Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on food and beverage service performance and behavioral intents: importance of sanitary measures

Abstract

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, people are reluctant to dine out, which has severely impacted the hospitality industry. Based on the behavioral inhibition system theory, this research investigates the role of sanitary measures in reducing the effect of the Covid-19 threat on consumers' approach behavior. 226 respondents were first called to share their expectations in terms of service quality and were then exposed to three different scenarios according to the three levels of sanitary measures taken by restaurants (no measure, medium-level measures, and high-level measures). The results reveal that although the perceived risk related to Covid-19 negatively impacts service quality performance, sanitary measures reduce such a negative effect from one side and directly foster the service quality performance from another side. This leads to higher satisfaction and more favorable intents of visit and recommendation. In addition, the paper emphasizes that, in terms of consumers' expectations, hygiene is, henceforth, the most demanded dimension of the service quality. The findings of this research are especially useful for the hospitality sector to regain their customers and enhance their approach behavior in the new normal. This research is among the first studies on the topic, which was conducted during the pandemic new normal.