The role of restaurant diners’ motivations and restaurant attributes in developing customer loyalty in traditional Chinese medicine restaurants

Purpose: In a reflection of individuals’ interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, nutraceutical restaurants, which provide health benefits, have emerged on the market. However, little is known about the underlying factors and mechanisms of the consumption of nutraceutical foods. Therefore, grounded in an extended cognitive–affective–conative model, this study examines the role of dining motivations and restaurant attributes in explaining an integrated model that focuses on customers’ loyalty formation process. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 893 Chinese customers who had recently dined at traditional Chinese medicine restaurants. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, this study examined the structural relationships among dining motivations, restaurant attributes, customers’ perceived benefits, overall satisfaction, place attachment and revisit intentions. Findings: The results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that two main motivations (i.e. health and traditional culture) and five restaurant attributes (i.e. food, service staff food recommendation, service staff service quality, furniture and tableware and atmosphere) are stimuli that influence customers’ perceived benefits. This study also revealed that four types of perceived benefits (functional, emotional, social and epistemic) significantly affect overall satisfaction and place attachment, which determine revisit intentions. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study help identify not only important dining motivations and restaurant attributes but also their roles in loyalty formation with respect to traditional Chinese medicine restaurants. Thus, the results contribute to an improved understanding of how to satisfy customers’ dining motivations and efficiently manage restaurant attributes to strengthen customer loyalty. Originality/value: This study is among the first to simultaneously examine the effects of customer motivation and restaurant attributes and to explain how they affect customer loyalty behaviors at traditional Chinese medicine restaurants.