Vladimir Senić

The antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions for full-service restaurants

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions for full-service restaurants. The economic crisis is known to have had a deep impact on consumer behavior with regards to restaurants and this study is primarily focussed on exploring the effects on the traditional antecedents of satisfaction and revisit intentions as full-time restaurants attempt to reposition their offer. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved 218 respondents who were guests of full-service restaurants. In terms of statistical analyses, confirmative factor analysis was used to test the suitability of the proposed model for measuring satisfaction and revisit intentions, while structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relationship among variables of the conceptualized model. Findings – The results confirmed the significant impact of atmosphere and quality of interaction on guest satisfaction. It was interesting to notice that perceived price has no statistical...

Examining the effect of different components of customer value on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral intentions

Purpose – The aim of the research is to determine the effects of the four dimensions of customer values that the study identifies, namely, emotional value, social value, functional value and monetary value, on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral intentions. The concept of perceived value is increasingly becoming a subject of interest for authors and researchers in the field of services marketing. Perceived value is considered to be a significant predictor of behavioral intentions. The manner in which consumers perceive the value of a product or service that is offered affects the level of their loyalty. In this context, an analysis of perceived value represents a very important activity in terms of customer-orientated management. Quite frequently, customer value is seen as a multidimensional construct that includes several components. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was conducted via a sample of 246 respondents – users of mobile telecommunication operators. Each construct of the suggested model wa...

Loyalty patterns in corporate banking: insights gained from analysing willingness to recommend and share of wallet concepts

The concept of loyalty in retail banking has been widely addressed within the marketing literature. Nevertheless, although corporate clients generate substantial bank revenues, only a limited number of studies have been carried out to improve understanding of loyalty patterns among corporate clients of differing sizes. The study described in the present paper aimed to identify the key antecedents of willingness to recommend (WTR) and share of wallet (SOW). The research also scrutinised the impact of employee numbers as a potential moderator in relationships between WTR/SOW, and their antecedents (service quality, image, service price, and customer satisfaction). The findings indicate that in almost all cases the number of employees has no moderating effect on these relationships. Finally, the research suggests that the degree of WTR and SOW for micro/small enterprises is significantly stronger compared with medium/large enterprises.

Commemorative events at destination memorials – a dark (heritage) tourism context

Abstract In the past, sites and events related to war and atrocities were viewed in the wider context of heritage tourism. The term ‘dark’ was added with the aim of recognising heritage sites closely related to death and suffering. Given that commemorative events as part of dark heritage are not prevalent in heritage and tourism literature, there is a need to understand the behaviour of visitors involved in visiting these sites or attending this type of event, which presents a special challenge. Public commemorations, especially those that mark particularly disturbing occurrences, such as ‘The Great School Hour’ – an event which is presented in the artistic form of a ‘school class’ – are unique form of tourist activity that has not been thoroughly investigated previously. Thus, the aim of the study is to explore the influence of the main motivators on revisit intention and willingness to recommend for those who attended the commemorative event ‘The Great School Hour’ in Kragujevac, Serbia, with a particular focus on younger people. The results suggest that learning, emotional response and uniqueness have a significant positive effect on revisit intention, while emotional response and uniqueness have a significant positive effect on willingness to recommend.

Going for gold as a leisure tourism continuum: clustering motivations for gold panning revisit intention

Abstract The way in which people use their spare time differs. Leisure activities and tourism are among the most common of these. Gold panning is a rather unusual niche leisure and tourism activity. Despite some differences, leisure and tourism are generally interrelated in many ways, thus gold panning, is a good example of the leisure tourism continuum. In this study, gold panning is considered as a set of leisure activities within the context of tourism. The aim of the paper is to determine the profile of a gold panner based on their motivations. Therefore, respondents are clustered by means of motivation into two homogenous groups defined as ‘nature seekers’ and ‘true gold panners’. The results suggest that the clusters differ significantly with regards to age, education and marital status, but also in terms of the degree of interest in gold and revisit intention. The originality of the research lies in the fact that gold panning as a leisure activity has seldom been explored under the guise of a leisure and tourist context within existing literature, especially through the means of quantitative research.

Communication in the state of crisis

Due to diversity of research related to crisis it is rather important to present definitions of various key terms related to crisis, crisis management and crisis communication, in order to establish tangible boundaries among them. Those three are mutually intertwined and should be considered starting from the first symptoms of crisis to crisis management and finally crisis communication. In the state of crisis, conventional management practice is often not adequate, while types of reaction are insufficient. Thus, this paper gives precise definitions of crisis, crisis management and crisis communication.

Factors affecting choice and image of ethnic restaurants in Serbia

Purpose – With the expansion of dining out, visiting ethnic restaurants is becoming one of dominant trends worldwide. Given the fact that ethnic restaurants involve a number of peculiar elements that are not present when visiting regular “local” restaurants, the purpose of this paper is to identify the key determinants of choosing a particular ethnic-themed restaurant, as well as factors that have an impact on an ethnic restaurant’s perceived image. Design/methodology/approach – Research was done by conducting two separate studies. The first study identified factors that were generally the most significant to respondents when making a choice of an ethnic restaurant in which to dine. For the second study, a new sample of respondents – consisting of those who had just visited such an establishment – was used in order to determine which factors have the most significant impact on creating an image of ethnic restaurants. The research was therefore directed toward those restaurants where the customers can experience a unique atmosphere and ambiance that are synonymous within a given culture. Findings – The results obtained from the first study show that quality of food and price are the two most significant factors that determine which restaurant will be visited. On the other hand, the interior and exterior ranked as the two least important factors. In addition, the second study revealed that following the visit, the strongest impact on the restaurant’s image was its interior. Following interior, service quality surfaced as the most important antecedent of perceived image, while the impacts of price and exterior were weaker, but still statistically significant. Research limitations/implications – The study itself was done in two stages. In the first stage the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) model was used for ranking factors significant for choosing an ethnic restaurant, while in the second stage, structural equation modeling (SEM) model was used to identify triggers of perceived image after a visit to an ethnic restaurant. Future research should utilize both models to determine antecedents of the variables used. Apart from this, it is recommended to employ new variables that further explore the uniqueness of the ethnic restaurants. Originality/value – One of the main contributions of this work is related to combining of the AHP and SEM models, with the objective of completing a comparative results analysis, identifying in the process the positive aspects of both models and building a foundation for their coordination in terms of future use. This is significant, given that only a few prior studies have used such synergy.

Preventing customer defection and stimulating return of the lost customers

Customers represent companys most valuable asset. Company can assure its survival, further growth and development by retaining existing, attracting new and returning lost customers. Retaining existing, loyal customers is the most profitable business activity, attracting new ones is the most expensive, while returning lost and frequently forgotten customers is a type of business activity that still generates modest interest among researchers and practitioners. So far, marketing strategies have been mainly directed towards the first two categories of customers. The objective of this paper is dedicated to customer defection and returning lost customers. Paper discusses customer relationship life-cycle and the significance of managing customer return within it, types of customer defections, the process of managing return, as well as, the reasons that led to customer defection.