Why Use Importance Performance Analysis in Mystery Shopping? A USA–Poland Comparative Answer

Abstract

Abstract This research was designed to use the Importance Performance Analysis technique to augment traditional mystery shopping. The study compared actual experience data with what mystery shoppers had expected, in two different sample populations, (Poland and the United States). This paper is empirical and involves data from 200 restaurant visits in Poland and the United States. The sampling unit consists of 50 urban casual restaurants (25 per country), with each restaurant visited 4 times by different trained mystery shoppers. The data collection consists of a two-part self administered questionnaire. The questionnaires contain 35 attributes that mystery shoppers answered, in order to compare their pre-visit expectation and post-visit satisfaction scores. Findings indicate that in two different cultural settings mystery shopping can be enhanced by incorporating the IPA, thus providing hospitality businesses with a practical and easy to use technique to improve quality assurance. KEYWORDS: Importance Performance Analysismystery shoppingcustomer satisfactionPolandUnited States of America