Factors Affecting Word of Mouth Behavior in the Fast Food Industry, An Evidence from Islamabad and Rawalpindi

Abstract

Purpose – Fast food out lets with limited promotion budgets depend mainly on word of mouth (WOM) among customers. WOM seems particularly important to the marketing of services. This is because services are experiential in nature and difficult to assess before purchase. In the fast food context there is little research on WOM intention. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affects WOM about fast food out lets implying on the critical role of relationship quality. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review is conducted to identify the major factors influencing WOM in the context of Fast food out lets. The study utilizes selfadministered questionnaire survey and the target population are the customers who have referred to the fast food out lets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. A convenience sampling approach was utilized to collect a sample of 219 customers. A structural equation modeling procedure is applied to the examination of the components of WOM. Findings – The paper found that social media as a tool, food quality, personal interaction quality, physical environment quality, and perceived value influence WOM behavior of customer in an indirect way through relationship quality. Practical implications – This research inferred that an understanding of factors that influence the people to talk to each other about a given fast food out let are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the study helps to understand how these factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the long-term economic sustainability of fast food out lets in Pakistan. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this research will be the first attempt to explore influential factors on WOM in Fast food out letsin Islamabad and Rawalpindi, focusing on the critical role of relationship quality. It is expected that researchers will find this research a contribution to the WOM literature, particularly in restaurant industry. Keywords:Social Media, Social Media Marketing,Word of mouth, Relationship quality, Restaurant industry, Consumer behavior