Effects of word-of-mouth communication on purchasing decisions in restaurants : a path analytical study / Nur Fadilla Halim

This study examined a word-of-mouth communication structure in the restaurant where main variables of the word-of-mouth process on purchasing decisions were recognized and their connections were investigated in a restaurant setting. Therefore, a restaurant word-of-mouth model was suggested. Objectives of this study was firstly to identify the main factors of restaurant word-of-mouth communication, secondly to discover which word-of-mouth factors directly affect the consumer's restaurant product/service purchase decision and lastly to find out the degree to which word-of-mouth factors determine the consumer's word-of-mouth search efforts for a restaurant. Referring to extensive literature review, eight restaurant word-of-mouth variables and thirteen hypotheses were formulated. They were based on the theoretical background of communication models, Dongsuk Jang (2007) word-of-mouth model. The findings of this study suggest that factors of word-of-mouth receiver and sender's perceived expertise, tie strength, self image, reference group, and word-of-mouth search effort influence the consumer's restaurant service/product purchase decision. It was fascinating that most of the respondents' responses were positive word-of-mouth. It shows that positive word-of-mouth has a bigger impact on a restaurant consumer's word-of-mouth experience. It is also worth mentioning that the word-of-mouth channel most respondents used was face-to-face.