Dynamics of consumers perception, demographic characteristics and consumers behavior towards selection of a restaurant: an exploratory study on Dhaka city

consumers
Muhammad Sabbir Rahman

Muhammad Sabbir Rahman is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Management, Graduate School of Management, Multimedia University, Selangor, Malaysia.

Introduction
With the turn of the century, and changes in the socio-economic environment in Bangladesh, the context of the restaurant business in Dhaka city has changed. Generally, people in Bangladesh, particularly in Dhaka city are very busy and do not seem to have much time to go far away to a luxurious hotel to consume delicious food. That is why a number of carry-out facilities particularly small and medium restaurants have become prevalent in many places in Dhaka city of Bangladesh in order to meet the existing demand of these lucrative but busy customers. To be successful in a restaurant business, foodservice providers are required to deliver not only good quality products and services, but also a high level of dining satisfaction that will lead to increased customers satisfaction and thus repeat business. For this reason, restaurants marketers need to understand customers perception and the characteristics of their demographic variables. In addition, investigators have agreed that service quality and customer satisfaction directly link to customers return behavior in the hospitality market (Dube et al. 1994; Lee and Hing, 1995; Johns and Tyas, 1996; Oh and Jeong, 1996; Fu and Parks, 2001). Zeithaml (1996); Oh (2000); Tam (2004) explained that service quality, customer perceived value, and satisfaction are highly correlated and predict the customers repurchase behavior. Several studies have been conducted to assess customers perception, purchasing behaviors, customers perceived value, customers satisfaction; and repurchase intention related to the hotel and restaurant industry (Dube et al., 1994; Lee and Hing, 1995; Johns and Tyas, 1996; Fu and Parks, 2001; Tam, 2004). There is a signicant research gap of linking consumers perception towards the selection a restaurant when consumers demographic backgrounds play a mediating role. Particularly, in a country like Bangladesh, empirical research is lacking thus contributing to the need for new knowledge in this area. Studies focusing on Bangladeshi restaurants consumers were hardly ever reported in previous academic studies. The present study aims to gather primary data from respondents from multicultural and multi-religious groups who frequently restaurants. This paper also presents a conceptual framework and exploratory analysis of the relevant variables. The ndings would make a contribution to the restaurants business managers and the literature on consumer perception and hospitality research. This study identied a relationship model to understand the consumers perception which is mediated by

DOI 10.1108/17515631211205488

VOL. 13 NO. 2 2012, pp. 75-88, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1751-5637

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demographic characteristics and thus can be of value to the foodservice industry in their strategic planning. Therefore, the overall objective of the present study is to test whether the demographic characteristics such as gender, income and age really mediate customers perceptions in the choice of a particular restaurant or not. Therefore, this study will directly address the question Do the consumers perception towards choosing a restaurant mediating by their demographic characteristics (age, gender, income)?

Background of Dhaka city

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and is one of the major cities of South Asia with a population of over 12 million, making it the largest city in Bangladesh (Statistical Pocket Book, 2008). From the report of World Bank (2010) Dhaka is the ninth largest city in the world and also among the most densely populated cities. Modern Dhaka is the centre of political, cultural and economic life in Bangladesh (National Web Portal, Government of Bangladesh, 2009). The city, in combination with localities forming the wider metropolitan area, is home to an estimated 12.8 million as of 2008 (Statistical Pocket Book, 2008). The population is growing by an estimated 4.2 percent per year, one of the highest rates amongst Asian cities (Terry, 2006). According to the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dhaka will become a home of 25 million people by the year 2025 (Davis, 2006). Dhaka is also the commercial heart of Bangladesh. The city has a growing middle class population driving the market for modern consumer and luxury goods (Alastair, 2002). The main commercial areas of the city include Motijheel, New Market, Gulshan and Farmgate, while Tejgaon and Hazaribagh are the major industrial areas. Bashundhara-Baridhara is a developing economic area that include with high-tech industries, corporations and a large shopping mall (Alastair, 2002). Growth has been especially strong in the nance, banking, manufacturing, telecommunications and services sectors, while tourism, hotels and restaurants continue as important elements in the economy of Dhaka (Terry, 2006).

Literature review
The eld of consumer research has developed as an extension of the eld of marketing research, focusing almost exclusively on consumer behavior rather than on other aspects of the marketing process. However, consumer behavior not only involves the specic actions taken by individuals in buying and using products and services, but also the social and psychological factors that affect these actions as well (Carman, 1990). According to the study by Shwu-Ing (2003) a persons buying choices are inuenced by four major psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning, beliefs/attitude. Some researchers also categorized inuencing factors into internal and external factors (Kaufman, 2002; Shwu-Ing, 2003). According to Yoo et al. (2000); Pappu and Quester (2006) price, store image, distribution insanity, advertising spending, and price promotion of the marketing mix are the determining factors in consumer perception of the marketing mix. Chen (2007) argued that the marketing mix on consumer behavior is inuenced through product, price, location, and promotion. However, Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) dened perception as the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. They also mentioned that individual consumers have perceived images of themselves; they also have perceived images of products and brands. To this end authors such as Anandarajan et al. (2000) have argued that variables such as gender and age are not correlated with the service users in their workplace.

The mediating effect of age

Age is not simply a chronological construct; rather, individuals become older biologically, psychologically, and socially (Moschis et al., 1997). Biological age refers to the physical changes associated with chronological ageing (Dehlin et al., 2000), whereas psychological age and social age depend on perceptions of a persons age how old the person feels

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and looks, what the person does, and what he or she nds interesting (Alalaakkola, 1996; Schiffman and Sherman, 1991). Biological age is continuous with chronology, but psychological and social age can vary during an individuals life and can even go backwards for example, when an individual choice of a particular restaurant can be affected by their psychological age. On the other hand social age is signicantly inuenced by societys views on how each age cohort (or generation) lives, behaves, and consumes guer, 2002; Alalaakkola, 1996). Moreover, social age is affected by so-called period (Tre effects, whereby events that occur in a certain chronological sequence affect persons in a similar way, irrespective of an individuals age. Under the inuence of such period effects, the behavior of different age groups can be temporarily similar (Alalaakkola, 1996). According to Ozimek and Zakowska-Biemans (2011) consumer decision-making and information processing are inuenced by individual differences and psychological processes. They also noted that consumers eating behavior is also inuenced by socio-demographic variables such as age, social class, and place of residence. Wagar and Lindqvist (2010) also explained that age is a relevant factor in service design. They recommended that service providers therefore need to take age as an important factor in their service design. Age is a signicant marketing phenomenon because it affects the consumption patterns of individuals and is associated with several important social and psychographic factors (such as family size, income, and self-image) (Alalaakkola, 1996). Consumers attitudes toward food can be inuenced by emotional disposition to the foodstuff. As concerns taste features it was found that the higher the education of respondents, the smaller the degree to which they pay attention to this factor (Ozimek and Zakowska-Biemans, 2011). On the other hand, the impact of culture on food choice is immense and varied; however there are still many differences in food choices, and in food likes and dislikes, among members of the same culture (Rozin and Vollmecke, 1986). Thus, the following research question can be proposed: RQ1. How does age affect consumer perception of selecting a restaurant?

The mediating effect of gender

Socio-demographic characteristics are the key elements of understanding food consumers behavior (Marshall, 1995). According to Gentry et al. (2003, p. 1), gender is the symbolic role denition attributed to members of a sex on the basis of historically constructed interpretations of the nature, disposition, and role of members of that sex. The American Psychological Association denes gender as a psychological phenomenon that refers to learned sex-related behaviors and attitudes of males and females (American Psychological Association reprinted in Gerrig and Zimbardo, 2002). Gender is the most universal social organizing principle (Roopnarine and Mounts, 1987). According to Reiter (1975, p. 159) gender roles create arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satised. Yeganeh (2000) argued that gender functions are traditionally divided into distinct feminine and masculine roles that may vary substantially from one society to another. Generally men are considered to be more utilitarian compared to women who have a more hedonistic orientation (Hu and Jasper, 2004). Research has shown that men generally put more emphasis on convenience when purchasing and have stronger loyalty to a store than women (Hart et al., 2007). It is also revealed that men under 35 tend to shop more like women than men, meaning that they like to browse and experience the shopping process (Byrne, 2006). Teen boys have a strong inuence on their family purchase decisions (Byrne, 2006). Men were found to consider shopping for clothes to be equally appropriate for men and women (Hill and Harmon, 2007). According to the NPD report, three out of four men shopped for themselves in 2009 (Reda, 2010). Females and males tend to have different attitudinal and behavioral orientations, partly from genetic makeup and partly from socialization experiences (Putrevu, 2001). Thus, gender is often perceived as being an important predictor of differential outcomes in the literature on social psychology (Correll, 2007).

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Gender is one of the demographic or socioeconomic variables for customer classication and product market segmentation (Alexander, 1947; Nysveen et al., 2005). Other socioeconomic variables include age, marital status, education, income and occupation (Slama and Tashchian, 1985). Consequently, gender segmentation, differentiation and positioning have long been applied in marketing, especially regarding clothing, hairstyling, cosmetics, and magazines (Kotler and Keller, 2006). Nevertheless, marketing research is rather limited, especially with respect to the interaction of gender in selling-buying situations and genders effects on relationship development (Bhagat and Williams, 2008; Ndubisi, 2006). Empirical research suggests that men and women tend to have different attitudinal and behavioral orientations in their buying behavior (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Noble et al., 2006). Gender differences can affect consumers approaches to decision making (Mitchell and Walsh, 2004) and the decision difculty (Walsh and Mitchell, 2005), while gender differences were also found for appearance-related attitudes and behavior (Burton et al., 1994). There are differences between men and women in their reactions to the same marketing stimuli. Arnold and Bianchi (2001) proposed gender identity as a variable that impacts on the success of a relationship marketing strategy when dealing with business-to-consumer relations. Men and women seem to want different products, and they are likely to have different ways of thinking about obtaining these (Huang et al., 2003). Consequently, the following research question is proposed: RQ2. Does gender have an effect on consumer perception in selecting a restaurant?

The mediating effect of income

Besides gender and age, other demographic characteristics such as income appear to impact the consumers perception of selecting a restaurant. Prior research indicates that education and income are signicant demographics in terms of Web diffusion (Atkin et al., 1998). Price was shown to be a more important aspect when choosing food for the elderly (importance of this factor grew with age of respondents). This may be due to a lower level of income among older consumers and are considered an unattractive segment because of their relatively lower incomes and health issues, which often stops them from doing shopping on their own (Stitt et al., 1995, Manandhar, 1995). Another important factor inuencing food choice behavior has to do with the price (Steptoe et al., 1995). This is explained primarily by better income situation of people with higher education levels (Gutkowska et al., 2001). However, little research has focused on other demographic variables such as income in consumers perception in the choice of a restaurant. Consequently, the following research question is proposed: RQ3. Do income and employment status of consumers have an inuence on their perception in the choice of a restaurant?

Conceptual framework
Above all researchers in this study found that there is very limited literature focusing on consumers perception in the choice of a restaurants services when gender, age and income play a mediating role. Based on the literature review; this study proposed a conceptual framework of studying dynamics of consumers perception their demographic characteristics towards their behavior of selection a restaurant. This framework emphasizes the following independent, mediating and dependent variables: consumers perception, consumers age, consumers income, consumers gender and consumers behavior towards choosing a restaurant. The schematic diagram is presented below in Figure 1. The following null hypothesis is presented by referring to the conceptual framework which will be tested through statistical procedure: H1. Consumers perception plays a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant, when consumers ages play mediating role.

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Figure 1 Theoretical framework for the proposed study

H2. H3. H4. H5. H6.

Consumers perception plays a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant, when consumers income plays mediating role. Consumers perception plays a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant when consumers gender differences play mediating role. Consumers age plays a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant. Consumers income plays a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant. Consumers gender differences play a signicant role in their behavior towards choosing a restaurant.

Research methodology
The major purpose of this study is to learn the consumers perception in the choice of a restaurants services where demographic variables like gender, age and income act as a mediating variable. In order to guarantee the representativeness of the population, convenient sampling method was employed, according to the criteria of signicant location in Dhaka city (like Motijheel, New Market, Gulshan and Farmgate, Tejgaon,Hazaribagh and Bashundhara-Baridhara). The survey questionnaire consisted of six distinct sections, each section contained relevant questions pertaining to different parts of the study. Questionnaires were systematically distributed utilizing a convenient sampling method. The sampling frame for conducting the principal component analysis was comprised of 350 respondents. A seven-point scale was used ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Initially a total of 400 samples were distributed among the potential respondents for this study, of which 370 questionnaires were received. After the screening process was completed, only 350 responses were considered complete and valid for further data analysis. This represents a response rate of 87.50 percent, which was considered to be adequate based on time, cost, certainty and geographical constraints.

Data analysis procedure

The rst stage of the data analysis utilized exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the factor structure for measuring the factor that affect consumers perception in the choice of a restaurants services. The second part of the data analysis utilized conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) to conrm the factor structure. Hence in this study structural equation models were used to test the hypothesis. It seemed appropriate for the study because of the multiple dependence relationships in the proposed models (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996).

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According to Anderson and Gerbing (1988) measurement of a model can be tested on the complete data set using a conrmatory factor analysis (CFA). In addition Joreskog and Sorbom (1996) also mentioned the necessity of using structural equation modeling (SEM). The application of SEM demonstrates advantages of measurement and prediction (Kelloway, 1998, p. 2) over standard multiple regression methods. To examine the general t of the proposed model and to test the research questions, factor constructs were employed in this study which was based on maximum likelihood derived from an earlier exploratory factor analysis (Fish, 2005). Fit indices included in the current investigation are the comparative t index (CFI); the goodness-of-t index (GFI); the normed t index (NFI); Tucker Lewis Index (TLI); the root mean square error approximation (RMSEA) (Bentler and Bonett, 1980; Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996; Tucker and Lewis, 1973; Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

Data analysis
Reliability coefcient of all the items in the instruments In order to measure the reliability for a set of two or more constructs, Cronbach alpha was used for this study. It is a method alpha coefcient values range between 0 and 1 with higher values indicating higher reliability among the indicators (Hair et al., 1992). In accordance with the Cronbach alpha test, the total scale of reliability for this study varies from 0.80, indicating an overall higher reliability factors. From Table I showed that the reliability of this study is substantial in every perspective. Factor analysis The survey results obtained from 350 respondents have been explained in this section through the principal component analysis (PCA). It was carried out to explore the underlying factors associated with 28 items. The constructs validity was tested through Bartletts Test of Sphericity and The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy. Result for the Bartletts Test of Sphericity and the KMO revealed from this study that both were highly signicant. As such, this study concluded that this variable was suitable for the factor analysis (Table II). For this study, the general criteria were accepted items with loading of 0.60 or greater. The result showed that total variance of the two factors was 53.070 percent. Table III presents values indicating afliation of the items to a factor. The higher loading (factor) indicates the stronger afliation of an item to a specic factor. The ndings of this study indicate that each of the four dimensions (consumers perception, consumers age, gender and income) is homogeneously loaded to the different factors. Reliability test of each item under each factor after factor analysis Reliability is the degree to which the observed variable measures the true value and is error free. According to Hair et al. (2006) reliability measures shows greater consistency Table I Reliability analysis for all variables
Cronbachs alpha 0.802 Cronbachs alpha based on standardized items 0.803 No. of items 32

Table II KMO and Bartletts Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy Bartletts Test of Sphericity Approx. chi-square Df Sig. 0.791 864.786 92 0.000

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Table III Factor loading matrices following rotation of four-factor solutions

Items The restaurant gives customers good value for money (cp1) Staff is sensitive to your needs and wants (cp2) Choices of food meet customers needs (cp3) Re-visit the restaurant (cp4) Restaurants always serve food according to age Different age group has different taste Young people like to eat more on restaurant Restaurant owners make menu according to the age Male customers always like to eat in restaurant Female consumers always inuence male to choose restaurant Young consumers always like eating out Older consumers do not like to eat outside Lower income group customers eat street restaurant Restaurant services base on income class Middle income group are the main consumers Restaurants environment base on income class Consumers perception (CP) 0.662 0.694 0.621 0.760 0.651 0.631 0.685 0.767 0.671 0.712 0.639 0.621 0.671 0.681 0.632 0.681 Age Gender Income

Notes: Extraction method: principal component analysis; rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization; Rotation converged in ve iterations

than less reliable measures (Table IV). Reliability coefcients (Cronbachs alpha) were computed for the items that formed each factor. The reliability coefcients for the four factors: consumers perception, age, gender and income were 0.812, 0.838, 0.782 and 0.779 respectively. As Table IV shows, all alpha coefcients for the data exceed the minimum standard for reliability of 0.70 recommended by Nunnally (1978). Thus, the results indicate that these multiple measures are highly reliable for measuring each construct. Conrmatory factor analysis The second phase of data analysis consisted of conrmatory factor analysis. To this end the structural equation method (SEM) was applied, using maximum likelihood estimation method to test the hypothesis of the study (Bentler, 1995). Although this study had employed EFA for verifying grouping and loading pattern of measuring scale items, it had further attempted to screen EFA examination by conducting CFA among all the exogenous variables (consumers perception, age, gender, income variables) with measuring items retained by EFA. Consumers perception From the result of EFA as shown in Table III, we retained four measuring items for consumers perception towards choosing a restaurant. This study retained all these items after conducting CFA, given that all those indicators were loaded with loading factor more than 0.60. For consumers perception, the modication indices for the covariance between the measurement errors of cp1 (The restaurant gives customers good value for money) and cp2 (Staff is sensitive to your needs and wants) was 16.834; cp1 (The restaurant gives customers good value for money) and cp4 (Re-visit the restaurant) was 11.278; cp2 (Staff is sensitive to your needs and wants) and cp4 (Re-visit the restaurant) was 18.549.

Table IV The reliability coefcients for derived factors

Factor Consumers perception (CP) Age Gender Income Number of cases 350 350 350 350 Number of items 4 4 4 4 Cronbachs alpha 0.812 0.838 0.782 0.779

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The correlation of these errors was logically possible; therefore the model was revised to incorporate this path (Figure 2). After adding this parameter, the measurement model t indices of price showed an adequate t: x2/d.f. 1.78 (x2 23.226, d.f 13); GFI 0.985, AGFI 0.979, CFI 0.989, NFI 0.963, TLI 0.973 and RMSEA 0.050. Age, gender and income From EFA as shown in Table III, have retained four measuring items for age, gender and income variable. This study has retained all these items after conducting CFA, as all those indicators were loaded with loading factor more than 0.70. The measurement model t indices of age, gender and income showed an adequate t: x2/d.f. 1.32 (x2 15.852, d.f 12); GFI 0.983, AGFI 0.973, CFI 0.979, NFI 0.967, TLI 0.943 and RMSEA 0.040; x2/d.f. 1.222 (x2 13.452, d.f 11); GFI 0.973, AGFI 0.963, CFI 0.969, NFI 0.957, TLI 0.946 and RMSEA 0.050; x2/d.f. 1.20 (x2 16.852, d.f 14); GFI 0.962, AGFI 0.951, CFI 0.951, NFI 0.937, TLI 0.935 and RMSEA 0.040. Statistical signicance of parameter estimates In this stage of data analysis this study utilized critical ratio (C.R) value, which represents the parameter of an estimate divided by its standard error. Based on a probability level 0.05 the test statistic needs to be . ^ 1.96 before the hypothesis (that estimates equals 0.0) can be rejected. On the other hand, it is also important to note that non-signicant parameters can be indicative of a sample size that is too small (Byrne, 2001). Hypotheses testing The structural equation model was examined to test the relationship among the constructs. After adjustment of the model by observing the modication indices value goodness-of-t indicates for this model were chi-square/df (159.769 /61) 2.61, GFI 0.929, AGFI 0.916, CFI 0.894, NFI 0.828, RMSEA 0.07. Figure 2 depicts the full model. After observing the statistical test it is been clear that all the paths are not signicant at p , 0:05. (H1) consumers perception plays a signicant role on their behavior towards choosing a restaurant, when consumers age plays a mediating role. Therefore null hypotheses H1 is accepted at 0.5 level of signicance p . 0:000. Regarding the H2: Consumers perception plays a signicant role on their behavior towards choosing a restaurant, when consumers income plays mediating role. Therefore, this null hypothesis is accepted at p , 0:000. H3: consumers perception plays a signicant role on their behavior towards choosing a restaurant when consumers gender differences play mediating role this null hypothesis is also accepted at p , 0:000. H4: consumers age plays a signicant role on

Figure 2 Dynamics of consumers perception towards their behavior of choosing a restaurant (for total sample): default model

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their behavior towards choosing a restaurant. Therefore null hypotheses H4 is accepted at 0.5 level of signicance p . 0:000. On the other hand, H5: consumers income plays a signicant role on their behavior towards choosing a restaurant at 0.5 level of signicance p . 0:000 this statement is nearly rejected. However, H6: consumers gender differences play a signicant role on their behavior towards choosing a restaurant is rejected at 0.5 level of signicance p . 0:000. Among all the signicant variables, consumers age has the highest estimate 1.315 towards consumers behavior of choosing a restaurant (Table V). The second highest estimate is 1.018 for consumers perception towards consumers behavior of choosing restaurant when incomes play a mediating role. The third highest estimate is 0.726 for consumers perception towards consumers behavior of choosing restaurant when age differences play a mediating role. Lastly the fourth highest estimate is 0.641 for consumers perception towards consumers behavior of choosing restaurant when gender differences play a mediating role. On the other hand consumers income and their gender differences individually do not have any signicant inuences over their behavior of choosing a restaurant.

Conclusion
The results of this study suggest that a signicant proportion of consumers in Dhaka city of Bangladesh are very sensitive towards choosing a restaurant services. This research argues that consumers perception always mediating by consumers age, gender differences and their income. On the other hand in some situation age differences can be an important factor which may also be inuenced an individual to choose a restaurants services. Previous studies re-enforce this research ndings and corroborate with the literature to suggest that consumers perception can be inuenced an individual to choose a restaurant when age, gender and their income play a signicant mediating role (Dube et al., 1994; Lee and Hing, 1995; Johns and Tyas, 1996; Fu and Parks, 2001; Tam, 2004; Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000; Wagar and Lindqvist, 2010; Alalaakkola, 1996; Alexander, 1947; Nysveen et al., 2005; Kotler and Keller, 2006; Mitchell and Walsh, 2004; Gutkowska et al., 2001).

Managerial implications
It is been observed that the majority of research into restaurants customers come under the perspective of demographic characteristics (age, gender and income).. The present study explored the inuences of the customers perception towards selecting a restaurants services when age, gender and income play a mediating role which could contribute valuable output for the hospitality research. The results obtained from this exploratory study allow researchers, academicians and managers to accept that demographic variables can be inuenced by the behavior of customers. To serve the multi diverse consumers in Dhaka city based on this study, restaurant managers can nd directions from the research for the improvement of their service quality and strategic plan of marketing. Operators of the restaurant who are trying to understand their customers must measure not only their perception, but also the customers

Table V Standard estimation of the main model

Standardized regression weight H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 Age Income Gender Consumers behavior (CB) Consumers behavior (CB) Consumers behavior (CB) Consumers perception (CP) Consumers perception (CP) Consumers perception (CP) AGE INCOME GENDER Estimate 0.726 1.018 0.641 1.315 0.130 0.080 S.E. 0.064 0.079 0.066 0.067 0.047 0.038 C.R. 11.290 12.884 9.675 19.701 2.794 2.117 p value 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.004 0.034

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age, gender, and income because those variables also play a substantial role in predicting customers behavior as well. This study also proposed that restaurants in Dhaka city need to upgrade their internal and external facilities, for example: foodservice providers should train their employees in a y professional manner so that they can understand the needs and wants of the customers of different age, gender and income group. Restaurant owners should offer a variety of food and ensure that the food is attractive and hygienically prepared. In addition, most of the customers expect managers to ensure that food handlers follow safe food preparation procedures at the foodservice work site.

Limitations and direction of further study

The study suffers from a number of limitations. Even though the results are interesting and support previous studies, there are some limitations due to the scope of this study in using only customers from Dhaka city. Hence, the results cannot be easily generalized. This study used convenience sampling procedure which is a limitation and future studies can utilize stratied random sampling procedure with more samples. On the other hand the EFA is difcult to generalize to a larger audience and there was a lack of experimental control for the questionnaire investigation, so the quality of questionnaire cannot be ensured. On the other hand longitudinal analysis can be conducted to understand more nuances about the variables. It must also be noted that this study was undertaken in a developing country where most of the citizens income are substantially less than what obtains in developed economies. Future studies could examine a restaurants service quality, customer satisfaction, restaurant image for a particular restaurant sector using a larger sample. In addition, further research is needed to measure the behavior and perception of the senior and working class citizens from all the major cities in Bangladesh.

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Further reading
Ambler, T., Braeutigam, S., Stins, J., Rose, S. and Swithenby, S. (2004), Salience and choice: neural correlates or shopping decisions?, Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 247-61. Costa, P.T., Terracciano, A. and McCrae, R.R. (2001), Gender differences in personality traits across cultures; robust and surprising ndings, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 81 No. 2, pp. 322-31. Darley, W.K. and Smith, R.E. (1995), Gender differences in information processing strategies: an empirical test of the selectivity model in advertising response, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 41-56. Meyers-Levy, J. and Maheswaran, D. (1991), Exploring differences in males and females processing strategies, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18, pp. 63-70. Population Reference Bureau (2006), Urbanization takes on new dimensions in Asias population giants, available at: www.prb.org/Articles/2001/.aspx

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About the author

Muhammad Sabbir Rahman has a PhD in Business Administration and is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Management at the Multimedia University (Malaysia). His research interests include consumers behavior, perception, attitude, brand image, price perception, climate change, and tourism and tourist market. He has three years of teaching and research experience, has written several research papers, both qualitative and quantitative, in international refereed journals, in the area of global marketing, e-commerce, internet shopping and internet advertising, Islamic marketing, and consumer behavior. Muhammad Sabbir Rahman can be contacted at: sabbiriiu@gmail.com

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