Abstract

While the cognitive aspects of customer behavior have been a main subject of research, some researchers are now focusing on the emotional aspects. The influence of emotion on attitude and judgement has been accepted by many researchers, and most studies regarding emotion have focused on physical surroundings and emotional responses, based on Mehrabian & Russell's 1974 model. This study aimed to expand the scope of the model by including employee service. Here we examined the structural relationships between the physical surroundings and employee service of upscale restaurants, along with emotional response, and service loyalty. Physical surroundings and employee service were used as single factors, and we composed four different emotional responses: positive, negative, positive arousal, and negative arousal. While physical surroundings had impact on 'positive emotion' and 'positive arousal', Employee service had influence on 'negative emotion', and 'negative arousal' as well as 'positive emotion'. And 'positive emotion' and 'positive arousal' influenced service loyalty. Lastly, there was also a correlation between physical surroundings and employee service.

Keywords

• Physical surroundings;
• employee service;
• emotional response;
• service loyalty;
• upscale restaurants