisit a restaurant. At the same time, brand trust had a significant mediating effect only in the relationship between perceived behavioral control and revisit intention. This means that the customers’ ability to revisit a restaurant was bridged by their past satisfying experience built through brand trust. However, preventive measures did not moderate the relationship between Theory of Planned Behavior constructs and customers’ revisit intention. The study provided significant implications for restaurants and marketing practitioners. This researcher suggested that further study is needed to determine its incidence.